Steelhead Addiction

Hen of the Woods / Grifola frondosa / Maitaki

2011-09-30T00:03:00.004-04:00

Banner year for mushrooms here in Connecticut. I went out recently looking for Hens and for the 1st 5 hours of searching I was disappointed. I simply needed to find my hens! Then, a glimmer of hope - 1 small hen nestled at the base of a small oak.

I had to find more. Changed my location and within the first 50 feet of trail, I was rewarded with a stump of 4 nice fatties. Further along the path, I found 4 more, but 3 were old (much to my dismay).

Elated, I was slowly driving out, happy with my finds. Then I just happened to look out into the woods and spotted an old oak that was sprouting hens all over the place. So all total, I found 17 for the day. Not a bad day of foraging. My freezer is now busting full of hens!

Chanterelles

2011-09-05T23:23:00.007-04:00

Here are a few photos of some of the chanterelles I've been finding this year. I've tried them all, except for the C. xanthopus

C. cibarius

C. cinnibarinus

Mostly Craterellus cornucopioides

Craterellus tubaeformis

Cantharellus xanthopus

All are pretty delicious. I had the tubaeformis aka Yellow Foot Chanterelle a couple nights ago for the first time and they were wonderful. I wish I had picked more.

Katahdin

2011-08-02T10:51:00.003-04:00

Winter fishing

2010-02-14T21:03:00.005-05:00

The past two outings have been kind ones. Fishing here in the northeast, fishing revolves around the weather, obviously, and weekends. Kind weather is anything above freezing and minimal wind. Luckily, I had those two factors going for me lately.

Even better, the fish were cooperative. On each trip, I was able to land browns that measured out to 21 inches. This is a good start to the year! A smattering of fish in the 15 to 18 inch range makes me one happy camper.

I've been fishing the European techniques now for a couple of years and that has dramatically added to my catch rates, even in winter when it's not supposed to be all that effective. Piss on that - they work year 'round!

This is a brown from the Farmington river TMA, caught not quite 2 weeks ago:

Today the venue was different, but similar results. I love the colors in this rainbow and these fish are eating well:

I love catching trout in the winter, but spring can begin to show up anytime now.

The Beginning of Winter Fishing

2009-12-14T17:53:00.003-05:00

It's that time of year again: frozen feet and guides, lethargic fish and numb hands. Only 4 or so months till spring! Might as well make the best of it and try to battle it out with some trout. Today's venue was the Farmington River, in the TMA. It was actually a fairly pleasant day, weather-wise, but if you get your hands wet, they do have a tendency to get a little numb.

The fishing actually wasn't that bad, but I wouldn't say it was great, either. I wanted to break in the new Grey's Streamflex 10 ft 3 weight. It is a beauty, perfect for euro-nymphing. Ended up going 6 for 7 in moderately high water conditions. Nothing huge, the fish below coming in at only 15 or so inches. I can't wait to see what a legit hog feels like on this rod.

Ammonite Nymph

2009-12-10T18:59:00.004-05:00

Been reading up on this bad boy in the past few days. Looks like another effective pattern in the right hands. There's a couple of things I like about this fly: First off, it's damn near bullet-proof. Second, it's so general, it could be representative of anything, just tie it in various colors and sizes.

I didn't have all the correct materials to tie with, so I'm not done experimenting yet. Doubtless, I will come up with some sort of variation to make the tying a bit easier. I was never one for spending 40 minutes at the vise for one fly. Stay tuned for updates on this fly, but here is a facsimile of what it should look like.

Shark's Caddis Larva

2009-12-06T13:25:00.006-05:00

Came across an interesting pattern recently on Global Fly Fisher called Shark's caddis. I thought that with a few minor tweaks it could be a killing fly as applied to Euro-nymphing techniques.

Some of the changes I made:
-Adding a ribbed shellback (either scud back or magic foil)
-Mark the front 2 or 3 thoracic segments with brown permanent marker
-Fox squirrel, touch-dubbed for the thorax
-A layer of .015 lead for an underbody

Otherwise, the tying technique is virtually the same. Also, you could add a touch of Prism or Ice dubbing into the fox squirrel for a little extra eye catching sparkle. I particularly like the segmentation of this fly, which is important when trying to imitate the naturals. The rabbit that is wound into the antron abdomen gives this fly a nice slightly hairy effect. It is important to use the rabbit very sparingly. Too much and it would overpower the segmented abdomen. I would tie these on a barbless sedge hook in the 10-16 size range.

This is what the dried fly looks like

The wet version

Under water

More Steelhead

2009-12-04T16:30:00.003-05:00

This was the annual trip I take with my brothers to western NY, and sometimes PA. It wasn't in the cards for PA this year due to low water, but we managed to hit some NY tribs just right. Overall, a great time and the fish were very cooperative, with most days resulting in double digit hookups. Fished mostly new areas on the Catt, and a few other locations. It's always worth it to check out new water and even better when you can score a few.

Some photos:

Steelhead

2009-12-04T16:26:00.002-05:00

1st trip of the year was up to the Salmon river in Pulaski, NY. This was a 1 day up and back and it was well worth it. Multiple hook ups and many more smiles.

2009-06-01T23:51:00.003-04:00

Wow - I didn't realize it's been so long since I posted anything. I mean, I hate to disappoint the thousands, if not 10's of thousands of followers this blog has! Honestly, I've been out fishing a bunch recently. It's the prime time of year and I've been hitting streams both local and out of state.

Look for some substantive posts in the next few days. I've got much to report on with fish being caught like this:

Also, I'm thinking about setting up an alternate site to Steelhead Addiction, since most of the my posts have been about trout fishing and not steelhead per se. If and when I do, I will link up to it here.

Time to try something different

2009-04-27T22:33:00.003-04:00

In the past 12 months, I've pretty much been exclusively nymphing with the various euro-techniques whenever I've gone out fishing. Considering where I was a year ago and where I am now, it's a night and day difference. Having done so much of the same basic thing over and over again for so long, I decided I finally have that down to a reasonable degree and perhaps I needed to change it up a little.

I'd been giving this a lot of consideration over the winter and got to tying up various wet flies, both winged and soft-hackled, so I'd be ready to try it out this spring. Well, today was the day and I really felt out of my element. I had to leave all the nymphs in the truck so I would not be tempted if I wasn't rewarded in short order.

The Farmington river was the venue today. I reasoned I might be able to get a bunch of trout in the Central Riffle, since many people pass over it and the water type there is perfect for wets. As it turned out, I only had one brief tug on the end of my line there. Needless to say, I was disappointed.

So I bagged that and went up to the Church Hole area. My intent was to fish the riffles above the pool. A couple more brief tugs under the bridge. I was thinking "I don't know what the fuss is about, these wet flies suck". I kept working upstream into a different riffly section. Finally, things began to turn around and I had like 5 hookups in short order. I mean like a fish every third or fourth cast. I went from disdainful skeptic to believer in about 15 minutes.

This is the first brown that came to the net. Yeah, it's a stocker, but it is a legit first fish on a wet:

This one was a pleasant surprise, a nice 9 inch brookie:

Encouraged, I kept working at it, fishing in spots I would normally pass up if I were nymphing, especially euro-nymphing. I waded up to a shallow flat and noticed a few fish rising. Perfect wet fly opportunity, right? Threw it in there a bunch of times using various presentation techniques, but was not able to interest the trout. Finally, as I was pondering my next move, something heavy hit. I got excited when the rod was bent over fairly sharply. Could be a sweet holdover I thought.

I did land the fish and it was a good sized trout, but it was perhaps one of the ugliest stockers I've ever caught! The first thing I noticed were the almost complete lack of spots. This thing resembles a giant golden shiner I thought!

Then I notice the tail and was thoroughly bummed:

It looked like it had seen a few battles, to say the least. I hate to be negative on a trout, but this one just did not leave me feeling all warm and fuzzy.

All said and done, I learned a bunch today and realize this is only the beginning of my learning curve with the wets.

Another Fine Spring Day

2009-04-25T22:39:00.011-04:00

Trillium

Bloodroot

... of trout fishing! When I got down to the river this morning, the air temps were in the 40's. By quittin' time, my thermometer read 85 degrees! So I went from freezing my ass off to sweating my ass off in a mere 4 or 5 hours.

Fished one of my favorite rivers today, the Shepaug, and had pretty good fortune. I ended up with 14 fish, of which only 1 was a fresh stocker. I know this for fact because today was the first day they stocked the river. I don't know how long some of these fish have been in the river, but they're generally very healthy looking; beautiful fins and scales and full of fight.

The caddis were out in force today. Lots of bugs migrating upstream and many of them were laying eggs. I don't know my caddis very well, but they were about a size 14 with mottled wings and a black belly and green back. My guess is hydropsyche.
Picked off a few in some pocket water. It's nice to see the fish moving up into feeding areas. That's a sure sign that the water temps are creeping up to the trout's optimal temperature range. In fact, when we started fishing, the water temp was 51. By 3pm, it had risen all the way to 61. Before you know it, it'll be too warm.

Then, it will be time to head north!

Connecticut Official Opener

2009-04-18T20:38:00.004-04:00

Good day for me today. Got to fish one of my favorite rivers that has a closed season in CT and it was well worth the wait. First cast and fish on - that's pretty hard to beat. Here are a few beauties from the day:

Normally, I'd be very satisfied with the results I had today. But sometimes you get a special fish and it makes you sit back and savor the moment. This is what I mean:

That fish was measured at 23 inches. Fins were perfect. Must be a 2 or 3 year holdover. After I landed it, I sat down on the bank and cracked and actually enjoyed a crappy Miller beer. I think I was shaking for like 15 minutes after the battle was over.

2009-04-07T09:42:00.001-04:00

Naugy TMA

2009-04-06T18:19:00.006-04:00

The river is loaded with stocker rainbows right now. You may lock intoa few holdovers too, as we had a cool summer last season and surely many of them survived the heat.

I did pretty well today, hooking 11 and landing 9, all rainbows. The quality of the fish is very good. I would say the average fish is approximately 15 inches, but I've heard credible reports of larger ones being caught.

Here is one that was particularly photo-worthy:

I worked a different stretch of river today, just to see if they were in there. I took me about 5 casts to find out! Then, I worked my way upstream, hitting all the likely spots. Each hole had at least several fat 'bows in it.

The productive flies for today were an Olive/Orange woven caddis and the Firefly, which is basically a pheasant tail with a hot orange bead. The stocker rainbows love that bright color, whether its orange or pink. I have yet to play around with other colors.

The Firefly:

and the woven caddis nymph:

I had to stop fishing later in the day. Not because of the pouring rain, but somehow, the last one snapped my rod tip off! This is the second time I'll be sending the TFO 10 footer back. Hopefully it'll be the last time.

A Suburban Trout Haven

2009-03-19T23:21:00.006-04:00

Here in Connecticut, the regular trout fishing is closed until the 3rd weekend in April. Luckily, there are a bunch of trout management areas that are open all year and they're catch and release. The two major ones are the Farmington and Housatonic river TMA's. The Housy usually runs pretty high this time of year and that's the case now. The Farmington, as great a fishery as it is, gets absolutely pounded all year long. Sometimes you can really score there and other times you end up taking a doughnut.

That being the case, I recently decided to change it up a little and try some areas I haven't fished before. I've been driving by this one river in particular in my work travels through the state, always thinking how good the water looks. In the past, it was one of the most polluted rivers in Connecticut, but is now on the rebound. One of the nice things about that, is few people have fished it, thinking it's devoid of trout and not worth the effort.

I was determined to find out on my own.

I knew from conversations I've had with several DEP biologists that it is a sleeper. Every year they electro-fish some very quality trout out of this stream.

I've been to it twice now, on exploratory missions, and I've been pleasantly surprised; not by the scenery, or how clean the banks are. Nothing could be further from the truth. However, the fish are outstanding. I would say they're averaging 15" each so far.I have yet to catch a recent stocker. Every fish I've caught so far has had perfect fins, tails and scales and have fought aggressively.

Here are a few of the trout, all browns:

I was nymphing most of the time, but I did get several on Slumpbusters and Woolly Buggers.

Mayflies are an indicator species in trout streams. No mayflies = marginal or polluted water to a degree. It's still mid March, yet these mayflies, which I believe are Quill Gordons (Epeorus pleuralis) are starting to show themselves:

Like I said, not the prettiest river, but maybe that is not such a bad thing, as far as fishing pressure goes. Both times I had the place to myself:

I'd like to see how it fishes once the water temps get closer to optimal.

Winter Stoneflies

2009-03-12T16:28:00.001-04:00

Snipe & Purple

2009-03-03T19:03:00.001-05:00

Another wet added to the flybox for the spring:

Trout in February

2009-02-18T22:59:00.001-05:00

Got the chance to fish the Farmington on Tuesday after work. Air temps were in the upper 30's, which is not to bad as far as winter fishing conditions go. Winds were light, which was an added bonus. Water temp was measured at 37 degrees, flow was approximately 240cfs.

Short synopsis - I ended up with 3 trout landed, and 1 LDR'ed, which was probably a brown. The fish we're getting right now in the Farmington are pretty good sized by eastern US standards. All the fish I caught were around the 17" mark.

It was nice to see some insect activity going on! The winter caddis were everywhere along the streamside rocks, but I didn't witness a hatch per se.

Later in the day, I met up with my friend Torrey, who is the manager of Housatonic River Outfitters, and his significant other, Mandy. Torrey was into a brown in the first 15 minutes, that went 18".

After that, it was my turn and I landed this fairly beat looking rainbow. Definitely has been caught more than once already. I was actually happy, despite the Tom Green grimace... just cold.

Great to get out and have something tugging on the end of my line, but we still have a bit of winter left to go before the real fun starts.

First of 2009

2009-02-10T21:41:00.006-05:00

Went fishing on the Farmington Sunday with my friend Alain. We met on the river at 7AM and the weathermen were forecasting a high of around 50 degrees. Not bad for early February. That didn't happen, but to expect warm weather in New England in February is folly anyway. This was the first time out for me in 2009. January was a bitterly cold month, so I just didn't feel like getting out to freeze my hands off and chip ice off my guides.

Alain's a little more hardy than me, so he's been out a few times thus far. Those experiences have really benefitted him. He knew where the fish were likely to be and so he went ahead and schooled my sorry ass. I don't even want to tell you what the ratio was, it was that bad. But, kudos to him, he's a fine fisherman and a gentleman and his persistance has paid off.

I did manage one decent brown out of the TMA. I can't say where, because it's a relatively lightly fished spot, but here is the nicely colored brown:

We moved around a bit. Tried some other spots within the TMA. The action for the rest of the day was pretty slow, even for Alain. At least we got out and finally got to wet the line in 2009.

Alain intent on hooking up:

Pine Knob Loop and a Slushy River

2009-01-29T22:22:00.010-05:00

Well folks, we're still a long way off from bonafide fishing in these parts. Yesterday, we got hit with a pretty potent winter storm that dropped about 5 inches of snow. Then it changed over to sleet, then finally to rain, just to make it extra sloppy out there.

If you take a look at the river, it seems like a different beast. Hatches of caddis and Hendricksons seem like a distant daydream. But, sure enough it will come with time, if we can just make it through the cold nights for another couple of months.

I took a look at the Housatonic yesterday and it looked as if the weather gods had a snowball fight, all of them landing in the water.

Went on a hike with Nora. The hills overlooking the Housy are certainly beautiful, yet quiet this time of year. We didn't see any wildlife at all. Maybe they were hunkering down, trying to get through the storm. Or, perhaps the dogs gave them ample warning of our presence. We were the only ones on the trail and the dogs really loved playing in the snow. Doesn't seem to bother them at all, in fact they relish it.

Anyway, fishing season is not officially closed yet here in Connecticut. Massachusetts (a short drive) doesn't have a closed season. Those are potentially options for me if and when it thaws out. The trout are still in there, surviving in their lethargic states, just waiting for those first warm days of spring.

Winter Must be Tough on the Wild Ones

2009-01-18T22:59:00.005-05:00

Here in the northeast, it's been a very snowy winter thus far. For the past few days, the temps have been in the single digits and at nighttime, well below zero. After awhile, it starts to get to you.

I haven't fished in about a month now. The days are short and cold. The fish are lethargic and sometimes it seems hardly worth the frozen fingers and toes. The fishing on the Farmington has been very off compared to last winter. Even my friends who have fished it and are very good fisherman have been doing poorly. Days like these make you long for the warmth of spring, but it is still a long time from now.

So, today I decided to try to pull myself out of my mid-winter malaise and went for a hike along a couple of my favorite local brook trout streams. One of these brooks gets stocked in early spring, but if you do a little hiking and wading, you can get into some very pretty wild fish. I didn't expect to find much open water, but I did find it in spots. Even hearing the sound of running water on a cold day like today makes you want to close your eyes and daydream about warmer days when the brookies will race up and smash a dry fly.

Making it through the winter must be tough on these little guys. Every day is a fight to survive and it makes me respect them even more. When I hold them in my hand this spring, I will appreciate their beauty, then set them free.

Here are some photos from today:

Winter photos

2009-01-12T20:16:00.011-05:00

Just driving around the NW corner yesterday and snapped a few shots. It's been a pretty snowy winter so far and I'm already pretty sick of it, to be honest. I guess you just have to try to make the best of it.

Church in Milton

A Cold Housatonic:

Wow - this is sad - wading shoes buried in the snow:

At least the homebrew is ready - YUM!

Winter is supposed to be a contemplative season, and to some extent I guess it is. Although, right now, all I can think about is spring.

October Steel

2008-12-17T22:26:00.009-05:00

Yes, I know it's December and I'm finally getting around to adding this to the blog. This year, my brothers Andy, John and I met in western NY to open a can of whoop ass on some steelies. This year (like last year) we were once again screwed by drought conditions, so the only creeks that were reasonably fishable were Cattauraugus Creek and later on, we moved east to the Salmon river in Pulaski, NY. One other we did fish with a small amount of success was 18 Mile Creek in the vicinity of Hamburg, NY. No special places, just public water.

Fishing was so-so. Some days we'd have 10-15 hookups, which isn't bad, but it's certainly not great. It was enough to keep the trip from being a total flame out.

I didn't fish the beads this year. I caught enough shit for that last year, but maybe I will break them out in the spring or next fall. I fished mostly pink eggs and sucker spawn. Pink always works well for me for some reason. Much better than orange or oregon cheese, red or virtually any other color. The only color that comes close is white.

At the Catt, we tried a few spots, but the reservation was the most consistent. Nothing at all in Gowanda. We also tried the Zoar recreational gorge, but nothing doing there. Perhaps we were too early for the fish to be up that high. I've also heard it said that fish will rip right through that area, but I don't know if this is true, or if anyone's gotten any data to prove it. I'm thinking probably not. It's more likely that it's such a long walk down to there, that if you get the skunk one day, you're likely to not return, which makes it easy to assume there's no fish holding down there.

Anyway, enough with the dialogue. Here are a few photos:

A few from the Catt

Andy at the Salmon River

I have a few more photos on my other PC that John took. I'll try to get them up in the next few days.

Wet Flies

2008-12-10T20:56:00.010-05:00

Been busy at the vise recently, working on wets. I plan to fish them almost exclusively this upcoming season. Hopefully I will become proficient.

Here are a few photos of just some the the wets I've been tying:

Woodcock Hare's Ear

Kelso

Hares Ear

Alexandra

Peter Ross

Muddler Daddy

Invicta

Partridge and Yellow

Trip to Canada part Deux

2008-12-03T21:23:00.034-05:00

Wow - it's been a LONG time since I put any fresh material up (as if the world was anxiously awaiting on my next posting). Just to backtrack a little, Nora and I took a trip up to the Gaspé peninsula back in the summer and I only posted roughly half the trip up, so here is the other half.

The second leg of our trip found us leaving Tadoussac, QC, taking the ferry across the St. Lawrence river, then driving along the northern edge of the Gaspé peninsula, reaching our destination of Forillon National Park(pronounced For-ee-on ~n silent). I won't put you to sleep with all the boring details of actually getting there, but the scenery was pretty much fantastic once we got above the city of Rimouski. It was one of those drives where you go around the corner and go "holy shit, look at that!" Much of the road is right on the seaway, so it's hard to keep your eyes on the road. Picturesque towns dot the way and sometimes we just had to stop and try to take it in. One of the things that caught our attention was the windmill "fields" for lack of a better term, that we saw. Curiously, only about 20% were actually operational.

Here are a few photos of the drive up:

Remember ESSO?

WELL....

Finally after a very long drive and some anxiety over whether or not we'd actually find a campsite at Forillon, we arrived at our destination. Luckily and incredibly there were plenty of campsites available. National park, middle of summer, no reservation required. Who da thunk? Dog tired, we were treated to this view after we entered the park:

Spectacular to say the least and it would keep getting better. We only had a couple of days to spend here, so in the morning we woke up early, had hearty breakfast and took off on a 16 or so mile hike that would take us to the tip of the peninsula. We hiked up to a lookout tower where we had fantastic views, through some pretty active bear country, and along pastoral seaside paths that eventually led us up to the lighthouse at the very tip of the peninsula. On the way back, we actually saw some whales breaching out in the bay, waterspouts and all! Fantastic.

Here are some photos from that day - starting with the hike over the stem of the peninsula up to the lookout tower:

Incidentally, we had binoculars with us and you could look down from the tower and see seals playing/eating/surviving/doing whatever the F seals do down in the surf below. Pretty cool.

Now for the seaside part of the hike. This is along the south shoreline of the tip of the Gaspe. The path is part of the international Appalachian trail, which is an extension of the original AT. This part starts at Mt. Katahdin in Maine and the terminus is the tip of the Gaspe. The trail goes through an old fishing village that the national park service bought out in the 1970's and many but not all the buildings are preserved. Anyway, I'll let the photos do the talking.

Nora and Dave at the very tip of the Gaspe!

The lighthouse:

Here are some photos from the walk back to the car. As I said before, the area is infested with bears. They feed on Osier and Raspberries. We didn't see any on our hike, but we found plenty of evidence:

OK, at this point, my ADHD is kicking in and I'll just post a few more photos of the rest of the trip, which includes a sunrise on the beach (we actually came across a porcupine in the path) and the drive back through the touristy town of Perce and it's famous Perce Rock:

Perce Rock

So, that's pretty much about it - we had a stop or two along the way, we stopped to visit some of Nora's friends from New Milford who actually have a cottage on the Gaspe that they paid 10G's for, remarkable... I wish I had the camera when we walked out their back yard to the ocean, incredible scenery.

One of the funny parts of the trip was the border crossing when we were coming back to the states and being interrogated by border patrol: "uh, so where you folks goin' tonight?" I reply, "well sir, we're trying to make Caribou." Nora got a grand kick out of that... like we were in the middle of a snowstorm and Caribou was 500 miles away. Here it is the middle of August. She still laughs about it. Ok, I can take it.

Nora and Dave's trip to Canada

2008-08-12T22:20:00.009-04:00

It's been way too long since I last posted, so I'm going to make up for it starting with this rather lengthy addition.

We left for Canada last Sunday, specifically to do some whale watching from the vantage point of sea kayaks, to the picturesque town of Tadoussac, Quebec. Tadoussac is one of the oldest settlements in all of Canada and is situated about 3 hours northeast of Quebec City, on the north shore of the St. Lawrence river, and at the confluence of Saguenay river. The mouth of the Saguenay forms one of the few natural fjords in Canada and is reknowned for it's concentration of all sorts of whales; Minkes, Belugas and a host of others. Apparently, krill concentrate there in the summer months and the whales come in to fatten up for the winter months ahead. To get to the village of Tadoussac, you have to cross the Saguenay via ferry, several of which run non-stop.

Here are some photos of the crossing:

At the end of the first day, we camped on the outskirts of Tadoussac at Domaine des dunes. Not a great campsite, as sites are very close to each other and offer very little privacy, but it was a place to settle in for the next couple of nights. At this point, after about 10 hrs of driving, we were happy just to have a place to sleep for the night.

Day 2 - Tuesday

Today, all we had on our minds was sea kayaking and hopefully seeing some whales.
But first, we had a couple of hours to kill, so we took a hike along the fjord and here are some of the views:

The village of Tadoussac

Put your shirt back on!

Nora taking in some sun, or fumbling with her pockets, or something...

Everyone we talked to who had been to Tadoussac told us we would see tons of them. Sadly, this would not be the case! In fact we would not see a one during our 2 hr kayak tour of the fjord, but we did have a great time, cruising up the fjord and back to the harbor. Later on we'd still have an opportunity to see some on the second part of our trip, a few nights in Forillon National Park, which is located on the very tip of the Gaspe peninsula.

Here are a few photos of the kayak trip:

Our kayaks with the company Azimut Adventures

Nora paddling in front - view looking up the Saguenay fjord

The others who made the trip with us

Nora enjoying the ride!

Dave at the stern

Nora and Dave

Later that same day, we drove out to Saguenay Provincial Park in search of beluga. This particular area is supposed to be a sanctuary for belugas. After mountain biking down a trail, we came to a lookout point with an observation deck. There was a naturalist there with high powered binoculars taking notes, looking for belugas. She had seen some during the day, but while we were there, none were to be found. 0 for 2 so far, but the scenery was gorgeous:

Nora looking and hoping to spot some belugas

More later - on to the incredible Forillon National Park!

Centerpinning - Day 2

2008-01-28T18:08:00.002-05:00

What a difference 1 day and a little practice makes. Today's trip to the river yielded much better results in terms of my technique and the result. Having gotten a grip on casting, I was able to concentrate more on line control and my drifts.

We started the day on the lower part of the Salmon river. The action was good enough to keep us there for most of the day. At the first hole, this brown nailed my skein and nearly jolted the rod out of my hand.

It was nice to get one early in the morning. Now I was getting my head into the game.

Here are a few more photos of steelhead I landed, and a few by my friend Aaron:

I don't know that I'll invest in a rig just yet. It is very effective to say the least, but it is not as relaxing to fish with as the fly rod. Maybe it's just that I don't have enough time into it yet.

Going to give the SAlmon river a rest for now. It's possible I may go up in the springtime for drop backs. I can definitely use the fly rod then.

Centerpinning - day 1

2008-01-26T21:06:00.002-05:00

Wow - what a learning experience. My new signature line for emails will be "Centerpinning is NOT easy!" I have a new appreciation for the guys who go out there with the CP reels and make it look so effortless. It took me half the day to figure out just the casting alone. Then, it finally clicked. Line and drift management are going to require some more time.

The thing with centerpin reels is that they are free spinning and have no drag. This setup just invites tangles and backlashes if you're not totally on top of your game (or have many days on the water working with this reel), or a complete greenhorn like me.

Aside from that, properly done, it is incredibly effective as my friend demonstrated to me today. He landed a bunch and I was lucky enough to land the one I did hook into. Thank God is was not a beast or I surely would have lost it. The other thing about it is the bait; skein sacks are really really really smelly and sticky. You get that smell on your hands and I think it could stay with you for days, if not weeks!

All said, I'm glad I tried it and we'll see what tomorrow's day on te river brings... hopefully some chrome or gold into the net.

Salmon River - mid winter bedlam

2008-01-25T23:05:00.000-05:00

I'm currently up here in Pulaski NY at the famous Salmon river. Going to hit the river Saturday and Sunday, trying something new for a change: centerpinning with egg sacks and skein. This will be my first time with a centerpin. My friend Aaron met me up here and we think we're going to do some major damage on the chrome. There are supposedly lots of fish in the river right now and the reports have been good.

Weather forecast is for cold and snow. Morning low forecasted for a whopping 7 degrees, but it should get into the 20's by midday. Extreme steelheading - I love it! It's amazing - coming up through Syracuse, there's only a little snow on the ground, but as soon as you get close to Pulaski, it's like a snow bomb went off. Hopefully, it'll keep a lot of anglers away from the river and we can have some spots to ourselves. Brought a couple pairs of snowshoes (thanks Torrey!), so that should be a big help. We should be on the river by 6am, hoping to be the first ones there.

Hopefully, I'll have lots of photos for the website by Saturday night. Stay tuned...

Farmington River 2 weekends in January

2008-01-16T21:29:00.000-05:00

Yes, it is mid winter, but that doesn't mean it's time to stop fishing. In fact, winter can be a GREAT time to fish. The masses stay home (unless it's an exceptionally warm winter day) and you can enjoy the peace and solitude of the river to yourself. We've had some really nice weather here in Connecticut this January, thus far. So when it does cooperate, you have to make the most of your opportunities.

The first group of photos below are from January 5th. I drove down to the middle of the TMA and got 5 browns. That is a REALLY good day for me, since I admittedly, haven't had very good luck overall in the winter. There were ice shelves lining the river in spots and I found that by standing on them like a casting platform, it helped me to reach fish that I would normally have a hard time effectively fishing to. Not a recommended technique if you're new to winter fishing, since there's always the chance of falling through the ice. The biggest one in the last photo went about 17 inches and was a very chunky well fed animal. Enjoy the photos!

This past weekend, my friends Dave and Aaron came up from New York City and New Jersey, respectively, to fish the Farmington. These guys are pretty hardcore and we fished all day long on both Saturday and Sunday. We were on the first ones on the river at 7 am. We all hooked up, with the best action coming in the early morning. Aaron, caught a behemoth rainbow, shown below. We estimated it going 24 inches and about 6 lbs. Once you catch a fish like that, you might as well stop for the rest of the day, but we fished till sundown.

Here are a few photos:

Thanksgiving Steelhead

2008-01-16T21:17:00.000-05:00

Wow - it has been a LONG time since I put anything new up, so it's time to pony up.
Not a lot of narrative here, but just a quick recap. Andy, John and I made a somewhat impromptu trip up to Erie-land on thansksgiving weekend to fish for steelhead. Apparently, every steelheader in PA and NY had the same idea, because there were so many people there, it was hard to find a place to fish.

We did fish Chautauqua and Elk, with Elk being the most productive. Here are a few photos:

Adirondacks Trip

2007-11-12T22:35:00.002-05:00

Nora and I took a trip a couple of weekends ago, up to the Adirondacks. We stayed in the cute little town of Elizabethtown overnight and had a fabulous dinner at the Deer Head Inn. Got up there Saturday around noon and did a 4 mile hike up to Bald peak. Only saw a few people, a group of overly chatty women at the top and a young couple that didn't even bother to stop at the peak and take in the views.

The weather was cool, but the day was clear and we had an awesome time! Here are some photos from that hike, and a hike the next day up Blueberry Mtn., which is just outside of Keene Valley...

Also - Nora wanted to see the homestead of John Brown, the famous abolitionist. So we took a little side journey to the town of Elba, which is just outside of Lake Placid. You can actually see the ski jumps from the homestead.

Cascade lake - on the road from the John Brown homestead, back to Keene Valley

the top of Blueberry Mtn.

Steelhead Trip 2007 - Recap

2007-11-01T21:31:00.000-04:00

Wow - what a steelhead season so far! We took off for the Erie tribs on the weekend of Oct 20th. By we, I mean myself, my older brother John, my youngest brother Andy, and a buddy of mine - Jeff. Andy drove in from Chicagoland and the rest of us live in Connecticut. One of the first items of business was to come up with a nickname for Jeff, which (unfortunately for him) is becoming a tradition. We settled on "Bucky". A note of explanation: Jeff has one of those heads where the hair stands up straight, no matter how long it gets. I think he could probably grow his hair out about 6 inches and it would still stand straight up. I'm confident he would vouch for this. In the past, he's been called "the Badger", again because of the hair. It's evolved into Bucky because that's the mascot of the U of Wisconsin. So... Bucky the Badger it became. Oh, we added on a few more adjectives to that, but I will be kind...

Back to the fishing... I made great time to get to Cattaraugus Creek - only 6.25 hrs. and met Andy there Friday, around lunchtime. The day started off slowly, but we both managed to hook a few fish and landed several. We primarily fished in the town of Gowanda, but the fishing really didn't start to pick up until later in the day. Luckily we were able to slide into a deep hole that had been getting some heavy pressure by the locals all day, so at first, we weren't entirely optimistic. Andy hooked up almost immediately at the head of the run and our attitudes took a definite positive upswing. I started hooking up as well about 15 yards below Andy, and I think all in all, we each ended up with 4 or so steelies for the day. Not too bad for a first day.

Day 2 - Saturday - we continued to hit the Gowanda stretch. Results were about the same - spotty fishing during the day. Andy and I decided to get reservation licenses and we went down to the town of Versailles to try our luck. We found a nice pockety run and picked up a few nice fish. We were then joined by John and Jeff and decided to try our luck downstream. The place was unfortunately packed and the fishing really suffered. Even the good looking holes seemed devoid of fish. I have no doubt they were in there, but the bite wasn't on at all. To make matters worse, the wind REALLY picked up and made casting and drifts difficult at best. After a frustrating afternoon, we decided to go back into Gowanda, where we had better luck before. Again, the bite improved as darkness approached. I did try out the new trout beads and was pretty impressed with the results. Anything orangy or pinkish seemed to work. Of course you always remember the one that got away... In this case, I had hooked a gorgeous brown that went probably 26-28 inches. He actually came out of the water twice to reveal his colors. A nice strong fish, but after a short battle, he was gone. I would've loved to have landed that fish, but that's the way it goes sometimes. It seems that I'm a little snakebit when it comes to browns. For some reason, I have a hard time keeping them on.

Day 3 - Sunday - one more day in Gowanda. Again, slow fishing during the day, so we took a nice lunch break at one of the local fine dining establishments. Three orders of the open meatloaf sandwich on white bread - sounded appetizing anyway. One more crack at Gowanda in the evening. The honey hole was packed tonight, but I did manage to land 2 more a little further downstream, after really working it. Sometimes you just have to put your time in with these fish and make your drifts.

By the way, I just want to add my 2 cents on what I saw on the upper end of the indian reservation. What's going on here is that apparently, the indians are using heavy equipment on the upper boundary of the reservation and TOTALLY scouring the river banks to harvest the gravel along the banks. It's a complete mess! Major damage has been done here. The river is badly channelized in sections and I have to think that once the water comes up again, it's going to be a very destructive situation. They're taking gravel right along the riverbanks and totally changing the character of the river in that area. I don't know if the state of New York is within it's jurisdiction to do anything about it, but I seriously doubt this blatant raping of the land would ever be tolerated, or even proposed if was on NY state land. It's not pretty folks and it doesn't bode well for the river or for the fishery. You remember that commercial with the indian crying because of all the litter on what used to be his land? Well, all I have to say is that I have a completely changed view on how they actually treat the land they're supposed to be advocates of cherishing. Total HYPOCRISY!

Andy with some pretty Cattaraugus steel

John with his first steelhead of 2007 - Versailles

Day 4 - We made a major trip decision and re-routed back east to the Salmon river. John and Andy decided to pay the full $30 to get into the DSR to fish a half day. Jeff and I opted to fish a little further upstream at the ballpark. One lousy hookup for me on a king, but Bucky managed a nice little chromer. Turns out the gamble by Andy and John paid off and they had a great day at Douglaston. They each had between 15 and 19 hookups on steel and each landed around 4. Good for them - that's a lot of hookups for the Salmon river and they were very happy campers.

Day 5 - more DSR action. It rained like a mother all day; surely this could be a fishy day. We split up again. It was slow in the early morning, but by noon, I had landed a couple beautiful chromers in the fast water in the middle of the DSR. Unfortunately, Andy and John had to leave, but Bucky and I stuck with it. Went back up to upper section and the action was pretty consistent all afternoon. We each had maybe a dozen hookups and landed several. Those fish really scream in the Salmon river - nothing compares (to me, anyway).

Day 6 - Bucky and I decided to meet my friends Aaron and Justin, who had had an INCREDIBLE day yesterday in the lower section of the river. 150 hookups between them. Unbelievable, I thought, but they had the photos to prove it. Aaron said it was his best day on the Salmon river ever - how could you top that? So we met them at the lower end again, hoping to strike gold.... er, chrome. Unfortunately, bad timing was my game again. Those fish were mostly gone - they had raised the water level the previous night, to 350 cfs, which probably made them run and scatter upstream. We were still optimistic we'd find them though. I got 3 on sucker spawn in Spring Hole, but overall, it was kinda slow. We moved back up to the mid-section of the DSR and Jeff and I got a few more. Finally, we moved back to the upper end of the DSR and it was pretty hot and heavy for awhile. Then, around 3pm or so, it just shut off. All in all, a good day with several slabs of steel brought to the net.

Which reminds me - that really great net I had purchased specifially in preparation for this trip, somehow managed to unclip itself from my belt and floated downstream into the depths. Note to self.... next net, tie on a lanyard!

The cycle of life continues

Your's truly - a very happy man - despite the look

One happy Bucky

A nasty war scar - this fish actually provided Jeff with an awesome battle, despite the wound.

This is what it's all about, folks!

Day 7 - we decided to try North Sandy creek. This is a beautiful little creek that is about 20 minutes north of the Salmon river. It's fast, with some nice holes and pocket water, and it flows through a marsh. Pretty and unique, but not as hot as the Salmon. I did manage 2 steelhead to the net and explored a bunch. I must have walked a mile up from the Rte.3 bridge. I landed 1 King, and had a big chromer take me for a good run way upstream from the bridge.

We ended the day back at the Salmon river, ballpark hole. Jeff had 1 more steelie take him for a ride, but I got the skunk.

Day 8 - we had enough! Arms were sore and tired not so much from battling steel, but from the constant repetitive motion of casting flies and shot all day. Home by 12:30 and fishing the Housatonic by 1:30!

Great trip - can't wait to go back, maybe to Oak Orchard to battle some browns, or maybe the Catt again, if and when it gets more water... and steel.

North Sandy Creek

da Catt - day 2

2007-10-20T21:49:00.000-04:00

We hit 'em good today on the Catt. Morning was really pretty good - I landed 2 and my brother Andy got 2 as well. During the middle of the day, the wind was howling like crazy and the fishing suffered. It got hot and heavy as evening approached.

The trout beads totally kicked ass! I'm a convert!

Had a huge brown on at the end of the day that came out of the water twice, but unfortunately, he broke off. He had to go at least 27". Ah well.

I'd some pics, but Blogger is having some issues right now, so it'll have to wait.

Steelhead trip - Day 1

2007-10-19T20:27:00.000-04:00

Made it up to the Catt by 10:45AM and met my brother Andy in the town of Gowanda. fishing started off a little slow, but we managed to hook up eventually. By the end of the day, the action really picked up.

Here are some photos from the day:

My brother Andy

All fish were caught using sucker spawn. Tomorrow, I try the trout beads.

Off to Steel Country - or is it the Desert?

2007-10-18T21:29:00.001-04:00

Well, the time has finally arrived. I'm about to embark upon my first steelhead excursion of the season. Nature is kind of a bitch sometimes though. Let me explain...

I (along with my trip companions) have been looking forward to the annual Erie steelhead trip now since about mid July sometime. Flies were tied with reckless abandon. Gear was purchased - a really nice landing net, a very sweet Lamson Litespeed 3, and a new cavernous Fishpond chest pack. Everything is ready to go. But here comes the cruel part: all this preparation and now relatively no water to fish in. The bigguns (Elk and Walnut) are a trickle. It hasn't rained substantially in Steelhead Alley in many weeks.

So what do we do? We go anyway. We make the best of it. We alter fishing plans and lodging plans.

Looks like we'll hit the Catt. Didn't get to fish it last year because of too much water and now it's damn near the only game in town. Maybe next year Chautauqua. Same to you 20 Mile! It could have been real!

Enough with the lamentations. I'll post back with photos (hopefully of us holding dime bright steel) when I get back. In the meantime, pray for rain.

Strange Times We Live In

2007-09-13T17:56:00.000-04:00

Nothing fishing related, but amusing. A naked man in his 50's was spotted running with his 2 dogs through the woods in an area ajacent to my abode.

Here's the story:

http://www.registercitizen.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18812302&BRD=1652&PAG=461&dept_id=572363&rfi=6

Road Trip! Northern Vermont

2007-09-09T20:37:00.000-04:00

After only using my Vermont fishing license once last year, I vowed to myself that I would make it up there at least more than that this year, so north Dave did venture. I knew conditions would be tough, given the drought the northeast has been experiencing for the past 6 weeks or so; the rivers would be low. I decided that my best chance for luck would be to head for a big watershed. The mountain and feeder tribs would be a trickle this time of year. So, Saturday morning I decided the Winooski river would be my destination. I also wanted to check out the Dog and Mad rivers, feeders to the Winooski, since they are pretty highly regarded as trout fisheries and supposedly ran through some beautiful country.

The Winooski is a large watershed, by Vermont standards. Fed by many feeder streams, it flows east and eventually spills into Lake Champlain in northern Vermont. It runs through Montpelier(the state capitol), Waterbury and finally Burlington/Winooski. I checked my guide books and my topo maps and finally settled upon fishing the river in the area adjacent to the small town of Duxbury.

It took me awhile to find a likely looking spot. Lots of dead looking water to my eye. I pulled over to an area that had a good amount of current, spilling into a deep ledgy hole. Suited up, ready to fish. I get down to my hole and cross at the tail. I take the water temp.... 72 degrees. Not looking good, but what the heck, I drove all this way, might as well wet a line.

I tie on a double rig: Red Fox Squirrel nymph and a small Pheasant Tail. First cast in a fast run.. drift drift drift.... boom! What a hit! After a short battle, I land a beauty of a rainbow. Not really big, but I'll take it. It beats the skunk in a hurry. Usually, catching a fish in the first few casts is a major jinx for me, so I was not overly enthused just yet. Second cast... drift drift drift.... nothing.... yet.... swing... boom! Another rainbow! Hey, maybe this Winooski is not bad afterall!

Well, the action DID slowdown after a short while. Newbie's luck, perhaps. But I did end up with 1 other out of that hole and lost a bigger one (of course). Not bad for 3pm on a hot summer day.

When the day was done, I ended up with 5 rainbows, a brown, 1 salmon parr, 2 micro-bass, and about 30 chubs.

I will take that anyday.

Stayed overnight in Montpelier at a skanky Economy Hotel. Wandered downtown and pulled up a bar stool at McGillicuddy's. Watched the Sox get blown out. Thank God for Bass ale and cheeseburgers.

Day 2 started off promising. Heavy skies, overcast, rain imminent. Took off for the Dog river which was just a few miles up the road from the EconoHell. Not a lot of access, or water. Next destination, the New Haven river, a tributary to Otter Creek, which again eventually flows into Lake Champlain.

After going over 2 mountain passes, I found myself at the upper end of the New Haven river. This is a small stream stretch that flows down from the mountains. I pull over just upstream of Bristol, VT and find some nice looking pocket water. In my 2 recent trips to Vt, I didn't land a single brookie, which this state is famous for. That personal drought would end here. The fishing wasn't great, but I did manage 2 beautiful mountain brookies, and also a wild brown that ended up being the fish of the day at 10 inches. Not quantity, but quality. Not just the fish, but being in solitude on a beautiful mountain stream, all to myself, in the pouring rain. It was a perfect brook trout kinda day.

Sometimes I get disappointed if I don't land a big fish. Not today. Today, I took what the river chose to give me and it gave me jewels speckled in blue and red, painted on a canvas of olive, black and fiery orange.

A New Toy

2007-09-07T16:24:00.000-04:00

...or is it another weapon in the old steelhead arsenal? Today, my new steelhead landing net finally arrived via John Nagy. It's the McLean M130 Weigh Net.

Some of the features include: an integrated 14 lb. scale, mesh bag that's fish friendly, it's telescoping, it folds, and the one cool feature I like about it is that it has a clip on it so you can attach it to your wading belt. This is a really lightweight, but very sturdy net. We'll see how it holds up to the pressure this fall.

The hoop measures roughly 17" X 19" with a bag that has a depth of about 17". Should be plenty big enough.

Can't wait to try it out!

Mysis Shrimp

2007-09-03T17:31:00.001-04:00

I was doing a little research today, both online and in books, and was reading about how effective mysis shrimp are supposed to be for steelhead. While not in the rivers we fish, they are prevalent in the Great Lakes and steelhead supposedly imprint upon them as a food source. One web site said that they prefer them to eggs 7 to 1! I'm not sure how accurate that is, but decided it was time I had a few in my flybox.

So... off to the vise I went and after a few attempts, came upon my own version. It's pretty easy to tie and offers a little more detail then some of the other patterns I've come across. I experimented a bunch with different ways to fashion the black eyes that are a pretty dominant feature found in all mysis shrimp imitations. After fooling around with glass bead eyes and mono eyes, I finally came across the idea of melting the ends of a cut piece of black larva lace. It's fast, and delivered the effect I was looking for.

Here are the tying steps; I just hope they live up to the hype!

Materials:
Hook: Tiemco 2457 #12
Thread: White 6/0
Eyes: Black larva lace
Thorax and abdomen: pearl white ice dub
Shellback: Mylar
Rib: Stretch lace .5mm
Tail: creamy white antron

Attach the tying thread to the hook

Attach the eyes to the rear or the hook, above the bend

Tie in some antron for pearl krystal flash for the antennae

Tie in some mylar (or similar) for a shellback, and some stretch lace. I found this stuff called Stretch Magic, that I bought at the local Michael's Arts and Crafts store. This happens to be .5 mm, clear

Add an antron tail, then dub the thorax and abdomen

Tie down the shellback, then rib

The finished fly

Family Get Together

2007-09-02T18:17:00.000-04:00

Spent Saturday evening at mom and dad's house, celebrating their 48th wedding anniversary. Mom had her cookin' shoes on, and made another feast: BBQ ribs and pork tenderloin, salads, munchies, etc. The usual 4 star fare. Mike and John got a little out of hand once they got a hold of the digital. Scroll down, you'll see. I remember my first beer too. Fun time was had by all.

By the way - Emily goes to college on the 20th of this month, so send her bon voyage emails! She's pretty psyched and can't wait to get out of the grasp of mom and dad to party in PA. Some work better happen there too, kid!

Some photogenic cameos:

And a very special greeting from Fish-bones

A walk in the woods

2007-08-19T19:21:00.000-04:00

Nora and I hiked about 7 miles of the Tunxis trail, out by Barkhamsted reservoir on Saturday. On our journey, we found a few Horn of Plenty mushrooms, but apparently we were late because we found many more decaying ones. Enough for the fry pan. Also discovered a little trout stream that feeds a pond. I spooked a bunch of brookies, which was pretty cool. Here are some photos:

One other thing... does anyone have a guess what this might be?

I think it might be a button Hen of the Woods, but I'd like to hear some other guesses.

Farmington - 8/15/07

2007-08-16T23:13:00.000-04:00

Fished the river tonight with Jeff B. Let's just say somewhere between Hitchcock and Church Pool. After a slow start, I moved up into some pocket water and had my way with them. It simply wasn't fair. I lost count, but ended up with 20+ fish, the biggest one taping out at 15" - a nice fat rainbow. Fished mostly with PT's and picked up a few on a BH Prince.

That river is absolutely loaded. It seemed like every conceivable piece of water that might hold a trout did hold at least one. In one mini-hole of bank water, I landed at least 10 and hooked many more.

The last fish of the day was the best, and the proverbial one that got away. After landing the 15 incher, this animal was much heavier, so I'm guessing at least 18" of piscatorial braun. He made a nice upstream run, ripping line off my reel, not quite into my backing, but almost. Then he came charging back at me; I was reeling in line frantically, when he decides to make another run upstream again. He tucked under a rock and then it was game over. Fish 1 Dave 0. Those are the ones you remember.

All in all, a great night out on the river and if anything, I'm honing my skills for steelhead season. It can't get here soon enough.

Shrooms are popping

2007-08-13T16:21:00.000-04:00

Went for a walk with Nora and the dogs yesterday to find some chanterelles. These were pretty small, so I think they're just starting to pop.

While in RI over the weekend, we stopped at a farmstand to pick up some corn. I happened to look in one of the bins and they were selling Horn of Plenty (black trumpets) for $9.99/lb. Not bad I thought... They must be coming out now too.

Oh no, they're rising.

2007-08-09T08:23:00.000-04:00

Fished the Farmington again last night and ended up with about 8 fish. Even caught a few risers on dries. I hate to be sacriligious, but dry fly fishing is just boring. The only way I can think of that would make it more palatable, would be if you were floating a river. I hate sitting in one spot casting to finicky fish - it's too much of a pain in the ass.

Anyway, here's a few photos from yesterday's jaunt:

Farmington River - 8/05/07

2007-08-06T16:44:00.001-04:00

Fished with friend Jeff at the Farmington Sunday night. Got there a little late, so I wasn't able to fish with much light left, but I managed to land 3 - a brown, a rainbow, and a brookie. I like to spread it out a little - OK, so it was just luck, but it was nice to land all three species. To round it off, I landed a little salmon parr, of which there are many in that river.

I told Jeff about this one spot we were at, I had done well there that last time I fished it. He managed 1, but I guess that's better than nothing, right Jeff? Hey Jeff, maybe you should attend one of the nymphing clinics that are held at Harold's? Just a suggestion ;-)

Thanks for bringing the beer, though!

Landed 2 of the 3 on a #12 pheasant tail, tied with a yellow fur thorax. I don't know what they thought it was, but yellow in my flies seems to work for me lately.

Maybe we can get Johnson to come along some night if he's not too busy catching 40" stripers...

Farmington River - Friday Afternoon Hookey

2007-08-04T11:43:00.000-04:00

Spent Friday afternoon on the Farmington, fishing with my brother Matt, who was up from Texas for a few days on business. Our other brother John (aka JDog) joined us for awhile. Really wanted to get Matt into some trout, since there are very few places for him to trout fish in Texas. Had to supply him with all the gear necessary, so it took us awhile to get rigged up. Meahwhile, J Dog shows up, slaps his gear on quickly, and heads down to the river before we could drain our first beers. We've been J-Dogged! He gets pick of the prime location.

So, finally we get our acts together and head into the river. I'm the last one down to the river, figuring I'll be there the longest, so I'm in no hurry, and it's just plain hot out - no need to rush! Matt exclaims the JDog has 2 trout. We've been double J-Dogged! That bastard!

It's only a few cast before I'm into a fish, but as it sometimes goes, he's off as quickly as he was on. I have a feeling there will be more on this day.

Matt and I decide to move upstream and we find a nice deep seam that when you look at it you just know that it's loaded with trout. In about 5 minutes, I've landed my 3rd fish, including one little chunky 14" rainbow. I finally get Matt up to my spot to give it a shot. I rig him up properly and show him where to cast, but today is not Matt's day. The fish win, as sometimes they do; more often then not, actually.

We start walking back and JDog shows up. Good timing and we hitch a ride on the tailgate. It's almost time for Matt to catch his flight back to Texas, but we have enough time to swill down a couple more beers and have some laughs. Even when you don't hook up, trout fishing a cold river can be a soothing elixer.

After we say our goodbyes, I set out to fish some new water. It's funny how you can get set into patterns where you fish the same holes, use the same flies and methods. I needed a bit of a change, so I head downstream in search of new pockets. Sometimes the search pays off, as it did for me today. I worked my way through several deep nymphing runs and landed probably a dozen fish, LDR'ed several more. I was using a 2-nymph rig, fishing a pair of Tellicos, or a tellico on top and a small pheasant tail on the bottom. One thing I learned is that when I have nymphs rigged up with 5X and split shot, it's a recipe for tangles. After switching to 4X, my tangle problems went entirely away.

All in all, a very nice evening of fishing. I actually had the whole stretch to myself - which is a rarity on the Farmington these days. Now since I'm on this getting out of old patterns routine, maybe I'll have to consider swithing over to dry flies.... nah!

An Evening on the River

2007-07-31T22:13:00.001-04:00

Fished the Farmington river tonight with my buddy Jeff. Tried a new spot, over by American Legion State Forest. We walked down and found a huge hole, very deep; a great place for me to throw some nymphs. On the second cast, I netted a beautiful rainbow that went about 14 inches. Not huge, but a good start... or a bad omen as is sometimes the case when you hook up right away.

I fished a 2-nymph system. A tellico on top and a #18 pheasant tail. The PT has really been producing for me lately. After about 5 minutes I thought I was into a big brown, but as it sometimes goes, that golden blur you see beneathe the surface ended up being a sucker! At least he battled hard.

Moved upstream to the next likely looking spot and netted 3 more trout, all browns - very nice - that were cozied up against the far bank in a deep slow water pocket. LDR'ed a couple others. Got a couple more later, but that was basically my night.

Except...Originally I intended to post a couple of photos to go along with the report and had actually taken a few. Later on in the evening, I was crossing the big hole towards the tail and got into some swift water up to my waist. This is usually where my feet get swept out from underneathe me and I take a cold bath. That didn't happen tonight, but my camera bag was just open at the top enough to let some water in and the digital took the bath. Drying it out now and hopefully, it'll recover, but I'm not optimistic. Time to consider one of the new waterproof digitals...

Overall, a beautiful evening on the Farmington. The plastic hatch was off and the trout cooperated too. I'm very fortunate to have such a prolific river so close to home.

Shaker, Rattle and Roll

2007-07-29T18:40:00.000-04:00

Just a quick post - Nora and I went up to the Hancock Shaker Village today, outside of Pittsfield, Mass. Kind of a lazy afternoon with not too much to do, so we went on a little road trip.

Nora, however, did discover that apparently, she's a "pig whisperer". There's a wing to the round barn that houses some livestock and Nora started scratching this big ole fat piggy behind the ears. It responded like a dog, lying down on it's side, stretching his legs out, and putting on his happy pig face - very cute.

It's a nice little trip if you're in the area and looking for something to do.

Gotta Start Somewhere!

2007-07-27T18:01:00.000-04:00

Welcome to Steelhead Addiction. I've set up this blog to share my experiences with anyone who enjoys steelheading as much as I do. From time to time there will be some non-fishing stories that will posted; life isn't all about fishing, is it? OK, maybe 95% fishing and 5% less important stuff like friends, family, the J-O-B and the like. If you're addicted to steelheading like I am, you know where I'm coming from.

I think about steelhead (and big lake run browns) ALOT. Not just during the season, but all the time. It's the middle of summer right now and I'm already gearing up for the fall. Tying flies: lots of sucker spawn and egg patterns. Making mental checklists of all the stuff I need to buy... tippet material, maybe a new line, split shot, fishing licenses, etc. The list goes on and on.

What is it about these creatures that drives the addict so? Is it the anticipation of the battle, or the battle itself? Is it the camaraderie amongst fishing partners? Is it the challenge of each river, or the elements?

Whatever it is, I don't really care if I ever figure out why I'm driven by steel. I'm just thankful I am, and that I have lots of good friends and family to share it with.

So stay tuned, and enjoy the ride. There will be many stories to come.