Gear Review: Core Concepts outdoor apparel

I'm no metrosexual by any means.  I still wear some of the shirts I once sported in highschool, many of which were purchased from thrift stores.  Don't hate on the hand-me-down lifestyle.  It's smart living.  Though function and comfort usually outweigh style in my book, a guy can certainly enjoy hearing his wife say, "man you look hot in that."  I'm pretty sure mine is obligated to say things like that, but if an article of clothing gets my wife's approval, it must be good.  If there's one thing I have learned from marriage, it's to trust an honest woman's opinion.  I was sold pretty quick on the quality of these threads, and the endorsement by the Mrs. sealed the deal.

I may not be an expert on clothing, but quality is hard to miss in most things.  You can tell when someone took their time while designing and producing a product. Its use has a kind of transparency.  The product doesn't get in the way of the experience.  It lasts longer.  This is because the product was designed for the experience, with the user in mind.

Core Concepts is an outdoor apparel company that hails from Boise, Idaho.  They are a homegrown company that keeps things down to earth with quality and style.  And just like potatoes, this stuff is made in Idaho.  Not too many modern companies can sport the "Made In The USA" tag.  They build clothing to last and be comfortable.  Their styles are simple, yet classy.  It's not the flashy "look at me" kind of clothing.  Instead it is the "I look good and I feel good in my own skin" kind of apparel.  Just reading the clothing tags, you can tell these folks enjoy life and have a healthy sense of humor too.  Core Concepts started things up back in 2007 and they say it best themselves.

"Loving the outdoors doesn't mean you have to sport the "Hey ladies, which way to basecamp?" look everyday."
-Core Concepts "Our Culture"

This review is about the Core Concepts' Whisky River Hybrid Shirt and Cowboy Pow Jacket.  

Looks Good:  The first thing we noticed when we pulled the shirt and jacket out of their packaging was that they both look pretty slick.  I have always been a fan of the cowboy style shirt, with the snap buttons.  Nothing makes you feel more manly than ripping your shirt off superman style just before you hop in the shower (If it's your first time and you want to try this, the effect is much better in front of the bathroom mirror, followed by face grimacing bicep flexes).

I'm not the best model when it comes to looks, but hopefully the pictures will give you some idea of the Core Concepts style.  When I wear the shirt around town, it often elicits compliments from friends.

Cowboy Pow making friends with a steelhead.

Comfortable:  Both the shirt and jacket are comfortable, not too tight or too loose.  They fit great and were spot on with the online store's sizing chart.  The jacket has become my go-to jacket.  

Cowboy Pow underneath for warmth during the early fall.

Built Well:  The Cowboy Pow Jacket is a lined fleece-like jacket with ventilation material under the arms, adjustable waist, two side zipper pockets, and is made of a stretchy material.  The adjustable waist is a nice feature and allows you to snug it up, preventing any unwelcome breeze.  There's no noticeably shoddy seams, no snaggy fabric liner, and the stretchy material adds to the comfort.

Cowboy Pow chasing some carp.

The Whiskey River Hybrid Shirt is one tough shirt.  It is made with their two-layer bonded fabric design.  This means that the outside is made of nylon, while the inside is polyester.  It's a water and wind resistant fabric.  I haven't paid much attention to the wind resistance, but it does resist water and dries out quickly once wet.  It's a bit heavier/stiffer fabric and most guys would probably prefer it for cooler weather.  It has two hidden chest pockets, which is a great addition, especially when you're wearing waders.

The Whiskey River resists water and dries out pretty quick.

The Cowboy Pow is great for cool weather by itself, and is perfect to wear under a wading jacket or winter coat if needed.  It will be along on most night fishing adventures this summer.

Sporting the combo for an in-between-class outing.

Rocking the Cowboy Pow under the wading jacket.

The Sum Up:  It's hard to review a shirt and jacket aside from what has been said.  What is easy, is to see the value in small businesses like Core Concepts.  They cannot afford poor quality.  They are closer to most of their customers without an ocean separating the goods from the people.  So if you have not heard of these guys, go check them out.  They put out their outdoor wear and apparel on a seasonal basis.  I wouldn't hesitate in recommending their products to my closest friends.

Check them out on Instagram (@coreconcepts) and on their Facebook page. 

The Whiskey River Hybrid Shirt retails for $89.00

The Cowboy Pow Jacket retails for $169.00

Bitter Sweet

Sometimes you win and then don't, and then do, but still didn't, but in the end you do.  Makes complete sense right?  Let me explain.

The 9th annual Blackfoot Reservoir Carp Classic Tourney was drawing near.  I was pretty excited to fish with a couple of good friends (Brent and Shane) and compete on the same team.  The weather throughout the week was sunny and even got up into the 80's temp-wise.  It gave us all hope for some excellent carping.  One thing that is almost essential to good carping is a warming trend, or at least some sun.  As Thursday made it's debut so also did the cooling temperatures.  Then that evening the rains rolled in.  By Friday the temperature had dropped 20 degrees from the cooling temperatures of Thursday.  To cap things off, it was raining and continued to do so on and off all day and night up until Saturday evening.

Thanks goes out to Brent for all the Carp Classic Pictures.

Needless to say, it was crappy, not carpy weather.  Even so we showed up Friday morning around 8am, set up camp, wadered and rigged up.  Then we headed over to the registration tent.  After declaring our team name as "Cloop USA," paying our dues, and chewing the fat for a bit, we headed off to our first location for the day.  Conditions were brutal. Cold, windy, and wet.  We stalked the banks in search of any signs of tailing carp.  As we waded through the water we failed to spook a single fish.  We kept working the shoreline.  Once we climbed to higher ground we could see that fish were mudding like crazy out in the deeper water.  They were feeding, but not where we could get at them!  We kept on walking the banks, blind casting here and there with hopes of a miracle take.  As we kept leap-frogging each other along the banks I noticed what looked like a mudding fish about five feet from the bank.  I quickly began my stalk down to the waters edge from my high vantage point.  Once to the water, and just as I was about to cast to the muddy area I notice a slow moving sillouhette come up onto the bank right in dapping range, and it was feeding.  I flipped my san juan worm passed the fish, let it sink and then began a slow strip.  There was a quick take and the fight began.

From the hook set I could tell it was a solid fish.  It rolled on the surface and then took off the other direction.  After a fight that was probably only 5 minutes, but felt like forever, Shane helped me beach the healthy mirror carp.  I was so grateful to be on the board in such tough conditions.  I secured the fish and we kept searching for feeders.  We only found one other that was remotely close to the bank, but it was still too deep for an accurate cast.  After a bit we decided to go elsewhere.  I carried the 27.4lb carp in my arms almost a miles walk back to the truck.  Man my arms burned afterward!

We headed off to a couple other locations to hopefully find more active fish, but with no such luck.  At last we decided to head down to the river to see if we could catch a trout in the couple hours left before the weigh-in.  Brent picked up an awesome cut, and I lost a couple fish.  Shane had one more shot at a carp just above the dam, but had a bit of trouble with the cast and the carp bolted.  Bummer it was, as Yoda would say.

Brent's Beautiful Cutty

Back at the weigh-in only a handful of teams had fish.  It was clear that the fishing was tough for everyone.  The team that took the overall weight category had 50lbs in three fish.  My dandy was holding second place in that category, and took that days big fish award.  Up to this point I was given the impression that the contest worked on two separate days.  We thought there was a big fish prize for each day, and a team weight prize for each day, but that was it.  It was with this thinking that I was pretty bummed when they handed me a little sack off odd things (some tippet, a couple hats, nippers, and sunglasses straps).

After the weigh-in we all had some dinner, then Shane and I headed over to fish around Soda Springs.  Shane got his skunk off, we did some homework, munched on some french fries, I hit up an ATM to get money to enter the raffle, and then we headed back to camp.

Bear River below Alexander Reservoir

Shane built up the fire while I zonked out in the truck for a bit.  We sat by the fire for a while, and had some of our fellow carpers wander over to visit a bit. Brent eventually joined us again after his nap. It was nice getting to know other anglers in such a laid back setting.  It was also amusing to be around the really intoxicated ones.  After shmoozing and smores we hit the sack.

It rained all night.  The next morning the first thing I remember hearing was Brent saying "Gents, I think I'm gonna head home."  My heart sank, but I understood.  He was getting concerned about getting his trailer out with the roads getting more and more muddy, and he had a lot of work to do with a conference he had coming up.  I explained that I still wanted to go try the spot we had the day before.  I even suggested we fish the river all day and then head back for the weigh-in just in case my fish did win some overall prize.  Shane wasn't having it.  No matter what I suggested I could not convince him to stay.  So I tried not to think about it as we packed up and headed off to fish somewhere else for the day.  As we were driving along the reservoir I said to him how mad I would be to find out that there was a big fish overall category.

We tried some waters around Soda Springs again, without any luck.  Then made the long drive to some of our favorite waters.  There we found some success.  We both managed a couple carp, Shane caught one smallie, and then we night fished for trout with success.

Definitely not a fish to complain about.  Fishing at night... as Aladdin said, it's "a whole new world."

Fast forward to Monday.  I was perusing some of the fly fishing blogs I frequent when I came across Jeff Currier's report on the Tourney.  As I read, getting the details of the day we missed, the heat began creeping up my face and the sick feeling set in.  There were overall prizes both for big fish and teams.  Later I came to find out that the prize, which I had won but was not there to collect, was an F1 Ross Reel.   It went on to be raffled (which we also missed).  They say there's no use crying over spilled milk, but man... spilled milk doesn't retail at around $500.  We were also just 23lbs shy of first place in the team category, which our team took second place in with our single fish.  I'm a bit frustrated with my buddies for bailing when the fishing got tough, but I'm even more mad at myself for not even insisting we ask the official rules and structure for prizes.  I guess that is how life goes.  It's bittersweet.  Sometimes we choose the better, when we could have had the best.  Sometimes we get speeding tickets.  Sometimes you pay the late fee.  And sometimes, you don't get the reel worth half a grand simply because you aren't there.  In the end the whole event goes to a good cause, to help war veterans.  It's good to know that despite my own misfortune nothing changes that.

There always seems to be something going on in the world to bring me back down to earth.  I feel for the people lost, and those suffering in Oklahoma.  They are being prayed for.  I have a place to live, food to eat, clothes to wear, and am surrounded by people that love and care for me.  In the end all the material junk doesn't matter, and I'm grateful for my blessings.  Plus, I managed to catch some pretty sweet fish.  Bitter sweet, but when I REALLY think about it, I have a whole lot more sweet in my life than bitter.

PostBlog Afterthought:  Having read back through this post, a day after it was put up, it occurred to me that it could be taken in a negative way concerning the people involved.  That was not my intention AT ALL.  The post was written to cope with my personal frustrations about the situation.  I still think the world about my fishing buddies.  They are good people, some of the best I know in fact.  I look forward to many manly fishing trips with them in the future.  Friends matter far more than stuff, and they always will.