10 years ago … it all began
10 years ago on March 1st, 2009 …
The very first CastingAround post was on March 1st, 2009. The picture above is a collage with some photos from that first year. My first post wasn’t much – just a test really. A “hey I’m here” kind of thing. With that simple post I took the first step along a path. I did not know where the path would go. I really had no expectations and it’s really hard now to even imagine why I thought I should start a fly fishing blog. I’d venture that the Dunning-Kruger effect may have played a role (here’s a nicely animate video from Ted-ED about that). It’s tempting to go back and edit out some posts from the last 10 years … but I am resisting.
I’m not going to get too nostalgic and sappy now— though I do reserve the right to do so later. But the truth is by starting a blog I began a walk down a path that led to unexpected places.
I got to know people that I would never have known. I am not going to mention any names here – for fear of leaving somebody out. But you all know who you are. And I just want to say thanks for the chats, and laughs and good times and the sense of community.
I went places and did things that I would never have done (public speaking was certainly not in the plan, or tying flies in Arkansas while people watched or starting a business or having photos and poems published in fly fishing magazines … )
In short it was one of those things that changed the trajectory of my life as silly as that may sound.
You want some free stuff?
So in honor of 10 years behind the wheel of CastingAround I thought some giveaways might be in order. I asked some friends in the business if they would like to donate some items to giveaway in the month of March to help me celebrate and I got some great responses.
As of now I have 4 giveaways planned in March and there are a few others that might still come through.
I’ll start announcing these giveaways on March 1st.
If you want to make sure you don’t miss any announcements click on the button below and subscribe to CastingAround and you’ll get an email whenever I make new blog posts.
Congrats on 10 years! I think the first Casting Around post I ever read was the one about you catching a creek chub on one of your first tenkara outings… back when we were all scouring the internet for any tenkara-themed content we could find, had to be 2009 as well.
Thanks Mike – yeah that creek chub was in 2009 … Looking back I remember how ungainly and difficult tenkara was to me at the time. That 12 foot rod on that small stream was nearly impossible to manage – but wow how things have changed. I guess it’s good to remember that when speaking to new or potential tenkara anglers – though tenkara is inherently simple – there is some getting used to it.
Ten year congratulations! How nice to make available “free stuff”. My favorite post out there for tenkara.
Anthony … a well deserved congratulations! I’ve gotten to know you over the years as a friend and always appreciate your unique perspectives–not just on fishing–but life, art, music, philosophy. I still can’t believe that we’ve known each other this long and haven’t fished together. We need to make it a point to fix that. Kudos my friend.
Thanks Jason – and back at you.
Though we did fish together once in RMNP after the summit in UT. Granted you did shoot way ahead upstream so … not “together” so much as in the same area code