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!

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 ...

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 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...