Phil and I continued our “50 places to fish near Portland” journey through Spring, Summer and early into Fall.  We crossed Blue Lake from the list and ventured to Cullaby Lake on the coast.

I also added the following to my arsenal:

Shimano Curado Low Profile Baitcast Reels

Shakespeare Ugly Stik Casting Rods

Abu Garcia Black Max/Vengeance Baitcast Combo

Spiderwire Waist Pack

Here are a few photos from our trips:

On one of our last outings of the year to Hagg Lake Phil hooked into a 5+ pound monster (pictured above).  Way to go Phil!  Great ending to 2012 season.

After nearly a four year hiatus I have returned to one of my favorite hobbies: bass fishing.  I’ve been attempting to catch anything that swims since I was old enough to wrangle a fishing pole.  I learned the trade from my father and have been crafting the art ever since.

While I was at the University of Oregon I was one of the founding members of the University’s bass fishing team which we established as a recognized club sport.  Although a much bigger deal today, it was still a really great thing to be a part of.

Upon graduation I moved to Portland where I began my professional career and consequently lost touch with all of my bass buddies.  My love for the sport never wavered but without anyone to share my passion, coupled with my lack of knowledge for local fisheries, my collection of rods and tackle ended up in storage amassing too many years of dust.

Through random conversation with my friend Phil, I recently discovered his desire to try his hand at bass fishing.  Now that I found a buddy I just needed somewhere to go!  Through the power of Google and thanks to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife I was able to uncover this invaluable piece of information: 50 places to fish near Portland

After purchasing new gear and dusting off my existing equipment I was prepared to dive back in.  See some of my purchases listed below:

Berkley Powerbait Tackle Bag

Shimano Citica Low-Profile Reel (actually purchased from Bi-Mart)

Berkley Amp Rod

Quantum Nitrous Rod and Low-Profile Reel Combo (rod not pictured)

The stars aligned, my fire has been re-lit and my fever is more severe than ever before.  In just a few short weeks Phil and I have been to Hagg Lake, Bethany Pond, St. Louis Ponds and Wilsonville Pond.  We haven’t had as much success as we would like but we are diligently navigating and learning the landscape.

Our recent excursions have reminded me how fickle bass are and how difficult they are to catch which is a large part of the appeal.  We will continue to work our way through the list of 50 places (with bass).  Wish us luck!  Stay tuned to monitor our progress.

Last weekend the University of Oregon football program hosted their annual Spring Game and seven former players were selected by NFL teams.  Draft info listed below:

Round    Overall Pick              Name                      Team        Position

2                 61             LaMichael James              49ers            RB

5                155               Josh Kaddu                  Dolphins          LB

6                178               Mark Asper                    Bills               G

7                240               David Paulson              Steelers           TE

Players not drafted but picked up included Cliff Harris (Philadelphia), Eddie Pleasant (Houston) and Lavasier Tuinei (Seattle).

Oregon fans in Eugene, with three non-perishable food items each, who took a break from the draft (or monitored it on their cell phones like me) made the trek to Autzen stadium; the place where it only rains touchdowns.  Fortunately that held true on a clear and sunny Saturday.  The event was a huge success because Oregon honored the US military, donated over 72,500 pounds of food to FOOD for Lane County and put on a show for a record spring game crowd of over 44,000.   According to Yahoo! Sports UO attracted more fans than the combined spring game attendance of USC, Cal, Stanford, Washington and Arizona.  Impressive.

The match up featured Mighty Oregon (the light team) led by Redshirt Freshman Marcus Mariota against the Fighting Ducks (dark team) led by Sophomore Bryan Bennett.  In his debut, Marcus definitely lived up to the hype coming out of Eugene (even with closed practices) and looked like he did in his high school highlight reel.  Mariota completed 18 of 26 passes for 202 yards and a touchdown, in addition to rushing for 99 yards and two scores compared to Bennett, who completed 19 of 32 passes for 209 yards and a TD.  The highlight of the game was when Mariota faked the option pitch and took it 82 yards to the house, untouched, while out running both the corner and the safety.

What was even more impressive than his outstanding play was his perceived calmness, maturity, command of the offense, humility and leadership.  After every series he was high fiving or shaking hands with his teammates on the sideline.  This is good news for Oregon fans after the surprise departure of QB Darron Thomas.  You can’t draw too many conclusions from just one spring game but from what I have seen so far I am confident the Oregon faithful will be in good hands.  In the end, Mariota led Mighty Oregon to a 41-14 victory.  I can once again wear number eight with pride.

For the last few years Chip has dedicated the game to the US Armed Forces.  To kick of the action two jets screamed by over the gathered crowd, at half time Chip was presented with an American flag and then a US coast guard helicopter made a pass over the stadium.  When the game was over the players met members of the military at mid-field where they handed over their jerseys as souvenirs and small tokens of their gratitude.  Check out the videos of the action below:

Game Highlights:

Jets Flyover:

Flag Presentation and Coast Guard Chopper Flyover:

Jersey Exchange:

Of course while I was in Eugene I made time for Burrito Boy, Hodge Podge and Brails.  I can’t wait for the season opener on September first.  Go Ducks!

Today Nike became the official apparel provider for the NFL and unveiled new uniforms for all 32 teams.  This historic day marks a new five year deal between Nike and the NFL and ends a 10 year run by Reebok.  According to ESPN, Nike spent $1.1 Billion (nearly double the recent largest Mega Millions lottery drawing in history) on the deal compared to the $250 million Reebok paid.  Needless to say it was more than just a fashion show.

For people like me today was pretty much a holiday, marked on the calendar months in advance, but for most it was just another day at the office.  A lot is being said about the uniforms but I must say it was exactly what I expected.  Nike did a supreme job of integrating the most advanced technologies while remaining true to the traditional team brands (with the exception of the Seahawks).  Of course they had to add a little flare to at least one of the designs.  As an Oregon fan who is accustomed to a tradition of innovation I really appreciated the neon, wings and twelfth man tribute on Seattle’s new look.  Walter Thurmond III is no stranger to unique uni’s.  I am sure he will feel right at home in his new fit.

Love or hate them you can’t deny that Nike is very good at getting people’s attention.  Now that we are all tuned in what’s next?

The jerseys are supposed to be available for pre-sale on April 15 and in stores on April 26. Some Nike apparel is already available at nflshop.com.

If Noah’s on court performance and the Bulls’ loss the other night weren’t embarrassing enough, Joakim definitely brought shame to his team, family, fans, city and the NBA when he directed an anti-gay slur at a fan.  This incident comes just a month after Kobe Bryant shouted a similar slur at a referee.  Both were caught on camera but the difference is Kobe was fined $100,000 and Noah $50,000.  The message to players: if you are going to lose your cool and give up your dignity make sure it is directed toward a fan and not a referee.  Does the NBA care more about it’s  employees than fans?  I wonder what Artest’s fate would have been had he gone after a referee  instead of jumping into the stands to confront a fan?

On the surface it seems like a double standard but adding insult to injury a $100,000 fine for Kobe was only .4% of his salary and the $50,000 fine for Noah was a whopping 1.6%.  It looks like Noah’s fine made a bigger financial impact (the difference between a salary of nearly $25 million and roughly $3.1 million).  I commend Mr. Stern for taking decisive and swift action on these incidents.  Behavior like this should not be tolerated in the NBA or anywhere.

Stern must be fuming that this latest incident comes shortly after the NBA’s debut of Think B4 You Speak PSA:

Noah losing it:

Oh yeah and in other but somewhat related news James Harden deserves a fine for his offensive “Fisher flop”: