Came back this morning from a one night backpacking trip. I tested two new purchases. The Swedish Bacho Laplander saw and the Hultafors Classic camping axe. The axe is very lightweight roughly 1.25 lbs and about 10" in length. It's great for carving or light campfire duties. The saw is awesome with a safety mechanism in form of a button. High quality Swedish steel and it's twice as fast in cutting as my previous saw Coghlan. The blade is very stable and has no give to speak of. Both items are very high quality from Sweden and will last a long time if taken proper care of.

Hensley Settlement, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park

The Hensley Settlement on top of Cumberland Mountain in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park in KY. November 12, 2011

South Holston River, TN October 8, 2011

Landing a 14" South Holston Brown right after I lost a bigger one.
Photo: N. White

Southeast's Best Fly Fishing by James Buice

Southeast's Best Fly Fishing, by James Buice is absolutely the best book on the subject if you are new to to area or just want to visit. It's also good as entertainment for all of you who already own a lot of the books dealing with this area. It has superb photos and a lot of detailed access information as well as fly recipes etc. Highly recommended.

Karin Alvtegen " En Sannolik Historia"

Karin Alvtegen's latest "A probable story" is probably her best ever. It's a departure from her usual psychological thrillers with murders and deceit. This time is family drama but not in the conventional sense. It's a suspense of a different order. It makes you think about your life and circumstances and yes for many readers, it will be a look in the mirror. Highly recommended. Her earlier books are out in English but I'm not sure if this one is translated yet. Highly recommended reading.

Karelia Vacation: Aug/Sept 2011

Koli National Park Northern Karelia, Finland. View overlooking lake Pielinen.

Grayling from Ruuna River, Northern Karelia, Finland.

Tiggy Ahlstedt 1997-2011

Bob Ahlstedt 1998-2010

Clyde Ahlstedt 1997-2010

A long time since I wrote anything on here

It's been a long time. A lot of things have happened but I really got burned out about ten months ago. Facebook became a better communication tool for me and I frankly ran out of things to say on the blog. I'm going to to a soft start again but I doubt I will be as active as I was last time. I will however try to update more often than every ten months. Thanks if you are still reading my blog and I will have more later in to the fall. I'm going on a vacation soon so there will be some pictures then.

Thanks,

Date Night

This movie has two actors/entertainers I usually like and respect. Tina Fey and Steve Carell. They just don't pull it off in this dud. It has it' funny parts but most of the time I found myself thinking, it's overdone or it's not funny when it was supposed to. I think your evening could be spent better on a real date instead of this dreadful movie. 2 out of 5.

Sand Cave, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Revisited

Sand Cave, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, October 30, 2010.

Fern Lake, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, KY, October 30, 2010

Sand Cave, Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, KY. October 30, 2010.

Did an eight mile round trip hike today with a coworker and her husband. We started out bright and early and I really felt it in my body. I wasn't as out of shape as I feared though. The weather was great and the park was peaceful. We stopped at the visitor center as my friend had never been to this park before. I really love this park, and it is so much less crowded than the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

I did squeeze in one more day of fishing. Did Metcalf Bottoms this afternoon, (Sunday). Winter is soon coming to the mountains. The water temp is barely 50 and the leaves are off the trees for the most part. I probably will hang up my gear for a while. I might do a Hiwassee trip now and then if the weather cooperate. Time to do housework, maintenance around the house and some hiking.

Little River, TN

13 " Brown from above the sinks on Little River

Went back to the Great Smoky Mountains national park after a very long hiatus. I just don't fish it as often as I used to. Too much water and not enough time if you know what I mean. This brown took on a gray czech nymph in a deep run. I fished for about four hours above the sinks area on Little River and it was a very nice afternoon. The water was very cold and I managed to fall in twice. Luckily I didn't loose or brake anything. Talked to Paula, Byron and Daniel plus a gentleman at the counter, who was a new face to me. All in all a very nice day, winter is fast approaching in the mountains and dark comes early though.

9th Annual Elton John Aids Foundation Auction and Gala Dinner, NYC Oct 18, 2010

Lisa Ahlstedt, Elton John and myself (Hans Ahlstedt) at the 9th annual Elton John Aids Foundation dinner and auction event. Cipriani at wall street New York City October 18th, 2010.

Hiwassee and Newbie day with TU

I had decided to donate a few things to Athens TU, and I thought the monthly newbie day they conduct on the second Saturday of each month was a good way to get down there to hand the stuff over. I fished a couple of hours in the morning above Big Bend and caught three small bows. Went to the event at 10 and had a nice visit with some old and new friends. Ate a hot dog lunch with the TU folks and then I headed upstream with Buzz McManus, for some fishing above the powerhouse. It is mainly small mouth and sunfish, perch, etc water up there, but in the cooler months trout do move up there when the water temp from the flume gets marginal for trout. It was 62 up on the river and 68 from the discharge. Buzz and I fished for an hour or more and I caught two rainbows and he did about the same. The obligatory shiners and horny heads were also present. Buzz even landed a bluegill. I saw some perch that I spooked and Buzz had a small mouth attacking his fly at one time. The river is very nice up that way, and I will definitely revisit at a later date.

I haven't fished for two weekends since I got back from NM. I stopped at Tellico DH yesterday and caught three rainbows in the 11" bracket. Lost one somewhat larger. The flow was pretty good bu the fish has not spread out yet.

Decided to go to South Holston to see Neal White who was camping up there. We fished the morning and in to the afternoon. I was a quarter a mile downstream of him most of the day. The sulphurs were coming off fairly heavy around 1 pm to 3 pm. The morning was all midges. I caught two 14' browns and many smaller ones. Only a handful of rainbows came to hand today. A gorgeous day on a gorgeous river. Oh I almost forgot, I ran in to Mr. Hugh Hartsell today. I was glad to see him on the river again.

Den Orolige Mannen by Henning Mankell

This book is probably not out in the U.S yet, but it's the final installment (so he says) of Henning Mankell's Inspector Wallander series. Let me begin and say that I has always been a fan of Henning Mankell and was so even before his fame with Wallander. I have to say that lately he has become an old and bitter man. It's all about how awful everything is and Wallander will soon fade in to the darkness of Alzheimer's and then death. Yes I know it's reality but it gets too much doom and gloom and the Swedish environment and landscape along with the Swedish sullen mood, can get you suicidal. If you was a fan like I you probably would like to read it just to be complete. If you were not a fan don't start now. Mankell is of course left leaning and its no surprise to anyone, but why begin to preach. I guess when you have made your money and don't have to worry anymore you can begin the preaching. I for one think it's ridiculous and frankly I have been turned off by the leftist agenda in his later books. 2 out of 5 in my book.

That Evening Sun

Hal Holbrook in "That Evening Sun" was a nice little independent movie shot in Tennessee. I had some anticipation about this move since it has been talked about and reviewed favorably quite a bit. I have to say it is not a bad movie but did not grab me as hard as I had expected. It is somewhat slow moving and leave you with a somewhat unsettled ending. 3 out of 5 in my book.

Kinesen by Henning Mankell

Kinesen, or The Man From Beijing as it is known in English is a crime novel written by the famous Swedish author Henning Mankell. My first impression of this book was the fact that it drew me in fairly quickly and got me through the first half in rapid succession. I was hooked, then the preaching started and the scenarios became more and more ridiculous. At the end I found the book to be a drag and I'm sad to say one of Henning Mankell's worst .

I am well aware of Mankell's political leanings but here it borders on stupidity and a complete bias in favor of the horrors done by Mao's extremists. Let's not forget the approximate 22 million people murdered under Mao and his fanatics. As for the story itself. A murder in northern Sweden links to a Chinese capitalist who takes revenge 140 some years later. Nah don't waste your time.

Sangre De Christo Mountains in Southern Colorado, with Rio Grande in the forefront

San Juan Tailwater New Mexico

Rio Grande Gorge, NM

Rio Costilla, NM Valle Vidal Unit of Carson National Forest

Rio Costilla Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout

I got back from New Mexico on Monday night. The travel logistics went well and the weather was perfect. It dipped down in to the twenties in Red River NM, keep in mind though, that the elevation is almost 9000ft there. I actually had some difficulties with the altitude the first day there. My firs half of the trip was spent at Abe's at Navajo Dam. My main goal was to fish San Juan on this trip. I did for two days and some but only caught some small stocker browns. I did loose four larger rainbows in succession on Labor Day. I used 6x and probably should have used 5x. Oh well, the river was beautiful but I have to say South Holston is easier fishing.

I also spent some time on Piedras, and Animas up on the Southern Ute Indian Reservation in Colorado. Both rivers had some tint to them after recent rains. Nymphing was the name of the game, and I caught plenty of stocker bows. No fish of any size. The second part of the trip I spent on Rio Costilla in Valle Vidal in Northern NM. What a gem. I caught several Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout there. Biggest was 12". Another gem of a stream for me was Rio Hondo below Taos Ski Valley. I caught both Rio Grande Cuttthroats, and Browns out of there. This river reminded me a lot of the Smokies streams. The other streams were more shallow with rapid flows. Nymphing was the best method everywhere but I did catch a nice Rio Grande Cutthroat Trout from Rio Hondo on a Yellow Stimulator. New Mexico's food is excellent and the people very friendly. I saw some awesome scenery both in Colorado and New Mexico. The fishing could have been somewhat better but hey!, you can't get everything all the time.

Annika Östberg

I was really hoping that Annika had the common sense and decency to say no thanks to Swedish Radio when they offered her a spot on the popular"Sommar" series. I was OK with her being transferred from California's penal system to Sweden after almost 30 years in prison. I felt she had done her time and if she was still a Swedish citizen and wanted to move home, let her. But I am very disappointed that she is accepting a media presence, and what is that telling the victims of her past? What kind of radio is Swedish radio becoming? Maybe it's a shared fault. Swedish Radio just catering to anything that is material for exploitation. I really hope Annika keep a low profile and just stay out of the media and fame from now on. Sweden is welcoming her and helping her at a great cost, why is she willing to scoundrel that? She will loose a lot of goodwill among Swedish people by being so visible. This is exactly why the people of California didn't want her to be transferred to Sweden.

Clinch

Fished Clinch today for the first time in four months. There were a midge emergence which brought a lot of small stockers up to the surface. I caught some bows and lost several browns on a Griffith's Gnat dry size 20. They are not easy to keep on the hook when they are sipping emergers. The water was cloudy in the main channel and the bigger guys were not home today. Fishing pressure were extremely light and I didn't really see any hook ups around me. It's still hot out there, can't wait for my upcoming

Publish Post

New Mexico trip.