Well, I've made it 3 years. I celebrate by fishing (and doing a giveaway!)

3 years ago today, I started this blog. I can't believe I still have it going. I've slacked off here and there with posting during the warmer months, but I always somehow manage to find my way back to it once the chill sets in. I'd like to thank everyone who has read, commented, and shared my posts. I greatly appreciate the support and the kind words over the years.

I'm keeping up with the birthday giveaway tradition again this year. (If you weren't around last year, here is the original post). It won't be as good as Cameron's, but we have some nice stuff lined up from:

Risen Fly Co.
Stonefly Press
Strip'n Flywear
Eat My Fly
and more, including some sweet flies, stickers, etc.

Check back this weekend for full contest information. I'll also be donating a quarter for each contest entry I receive towards aid for the Philippines. The more people who sign up, the more I donate.

Anyway, I've been warming up the vise again recently and whipped up a few dozen various old and new midge patterns.

I celebrated the 3 year anniversary by hitting the LL in the cold with only about 90 minutes of light left in the day. All I'm going to say is........WOOOHOOOO.

Also, just to jump on my soapbox really quick, dirty jeans are a small price to pay for not wading through the water and damaging the habitat. Don't wade if you don't have to. :)

The internet vs. fly fishing

So, I was at a local fly shop today and wound up having an almost hour-long conversation with the owner. This guy has been around. He knows all the fly fishing legends, and has a bamboo collection that would make your jaw drop. He's from the old school, before people were instantly posting their massive catches on Instagram and Facebook. (guilty, I know..) Over the past few years, I've been stopping by there, spending money on materials, and shooting the shit, and I got to know him rather well.

So anyway, we got to talking about the current state of fly fishing. He knows I have a blog and whatnot and he said "No offense, but I think all this bullshit on the internet killed fly fishing." I think a lot of other bloggers, and people who frequent forums and comment on the Orvis Fly Fishing Film Friday posts would be butt-hurt, but honestly, I get it. He said he sees younger people coming in, bragging about this and that, and asking to test cast some rods. He watches them go outside and they can barely do a standard cast, yet their iPhone is full of Steelhead pictures from Pulaski. He also mentioned he'll see someone who is well versed in the sport comment on an ignorant post (as in... uninformed)  from some newbie on a message board, and get flamed to death for it.  I've kind of noticed the same thing.

I'm not someone who has been involved in the sport for two decades, and the only real reason I started this blog was to chronicle my fishing trips and look at my progress with fly tying. All of a sudden, people started to read it. That's cool and I appreciate the following, but sometimes I think all of us need to take a step back and remember that it's just about getting out of the house and maybe catching some fish.

It's not all about tying the hottest pattern with all the new synthetic czech materials and posting it online. It's not about catching a 25 inch brown and keeping it out of the water for 4 minutes to get that "perfect photo". It's not about the hero shot with the 20 lb steelhead you caught on the swing, and definitely not about 40 retweets on your amazing tweet about some fishing story.

It's about the zen you get from a cold beer, a hook in the vise, and some good music playing as you first pick up the bobbin after a long day. It's about the first signs of spring, and average sized wild browns rising to olives under a hanging tree that's just starting to bud. It's about sharing fishing stories over a few lukewarm beers in the parking lot after a day of slow fishing. It's about that perfect solitude in the dead of winter and catching half a dozen rising fish on dry midges yet no one else will venture outside because it's 20 degrees and snowing, and also about getting a bad farmer's tan while getting eaten alive by Mosquitos on a hot summer afternooon but not leaving because the Bass keep smashing poppers.

Posting massive hero shots and Go Pro videos, or taking over a fly fishing message board, might make you f*cking awesome on the internet, and if that's what you wanna do, go for it. But maybe this generation (including myself) need to occasionally step back and remember what fly fishing is about. It's not about 100 likes on Instagram. It's not about 2000 followers on Twitter. It's about fooling a fish. Remember that, and I guarantee you'll enjoy it much more.

I've definitely slacked off on my blogging over the last year, as have a few of my fellow bloggers. This can't be controlled. Kids and work happen and sometimes there's just not enough time to fish or post. I had a conversation with another fellow blogger who slowed down his posting as well at the Somerset Fly Tying show on the weekend and we both noticed that it doesn't matter if we stop posting because there will be 10 other new fly fishing blogs to take our place. I think it's great that people want to share their fishing experiences but I just want to say.......Take heed of what I said above and you will have a much better time, and a much more enjoyable blog to read.

Sorry for the ramble. I may or may not have had a few too many beers this afternoon. Enjoy the gluttony tomorrow.

November Late Night Triple Play

I got home from work and had a nice package waiting for me. The crew over at Risen Fly sent me a prototype of their new ITB fly rods to test out. These aren't even on the market yet so I was excited to give it a go.

I've been out about 10 out of the last 15 nights in search of big carp at night and I've quite  a few hookups but nothing landed. That changed last night.

I tied up a big tandem egg fly pattern and hit the stream around 9pm. It was still 50 degrees so I knew they'd be more active than earlier in the week when the temps were freezing. It didn't take long until I was giving this new rod a solid workout. I had this thing bent almost in half and had 3 runs into backing and it held up like a champion. This 9-10 lber was my reward for the 10 minute fight.

Usually when I land a big fish at night, the rest are so spooked that the run under the street lights turns into a ghost town. I was surprised when I saw a pod of suckers moving up quickly after releasing the carp.
 I saw one shape that seemed a little darker and was moving a little different. Could it be a trout? The closest stocking point to here was about a mile downstream, or half a mile upstream, which was separated by a big dam so I didn't think so, but I gave it a swing anyway. 10 seconds later, BAM...a fat stocked rainbow is on the end of my line.

The pod of fish still wasn't spooked so I figured I'd swing my egg pattern through the pod again. I wound up hitting two suckers in a row and decided to call it a night.

I know the quality of the pictures is not the greatest. Hard to get a good shot in the pitch black when you're sliding around on wet leaves. It was a hell of a fun night and I look forward to testing out this rod some more this weekend. Look for a full review coming soon.

Also, in case you're interested, DTT stickers are back in stock! They are available in the fly shop section. As an added bonus, All orders of 3 or more stickers will get a free fly hand tied by yours truly. Can't beat that! I'll also have some on hand tomorrow at the Fly Tying Symposium in Somerset NJ if you're interested. They are free if you buy me a beer :)
Click here to get some.

65 degrees in November? Time to fish.

Raking leaves, School bus traffic, Daylight Savings Time, Blustery cold weather; shit I hate about late fall. After a cold spell earlier this week, today turned out to be absolutely awesome. Sunny, mid 60s, and that meant fishing in only a long sleeve T shirt. Bob is finally back on his feet after ankle surgery, so we hit a local limestone. 

With the warm spell, I knew there would be rises, but I also knew my fly boxes were quickly being emptied. We found rising fish almost immediately, and of course there were also half a dozen assholes wading right in the middle of the stream. I had a few hit n' misses, but none of the flies I had seemed to do the trick. Bob picked up a few including this nice Rainbow.

I became frustrated after working an hour only to miss 3 fish. We walked downstream only to find more anglers, and decided to hit the Heritage Fly Shop because I needed a new leader. I never typically buy flies unless I have to but while there, I decided to pick up a single BWO parachute tied by my old tying teacher, George Maciag, just because George is awesome and because I was out of olives.

We got a tip of a pretty good spot a few miles upstream. Bob knew that run so we jumped in our cars and headed up. I was disappointed in the frog water where we started off, but a little walk downstream and we found some more risers. After almost a day of fishing, I finally get my first and only fish of the day, on George's olive.

After heading home and doing the family thing, I decided to drink a lot of beers and go night fishing for carp, which results in this. (don't ask)

Also, before I go, make sure you check out Bob's Blog. 

http://justanotherfishingblog.blogspot.com/

He's got some nice fish, and he's quickly turning into one hell of a rod builder.

It's that time of the year

The golden pigs are fattening up for winter. More later.

Sittin' on the dock of the bay......

It's been an awesome summer. Haven't had time to post much. Been to busy enjoying the kids and the weather. We're ending the summer with an extended weekend at the beach. I hope your summer was as fun as mine. It won't be long before I'm shoveling snow and refilling the nearly empty fly boxes.

If you need me, I'll be chasing blues in the back bay on the 4 weight. Happy Labor Day.

Back in the saddle

My wife said something very rare to me last night when I got home from work.

"I have some stuff to do Sunday, but if you wanna spend the morning fishing on Saturday, go for it."

"Seriously? No catch?"

"it's fine."

I haven't caught a trout or even went trout fishing in the past 2-3 months so I figured this was a golden opportunity. I got up at 7am, spent a little time with the kids, and turned the 45 minute trip to the stream into a 25 minute  NASCAR race, narrowly dodging cop cars.

Honestly, it took me a  little to get back into the groove. Throwing size 26 flies on 8x tippet is much different than the monster hoppers I've been splashing down on 3x for bass and panfish.

I hooked into and lost a big palomino that I've caught twice before two separate times before he gave up rising. I then started seeing some more looking up and then I saw him.....

A little guy, no more than 12 was in the middle of the stream about 50 yards down and started making his way upstream, splashing around and banging his size 8 nymph on the head of everything he saw rising. The fish were gone.

His dad was with him, but was obviously not a fly fisherman. I pointed out that he was spooking the fish and spent some time to explain to him how the trico spinner fall worked, and how these fish were wild, therefore sloshing around in the middle of the stream won't help much. I offered to help them out since I wanted the kid to get on some fish, and to get the hell out of the run I was working. I walked them a little upstream, and put them on some fish that were probably more willing to take a big nymph.

By the time I walked back down to the run I wanted to fish, it was pouring and the rises were pretty much turned off. I hooked into a few monsters that broke off the 8x, and landed a few average fish after a lot of work. All in all, not too bad of a morning but I can only imagine how good it would have been if someone wasn't doing the irish jig in the middle of the bubble line right when the rises started.

In other news, I picked up a new skate deck today that needed some artwork. I plastered that sucker with some fishing stickers for the hell of it.

And yes, I picked up skating again after about a 20 year hiatus. I will warn you if you attempt this...your body does NOT heal as fast as it did when you used to skate. Half my arm is black and blue,l and my knee is a giant scab, but I can still grind a 6 ft halfpipe!

I haven't caught a trout in almost two months...

And I really don't care! Give me a farm pond at dusk after a rainstorm over nymphing any day. 12 gills and 5 LMB in 35 minutes, all on huge hoppers. It doesn't get any better than that.

Gills gills gills and some small bass...

Been heading out every evening after the kids are down for some top water dusk action. It's been a blast on the small glass rod. Happy Fathers Day!

Getting salty

It's been a very odd weekend for the start of summer. Temps barely breaking 60 and 30 mph winds. Fly fishing has been tough so I've been on the spinning rods in between wind storms. Picked up lots of blues during the day on bait and a few on clousers, and keep getting the skunk at night.

Happy Memorial Day.

I Haven't been blogging because....

I've been fishing nonstop. Between epic midge hatches and hungry browns on dries, monster carp at night, panfish on hoppers, and saltwater stripers on clousers, there's been no time to post! In fact, yesterday was the first day I didn't fish since the end of February!

More detailed updates soon but here's a few shots from over the weekend....

Gear Review: RIsen Ichthus Reel - my night fishing companion

I was provided with the Risen Ichthus about 4 or 5 months ago to review. I received the 3/4 and I wanted to really test it out on dry/terrestrial fishing before I had a chance to write about it.

Risen is a new name to the fly fishing world. They sell quality products at decent prices. I heard a lot of people starting to mention how nice the reels were, so I was looking forward to getting a chance to test one out.

Here's the specs:

Precision machine cut from pure aerospace aluminum bar stock and stainless steel for maximum strength and corrosion protection 

Large diameter Cork/FXB polymer disc drag delivers ultra smooth, low start-up inertia 

Two sealed, precision, stainless steel ball bearings

Fitted with one-way roller bearing

Quick left and right hand handle reversal

Counter balanced spool

Large arbor design

Easy drag adjustment

Drag clutch with zero-backlash

Silent retrieve with a crisp out-going click

Quick release spool

Exposed palming rim for additional control

MODEL	GEAR RATIO	BALL BEARING	INNER DIA (in)	OUTER DIA (in)	WIDE (in)	VOLUME(in3)	WEIGHT(oz)
Ichthus 3/4	1:1	2+1	1.65	2.87	1.06	4.33	4.06
Ichthus 5/6	1:1	2+1	2.00	3.50	1.06	5.00	6.17
Ichthus 7/8	1:1	2+1	2.36	3.74	1.30	6.29	7.76
Ichthus 9/10	1:1	2+1	2.00	3.74	1.30	7.32	7.76

After spending the last month night fishing with this reel with surface flies, I can honestly say, you won't find a better deal for the price. I have the brushed metal finish, and it's very nice looking. It's also pretty light compared to some other $100 reels I've checked out.  I've caught fish from 3 to 17 inches on it, and it's handled perfectly fine. The drag is decent, and it strips line nicely.

My only complaint would be the handle. When I first got the reel, it was very stiff on rotation. It was nothing that a tiny shot of WD40 and a little counter clockwise twist of a screwdriver didn't solve though.

The Ichthus is currently 30% off at Risenfly.com for their grand opening sale, and they even have free shipping until 4/26. Tell them I sent ya :)

And by the way, when I said I caught fish that were 3 inches long on it, I meant it..literally.

disclaimer- This product was provided to me free of charge for review purposes. As always, I try to keep my reviews as honest as possible. Feel free to contact me with any further questions on the product and I will do my best to honestly answer them.