This is Bill Pomakoy, one of my best friends and fishing partners, who is ready to go fishing at the slightest hint. I could call him up at 10:00 pm at night and ask him to meet me at the Waffle House at 4:30am the next morning and he would be there before I was. We both made the trip to Montana together as part of a Christmas present from my wife Connie. I'll never be able to thank her enough even if I live to be a hundred. The fish Bill is holding, with that big Tennessee grin on his face is a nice brown trout, which was also released shortly after this picture was taken. He is a great fella, born and raised in New York, but now makes his home in Hendersonville, TN. The second fish Bill is holding is a rainbow, that is what you can see of it. (Just kidding Bill). Actually, he was holding on for dear life. Trout are very strong fish and can jump right out of your hands if you are not prepared. Anyway this young ranibow went back into the drink, just like the rest. From this angle you can get a good look at the bushes and small trees that lined the river for most of our trip. We were floating down the river approximately 20-30 feet from shore and most of our casts were made toward the shoreline to allow our flies to drift along very close to the edge of the bushes, etc. We did this because trout either wait for insects to fall into the water from the foilage or to get out of the stronger current to wait in ambush for insects or small baitfish to come along, however they are also out in the middle of the river as well, usually downstream behind large bolders. He only gets two pictures to my three because this is my blog site. Thanks Bill for making the trip with me. I would go again with you in a New York minute.

Building a wooden boat

Have you ever imagined building your own boat ? Well, I did in October, 2006. Afer searching the internet for plans, I finally decided on a company that sold plans for about 8 different models. I picked one that I thought I could navigate down the small streams and rivers in Tennessee and the rest is history. It is 11'8" long and has a 44" beam. It is made entirely of plywood, poplar and oak. The hull has three coats of epoxy for protection and the inside has about five coats of Spar Varnish to seal any cracks. I built the cleats out of oak. I don't know that I've ever built anything out of wood that I have enjoyed so much. I use a trolling motor with a 45lb thrust which is plenty of power to move around in the streams and small rivers that I love to fish. Each time I take it to the river, I'm always asked the same question, " hey buddy, did you build that boat yourself". Of course I try to wipe the proud look from my face and respond with a very sutle, yet deliberate, "yep". Everyone wants to know how long it took and what it is made out of. Only once have I been asked to build one for someone else. My wife have been it only once. She went fly fishing with me one morning to the Caney Fork River, about 50 miles east of Nashville, toward the larger hills of Tennessee. The Caney Fork holds rainbow and brown trout year round. In July the water holds steady at about 55 degrees. In case you are wondering at this point how much I have invested in this project, you might be surprised. In fact, I have only spent about $200 total. You can actually build the same model for about $100, but I spent a little extra on some of the wood and the epoxy. I also changed the design a little to for the seating, which cost a little more than normal.



I think the biggest shock I had, once I received the plans, was the simplicity of the design and how few tools are required. You will of course need a table saw. That is the largest piece of equipment that you would need. Other than that, all that is required is a hand jigsaw, a drill and sander. You will also use a lot of glue for the joints. I would suggest the top of the line wood glue on the market, if you attempt this yourself. You will also use a lot of wood screws of several different sizes. As you can see from the picture below, I mounted a small depth finder and plastic seats, but you can get by just fine without either of these additional features. I just got carried away.
















I guess I've had it in the water about 10 times so far and I haven't seen any leaks ........yet. I've even hit a few rocks that made me cringe with fear, but nothing happened that I noticed. All in all I am really proud of this little boat and I do love it when people ask me about it. If you are interested in building your own boat, you can visit the site that chose; at gatorboats.com . The plan that I chose is called the "Croc".

I am planning to build another boat, that is as soon as I get the approval from my wife, Connie, who is telling me that she gets a "screened in porch" before I get to build another boat.

Anyway, in case you are wondering, the next boat will be a little bigger and a little bit fancier, capable of withstanding the currents associated with bigger rivers with stronger current and longer runs of white water. (Pictures you see here)

Rivers such as these would include the White River in Arkansas and the Madison River in Montana. Until next time, remember, don't wade where you need to be fishing and don't fish where you need to be wading.

Let's Go Racing

I have to admit something that perhaps you didn't already know, I love Nascar. Growing up not to far from Concord, NC helped a little, but I also had an uncle who loved listening to Nascar Races on the radio. He was my Uncle Jim. His favorite driver was Richard Petty and I can't remember a time when Uncle Jim was not glued to the radio on Sunday afternoon listening to the race. I miss him very much. Not only did he create within me a love for stock car racing, but he knew a little bit about fishing as well.

Over the years I had many drivers that I liked to pull for, but about 6 years ago I began pulling for Jimmie Johnson, one of Rick Hendrick's drivers. I liked the way he handled himself when he spoke and he seemed to have a knack for finding ways to get to the front. Other than the fact he was a Hendrick driver, I knew very little about him. Now 6 years later he has won 35 races and two consecutive Nascar Championships and the year is not even over yet as of 8/26/08.

For a long time I would ask Connie to go to a race with me, but she always came up with a reason that seemed to keep me quiet for the moment. Finally, in 2006 we planned our wedding anniversary to include a trip to the Pocono Mts. in Pennsylvania. Little did I know, but Connie had purchased tickets to the Pocono 5oo before we made the trip and what a surprise it was when she told me we would be going to the race. It was her first race and it was very cold, even in June. What a great time we had. I will never forget the look on her face as the cars came down the frontstretch at over 200mph into turn one.

This is the Martinsville, VA track where Jimmie happen to be the winner that Sunday. We traveled with some friends from Nashville, Rob & Julie Parrish. Rob had some contacts that enabled us to actually be in the infield, where we could speak with crew members, owners and sometimes even a driver if you were lucky. Most of the time those guys are getting ready for the race and have a hundred other things on their minds.

Since then we have been to two more races, one at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC and also the race in Martinsville, VA. I did manage to catch Jimmie Johnson's crew chief, Chad Knaus just outside the garage area and he allowed me to get a picture with him. Jimmie was hard to find though.

A little later I was walking around some of the haulers and I saw Rick Hendrick standing outside of Jimmie's hauler talking with some of his friends and he also agreed to take a picture with me. Rick is sure a nice fella. It was hard for him this weekend at this particular track however, this is the particular race track where his son Ricky along with several other family members were killed in a crash in route to the track in a small aircraft. He was kind enough to put his feelings aside for a moment to greet a fan. This was one of the most exciting races I had ever been to, mainly because I was able to meet some of the crew members, etc and see first had how the guys in the pit crew handled a pit stop. I was standing only 20 feet from the pit wall as the 48 crew completed a pit stop for Jimmie. Well as they say in racing, "gentlemen start your engines, let's go racing boys".