Men's Market Week in NYC

I am in NYC and have just completed five days of meeting with vendors and viewing their offerings for the Autumn/Winter 2013 season.  I saw way too much that I liked and now the hard part is to narrow down what to buy.

After arriving in NYC, I immediately took a cab over to MRket for my first meeting.  MRket is a better menswear show that is dominated by best quality suits, shirts and footwear from Italy and the UK.  Lucky for me, some casual vendors have snuck in and set up booths.  Vineyard Vines was my first appointment and we went thru the line piece by piece.  The island folks did not disappoint with some fun shirt patterns.

...and some crazy tropical camo pattern board shorts

My next meeting was with Woolrich, one of my favorite lines to view because in the last couple of seasons the company from PA has been digging thru the archives and presenting some great classic American outdoor pieces.  Founded in 1830, the company realizes that they are a great heritage brand and they have been showing me pieces that scream D&H.

Winghaven Teaser Video

     Thought you all might like to see this teaser video that our host, Russel, sent us. I enjoyed the video, especially the familiar faces. We will be heading down to Winghaven from February 14-17 to enjoy some wonderful Bobwhite quail hunting. Contact Luke or Neil with any questions at shop@bestgear.com or (513)871-3474.

Weekend Hunting

  
          Now that Christmas has passed I can get outside and do some of the things I really enjoy doing again. This time of year is a great time for me to hunt with my dad on weekends. This weekend we planned to do a combo deer/pheasant hunt at his hunt club. This weekend was part of Ohio's primitive gun season for deer.
          The temp's were a bit crisp but pretty bearable as deer hunting goes. We ended up getting a pretty late start so deer hunting became more of a novelty.
     

First Fish of 2013

   Shortly before midnight on December 31 a friend invited me to join him to fish on January 1st. I couldn't say no. After sleeping-in a bit we met near Aberdeen, Ohio to fish the warm water discharges from the Ohio power plant located there. This plant is extremely close to the Ohio river so many fish come up the creek following bait fish which are taking advantage of the warm water near the discharges. The water was a bit muddy and the scene a little eery between the overcast sky and the steam billowing off the water. But the hybrids were there and we managed to catch a few.

Christmas at Brookville

          This afternoon at around 2:00 I headed back out to Brookville to try one of  my Christmas presents, a switch rod setup. I got the new Scott T3h 8wt switch with the Sage 6000 spey reel. I was fishing about 100 yards farther downstream than I was this Sunday. I was using the same fly and caught another fish on it. When it came into my net, I discovered that I actually caught the same 22" fish that I caught on Sunday!  I also caught a smaller brown under 12" Czech-nymphing a size 18 red Copper John with heavy split-shot. Merry Christmas and good luck!

-Alex

Brookville Brown

          This morning I was able to get out to the Brookville Tailwaters right across the border in Indiana. The water was flowing at a height of 4.11 ft, but running very clear. The temperature gauge on my truck was reading 28° F when I first arrived in Brookville.  I arrived there at about 7:30 and wasted no time getting into my layers and then to the river. Despite having to pick ice off of my guides all day long, I ended up having a pretty good day.

It's time to start your Christmas shopping!

The guys at D&H are ready for a busy weekend.  The shop will be open Saturday 10-6, Sunday 11-5 and on Christmas Eve 10-4.  I just took a walk around the shop and snapped some photos to give you some ideas for your shopping adventure.