Laegreid Outdoors

 guhhhh. It's been a while.

Hi everyone! It's been a crazy year, which means posting has been sporadic at best, but ice fishing season is in full swing and I've been bringing my cameras along! While I haven't taken the time to do a proper video, I have been shooting some little clips that I've pieced together for you all as a holiday surprise. I hope you enjoy, and have a Happy New Year!  

Two years ago, I wrote a post about how cool grass carp are, and how fun it is to fish for them. Well, all that still holds true, but this year I was able to catch one of these beautiful fish on camera! Even though the weather in Wyoming has been abnormally cool and wet, I stumbled on a few grass carp milling around in some very shallow flooded grass. They were tailing like bonefish on a flat, so I figured it was a good time to try to catch one. It took probably about 45 minutes to an hour to finally get a good hook-set (there were a few misses before that), and it was game on! This fish only took a few good runs, probably because the water was still so cold, but it's still a special feeling being connected to such a powerful beast. I hope you enjoy the video!

There are a lot of fish that I have a hard time catching (lookin' at you, steelhead), but most of the time I don't have an excuse for my failure. The gar, however, has eluded me my entire life because of their physical attributes. As you can see in the video below, gar have long, narrow, bony mouths that make them really hard to hook. So hard, in fact, that it took me almost twenty-five years * to actually land one. For some people, landing a gar is like landing a trash-bag with teeth, but I think they're beautiful in their own dinosaur-like way, and they're definitely fun on a 5-weight! Please enjoy the film, and next time you see a gar, take a cast and see what happens! *I didn't actually target gar that often, but I like being dramatic, so deal with it.

Fishing has been dang near impossible for me for the past few weeks, so to ward off the shack-nasties I've been tying some flies. This one is a must-have for the lakes around Laramie, or anywhere there are significant midge hatches. As a bonus, it's super easy to tie!

I've become a big fan of ice fishing this winter. Ice fishing gets me out of the house during the toughest part of the year, and it's really neat seeing the lakes I spend all summer on from a whole new angle. One of the other benefits of fishing the hard water is that I can tie flies and use them all year round now! Take a look at the video below to see an example of how to tie a simple ice jig that can be just deadly through the ice! Here are the ingredients: Hook: Daiichi 4647, size 12. Size up or down for your local fish. Bead: Black Tungsten Thread: 70 Denier Ultra Thread, White Tail/Body: Glow in the Dark Flashabou Collar: Hareline Dubbin, Hot Pink

I went out to the lakes near Laramie the other day and brought my camera along. It was a quick morning of fishing, but man was it fun! I hope you enjoy watching the video as much as I enjoyed making it:

Every good brand has a unique, recognizable logo, right? Well now Laegreid Outdoors has one, too! I've wanted a logo for a long time, but could never settle on a design until now. I present to you, dear reader, the new Laegreid Outdoors logo: It's simple, clean, and focuses on what Laegreid Outdoors focuses on: fishing and being outside. I hope you enjoy it!

Hey, stranger. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well, I'm glad you're still here, because I've got some things to show you. 2018 is gone, but it will be a long time before I forget it. Here are a few highlights from the past year: You may remember this bruiser from the Platte that chomped on an itty-bitty chironomid pattern. Pre-runoff fishing can be tricky, especially on little streams. The annual Nebraska pilgrimage paid off to the tune of hundreds of panfish. Exploring new places proved fruitful! We caught crate-fulls of colorful cutties. Sometimes the scenery was spectacular. Hella enjoyed herself. Jodi took me to Puerto Rico, and the little fish were hungry! Baby barracuda are cool. I played around with my GoPro and learned how to do some cool things, too! Here's hoping that your 2019 is everything you hope it to be and more!

I had to drive up to Casper, Wyoming for a business thing on Friday. This was good for two reasons:first, it meant a day driving and out of the office. Score! Second, it meant I would be in the neighborhood of the fabled North Platte, one of my favorite rivers. Double Score! I loaded up my gear Thursday evening and eagerly awaited the next morning's drive. After the roads opened up (they closed due to a snowstorm, which also knocked out power at our HQ) I bebopped on up through the shirley basin, bucking a wind that was probably 35mph sustained, with some seriously butt-clenching gusts. Always fun. Got up to Casper, did the meeting, and headed to the Gray Reef. The tent was pitched right away, and I geared up and headed down to the water to see what was what. On the river, directly below the damn, I got about zero hits and no interest shown from the wiley Platte River troots. They were rising very sporadically to midges, but all of my imitations fell short that evening. Such...

I've been an angler for as long as I can remember, but saltwater fly-fishing was injected into my blood when I moved out to Washington state a few years back. The cold, fertile waters of Puget Sound were my playground, and I chased the trout and salmon with wild abandon. The climate up in the PacNW, while mild, was only warm for about three months out of the year, and the saltwater was always pretty chilly. That was the extent of my experience with saltwater fly-fishing until this December, when my family decided to take a little trip to Sayulita, Mexico. Sayulita is a little town about 45 minutes north of Puerta Vallarta. It's more popular for its surfing and yoga than its fishing, but that wasn't going to stop me from trying! Our first full day in Sayulita, we went swimming at Playa de los Muertos, a smaller, less crowded beach on the South side of town. As we were floating in the surf, we noticed bait busting around us. I waited until I couldn't stand it anymore...

There's a lake that I like to fish that is great for rainbow trout, but it also has a hidden gem of a species that nobody seems to chase: grass carp. I tried a few times last year to land one of these beasts to no avail. I will say this: grass carp are not an easy fish to target. Their diet is weird, their eyesight is amazing, and their lateral line, the sensory organ that detects vibrations and changes in pressure, is incredibly sensitive. I've dropped flies just a hair too close, which puts them down. A cast that lands over a fish can cause the whole pod to explode in fear. Sloppy wading, the wrong fly, a tippet that's too heavy, tippet that's too light, there are hundreds of things that can screw up your shot at a grass carp. Not to mention that if you hook one, they can bend your hook like it's a wet noodle or snap your tippet with very little effort. Sometimes, however, the stars align and you can get hooked up to one of these beasts, and when that happens yo...

We've been in a period of politically-charged posts recently, something I had not planned for this blog. It's important stuff, and the future of fishing and hunting and public lands are in serious jeopardy at the moment, but in this post, we're gonna step back and take a look at some pretty pictures. Keep fighting the good fight, but don't burn out. It's summer, take some time every now and then to get out to the places you love and clear your mind. Cutthroat Trout are usually gorgeous, but the slash on this one was particularly vivid! This toothy rainbow was all about the chironomids. Chunky. My dad and I stumbled on some grayling the other day. They are really interesting fish! None of the grayling were huge, but what a cool opportunity. Fish on! Crows are cool. Lavender in the park.

Dear Mr. President, American Sportsmen and Women are tired of seeing hoot-owl closures on their rivers. We're tired of fish kills caused by extreme water temperature . We're tired of seeing our forests killed by beetles because our winters are not getting cold enough and our summers are hotter. We're tired of ocean conditions making salmon survival even more difficult. We're tired of longer, hotter forest fire seasons . Sportspeople are out in the wild parts of our great country more often than most, and we are seeing the effects of climate change on a daily basis. The sporting way of life is in danger as a direct result of the warming earth, and you just withdrew us from the Paris Agreement. Mr. President, you (and your son) have said how you want to protect the rights of sportsmen and women, second amendment rights and land usage rights and so on, but none of that matters if we don't have fish and game to pursue. If the environment goes, the game goes,...

We're less than a week in to 2017 and Congress is already positioning itself to strip America of its public lands. I'm no political whiz, so I'll let Field and Stream's Bob Marshall explain it more clearly: "Yesterday, on its first day in session, the House amended a rule to make it easier to justify transfer of [public lands] ownership to states, by changing the way it calculates the financial cost of the move to the nation. The change passed 233–190, largely on party lines, with the GOP overwhelmingly in favor."  1 If this does not raise red flags and set off alarm bells for hunters, anglers, campers and hikers across our great nation, it should. We are moving ever closer to a reality where our public lands become privatized, monetized and inaccessible to you and me. We should be outraged that this is happening, and we should let Congress know that they are not acting in the best interest of the public. Remember, public lands are OUR lands. YOU o...

It's finally getting cold here in Wyoming, after a pretty darn warm autumn. Many people are moaning about the weather, but some of us have been waiting to take the coats out of mothballs. Here are ten of the reasons that you should rejoice at the return of the cold! Reason 1: Hot Drink Season I've got a thermos. It's great. It's a Stanley. It's been sitting in a closet for months. Now that it's cool, it can be free from its prison and join me for icy adventures and white forest wanderings, always ready to provide a toasty, gut warming, life-sustaining beverage. This is the beginning of a season where drinking hot coffee at noon is not crazy; where wanting tongue-scalding cocoa doesn't get you weird looks. This is the season of hot beverages, and I love it. Reason 2: Cold Weather Wearables T-shirts are fine, and shorts are ok, but nothing compares to sweaters, vests, coats and wool. Even the footwear is great; the wife loves her wellies, and I have my s...

Pets! Pets are wonderful little creatures. Somewhere along the line we humans decided that, instead of eating these fuzzy beings, we would let them enter into our homes and lives as family. Certainly there were benefits other than companionship when this first started, with dogs providing keen ears and noses for hunting and security, and cats doing their work to rid the home and pantry of vermin, but nowadays that work, at least in most of the US, is less important. Our dogs still hunt and still bark at strangers (often and loudly, in the case of my pooch) and our cats still pounce on mice and rats, but the focus has shifted from having an animal out of necessity to having one for comfort. Today I will introduce to you my three beasts, and give them the appreciation they deserve, for even though they don't bring home much meat, my world would be less without them. First, we have our eldest, Freya, named for the Norse goddess of love, fertility, war and death. She was found a...

Disclaimer: It is not my intent to have a politically charged blog, but this is too important to not discuss. I will try to be brief. Dear readers, With the recent election, the outdoor way of life that we love is in danger. If you hunt, fish, or use public lands in any way, it is time to step forward and take action. Corporations are looking at a president and congress that will kowtow to their desires, and that bodes ill for the sportsmen and women of America. It is not in the interest of big business to keep our coldwater fisheries clean; it is not in the interest of big business to keep public lands in public hands; it is not in the interest of big business to do anything positive for the natural world that provides us with so much. It is with this in mind that I ask you to be vigilant. Watch the bills that are being passed. Pay attention to legislation that will remove our rights. Join conservation organizations. Support small businesses; this is their fight too. Most import...

Greetings, internet outdoors-people! Long has it been since you've heard from Laegreid Outdoors, and I'm sure that you have been waiting with bated breath this entire time. I am truly sorry for the anguish and pain that you must have suffered every time you looked at your electronic device and saw that no, the blog had not been updated, but now you can rejoice, for it is returned! Since my blogging muscles have atrophied a bit, we'll keep this post short. My lovely wife Jodi and I are returned from Europe, and have begun a new chapter in our life in the states. We're in Laramie, Wyoming now, and have been enjoying the new scenery. Take a look, enjoy the photos, and let's see if I can get myself back into writing mode again. Trout out here are healthy! Grayling are pretty The Plains Lakes produce healthy fish Fall brings Elk season... ...Gorgeous mountain views... ...Duck season... ...And butter browns that slam skated drie...