Blog Roll: The Green Eyed Monster - Volume Two

I sometimes find hard to believe that I've managed to keep The Rusty Spinner up and running for five years; few things in my life have had such longevity. As I sit here at the keyboard and reflect on that time, I'm struck - as I have been many times before - by the realization that I maintain The Rusty Spinner because blogging provides me with the opportunity to do that one thing I most enjoyed about working in a fly shop.

Of course, fly shop work is in many ways just like working any retail job: answer the phone, fold some shirts, stock the shelves, cash or credit. Being a fly shop flunky differed from other retail jobs, however,  in one very important way. My time in the shop allowed me the opportunity to talk fishing - serious fishing with anglers from all over the world - all day and every day. The same is true of this blog. I have the opportunity to talk fishing every time I sit down at the keyboard. Sometimes it's a one way conversation, but sometimes it's not and those are the moments I most enjoy. I guess that's why I started The Rusty Spinner, and I suppose that's why I continue.

Fortunately for all of us, there are any number of other bloggers who seem to enjoy that conversation every bit as much as I do. Some write professionally.  Some are directly involved in the fly fishing industry. Others are simply talented amateurs who seem to use blogging as a way to get to the stream when they can't actually get to the stream. The point - if there must be a point - is that there is no shortage of good stuff flowing through the veins of the bug chucking blogosphere. I might even go so far as to argue that blogs have surpassed more traditional forms of print and digital media as go-to reading material for the average bug chucker. I haven't picked up a fly fishing magazine in two or three years, but I read blogs everyday. What follows is an abbreviated list of some of my favorites.

1. Gink and Gasoline -  Kent Klewein and Louis Cahill are the Grand Poobahs of what I believe to be the very best fly fishing blog on the web; I write that as dollops of jealousy drip from my keyboard like green Jello oozes from the mouth of a lobotomy addled schizophrenic. They do things over there that I just cannot do. The writing is fresh and original - an interesting mix of the tangible and intangible, the concrete and the metaphoric aspects of our sport. New posts appear almost daily, and the authors' writing covers myriad topics that will almost certainly appeal to coldwater and warmwater, freshwater and saltwater bug chuckers alike. The photography is eye candy too good to be given away for free; every time I visit the site I'm immediately reminded of how inept a photographer I am. Perhaps more than anything else, I find I most enjoy Gink's honesty. The blog clearly benefits from a handful of advertisers, but Klewein and Cahill do not seem to have sold themselves to the bug chucking industry devil. The web is full of fly fishing blogs and bloggers who will say - or write as it were - just about anything to earn some free swag. I've never once had that impression of Gink and Gasoline. 

Tarpon: It's All About Letting Go

Is Your Introvert Personality Holding Back Your Fly Fishing Growth? 

The Toughest Water In Wyoming

Georgia Man Catches Trout On Car Key, But Why?
    

http://www.ginkandgasoline.com/

2. Dudewater - Dudes can write. I'm not sure there's much more to say so I'll say it again just to be sure I've made my point. Dudes ... can ... write. While not as polished as G and G, Dudewater is one of the most well written blogs I frequent and a welcome read every time I receive notification of a new post. Like Gink and Gasoline, Dudewater is a collaboration between two angler-bloggers whose travels take them to some genuinely beautiful places and put them in line with seriously impressive fish. I don't know either of the blog's contributors, but the quality of their writing and penchant for using expletives sparingly but to great effect make me think they'd be good company while rotating a run.

Me and Mick
 
Just Passing Through

Dead Metaphors

http://dudewater.blogspot.com/

3. Flyosophy -  I wish I could double haul an entire fly line as easily as does Steve Rajeff. I cannot. I wish I could tie married wing Atlantic salmon flies with as much flair as the late Paul Ptalis once did. I cannot. I wish I could write with as much a mind for internal dialogue and controlled nuance as does the Flyosopher. Again, I cannot. While I don't know the Flyosopher outside of the pages of the blog, I suspect he does what he does entirely for his own amusement, and it is precisely that tone which makes his writing as enjoyable to read as it is. As long as the Flyosopher is Flyosophizing, I'll be Flyosophizing along with him.    

Decision Makers

Fighting Addiction 

Hanging with Mr. Guide

http://flyosophy.com/