The Middle River Group, LLC

fly fishing, conservation and politics.

tenkara, conservation, communications, politics

Key grip and trout wrangler at the Middle River Group, LLC. Playing Doc Holliday to the Wyatt Earps of the fish and wildlife conservation world. Deputy Director, Marine Fish Conservation Network. Guide and instructor, Mossy Creek Fly Fishing. Freelance outdoor writer.

Updated: The Sporty Mossy Creek Fly Fishing Hat Road Trip

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Dusty and my hat have returned to Virginia and my hat should be firmly in place for the upcoming pirate fest on the James (a story yet to be told…) Here is an update the chronicles the adventures since the original post on 23July.

Dusty kept the hat busy while it was out west and here are some more images from the adventures. The captions are his Facebook posts.

23July: Normally I’m pretty good about keeping track of my stuff, especially if it is a) essential gear and b) a prop for Instagrams. Last month while on a scouting trip I left my favorite Mossy Creek Fly Fishing hat in Dusty‘s truck. No biggie at the time as I was planning to guide with him a few days later and could grab my favorite lid then. Well that didn’t work out as planned and the hat wound up going out west for a solo adventure. Dusty has been good enough to post some photos of the hat’s adventures.

And if you are really late to the party and don’t know what all the celebrating was about then read this from the TU Blog and this from the Orvis Blog. You can watch the Blood Knot Trailer in my post The Tie That Binds.

By the Book – Mentoring

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The MSU Fly Gals network is very near and dear to my heart, so when the god father of the group, Bill Taylor, asks for help I happily offer my assistance. In this case Bill asked if I would co-author a chapter in a book about mentoring. Bill wanted to include the Fly Gals program in the book because it has become a rather unique mentoring experience for the participants.

I am a leadership and mentoring geek so this was both and interesting and exciting assignment. I enlisted Kerryann Weaver, one of the early participant in the MSU Fly Gals program, to be the co-author. Kerry and I took a Socratic approach to our chapter and wrote it very conversationally. We hoped it would make for both entertaining and informative reading. Kerry not only contributed to our chapter, she handled all interaction with the editorial team, keeping our contribution to the book on track!

The American Fisheries Society published Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals, in July. Our chapter, Fly-Fishing for the Future: How the Michigan State University Fly Gals Are Mentoring Future Conservation Leaders is in the Leadership in Practice section.

future-of-fisheries-thumb-copy

Future of Fisheries contain 70 mentoring pieces from a vast array of fisheries professionals. The vignettes as they are called, offer a wide variety of personal “lessons learned” and insights into emerging challenges. The book is a handy reference tool to what has worked, creative problem solving and a look into the future.

From the AFS website:

Future of Fisheries: Perspectives for Emerging Professionals contains more than 70 short mentoring
vignettes on past experiences and visions for the future authored by many notable mentors from the fisheries field. The volume is intended to inspire and empower the next generation of fisheries professionals with advice from seasoned professionals by providing personal “lessons learned” and insights from the topics that most influenced their illustrious careers while also addressing the most urgent issues on the horizon for fisheries.

Like having a mentor on hand at the turn of a page, this book bridges a vital gap in our field by using the unique structure of mentoring vignettes to advise young fisheries professionals on how to achieve success as a fisheries professional and on what concepts will be relevant and important for the future of the fisheries profession.”

I am thrilled to have contributed to this project and look forward to reading and sharing the many other excellent insights in the book. If you are interested in fish, fishing and mentoring I think you will find this book a worthy addition to your bookshelf.

The Reel Case for Tenkara

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Earlier this month I traveled to the International Fly Tackle Dealer show (IFTD), the fly fishing industry’s trade show in Orlando, Florida. There is a virtual smorgasbord of fly fishing gear at the show and much has been and will be written about that.

However, one item caught my attention and appealed to my tenkara loving ways.

Dan Rice at Bozeman Reel Company got my attention when he showed me what they had done to the reel case they include with every reel they sell.

First Dan showed me how they had put a series of small holes in the bottom and a some stretch fabric in the top flap to aid in air circulation. They added a space on the label so you can mark the line weight.

Bozeman Reel Case closed Bozeman Reel Case open

Then Dan pointed out two pieces of velco inside the top flap and a band of elastic fabric inside the main section of the case. He pulled the top flap under his belt, securing it with the velco and the reel case now had a higher purpose; a beer holder!

Genius!

Of course, I immediately saw this as essential tenkara gear. You may not need a reel but a Bozeman Reel case is a whole other matter…

Blood Knot Wins Big at The Drake Film Awards

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One of the annual highlights of IFTD, the fly fishing trade show, is The Drake Film Awards. This was the 9th annual awards show and an especially exciting night was in store for Mossy Creek Fly Fishing and TwoFisted Heart Productions as Blood Knot took two awards in front of a audience of fly fishing industry pros.

As Brian and Colby said “it was pretty exciting to have Blood Knot get included in F3T, then get nominations in The Drake Film Awards, but none of us expected this…”

Brian and Colby Trow accept the award for Best Freshwater Movie at the 2014 Drake Film Awards
Brian and Colby Trow accept the award for Best Freshwater Movie at the 2014 Drake Film Awards

Colby’s post on Facebook captured the gratitude in winning the award, “Unreal. Overwhelmed. Utterly blown away. Thanks to everyone who supported the film. Nick and Kami Swingle Ladson Webb, Two TwoFisted Heart Productions for creating this film! Tom Sadler for getting us all mixed up in the industry. The Orvis Company, Tenkara USA, Art Webb with BCF, Virginia Tourism, and of course the lovely wives that put up with our shenanigans. Best Freshwater Film? Seriously. Thanks Tom Bie , The Drake Magazine, and F3T!”

Still pumped from the previous honor, the night got even more fantastic when they were called back to the stage!!!

Best Movie
Brian and Colby Trow accept the award for Best Movie of the Year at the 2014 Drake Film Awards

Colby on Facebook again, “BLOWN AWAY! We have no words. Thanks to everyone who has believed in our shop and guides. Nick Swingle Kami Swingle Ladson – We need to PARTY!!! The Drake Magazine Thanks for the love. Best Film…..really? This is insane. Party time!”

Then the smiles really broke out!

Brian and Colby show their appreciation to Tom Bie, The Drake's editor.
Brian and Colby show their appreciation to Tom Bie, The Drake’s editor.

 

There are two special people that make the video magic that is Blood Knot happen. Kami and Nick Swingle of TwoFisted Heart Productions are the brains behind the scenes and the camera that make it all come together. Colby and Brian shared the awards with Nick and Kami -fittingly on the banks of Mossy Creek, last Sunday.

Swingle Trow Trophys
Brian and Colby share The Drake Film awards with Kami and Nick Swingle. Photo by TwoFisted Heart Productions.

 

Stewardship and Mentoring

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FROM THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S BLOG

With Virginia Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward. Photo by Marie Majarov

One of the exciting things about being OWAA’s executive director is the chance to visit with other outdoor communicators.Recently I had the chance to attend the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association’s annual meeting. Here are a couple of highlights.

Virginia’s new Secretary of Natural Resources Molly Ward gave the keynote at the conference. We had a chance to visit and talk about the stewardship of our natural resources and the importance of outdoor recreation to Virginia’s economy. Encouraging the public enjoyment and conservation of natural resources is part of OWAA’s mission and having the chance to tell Secretary Ward about how important OWAA members and supporters are that effort was time well spent.

The Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, like OWAA, has an excellence in craft contest. Matt Reilly, an OWAA student member, was one of the winners. The cool thing about Matt was he was also a winner of Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development essay contest and went to Washington D.C. to meet the Secretary of Interior Sally Jewell. According to SFRED, “Jewell has said that engaging young people in conservation and nurturing their connection to the outdoors are critical to the health, economic and social benefits of conserving our public lands.” (http://sfred.org/media-center/news/youths-interior-secretary-talk-public-lands)

Sitting on the couches, from left, are Haley Powell, Rebecca Brown, Sally Jewell, Matthew Reilly and Jarred Kay. Photo by Tami A. Heilemann/DOI

Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development is a coalition dedicated to conserving irreplaceable habitats so future generations can hunt and fish on America’s public lands. The coalition is led by the National Wildlife Federation, Trout Unlimited and the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, all OWAA supporting groups.

Part of the OWAA mission is being mentors for the next generation of professional outdoor communicators. That part of our mission is critical to our future. I think you will agree the Virginia Outdoor Writers Association, Sportsmen For Responsible Energy Development, and Secretary Jewell are doing a great job with that one.

 

The Executive Director Blog on OWAA.org

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As OWAA’s executive director I feel strongly about staying in touch with our members and supporters. Hearing from them helps make OWAA stronger. In order to help do that I started the Executive Director’s Blog on OWAA’s . The purpose is to share things about OWAA that will promote even more interaction with OWAA’s members and supporters.

The blog is on the public section of the OWAA website. I did that so I can also communicate with folks who do not belong to OWAA. I hope you enjoy it and take the opportunity to engage me and the HQ team.