Weekly Recap; 3/9/26-3/15/26

Jordan DiVirgilio
2 days ago
4 min read

Monday;

Renewed my fishing license.

Made up some Underspin Heads for the website!

Tuesday;

Zebra Midge Madness.

Recorded first bird chorus of the year.

American Robin
Blue Jay
Northern Cardinal
Yellow-rumped Warbler
Red-winged Blackbird

Pretty sweet!

Ran to Cabela’s to get some tying material. When I was there I figured, I need a new steelhead spinning reel, and I want to get hi-vis line again. So, that is exactly what I did. Got a Daiwa Regal LT 3000 Size, spooled with 8lb monofilament.

Next stop, check a few creeks. See if they were still blown out from heavy rain days prior. Upon arriving, I was the only one there and conditions seemed perfect!

To read the full story… check out my previous article called “Four Year Drought”

Wednesday;

Started off at Miller’s Thumb, where I worked on a Northern Cardinal piece!

Then went to fish the Lower Niagara River for a few hours. It was a good scouting mission, conditions seemed okay, but no such luck. It was my first time fishing through rain since the Fall.

Thursday;

Worked on a Steelhead piece for almost three hours. The time and effort shows.

Then next adventure? Going to The Hairy Trout Tackle Shop. Wow! What an amazing place. Marlowe did an amazing job breaking down streamer fishing for steelhead, single hand and double hand swinging.

Stocked up with knowledge and some new flies and tying materials. Check them out if you are in West Seneca and need any trout tackle or tying material.

Friday;

Started the morning with a coffee and a new fish drawing. This time the Brown trout I caught back in January. My first fish of 2026. A solid two hours put in.

Lots of jigs tied up. Aiming for Steelhead, Browns and Lakers.

Saturday;

Did one of my first 3D art pieces. Completely spur of the moment. I’ve had the idea to incorporate my lures into my fish art.

Well, that exact thing happened. Went into Corelife for some food and to make art as usual. However, this was one of my favorite workers last days. So as a thank you, I gave them a lure (their idea) which they loved.

However, as I was working on a trout drawing I realized I need to add the fly into the picture. Quickly asked for the gift back, which felt odd. The end results though speak for themselves. When I gave them back their new and improved gift, they were in awe! Very humbling and gratifying.

It goes to show how much practice helps. My skill at drawing birds, fish and nature scenes has gone up drastically over the last two years.

The same goes with my fly tying and jigs. Most people have compliments on my work. Often my view of the work is far more scrutinized.

This is a time though, where I will give myself some credit. While organizing fly boxes I found the first set of Clouser minnows I tied with my Uncle in 2023.

Took them out of the box and compared them to my latest versions and woah! The first one is not bad either by any means. Yeah, lots of thread built up at the eye, oh well.

Regardless, what used to take me fifteen minutes to tie a small jig, it now takes me five to seven minutes. Not that speed is a marker of quality, but rather of efficiency.

Sunday;

Not a lot to say here. A difficult day to say the least. My Grandmother has not been doing well over the last few months. In the last few weeks she took a sharp decline.

My brother and I decided to go visit her for a few hours. It was very bittersweet. It was very different, emotional. The bits of meaning too.

Laughing and crying with family. All huddled around Grandma as she rests in bed, which is in the dining room where she fed us all for years on end.

A full circle moment you might say. Many people can relate to this. It was up in the air if I was gonna share this. Then I realized, this is being human.

I need to be open and share this.

Somebody, someday, somewhere might read this and it resonates. It is very easy to feel alone in these situations. Even when surrounded by family I still feel lonely.

It is not easy to process, at least for me. It is fresh and will take time, of course. Still, there is that sense of confusion around circumstances such as these.

We don’t want to lose the ones we love.

We also don’t want to see them suffer.

This conundrum of life. Living and Dying. However, looking back over the good memories does ease the pain ever so slightly.

It is more about how to deal with your own emotions in these situations. There is nothing more that can be done for my Grandma. It is just a matter of time. In my heart I know I was there and visited with her often as I could.

We all feel and express differently. Hard to know how to ask for comfort or how to even give that in such a time. Grateful she is here and we have all gotten to spend some time together.

Regardless, in my experiences losing my other loved ones, there is this build of anxiety in the “not knowing when” not as if knowing when would help. It is just knowing the end of her suffering. There is a relief in that as well.

We want to hold on and cherish everything, yet we still need to let go of the physical. Memories will always be there, her impact will always be felt, there are dozens of people here today that could not exist without her.

To the woman who raised us all. Love you Grandma and heaven will be a better place, because of this.

Song of the week;

Everybody Laughs by David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra.

“Everybody’s going through the garbage, looking for inspiration…”

Thanks for reading. Catch ya later.

Jordan H. DiVirgilio

JD Outdoors Co.