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What is your favorite outdoor activity?

I enjoy fresh water fishing. I target bass mostly and I enjoy fly fishing for trout and bass.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan on December 16, 2008 at 7:17pm

Deep sea is my bailiwick.
Salwater makes me happy.

Though I will occasionally go for fresh water, just to appease my friends. lol

Permalink Reply by Joseph R. on December 17, 2008 at 8:59am

I live and work on the East coast and I have yet to fish salt water. I love bass fishing and fly fishing for any fresh water species.

Permalink Reply by Joseph R. on December 19, 2008 at 8:50am

I enjoy hiking as well. Living here in NC, on occasion my son and I go on day hikes on the Appalachian Trail.

Permalink Reply by Paul Tidroski on February 14, 2009 at 9:48pm

Mine is fly fishing for trout in a Montana river or a mountain stream in North Carolina. It's about the closest I get to a spiritual experience.

Permalink Reply by Joseph R. on February 15, 2009 at 6:26pm

@Paul
That's a good looking fly you have on your page. I was just curious, what make and model of vice do you use. I broke one recently and am still waiting on the new Peak vice that I ordered to be delivered.

Permalink Reply by Paul Tidroski on February 16, 2009 at 2:50pm

The vise I use is a Waldron, sometimes referred to as a LAW it is handmade in England. The Peak is a very popular vise, I know a couple of people who have one and they are very happy with it.

Where do you live in NC? I have a place in Cashiers.

Permalink Reply by Joseph R. on February 16, 2009 at 7:25pm

I live in a rural area near the tiny town of Deep Run. It's in eastern NC about 35 miles south of Greenville, NC.

Permalink Reply by Little Name Atheist on May 17, 2010 at 4:58pm

Not sure I have a favorite.

Fishing: When I was a kid, everyone I knew fished.. I grew up on a farm with a pond, so fished for bluegill and large-mouthed bass, mostly. We were poor for a bit, so supplemented our protein at meals with fish. Used to throw some of the bluegill out for my cats. This made me very popular with the feline crowd. Haven't been fishing since I was a kid. Started out with a bamboo pole, and then worked my way up to a rod and reel with a push button, possibly Zebco? I even made lures with my Creepy Crawler kit. Would go fishing again if someone would teach me how to clean fish.

Mushroom hunting: Also, when I was a kid, my family would take me out morel hunting. My grandma called them "musheroons". The reason it was important for me to go too is that I always found some, even when the adults came up empty-handed. I didn't know they were called morels until I was an adult, and someone was going on about them as a gourmet dish.

Kite flying: Love kite flying. Haven't in about five years.

Camping: Used to camp a lot, the kind where you hike in with everything on your back. I'm not keen on crowded campgrounds. Not sure I can do it now... maybe a season of gardening will strengthen my back enough. Have visited many national forests.

Horseback riding: Also, when I was a kid, we had a few horses. I used to trail ride. Showed horses for a while, western style. My mom was a ring-side mother, like a stage-door mother.. I think I would have never shown horses if it wasn't for her. I was happy just riding around our farm.

Hiking: I'm more of a meanderer than a Point A to Point B person. I could be very frustrating for driven folks. Once again, I don't do as much as I used to. Hopefully I can get my back up to speed again. I'm more likely to carry a book on plant, bird, or tree identification than to try to cover a lot of ground.

Canoeing: Love it. Haven't in a long time. Is anyone detecting a theme yet? Got to canoe in the Florida Keys on a full moon night. Probably my favorite canoe adventure, ever. Oh, then there was the scary trip, canoeing on some lake in Florida full of alligators. The farther apart their eyes are, the bigger they are. When we saw the really big one, we got out... fast.

Berry picking: Grew up picking wild blackberries and elderberries. Was thrilled to pick blueberries standing waist deep in a lake in Maine. The bushes hung over the water. That's also where I saw my first loon.

Sledding. We have a hill just big enough outside our home. Reckoned I'd break my old Flexible Flyer (have had it since I was a kid), so went down on cardboard. It worked, and was fun!

Birding: Like everything, I'm not driven. I have some binoculars, and a couple of bird books. Mostly, I see birds at my bird feeder, but occasionally I'm out and about. We live just west of a migratory route in Vermont, so we get big flocks of blackbirds in the spring and fall. An Eastern Bluebird has started nesting nearby, but it ends up on our deck railing a few times a day. Probably the most impressive sight I saw was a huge flock of wild turkeys. I had to stop the car to let them pass. There were at least 15, possibly more. I was too gobsmacked to count.

Snorkeling: I got to snorkel off a coral reef in Hawai'i, once upon a time. This could be close to being my favorite thing.

Sailing: I've only been four times. I'd love to learn. Felt right at home. Possibly close to being my second-favorite thing.

Snowshoeing: Only did it two winters, when I was living with someone who had an extra pair. I need to get a pair, as once I learned how not to trip over myself, it was fun.

Gardening: Probably the first thing I ever planted on my own were morning glories (Heavenly Blue) when I was about 10 or 11. My family all used to garden, even when they lived in town. Everyone had at least tomato plants in their yard. I didn't eat green beans for years because I was traumatized by having to sit for hours snapping beans so my mom could can them.

Photography: Probably 80% of the photos I take are outdoors. When the Northern Blazing Star is blooming on the Kennebunk Plains in Maine, Monarch butterflies are feeding, and wild blueberries are ripe.

Waterfalls: I used to go looking for waterfalls with a friend in Vermont. Found one where two people can wedge themselves behind it, sitting. Another thing I haven't done in a long time.

Permalink Reply by Kellesta Jones on June 15, 2010 at 7:35pm