The Culvert selects the best ____________ of the year!

How does he do it?  He always carries a ______________, that's how!!!

The coming of fall is always bittersweet, since it means the close of much of the best fishing of the year.  But fall is also when we here at The Culvert review products, just in time for your holiday shopping! Stay tuned for unbiased reviews on the latest and greatest products to hit the shelves in 2011, and get a jump on 2012.  We don't sugarcoat anything here at The Culvert, least of all our reviews.  In fact, while we haven't yet decided what products to review, we've already written the unbiased review itself, and as soon as the products start rolling into the central office, we'll be on the water testing 'em !  Read on...

We all have one - that favorite hat, or pair of slippers - that thing which is perfect, and made so because it has grown with us, over time.  So much so, in fact, that it's hard to say where we stop, and it begins. The problem, of course, is that these things never start that way.  That kind of perfect comes only with time…or does it? Had you told us that the wait was over, we wouldn't have believed it, until now.  But it's true, and it's our hope that you won't just take our word for it.  Until then, our word will have to suffice.  

Perhaps on occasion, somebody pulls a fast one on English Jonny.  Sometimes ol' Brayshaw gets bamboozled.  But it's a rare product, indeed, that can impress us both.  But with ________________ we have both found our "perfect pair of slippers", and despite our differing shoes sizes, we both agreed that ________________ "fit" perfectly, right from the start.

The first thing we noticed, the moment we took _________________ out of the box, was the exquisite craftsmanship.  No, it's not often that one describes ________________ in terms normally reserved for a Stradavarius, but then again, the ___________________ from ___________________ is simply no ordinary _____________________.  Is this sort of attention to detail necessary?  No, probably not.  Certainly not if one's goal is simply to catch fish.  But with ________________,  catching fish becomes an experience.

And catch fish we did. The _______________ is a work of art, for sure.  But it's more than that. From the moment we reached the water, the ________________ from _________________ performed flawlessly. Jonny netted the largest fish of the season moments after our arrival at the water's edge, and while the crowd came to see his fish, it was the __________________ that drew all of the "oohs" and "ahhhs".  Could he have caught that fish without his _________________?  Not likely, and everybody knew it.  But there wasn't enough gold in Fort Knox to make Jonny part with his new _________________, such was his admiration.

Not to put to fine a point on the matter, but the _______________ is simply the last __________________ you will ever need to buy.  Do you need it to catch fish?  Maybe not. Do you need it to look good?  Maybe not.  

But we see no reason why, at a reasonable $ __, ______, you can't do both.

Our future. Your future. The future.

During a recent Executive Council meeting, the staff discussed the nature of The Angler's Culvert (hereafter referred to as T.A.C., or sometimes simply TAC, or sometimes just The Culvert, or sometimes just "this place", or "here"), how far we'd come, and where we hope to be a few days or even weeks into the future. With barely concealed howls of laughter, we lauded ourselves on our efforts, and successes, at presenting largely "original content", something we feel is largely lacking in the fly fishing sphere of blogs (hereafter referred to as "the blogosphere").

Now, having despite all that, I'd like to point our readers to an important study, published some time ago by somebody else, but that never received the important attention it deserved. We, here, have used the results of the study in our own efforts to tailor this place, but it's important reading for anybody who cares about fly fishing, its future, and, dare I say, our future as human beings. Yes, it's that important.

Please read it.

http://lowbrowangler.com/blog/?p=595

A Special Reading

Although we here at the Culvert like to have fun now and again, we're not philistines. Please join us for a special installment of "English Jonny Reads the Masters", our multi-part series on the great literature of fly fishing.

Acarpolips Now

This is the last carp video of the season. I sat on this footage awhile, hoping something better would come along that I could add to it. Never did, so here it is.

Required Reading

Russell Chatham said somewhere that Roderick Haig-Brown ought to be required reading for all students.  I was reminded of this recently when I came across this passage from his book "A River Never Sleeps", first published over 60 years ago:

That is all.