You may recognize the man pictured above from various freestyle skiing movies when he’s jumping of cliffs from all over the world, but Cody Townsend is also an avid fly-fisherman. He’s also started a really cool looking blog called The California Fly, which shows various fly patterns and recent trips he’s taken. I got the chance to meet Cody this past winter through a mutual friend at a Salomon ski party during the SIA retail show here in Denver. We talked fishing, then decided to do a small fly-swap.

Turns out this guy can tie the hell out of some flies. I felt bad for sending him my half-ass midges and streamers. Check these bad boys out:

The Hot-Head John

The Hoppicator

Not only were the flies amazing in design, there are no obvious flaws in any of them. Cody even sent me the following hand-written page detailing each fly – sorry, not going to let you blow this one up to protect intellectual rights – ha!

So, be sure to run over and visit The California Fly and add it to your RSS reader. Believe me, these flies are going to end up in a shop near you soon.

And just to close out, here’s one of my favorite videos from several years back. This guy has some screws loose skiing down some of these runs.

Cardboard Kirk after traveling to Denver - have a soda!

It’s what legends are made of – traveling the world in search of getting that fishing fix. Unfortunately, the Cardboard Kirk (aka Cardboard Unaccomplished Angler) reached me at a time of record runoff in Colorado. What could I do? I really wanted to put a fat brown in his cardboard lap, but with lame bank fishing and the risks of flooding, we just couldn’t make it happen. So, Kirk and I headed up to Vail this past weekend for a fun day at the Teva Mountain Games.

While they wouldn’t let Kirk enter the 2x Fly-Fishing competition, we got a front row seat to enjoy it. Sorry, Kirk, I had to turn you around for moment to take a shot.

We wondered around all day seeing the dog jump, mud race, bouldering, and kayak competitions. We even ran into a few famous faces who wanted a picture with you.

Hilary and Amy from Outside Media

Also, the 2x Fly-fishing finalist, Kara Armano!

Kara Armano from Backbone Media

Thanks again to Rebecca Garlock of the Outdooress and Outdoor Blogger Network for creating Kirk and sending him to Denver.

Where do you want Kirk to go next? Comment below and we’ll try to make it happen!

Other great posts on Cardboard Kirk’s travels:

Fly Fishing With a River Damsel and a Cardboard Kirk

Cardboard Kirk Retains Unaccomplished Title!

There’s the old saying “Think Globally, Act Locally”. Well, I don’t know how old it is, but I’m voting for a Communicate Globally. While to much a of chagrin from colleagues and friends, I ventured out to communicate and build a local network, while at the same time, create a global community. Looking back just a few years ago, I really didn’t know anyone locally besides my friends, my wife, her friends, their friends, and maybe a few acquaintances. Through networks we can all name in the first few guesses, there is a sense of community – both locally and globally.

First, Locally. I really didn’t know what I was doing when joining Twitter. No one does. But I found over time that just talking and letting people know you’re real built a sense of comradery. Then, there was this tweetup/meetup thing. Yeah, I was out of my element there. Didn’t think I was hip enough, smart enough, social enough – whatever. There’s also the blogging thing – wait, people are reading this?

What I learned is that you have more in common with anyone that you will ever think. It was the face-to-face interactions that built my local (and now I can call) friends. Whatever happened, I can truly say that I have friends that I’ve met through different means of media, and now hang out with on a regular basis. That’s a lot to say from an angler from Oklahoma to a web designer from New York.

But without these people, shit would not get done. People like Matt Bernier and Spotted Koi who have taken my site, modified it, and have done a great job. I wouldn’t have known them without Twitter. People like Terry Cabeen, who has designed on projects and other internal jobs, then created the logo you see above (you like?). Again, wouldn’t have known without Twitter. I can go on and on about the great local community of Denver and its talent, but what I enjoy most is meeting those I would normally have nothing in common with and going to see a crazy concert with them, and in turn, they go fishing with me. There’s no way I could name everyone. You  know who you are.

Second, Globally. Once I figured out Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter were not only useful for locals, I began to find anglers from, literally, around the globe. I’ve talked with people from Australia, to Sweden, to Chile, and crisscrossing the States. Not only sharing pictures and lies about how many fish were caught, but building that community to where I now know I have someone to fish with just about anywhere I could venture. I’ve met dozens of these people in person and have been lucky enough to get out on the river with most.

Again, all this stems from engaging with people (and no, it’s not that stupid yahoo chat shit). If you don’t talk to people on these networks, you’re truly never going to get its meaning. I’m not saying it’s for everyone, but think about it. And remember, if you dive in, just be yourself.

‘Compleat’ comes from Isaac Walton’s book, ‘The Compleat Angler’ – one of the first books written about fly-fishing in the 1600′s. I contemplated started from a small blog to becoming a small agency, but things have turned, and I realize I may be better served by going for a direct industry job rather than doing it on my own. This does make me a little sad, as I thought I had a niche, but that niche is becoming more and more internal jobs or PR companies already handling large accounts. While they may not do it as I would, I still feel I could be valuable to a company wanting to reach new levels of online marketing success.

So, I open this up to you! Do you think I’ve got a good brand? Should I re-brand and hope it succeeds? Do you have suggestions on new avenues to make this site a success?

I’ve posted a new poll on the right sidebar – please comment on this post or vote. I appreciate all my readers and value your opinion.

That’s right – a new generation of anglers are going to rock this sport.