Lunker Hunt was one of the old school Blogger blogs that I really enjoyed visiting back in the day. The author, Clif Gerke, lived in the Midwest and just had a writing style that always inserted humor in a sly way that was impossible not to appreciate. While his blog was generally fishing-centric, he also found other things to write about…
Clif was also a huge supporter of Troutrageous!, often sending me photos of himself wearing a T! shirt in an interesting location (like the Great Wall of China) or sticking a T! sticker on his dog. He was always good for a snarky, yet good natured barb in the comments section as well. Let’s catch up with Clif Gerke…
Clif, what have you been up to over the last ten or so years?
I stopped writing Lunker Hunt in 2012 when my work gave me a huge opportunity to work and live in China. My posts were only tangentially related to fishing, but I knew my fishing opportunities would dwindle while I lived in a foreign city of 10 million people. The logistics of finding and getting to fishing spots was just too tough.
At the time, I didn’t know Lunker Hunt was done for good but it turns out that was a pivotal time in my life. Not only did we live for a couple years in Suzhou China, but my wife and I also decided that was a perfect time to welcome our first of two daughters into the world. We did live next to a lake and some canals but I only had luck catching little tiny fish. That was fun but didn’t give me much variety or anything particularly fun to write about.
The two years in China was some of the best and craziest time of my life. Every day had an element of adventure and we had an amazing chance to vacation in places like the Philippines, Thailand, Bali, and Hong Kong.
After moving back to USA, life and work just got busier and busier. Blogging just wasn’t too high on my list of things to do. I ended up deleting Lunker Hunt a couple years ago because the spammers were still leaving comments on old posts and I just got tired of getting those emails and trying to go in and delete them. Also, a fishing gear company of the same name seems to have been having some success and I’d sometimes get emails from misguided people wanting warranty support for their broken rods.
An interesting side note is they managed to get my Lunker Hunt Facebook page banned for a trademark infringement reason, but I was quickly able to get that reversed by pointing out my oldest blog post was dated before their trademark was filed.
Do you miss the fishing blogging community at all? Have you kept in touch with anyone from that bygone era?
To be honest, I don’t miss writing a blog too much. I’ve found other creative things to do here and there, but I do at times wonder what the other bloggers from that community are up to do I’m glad to see you’re doing this. I’m still Facebook friends with a couple and can kind of follow along a little.
Do you still find time to fish? If so, how often, where, and for what?
I still love fishing just as much but, man, it is so much harder for me to find time. Long gone are the days when I could spend a full day every weekend on the water. I get out locally a little and take my daughters with me when they’re interested. I’ve made a couple fishing trips with buddies to the Bighorn river in Montana and one amazing walleye trip to Lac Seul in Ontario.
This spring I made a fly rod using a kit from Epic, which was fun. I recommend it to anyone. The kit had everything needed and excellent instructions, plus the techniques are very similar to fly tying.
I found most people wrote their blogs as a personal journaling exercise or a creative outlet. What’s your creative outlet today?
My wife and I kept a blog during our time in China at gerkesgo.blogspot.com and that’s still published for people to check out. For a while I had mild success writing jokes on Twitter but that’s kind of fizzled out. I still travel to fun places for work and pleasure, and have a 20ish year old collection of pictures taken from hotel windows. Most of my creativity has flowed through my hands doing projects here and there. I built a walking bridge over the creek behind my house for example.
I’m interviewing you today. Is there anybody from outdoor blogging’s past you think I should track down and interview next?
Howard, Ivan, RD, and Rebecca are the ones that come to mind first but I’m sure there others who are up to fun things I’d love to read about. Maybe you should ask yourself the same questions?
Is there anything you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you?
Just want to thank you for reaching out. I love the idea of reading what old friends are up to and I’m happy to help.
Finally, assuming you’d want to be found, where can some of your old blog friends find you today?
I think the people who want to find me will be able to, lol…
Many thanks to Clif Gerke for “Catching Up With…” us today.
Post Script: If you’re wondering why I’m interviewing these random people, or just what “Catching Up With…” is all about, visit this page for a brief backstory.