Sea Turtles

The little man has been having a blast this weekend. But, he has unfortunately eaten too much sand and is dealing with sandpaper poops and a sore tush.














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Happy Memorial Day

Still at the beach....
Quick update

1.I've put away the fly rod. I did hook in to a flounder on a clouser but that's the only action I've had. Surf was too windy and I got sick of hitting myself in the back with heavy flies. Ouch.

2. I lost two stripers on clams. Both were shorts.

3.I've landed more sandsharks this weekend than I can count. I was bringing them in two on a rig with bloodworms.

4. Caught two kingfish. I felt bad, but I kept them. They are insanely good to eat. I think I owe it to myself because of all the trout I let go.

5. Ocean City Boardwalk- full of French fries, ice cream, cheap stores, bird poop, and yes, Jersey Shore Pauly D style blowout hairdos.



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Good morning

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So frustrating

There's a blitz going on about 120 yards out from where I'm fishing and I can't even come close to reaching it. Birds are all over the place and I can see stripers breaking the surface.










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It's vacation time

Ah, yes. 5 days off work. I'm pretty damn happy right now. It's been a long few weeks. Not much fishing has happened, or tying for that matter. I'm sitting here tying clousers, deceivers, and surf candy flies because I'm getting ready to leave for the beach tomorrow morning. I'll be in Sea Isle City, NJ until Tuesday night. Reports are saying the striper fishing is great and I can't wait to get down there.

In reality, I know I'll get skunked on the fly rod and wind up throwing bunker for sand sharks and gulp for flounder on a spinning rod. But goddammit, I'm going to try to catch something other than a 7 inch bluefish on a fly this year.

Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to my awesome wife. She gave me an early Father's day present. I guess she got sick of me either breaking the camera by dropping it in the water, or hogging it to take pictures of new flies, so I was surprised when my son handed me a Fuji 14MP waterproof digital camera. Expect some nice shots from our mini-vacation when I get back. I can't wait to test it out underwater.




Well, if we get internet access down there (we steal from the neighbors every year) I'll hopefully get some posts up this weekend with fishing updates. If not, I'll be typing again on Tuesday night, hopefully with a hangover, sunburn, and some nice striper pictures. Enjoy your weekend!

Trout are freshwater fish, and have underwater weapons

This will be stuck in your head all day. It also gives Owl's "I love fly fishing" song a run for it's money.

You're welcome.

Personal best smallmouth!

Seriously, what was he thinking?


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Some nights, you just hit it right

Currently posting this from a minivan on my way to a party in NYC so I apologize for any typos. But anyway, I got some time to hit a local bass lake just before dark on Thursday and I had a great night.



I've been having a tough time with bass this year. I've lost a few and haven't landed one so I was happy that I finally picked up a LMB on my second cast. He took a fish skull streamer with soft hackle partridge collar. Not big, but fat and healthy.




Then I started seeing some surface action so I switched to some big foam beetle with rubber legs. I couldn't believe it when the first crappie smashed it. I've never caught one on the surface before! I went on to land about 7-8 fish until it was too dark to see. Awesome night with big terrestrials.

Happy Friday

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Battling the sickness

The lack of activity on the blog recently has been due to a major cold/flu thing I've got going on. I've been in bed since Friday night and I still don't feel better. This is the worst I've felt in years. Awful!

But anyway, I dragged my ass off the couch to do a quick update.

I got to fish on Wendesday afternoon for roughly 40 minutes. I hit the local creek armed with only 2 small size 14 woolly buggers. I wound up having a great time. I caught trout, rock bass, and bluegills. I tried for a grand slam with a smallmouth and I did have follows, but they refused to take a streamer that small.





Besides that, the only other thing I've been up to is reading John Geirach's new book. I dig it so far, but it's not really anything "new" yet. I was waiting to hear his views on technology, etc but it hasn't really come up. He did mention the recent increase in spey casting and his desire to master it though.



Not sure if it was worth the $25 I paid for it. I'll finish it and let you know.

Well, I'm gonna hope back on the Robitussin train. Thanks for stopping by.

Could someone I.D. this mayfly?

I hit the local creek tonight around 8:45pm and these things were coming off like crazy. They were varying in size from a 14 to a 16 and had really big wings. Could it be an eastern green drake? I honestly have no idea.

They got a little crushed because I put them in some cellophane I found lying on the ground and placed them in the freezer to calm them down a little bit before snapping the pics.
I didn't have anything closely resembling them in my fly box, but the fish were going bonkers on them, even in the pitch black darkness.

The best way to start off your week

Is by watching this video.

The Beastie Boys were just as much a part of my childhood as saturday morning cartoons, Count Chocula, and episodes of Alf. Licensed to Ill was 2nd album I ever owned. I bought it with allowance when I was 10 years old.

I'm also a huge fan of comedy movies. I can recite Anchorman word for word and if Will Ferrell was running for president, I'd totally vote for him.

What happens when you combine those two things?

(kinda sorta NSFW but not too bad)

The Graphite Ganster

I came up with this pattern tonight at the vise. It was spawned from two patterns that worked well for me over the weekend. I caught fish on WD40s, and a CDC midge emerger. The WD40s I was tossing had a tiny bit of flash in the ribbing and the midge had a CDC puff for the wingcase which popped up over the eye of the hook. I went with UV quill for a little shine, and dark dun CDC.

I had the most luck with grey patterns on Sunday. Not sure exactly what the fish were taking it for. I was catching them in a deep, fast run so I'm thinking it more more sillohuette than color. Most likely a baetis emerger.

Size 18 Emerger hook
Orvis grey thread 8/0
Dark Dun CDC
Hareline Hare's Ear Plus dubbing - black
Fly D&K UV Quill body - xtra-small graphite


Try trailing these types of flies behind a heavy nymph through deep moving water. The trout have been loving them.

Also, I'd like to give a shoutout to Hareline. I purchased one of their cautery pens back at the Somerset show. The thing probably had a total of 5-10 minutes of use and the batteries died. Unfortunately, there's no easy way to replace them since the whole thing is sealed tight. It was a longshot, but I decided to email them anyway to explain what happened, and asked if there was in fact some way to replace the batteries. They replied within 12 hours, gave me instructions on how to basically cut the thing open if I really wanted to replace the batteries, apologized for the inconvenience, and said they would ship me out a new pen for free! It's rare that you get customer service that great these days and I will definitely support them by purchasing their products in the future. Thanks Hareline!

Hit n' run

I jetted out of work and was doing 90 up the turnpike trying to make it to LL Bean by 6pm for the fly tying class I attend every Tuesday. I was driving with the windows down because I unfortunately forgot to take the worms that I used to take Michael fishing on Saturday out of the car. They graciously reminded me of their presence today when I opened my car door in 80 degree weather. It smelled to high hell. It's still stuck in my nostrils.

Anyway, riding with windows down made me keep thinking about how nice it was outside and how great of an evening it would be for fishing. I contemplated skipping class to fish, but I decided to go anyway. We were tying clousers and a cased caddis pattern tonight, both of which I'm fairly familiar with, but I didnt want to leave my stepdad hanging, since he attends class every week with me.

I knocked out my clouser in record time, way before the majority of the people even had their barbell eyes tied in. I waited a few more minutes, and then decided to say "SCREW IT, I'M GOING FISHING".

I packed up my stuff and hit the road. I was actually in the parking lot of the Little Lehigh in 8 minutes, but don't tell the Allentown state police that. By the time I got rigged up and to the hole I wanted to fish, it was approximately 7:15pm.

I saw another guy holding a fly rod as I was rigging up and he told me he had not seen a single rise, so I instantly went to a double nymph rig. I opted for the good ole' rubber legged CJ, trailed by a size 20 CDC midge emerger.

My second cast through the run and BAM! Smacked by this fat healthy wild rainbow. He put up a killer fight. He took the midge emerger.



I lost a few more and then I was connected again in about 5 minutes. This stocked bow which was pretty funky colored actually took both the rubber legged CJ and the emerger. Both flies where in his lips. Who knows what he took first, but it doesn't really matter.


I missed about 6 more fish until I finally hooked in to another one. I didnt even see this fish before he broke me off. I don't think he was too big. I think my tippet was knicked somewhere. He took the emerger with him but I saved the CJ. Out of emergers, I threw on an orange egg. This little dink of a bow took it.


It then started getting dark. I didn't have a flashlight (I should have taken my own advice)and I had just enough light to thread one more fly. I choose a black bugger with some blue flash.

Unfortunately, they weren't feeling it. About 15 casts and a few bug bites later, I packed it in, and stumbled my way back to the car through the bushes and over a foot bridge.

I came. I saw. I landed 3 fish in 35 minutes. Hit n' run.

****ing awesome weekend

Saturday was a beautiful day here in PA. For once, it was a non-rainy weekend. I had forgot that my wife had a skin cancer benefit walk she was doing, so I wound up spending the day with my son. We had a blast. I decided to take him fishing because his last trip had about 4000 people there and he only got to cast once.

We went to the East Branch Perkiomen creek, about half a mile upstream from my house, below this old covered bridge. It was easy access and there was a mowed grass bank, so I thought it would be perfect for him.

I put on half of a nightcrawler under a bobber on a small ultralight spinning rod, chucked it out, and handed him the rod. I look away to see how many worms I had left in the container (because they were left over from when I dug them up almost a month ago for the opening day kids trout derby and somehow still alive!) and all of a sudden he's yelling "Daddy fish fish fish!". I turned around and sure enough, he's in to a nice fight with a bent rod. I tried to help him reel it in and he wouldnt let me touch it. He had to do it on his own. He brought the fish all the way to the bank on his own and then handed me the rod.

It turned out to be a 13+ inch rainbow. Not bad for a kid who's only 25 months old! I was so proud of him. He even picked it up after I removed the hook for about 15 seconds and let me take some pictures. He was so gentle with the fish. I couldn't believe it. I then brought the fish to the water and Michael said "bye fishy!" as he swam away. It was so awesome. Words can't even describe it.



I would up wearing him out so by the time his mom got home in the late afternoon, he was ready for a nap. Seeing him catch a nice fish got me all amped up to wet a line, so I gave the wife a kiss, grabbed my gear, and headed for the door. There's another creek nearby that is stocked with trout but if you go way upstream there's a nice dammed up run that's full of Largemouth. I've always loved this place. No one knows about it so the bass are usually really dumb. They also have this very unique diamond-like pattern down their sides that is unlike any other bass I've ever seen. You have to park on the road and hike about half a mile back this old tractor trail to get to the water.


Once I finally got there, I found all of the bass hanging up at the head of the run at the entrance of this tiny feeder creek. Unfortunately, I was pretty far upstream so the water was still colder and they were lethargic and spooky. In another week or two it will be better. I did lose one about 2 lbs on a bugger. Luckily, there were a few fish willing to cooperate.



Next came Sunday. My wife gave me the day to fish and I couldn't wait to get on the water. It was partly sunny, and about 70 degrees. I was out in shorts, a tshirt, and sandals and I couldn't be happier. I hit the Little Lehigh and it was on! There was barely anyone there. I had a handful of my favorites spots all to myself, and the fish were cooperating. I saw a TON of black caddis all over the stream.


The weird thing was, they were all over the stream, but just not on the water. The few that did touch down barely had rises from the fish. That didn't matter though because they weren't picky. I landed fish on an orange egg, a size 20 BWO dry, a rubber legged copper john, Shark's caddis larva, and a ton of them on WD40s in grey and tan. It was an awesome day. I left with somewhere between 8-10 fish, the biggest about an 18 inch brown. I also landed a sucker that was about 3 lbs on a size 20 midge! Here's a few pics. Sorry they are poor quality. The water was running fast and I was fighting the fish hard to get them in. I didn't want to keep them out any longer than I had to.