What a year 2018 was. We did a lot of the same things but added a couple new things to our lifestyle. I took on more responsibility with my job at Pau Hana Surf Supply. I did an interview with ESPN Women and the other was in Vermont Sports Magazine. The
biggest change for me was becoming a pescatarian in 2018 and I’ll tell you the story.
It was the beginning of May and I ate about 4 pounds of pork. I had lots of bacon for breakfast, a ham sandwich for lunch and I made a delicious Portuguese pork loin for dinner. At the end of the night I didn’t feel right. I was “gut bombed”! It wasn’t food poisoning I just felt gross. We were getting ready for bed and I mentioned to Jeff that I wanted to start eating less meat and he keeled over laughing, as did I. We laughed for 30 minutes! Tears running down our faces and I thought for sure I was going to pee myself. Yes, we did drink a bottle of wine and there was no “whacky tobacci” involved. We just couldn’t stop laughing! Jeff thought it was the funniest thing I ever said! We finally calmed down and I said that I’m serious. I wasn’t ready to commit to not eating meat at all because I wasn’t sure if I could. Long story short I ate meat a few times after that night and the last time I ate meat was in the beginning of September when friends made dinner and there was chicken sausage in the pasta.
I thought it would be tough not eating meat being half Portuguese and a big part of our diet is linguica and chourico but it’s been quite easy not eating meat. I feel way better and even have lost some weight (not that I needed to). Even Jeff eats less meat now. I don’t mind cooking meat for him. I love cooking and it’s been fun coming up with different meals to eat. We probably eat seafood once or twice a week, maybe tofu once a week or every other week and the rest of the meals are just vegetables, a grain, and legumes. I season tofu just like I would any meat when cooking and it comes out perfect! One of my favorite Portuguese dishes is Carne de Porco a Alentenjana (Pork and Clams) and now I make my serving as Tofu a Alentenjana and it’s awesome! Jeff still gets it with pork.
Anyway, not to bore you with all that blah, blah, blah. I’m now going to bore you with fishing talk. We also took up fishing in 2018 and that has been awesome! I can’t believe how much I love fishing! Fly fishing and regular fishing. I’ll tell you though I have found it to be boring, frustrating, fun, exciting, and highly addictive. One hour of fishing can be an emotional roller coaster!
Jeff has some experience fly fishing from years ago and when I was little I would go fishing with my uncle and brother but that by no means had us ready for fishing on the lake or on rivers. It’s crazy to think how much there is to fishing. You need this lure for that fish, this jig for that, drop shot, bobbers, weights, braided line, crank bait, soft plastic minnows, shiners, weedless jigs, worms, spinners, streamers, nymphs, wet and dry flies, poppers, leader, tippet, strike indicators, waders, wading boots, forceps, nets and the list goes on and on. There’s so much info on the web and thousands of videos to watch. It’s exhausting but we are getting it sorted out. The other crazy thing is how to set the hook. I guess it changes for different fish you are trying to catch and if you are fly fishing that’s totally different. Anyway, whenever I set the hook and catch a fish I’m just hoping the hook is in the lip. I’m still struggling with removing a hook but I’m much better at it now. I crush the barb on all my hooks to make it easier to remove the hook and to reduce the damage to the fish for catch and release.
We’ve been fishing from our Pau Hana SUP’s and our Grady White on Lake Ontario. I was fishing with my Werner Paddles Legend 99 but I just got the Werner Paddles Zen 95 Hooked SUP paddle for fishing. I can’t wait to use it once winter is over! We have a Hummingbird fish finder on the motorboat that works great and I feel like we finally have it figured out. On our SUP’s we are the fish finder. It’s kind of incredible what you can see while standing up. I prefer fishing from my board. You can get into some neat places that you can’t with a boat and as a bonus you are getting exercise.
What I’m finding is that fishing is a hobby with a steep learning curve. Whitewater kayaking came easier to me than fishing! I’ve also learned that you need patience. We have spent hours not catching anything, that can be super boring and frustrating but at least we are out on the water. We will keep at it and I’m excited for the upcoming fishing season!
Here are some photos from our fishing adventures this summer and fall.
 |
| I dropped the GoPro in the water with a weight to see the bait fish that showed up on our fish finder |
 |
| Heading out on the Grady for some fishing. Always with our Pau Hana SUP. |
 |
| A nice bass! |
 |
| SUP fishing! |
 |
| Jeff with a nice fish! |
 |
| The Pau Hana Oahu Nui is a great fishing SUP for the entire family! |
 |
| 15 Perch for an awesome dinner of fish tacos! |
 |
Jeff fly fishing on the Oahu Nui on the Deerfield River.
Photo: Tino Specht |
 |
Another weekend fishing with family on the Oahu Nui!
We made a huge upgrade to our cooler by getting an Orion Cooler! |
 |
| Even Brook is stoked on fishing! |
 |
| I finally caught a rainbow trout! |
 |
| I was lucky the hook came right out when I landed her in the net. |
 |
| Pretty awesome day! |
Now I’ll share photos from the other things that we did in 2018 like paddling, sailing and touristing.
 |
| Getting ready to leave for our road trip after a record snow fall in Vermont. |
 |
| Paddling in Columbus, GA |
 |
| Bourbon St. New Orleans, LA |
 |
| A new way to longboard in New Orleans! |
 |
| We found some mom and baby gators! |
 |
| Stopped at the Gulf of Mexico. |
 |
| Paddling on Lake Travis in Texas. |
 |
| Armadillo sighting! |
 |
| SUP dirtbike shuttle! |
 |
| Paddling around the San Marcos River in Texas. |
 |
| Hanging out in Austin. |
 |
| Home Slice pizza in Austin! |
 |
| The best brunch ever at the Blue Dahlia Bistro in San Marcos, TX. |
 |
| Monahans State Park in Texas. |
 |
| Mount Lemmon, AZ. |
 |
| Brook cute as can be! |
 |
| Laya trying to one up Brook on cuteness! |
 |
| Brook’s ramp to get on the bed. |
 |
| Checking out Sedona, AZ |
 |
OMG, we found a street cart food festival in Sedona!
I ate an awesome Po’ Boy! |
 |
| Brook with little friends! |
 |
| SUPing in Yosemite National Park in CA! |
 |
| Michelle gave us the grand tour of Yosemite! |
 |
About to paddle on the Merced River in the park!
Photo: Michelle Ingram Caranto |
 |
Bridal Veil Falls in the background.
Photo: Michelle Ingram Caranto |
 |
| Jeff in one of the rapids on the Merced River. |
 |
| Paddling on the Kern River in CA. |
 |
| Jeff racing during the Kern River Fest! |
 |
| Fun times SUPing on the Kern River. |
 |
| High water run on the American River in CA. |
 |
| Paddling with friends in Reno, NV. |
 |
| Spent a weekend with Team River Runner’s in CA! |
 |
| If you don’t know about Team River Runner please take a minute and visit the website. |
 |
| Yes, donuts on my 38th birthday! |
 |
| Slalom during the Reno River Fest. |
 |
Boater Cross during the Reno River Fest.
Photo: Monique Sady |
 |
SUP Cross during the Reno River Fest.
Photo: Monique Sady |
 |
Freestyle during the Reno River Fest.
Photo: Bryon Dorr |
 |
Happy with my ride scoring over 500 points!
Photo: Bryon Dorr |
 |
Telling Jeff how tired I am from competing in every event!
Photo: Bryon Dorr |
 |
Hey, that’s me on the poster!
Photo: Bryon Dorr |
 |
| Spring snowboarding at Mount Bachelor in Oregon with Scott and Monique. |
 |
| Jeff surfing a the Bend whitewater park. |
 |
| A quick visit to see Judd and family in WA. |
 |
| Brook’s boyfriend! |
 |
| Paddling on the White Salmon River in WA. |
 |
| It’s hard working with Laya always checking my work! |
 |
| A visit to Badlands National Park in ND. |
 |
| Back in Hederson, NY for the summer! |
 |
| Visiting with family! |
 |
| Love our lake crew! |
 |
| A couple of first places at the Winni River Days in NH. |
 |
| Fun times at the Winni River Days paddling with friends. |
 |
| Helping with clinics during the Zoar Outdoor Demo Fest and Deerfield River Fest. |
 |
| SUP surfing on the Salmon River in NY. |
 |
| My nephew Miguel and his first whitewater SUP run on the Salmon River. |
 |
| Mary and I enjoying a great paddle on the Black River in NY to help raise money for American Whitewater. |
 |
| A Garb session on the Ottawa River in Canada. |
 |
| Under water time during the Jimi Cup on the Ottawa River. |
 |
| Golfing with family in Henderson, NY. |
 |
| Competed at the Montreal Eau Vive in Quebec and tied for second place overall! |
 |
| The Pau Hana Crew getting it done at Paddle Sports Retailer. Todd is working the hardest! |
 |
| Brook is ready to go sailing one more time before we put the boat away for the season. |
 |
| I squirt boated a bunch this fall at the Trestle since CJ is meesed from a couple of floods we’ve had. |
 |
| Throwing a loop during the World Kayak Home Town Throwdown in CT. |
 |
| Great to see Jessie and David at the Throwdown! |
 |
| Early snow fall this year we had about 3ft by Thanksgiving. |
 |
We had snow but then the rain came and we got to paddle again around Christmas!
Photo: Jim Sullivan |
 |
| Another day paddling before Christmas with a great group of friends! |
 |
| Surfing on Christmas Eve Eve! |
 |
| Brook getting ready to open presents! |
 |
| Family time! |
 |
Ending the photo recap with the first day of 2019.
Pretty epic to get a paddle in on the WB of the Deerfield on New Years Day!
That’s a fantastic way to start 2019.
Photo: Jim Sullivan |
So that’s it 2018 was pretty fun and 2019 should be pretty fun also. Thanks again to my sponsors Werner Paddles, Maui Jim Sunglasses, NRS, WRSI Safety, Zoar Outdoor, Pau Hana Surf Supply, and Seals Sprayskirts for the continued support.
I plan to add different content on my blog this year maybe some recipes and fishing posts but we will see how motivated I get. I’ll try 🙂
Thanks for reading!
Till next time,
Elaine Campbell
