New beginnings...

As "Crik" has stated, its been a while since the CTD crew has did much posting on the blog. We have all been busy with other "activities". Chris and Donny spent the fall and winter in the tree-stand chasing the ol' white-tail deer. Cole spent most of the winter at the vise, perfecting his craft of tying flies, filling his fly boxes as fast he could. My excuse? Well, I was doing the only thing in the world that will make me put away the fly rods...waterfowl hunting. Its whole another addiction in its own right, I spent every weekend somewhere, trying to shoot my share of ducks. We had a great season to say the least.

With the new year comes new beginnings for my favorite addiction. Hunting gear is stored away and the fishing gear is pulled outta the closet. I spent most of a Saturday sorting out gear, throwing away old tippet, cleaning fly lines, and tying flies to fill the voids in my fly boxes. It was good to get everything in order and ready for the first outing of the year.

Sadly, it took several weeks before I could get out on the water due to various reasons. Finally, on a Sunday afternoon last weekend, I escaped to the Lower Illinois with Crik and DonnyB to chase some trout. Anxious couldn't even begin to describe how I was feelin as we walked down to the river from the parking lot. I literally wanted to sprint to the water, I couldn't stand it. We walked downstream till we got to one of our favorite stretches of water and went to work. It took a little bit to knock the cobwebs off on my end, but it wasn't long before I had a bent rod and big smile on my face. The first trout of 2011 slid into the net and you woulda thought it was my 1st fish ever. Life had came full circle and I was back to doing what I loved.

With the new year also comes plans for upcoming trips. As I'm writing this, the crew and I just returned from the White River in Arkansas. There will be a more in-depth write-up on this trip very soon. Talks of other trips to come have already come about as a trip to the Lower Mountain Fork is planned, the annual April trip to the Current is not far away, the pursuit of Oklahoma chrome is just around the corner and I have a father/son trip planned to chase redfish in the Louisana Delta.

This is going to be a good year for fishing I hope. I can't wait to get going and get on the water. I'm excited to say the least. It's time to feed the addiction and chase the dream...