Laegreid Outdoors

Though it may seem like I've fallen off the edge of the earth, I've actually just been really busy! The holidays were good, and I hope yours were as well. As this will probably be my last post of 2014, I'll do two things real quick. First is to wish you a happy, outdoorsy, and fruitful New Year! The second thing I'll do is leave you with a cliffhanger! There is a big announcement coming soon; what it is will be revealed on my first post of 2015!  Have a safe New Year's Eve, dear readers; I look forward to seeing you next year!

The paintbrush, that is! Since I don't have the pictures ready for the post I had wanted to do this week, instead you all get to see my wee paintings. They are  wee, too, the longest being just under six inches. So, without further ado, here is the cream of the crop from my return to the wide world of watercolor: School of fish Spotty Bow Troot Head Eel (watercolor & pencil) Squad of Squid Chinook (watercolor & pencil) And that's that for now; next week will bring a post with some more meat!

I'm not sure where the superstition came from, but apparently bananas are bad luck while fishing. Try to bring a banana on a charter boat and you may well get tossed in the drink. You can imagine my reservations, then, about buying a vessel that looks like a ten-foot long, overripe banana: the Intex Explorer K2 inflatable kayak. As of yet, however, most outings in the banana boat have resulted in at least one fish brought to hand, so perhaps the superstition only applies to fruit. Lets run down the specs! Dimensions: 123 x 36 x 20 inches Weight: 36 lbs Seats: 2 Chambers: 5 total; the sides and floor that make up the body of the kayak, and the two seats are also inflatable. Comes with: 2 paddles, detachable skeg, hand-pump Pros: Easy to set up and take down. The pump that came with the package seemed flimsy at first glance, but is surprisingly efficient. Total set up time is between five and ten minutes, depending on how badly I want to get on the water Comfortabl...

Graphic in the way that flowcharts are graphics, of course! Instead of a photo-filled post, today's post is some fishing-related graphics I've done recently. I've already shared my Annual Fishing Goals graphic; let's dive into a few others. Note: If you follow Laegreid Outdoors on Facebook and Twitter you might have already seen these, but I think they're cool, so you get to see them again. Yay! The Salmon ID Flowcharts Salmon are amazing fish. They're strong, they're delicious, and in saltwater, they all kind of look the same. This is the issue my brother-in-law had when he moved from Oklahoma to Washington. With the regulations as they are in Washington, it is very important to be able to distinguish between the different species while they are in their ocean phase. The WDFW provides a nice pamphlet (from which I nicked the photos. Thanks, public domain!), but I felt it might be good to have a helpful guide to aid in identification.  There ...

Oh wow, hey everybody! It's been a while since I've posted, but it's been a busy busy time. I am now a happily married man, and all the work that my lovely wife did along with our family and friends culminated in a spectacular, wonderfully simple wedding; it was the perfect start to a long life of love and adventure. To keep this post on an outdoorsy theme, here are some of the boutonnieres I made for the men in the wedding, groomsmen and I wore blue, the fathers of the bride and groom got the orange ones: I wore this one! For those of you thinking about tying your own boutonnieres, I recommend it. Not only do they look great (we got lots of compliments), but they will make you appreciate tying flies on hooks that don't have a sharp bit hiding on the side you can't see. So! Coming up soon from this wee blog there will be: 1: A review of the Intex Explorer K2 inflatable Kayak 2: Night fishing for Salmon in Puget Sound 3: A review of the ...

I've been distracted with things, so this week's post is a photos! The fiance and I camped in the Olympic National Forest this past weekend. It was beautiful, sunny and quiet, and just what we needed. So without further ado, here are some photographic highlights of the trip: This not-so little millipede had some striking yellow spots; I'd not seen one like it before.  These flowers were all over and very pretty. I'm pretty sure they're Trillium, but I could be wrong. If so, feel free to correct me in the comments! The Caddis hatch was on! What's camping without a good fire? The Peninsula was full of spiders sunning themselves, but this little fellow was the only one kind enough to hold still for a photo. See you next time!

March 29 The day dawned comfortably grey and rainy as I sneaked out of bed. My fiance slept soundly as the door closed behind me and I began the two-hour drive to Rockport, Washington and the gorgeous Skagit River. When I made my usual pre-drive stop at Cowgirls Espresso, the barista asked, as per usual, if I was going fishing. "Not today." Now, sane people usually don't drive for hours to prime steelhead water specifically not to fish, but then, those who pursue the grey ghosts are not well-known for their sanity, and the event I was driving to was created in protest of laws that make little sense. What Laws? To avoid writing a book, lets break it down to its simplest form. Laws regarding wild steelhead are, in the opinion of the Occupy Skagit (OS) movement * , a wee bit wonky.   All wild Puget Sound steelhead are listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act . This would be great, if all Puget Sound steelhead populations faced the same pressures and ...

It's that time of year again. Baby salmon are swimming out of the rivers en mass, the days are getting longer, and Sea-Run Cutthroat trout (SRC) are reappearing in Puget Sound. This past weekend I was able to connect with one of these feisty fish on a beach in Marine Area 13 , also known as the magical South Sound. There are a few great things about this fishery; the first of which is the quarry. The SRC's are amazing trout, powerful for their size, aggressive, gorgeous, and elusive. They provide one of the Northwest's most unique fishing experiences, and oh man am I glad to be able to take advantage of it. Image borrowed from the Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife , since I have yet to take a good picture of one. The second great thing about the SRC fishery is the location. I love Puget Sound, from Deception Pass to Budd Inlet, but good SRC beaches are my absolute favorite. They are full of life, from weird little crawling things scooting between barnacle-cove...

So wow, it's been a while! I apologize for my absence, dear readers, but I will say that it has been for a good reason. I have been busy and sick and busy, but was able to land the most amazing catch of my life recently at Westport, WA. My girlfriend and I had decided to do a little getaway to the sleepy town at the edge of everything. I like to fish off the jetty there; it has a variety of fun and unusual fish like rockfish, ling-cod, surf-perch and greenling. In the days running up to our trip it was a little disheartening when the weather report said wind and rain for the whole weekend, and it was downright depressing when we got there and the forecast was correct. The wind was pretty intense, which made the rain rather unpleasant, but we had the hotel booked and were going to make the best of it. If you've never been to Westport, it is a small fishing town on the Washington coastline, right at the mouth of Greys Harbor. During the salmon season, Westport is a busy place, ...

Happy Friday, everyone! It's been a busy week and I haven't gotten out much, so today's post will be about some neat things I found on the internet! As you may know, water is pretty important to outdoorsy people such as myself. We need it to hydrate our bodies, and to do many activities (fishing, swimming, surfing, etc.) there must be a large amount of clean water. Unfortunately, we humans are GROSS and put a whole lot of nasty stuff into the water on this planet. It's a bad thing and we should feel bad. There is hope, however, hope from two somewhat unexpected, natural sources: oysters and mushrooms. Take a look! Oysters Oysters are masters of purifying water. They might look like they're just sitting there, but one adult oyster can filter something like two gallons of water per hour, and they filter it right good . They are also good at building structure (called reefs) that provide habitat for other briny creatures and can protect shorelines from wave d...

In my last post, 10 Ways to Stay Outdoorsy in the Office , I mentioned music as being a way to connect with the outdoors, which it is. Not mentioned, however, is the influence music can have on your outdoor activities. I recently took up running, a sport which I had previously held in disdain, as it makes me hurt. In the past year or so, however, I've noticed that I've expanded a bit, and parts of me jiggle now that never did before. This is a problem. Here's a break-down of what's going on: The problem: I'm now a chunk. The culprit: A severe lack of cardio and a lot of sitting in an office. Also junk food. The cure: More cardio and a better diet. The question: How do I get my lazy butt to move and lose weight? The answer: Music! And by  removing soda from my diet and bringing lunches to work, but that's not what this post is about. I chose running for a few reasons. The first is that my best friend is a runner ( hey Andrew ), and he has always bee...

This has nothing to do with the blog, but I made it and think it's cool. You're a person that loves the outdoors, but you, like me and millions of our outdoorsy friends, work a job in a stuffy office, far from the rolling hills, majestic mountains, babbling brooks and crashing waves that you love. How is someone supposed to keep their sanity while working 40+ hours a week under fluorescent lighting? Here is a list of some basic things you can do to bring a little bit of the outdoors into your work-week: Decorate your cube/office: Your workspace is your home for five days a week, make it your space. Are you a fly tyer? Get a shadowbox with  your favorite flies in it. Runners could do a motivational poster with Steve Prefontaine on it. If you just like the outdoors, maybe a plant or even a tiny desk-fountain could brighten your day. Just remember to keep it classy (frame the poster of Pre, don't use masking tape to hang it) and make sure you keep the decoratio...

This pink bugger could be yours! Ok all you fly-anglers: the first Laegreid Outdoors giveaway is right up your alley. I'm going to give away one dozen flies for anadromous fish, hand-tied by yours truly. They are all size 2 or 4 hooks, they're pretty colorful, and they'll catch stuff if you use them long enough. All you have to do is use the widget below to sign up; a winner will be determined in two weeks! a Rafflecopter giveaway A small sample of the flies: You'll get two of these! And this guy!

Happy new year, dear readers! Last year I decided that fishing was too much fun, and I needed to give myself some goals to strive towards. This ended up being even MORE fun, and I recommend it to anyone who angles. So, on this first day of the New Year, I've decided to share last year's goals and results, and tell you what I'll be chasing this coming year. First: The old! Gooooooooaaaaaaaaal! Well, I got a few of the fish, and a good portion of the places and other goals. I'm blown away that I didn't make it to the ocean once; also that I couldn't catch a shark. Dogfish (sharks) are known as a nuisance to people who catch them while salmon fishing and don't realize how neat they are. I never even tried for the chum or sockeye salmon, so no surprise that I didn't catch those guys. Those goals that weren't met this year get to go on to... My goals for 2014! The new colors are luckier. Probably. So we've seen a few of those goal...