Laegreid Outdoors

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!

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

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!

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.

Tonight is our last night in the cold little town of Reykjavik, Iceland. Tomorrow we take a short flight to Oslo, and begin the second leg of our crazy little trip. This first bit was fun. A little rough, but fun. Our main enemy has been jet lag; we lost a few afternoons to some hardcore napping. Other than that, however, we've been pretty darn lucky. Here are a few highlights: The most exciting thing that happened here was the show that we were treated to by the Aurora Borealis. Both Jodi and I had always wanted to see the Northern Lights, and Iceland is a good place to do so. I had my concerns about the weather, though, as it had been forecasted to not only be cloudy, but with a bright, full moon when the skies were clear. It was not an ideal setup. On the 28th, however, our German roommates from Kex Hostel rented a car and offered to take us out with them in search of the Lights. We were going to leave at around 11 that night, but at about 8 someone came ripping through the ha...

The first leg of our journey (the packing and driving part) was a hectic, foggy, sleep-deprived, 55 mph torture test, and was completed safely and without much blood loss. My lovely wife and I arrived in Laramie a little haggard, but otherwise in one piece. Hopefully while we're out here there will be some outdoor adventures before we take off for Iceland. Today we took a nice little jaunt up a snowy hillside with a couple of shaggy dogs; tomorrow we'll join my father for a Trout Unlimited meeting. Since the lakes are frozen but the ice is thin, it might be hard to get out ice-fishing, so I may be limited to just tying flies and doing fish art. There is always the possibility of going to the range and burning some powder, too; we've got a few options. For now, I'll leave you with some pictures. I sure will miss Washington and the people and places I've come to now and love there, but Wyoming is doing it's darnedest to make up for it.   Moody Blues...

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!

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...

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...

Laegreid Outdoors has covered squid jigging, and we've covered fly tying, so I figured, what the heck, let's mash 'em both t ogether. This was the result: Do squid like fuzzy things? This one looks highly effective. Now I don't know about the semantics, so I'm not sure if we can call these squid flies until they've been fished off of a fly line; for now they are squid jigs. Someday (when I acquire a boat) they will be fished off a 5-weight and a sink-tip, for now they'll be riding fluorocarbon into the Salish Sea.   There are a few reasons I tied these: I've had most of my squid-success on small jigs; these are smaller than my small jigs. We shall see if that makes a difference. There are some instances where fish will hold on to a lure longer if it feels more natural. Since my squid jigs were all hard plastic, these will let me find out if that holds true for squid as well. I like making weird things. So these little guys are...

There is something good about creating a physical thing. As a marketer I get to make things like mailers and posters and the like; feeling the actual object is the best part of it.  I know I've done something, it looks good, and it's in my hands. While that is a nice feeling in the workplace, it is blown out of the water by the feeling of completing a really nice fly. I've tied flies since the age of ten or eleven; my father was kind enough to show me how, and he started me off with a woolly bugger . That first night I tied some respectable flies under his guidance, and since then I've been addicted to it. Woolly Bugger The first years were good fun.  While the flies I tied with my dad were nice, the ones i tied on my own were little monstrosities.  There was no pattern, just my wee brain looking at bugs and crabs and minnows and trying to make imitations out of a box of hat-feathers and some materials filched from my dad's tying desk. They were all unique, th...