The Tar Heel Outdoorsman

You don't need much to get out and enjoy the natural world.  Really, you don't need anything at all.  Just take a walk in the woods and breathe in that fresh air.  Having said that, a few items expand your range into nature exponentially.  A simple canoe is one of those things.   Pick one up cheap on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or even Walmart.  You don't need anything fancy.  One person can easily lift a less than 15 footer, especially made of ABS or Royalex or other light materials, and about any vehicle can carry that size boat on the roof.  

When you're doing outdoors stuff, you get dirty.  Maybe you're camping and have a few days of grime on you.  Or you've been out hiking and sweating in the sticky summertime.  Or you've been swimming at the beach, you're covered in sand.  You don't want to stink up the truck, all muddy and sandy, grit everywhere... all in the seats and stuck on the steering wheel.  Or maybe you're out deer hunting and need some pressurized water to wash off your fresh venison.  Or maybe your four legged friend decided to take a mud bath.   There's a simple DIY solution, a camp shower---a few pieces of PVC, some fittings, some basic tools, and a bike pump or air compressor are all you need.  Spray paint it black if you want some solar heat on a cool fall day in the field.  Of course, there are companies that build these things, for a few more dollars, but where's the fun in that? This REI write up was helpful, as was this, and other YouTube videos . ...

 If you've ever stumbled across any of my words online, you've probably noticed that I'm more of a fly guy.  I just love that feeling of propelling fly line through the air with the rod, feeling the bend and strength of the rod as it loads and projects the line towards your casting target.  But, occasionally, there's a time to chunk some bait.  The good news was we didn't have to leave Edenton too early.  The bite hadn't started until 9:30 in the morning or so, my buddy said.  So, thankfully, no need to wake up at the crack of dawn to make the hour or so drive to Swan Quarter.   The goal was to catch a few drum, and maybe even invite a few to dinner.  It wasn't "old drum" time of late summer, but there were still some big ones out there.  We launched Johny's Jones Brothers Cape Fisherman, idled down the canal, and jumped on a plane to get over the bar and shoaling right outside the canal.  We ran out, not too far, fishing little cov...

 "Hard hard can it be?"  After hours of YouTube videos, I thought I had this whole boat painting thing figured out.   My Jones Brothers skiff was looking a bit faded.  The 20+ year old cream/off-white gel coat was in need of some major cutting and buffing, and there were some cracks and gouges and an errant screw hole for a swim ladder only filled in with silicon sealant.  Just the conditioning and buffing would be a major undertaking.  On top of that my ablative bottom paint, that wears off on its own, that I'd done myself, was starting to look rough.   Then, I'd stumbled across a picture on Facebook, of someone who'd painted the same hull as mine with the Alexseal brand topside paint with their "roll" additive, which smooths out the paint after rolling it onto a surface.  I was mesmerized with the pictures online, drawn to doom scrolling online forums like Hull Truth, and others.  It looked too good to be true.  As anyone who...

Got some words printed in the recent March/April 2025 issue of Tail Fly Fishing Magazine , "the voice of saltwater fly fishing."  Go pick up a copy online or in print at your local fly shop, if it's "salty" enough.  

It was fall in the foothills.  It was dry and clear and the sweet-cool of the morning refreshed you.  Cool, but not cold.  A good fall day.   I'd loaded up the canoe from the coast and headed west to the in-laws' place, on the banks of the Yadkin River, outside of Winston-Salem.   There's something about a smallmouth bass on a fly rod.  Maybe it's the strength of the fish, the strength of their pull against the current.  Or maybe it's because they're the fish that really taught me about fly fishing.  My original fly fishing quarry.  In all honesty, smallmouth caught me, not the other way around, back on the banks of Rapidan River in Virginia.  I've been hooked ever since.   I met a man once, while trout fishing in the mountains, who claimed the Yadkin held the best smallie fishing in North Carolina.  Better than the New River, even the French Broad.  Maybe not in numbers, but in size.  I'll be honest, I...

Around Wrightsville Beach and Figure Eight Island, they always said you couldn't catch fish off the docks on artificial bait.  Those fish just see so much thrown at them, they said.  It was live or cut bait only, preferably live.   I've found that not to be the case.  Especially for big flounder and the occasional drum or trout.  And if you enjoy the active experience of trying to manipulate a bait with a rod and reel to try and trick a fish, fishing artificial bait is the way to go.  If there's a flounder season this year in North Carolina, give it a shot.   At least for the fish by the docks around the Wrightsville/Figure Eight areas, here's my playbook.  White soft-plastic baits , preferably scented, on a jig head that's going to sink quickly enough and stay at the bottom, depending on where you're fishing.  Cast close to the dock, bump the bait off the bottom, retrieve slowly.   The flat fish seem to like white baits,...