Joe Wolf, (or “Wolfy” as most knew him), was a pretty influential guy back in the olden days of outdoor blogging. He had a personal Blogspot blog named Flowing Waters where he wrote a bit about fishing, hunting and the outdoors. It’s still out there if you’d like to talk a look at it today.
He also tagged teamed with Rebecca Garlock to form the Outdoor Blogger Network (OBN), which was a website that hosted a blogger directory and community while highlighting interesting blogs, creating writing prompts, and hosting gear giveaways for review purposes. (Joe works in the outdoor industry so he was able to score a lot of sponsorship swag from different brands.)
While I never was able to fish with Joe, I was fortunate enough to meet him at a local restaurant for a bite to eat one night when he was swinging through southeastern Pennsylvania. Such a great guy. See, I was relatively new to fly fishing and not very confident or traveled at the time and he told me… “if you can catch fish in the the northeastern U.S., you can catch fish anywhere.” I don’t know if it’s true, but I’ve been holding on to that feather like Dumbo for years every time I visit a new body of water.
Let’s catch up with Joe Wolf…
Joe, what have you been up to over the last ten or so years?
I’ve gotten older, fatter, and gradually watched myself fall into a state of disrepair. Sedentary jobs and a lack of drive to dedicate myself to keeping in shape… Paying for it now. The all day, 7 mile treks from 8,000′ to a meadow at 10,000′ to fish for countless brookies are just a memory now. My knees are iffy and slopping around in fast current on slippery rocks isn’t in the equation these days. Here’s a great fact: I’ve bought more fly rods in the past 6 years (1) than I’ve spent days fly fishing in that same span (0). Sad. But – I still “fish” other ways (see below).
Professionally – I am still in the Hunt/Fish world. I spent 7-1/2 years at Benelli, and for the past 6 years, I’ve been Director of Sales at Flambeau Outdoors. I’ve dived headlong into bourbon, (again – not sure that was the wisest of choices, but…), and I am even more fanatic about birding and bird photography than I was 10 years ago. I quit hunting about 9 years ago – I’m just not that mad at the animals anymore.
Do you miss the fishing blogging community at all? Have you kept in touch with anyone from that bygone era?
The “Blogging Bug” still hits me periodically, but not enough so to actually do anything about it. The writing on Flowing Waters was cathartic for me and, because I was making my living in the Outdoor arena, there was a greater good involved in it as well. I DO miss that.
As far as maintaining contact w people – for the most part, the only contact is following a few on Facebook. You, Cameron Mortenson, Emily Blankenship. Emily seems to be the only one still getting after the fish like we all used to. I asked Emily last year (via Messenger) if she had any communication w Rebecca Garlock – my old OBN cohort. She said Rebecca was doing well in Idaho and had basically just quit all social media. I absolutely admire that decision! But I miss working with and talking to her – she is a great person.
I do follow a bunch a YouTubers in various areas, and the idea of a Vlog has intrigued me more than once. I’m thinking “Bourbon, Bass, and Birds”. I think I could put a stranglehold on all 7 people in the world who list those 3 hobbies as their top passions in life!!! I can feel the cash rolling in as you read this…
Do you still find time to fish? If so, how often, where, and for what?
Yep. I fish local bass tournaments and re-joined the club I was in 30 years ago. Actually fishing a tournament on the Flats (upper Chesapeake Bay tidal water) on Tuesday. It’s just a bunch of old guys and it’s sort of fun, although we have a couple 2 day tourneys, and I am beat to shit after 2 days of tournament fishing. I’m sure I’ll still do some fly fishing before I die, but I certainly don’t need all the gear I have. Wanna buy any 5 piece Winston’s???
I found most people wrote their blogs as a personal journaling exercise or a creative outlet. What’s your creative outlet today?
My creative outlet is all birds and birding. Bird photography. Leading bird walks at the local WMA. Doing birding and bird photography presentations to clubs… When I am in the woods with my camera and binoculars, everything else in the world fades away.
I’ve gotten very good at identifying the birds I see, but ID via the calls and songs is a whole different level of being good, and I’m about a 3 out of 10 on that scale. But that’s what keeps me going out. Getting a better photo of ANY bird than I already have. Learning a new call. Finding a new bird in an area I had not seen them before.
I keep my photos on Flickr and they are publicly accessible. I spend a stupid amount of time categorizing them into albums. A couple highlights: I have an album titled Bird Photo Life List. It is the best (in my opinion) photo of every species I’ve ever photographed, and it contains 464 photos. I’m pushing toward 500 species, and, to me, that’s pretty cool. I’ve had a little over 1.5 million views of my photos on Flickr – – which I can’t really wrap my head around. It’s fun though!
I’m interviewing you today. Is there anybody from outdoor blogging’s past you think I should track down and interview next?
Who should you interview next??? Eeesh. Nothing comes to mind right now. I’ll message you if I can come up with anyone. Emily B. is an obvious choice. Actually – just thought of one. Ashley Rae – SheLovesToFish.com. Canadian gal started blogging, is an OBN alum. Now has reached the point that she is sponsored, fishes kayak tourneys, is a speaker across Canada at fishing shows. Great person, great for women in the fishing world, and is a genuine, legit good person. Use my name if you want to – we’ve kept in touch periodically.
Is there anything you’d like to add that I didn’t ask you?
What else? The demise of the OBN haunts me. I firmly believe there was a legit way to make that an income producing, sustainable entity that would have eventually been purchased for a good sum of money. But neither Rebecca nor I were in a place where we could give up our jobs to go all-in. I think the basic setup was sound. What neither of us realized was the value of the data we were gathering, or how to effectively mine that data. I really think we had something that could have been iconic. But we both had responsibilities and families and real life stuff, so it just died.
Being an adult sucks sometimes. I’m 64 now and just figuring out how long I want to keep working. I work remotely, and as long as A) I’m doing a satisfactory job for my employer, and B) I’m not bored with it (and its not interfering too much with my Birds/Bass/Bourbon journey) – I’ll keep working. Soon I might need to start the “Bourbon, Bass, and Birds with Joe Wolf” production to keep myself busy.
But right now I have to go into the basement and start getting my gear ready for Tuesday’s tournament. Wednesday thru Friday I’m fishing with a few of the guys from Dick’s Sporting Goods in NY. You know what? Maybe I’ll keep doing this for a little while…
Many thanks to Joe Wolf 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.