Things are warming up

I'm thankful the snow is finally out of here! It's been in the 60s almost every day and even hit 80 yesterday.

I've been sneaking in fishing trips any time I can...

10 minutes while running some errands to cast to rising stickies with dry midges...

Heading out in the evening for the same stockies and realizing the panfish are waking up..

And some quick 15 minute trips to a small lake near my office on my lunch break for some cruising carp..

It's been awesome to finally get to target some non-trout species. Now i just need to find some bass.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have about 50 hours of yard work ahead of me. At least I have some cold friends to help me out. Happy Saturday.

IRONFLY - CENTRAL PA - 4/21!!

I got tipped off about this event from one of my buddies and OG Instagram fly tier Addison Berry.

Ironfly is similar to Iron Chef, but you get certain fly tying materials instead of food, and there is much more rowdiness.


Iron Fly PA - 4/21 7pm-????
Al's Pizza and Pub
409 N. Enola Road
Enola PA 17025

The beer  selection looks great, and sounds like it's going to be a blast. Ironfly was started by a crazy group of guys who somehow got the crazy idea to ink themselves with really bad tattoos in support of fly fishing. Head on over to Pig Farm Ink to find out more, and check out there videos, and recently upgraded web store with some sweet gear.

Check the video and be prepared to get bitchin'. See ya there.

Plunge Pools and Spooky Fish

I always love fishing a new stream for the first time. We were staying at some resort in the Pocono Mountains for my son's birthday, and I decided to venture up half a day early and hit a small mountain stream. I scouted out a few on Google maps, asked for some advice from the locals on the PA Fly Fish forum, and found quite a few options. I chose one that I was told could be tough, but contained a good amount of wild browns and if you hiked enough, a solid brookie population. I stayed up tying some generic dries, a few mini-hoppers, and some small size 10 tungsten head buggers for the trip.

I asked my sister-in-law's boyfriend to join me on the trip. We arrived at Stream X at 7:00am, just after first light. My first impression was that I couldn't believe how much snow was still on the ground. We were only an hour and a half north of home where it has all but melted, but there was still anywhere from a few inches to a few feet depending on where you walked.

As we hiked down the hill side flanked by Mountain Laurel, I was blown away by the beauty of the stream. It was small;  slowly creeping down from the mountain, with lots of small plunge pools and downed branches all over. It was the perfect habitat for wild fish.

He opted to stay downstream, while I hiked a few miles upstream. It was still early, and we saw very little fish movement, until you got within 10 feet of a small pool and spooked them all. I learned quickly that I had to make long upstream casts to a few pools far above me to get any chance of fish. After some trial, error, and lost flies, I picked up a few very small wild browns. I'm talking like fingerling small. Then it was beer time.

I hoofed it back down after about 3 hours and found Dan fishing some water below a bridge. We headed back upstream and he picked up what would turn out to be the biggest fish I saw all day.

This was was challenging, but we did have moderate success. I'm definitely going to hit it up again once the hatches start coming off.

Battling Chrome and Cold - The Salmon River Recap

Life has been pretty hectic so far this year. Endless work hours, time with the wife and kids, constant traffic jams, and more snow that I remember having in PA in a long time. We've tried to head to the Salmon River in NY three times since October and for one reason or another, the trips always got cancelled.

Things finally fell into place this past weekend. We were able to take off work, it looked like our wives and kids wouldn't get hit with a snowstorm while we were away,  the weather up there was cold but looking mostly dry, so we made the journey. Along for the ride was my brother in law, Nick, and our good fishing buddy, Bob from Just Another Fishing Blog. We headed up Thursday night. My step dad, Jack, and his neighbor Ken were planning on heading up Friday morning to meet us.

We arrived a little after 11pm and it was in the single digits. I forgot how damn cold it was up there. We met up with Nick's family in Mexico where we'd be staying, and started cracking beers. And more beers. And more beers. I'm not sure what time we got out the door on Friday morning, but it wasn't very early.

We met up with Jack and Ken in the parking lot in Altmar and got to fishing. Bob lost one right off the bat, then Nick moved in and brushed off the multi-year steelhead skunk with a little baby.

As for me? Well....I started early...and pretty much continued all weekend.

Fish for half an hour, drink a beer. Fish for half an hour, drink a beer. I was feeling pretty good around 4pm and not really caring that I didn't get into any fish and then I started to feel even better when I felt the switch rod bend.

I too brushed off my steelhead skunk with a nice slab of a fish and holy shit, it felt good.

He took a blue estaz stonefly nymph. I hooked another immediately after him but broke him off. John Ryan, Nick's cousin, centerpinned all day and nailed a ton of fish. Damn beads. Jack, Bob, and Ken walked away empty handed.

We headed back to the tackle shop, hung up the waders, and pounded a ton of beer.

I think we were up fairly early Saturday morning, but I honestly don't remember already. I know we met up with Jack and Ken at McD's for breakfast, and then hit the water.

We fished hard in the morning. I opted to stay in the lower fly zone while the majority of the crew trekked downstream. Beers started happening around noon and  I wound up sitting with John Ryan and his dad in the Altmar hotel getting lunch since the rest of the crew were down somewhere between the schoolhouse and Ellis cove. As we were leaving, they were walking up. Nick told me that Jack got a fish, and from the look on his face, I could tell it was a nice one.

I owe a lot to Jack. Besides being an amazing step dad, he also gave me my first fly rod 5 years ago, and the rest is history.  He even gave me my first vise. He's came along with me 4 or 5 times up to NY, but has always walked away empty handed. He's an amazing fisherman but just couldn't shake the steelhead or salmon skunk. I don't think I've ever seen him so happy  as when he was telling me about his fish. From the sound of it, it was one to remember. Unfortunately none of us were with him when it happened, and he cared more about getting the fish back in the water than a hero shot, so there were no pictures. I've been kicking myself in the ass for not fishing near him when he landed it. Hopefully there will be more.

After lunch it was back to fishing. About half an hour in the water and I felt a slight pop, and then my boot FILLED with icy cold H20. Yep, bye bye waders. My leg was soaked.

I pretty much gave up on fishing for the rest of the day and headed to the car, where sweet, sweet IPA awaited me. About an hour later when I could officially not feel my foot, I went to get Nick to head back to the house. As I cross the bridge and look down, he's into a MONSTER, and his uncle and cousin were hooking them left and right as well. Bastards.

And so ended day 2 of fishing with Bob and I walking away empty handed.

But the day was only half over. Jack and Ken came over to the house for dinner. A ton of wings, pizza, and beer was consumed, following by dick jokes, really bad IPA farts, Suicide Girls Instagram comparison, and a fly tying marathon.

We whipped out some bugs, and got completely trashed. Zero f*cks were given. And we realized that with his Buff on, Bob is definitely an understudy for Reno 911.

We went to bed at varying times between 1 and 3:30am (of course I'm the last one up and listening to snore-a-thon) with the alarm set for 6am, knowing sure as shit we weren't gonna be up then.

9am rolls around and we get out to the river by about 10:30. Jack opted to head home early with Ken because a storm was rolling through NY and PA. We decided to fish anyway. We fished hard until about 1:30. I was hooking up nonstop with some fish. Here's a nice male I brought up that unfortunately took a hook in the fin. John Ryan got a few as well

We then packed up and headed home, only to drive through the entire freaking snowstorm. The typical 3.75 hour drive turned into 6 hours. Roads sucked. Snow sucked. It was awful.

All in all, it was an awesome weekend. Memories were made, as were flies and hangovers. Nick and I broke the skunk. Jack got his first one ever. And Bob...well you can read his version of the trip here. At least he was the only one that got a fish last year.

You'd be hard-pressed to find a better group of dudes to fish with.  Thanks so much to the Lutz family for putting up with our smelly asses for 3 nights. I look forward to the next trip.

I'm a film critic, a winner announcer, a drunk, and a fisherman.

So, I kind of ran out of steam with this whole contest thing. Admittedly, I got pretty drunk on Saturday night (more on that later) and I slacked on announcing the winner. I'm pleased to announce that my good buddy Dean over at Gin Clear won the Eat My Fly Outfitters shirt and hat giveaway.

As for contest Day 7....to be honest..I had something to give away. And now I can't find it. I think my kids stole it. But anyway, as soon as I find it, I'll post it. Or I'll just tie up a shit ton of flies to give away. Either way, Day 7 will happen. Just not today. You should all go enter Cameron's contest. He's got some pretty amazing stuff.

So yeah, back to Saturday. We had a friend's son's Bar Mitzvah at Citizens Bank Park on Saturday night. Shit got crazy. Like real crazy. We wound up hitting a few bars afterwards. I don't remember much, but the Philly Phanatic was raving out. It's always a scene when they turn a baseball stadium into a night club.

I did manage to get a little pickerel fishing in before we left. Only had a follow, but the peace and quiet was much needed to level myself before a night of insanity.

As I spent yesterday and today recovering (yes, hangovers last two days now that the late 30s is upon me) I watched a few fly fishing flicks.

First up, "The River Why". I want the two hours of my life back that I wasted on watching this shit movie. I read that someone said this film was going to rejuvenate fly fishing like "A River Runs Through It". Well, Buster did not want to fish. He wanted to watch 2 hours of no plot, HORRIBLE acting, and  a bunch of steelhead getting bonked on the head. I'm not even going to post a video clip of this film because it was so damn bad and I'm angry because I heard the book is great but this movie ruined it for me. I can't bring myself to read it now. The only reason to watch this movie is Amber Heard's beauty, but you can just google her instead. WTF was up with the  guy from The Walking Dead and his chair rocking dog? And the random nonsensical words that Gus mutters? Or the clay wrapped around the worm? I feel like you had to read the book to understand half the stuff that happens.

Next, Low and Clear. I wasn't expecting much from this film and I wouldn't exactly call it a fly fishing film. I'd called it "An Anti-Bromance that takes place on a BC Steelhead trip". If you want to watch the intricacies of a 25 year old relationship between two guys unfold in front of you while one gets skunked and the other slams fish all day, go for it.

In all honesty though, it wasn't bad. There are some beautiful fish caught, the scenery and music are both excellent, but I felt it does move a little slow. If you're expecting nonstop fish porn, go somewhere else. If you want some thinking man's fly fishing art house film, this is for you.



So yeah, keep an eye out for contest 7, and if you're the dude who won day 1, You have until tomorrow to claim it or I'm picking a new winner.


Seacrest out.

New school, old school, and.....Ben Vereen?

I had posted here before that I was doing the Step Out Walk for Diabetes and thanks again to all of you that donated. Well, the event was Saturday, and I was up bright and early in the steps of the Art Museum.

 Oddly enough, the guest speaker was Ben Vereen. I don't think I've even heard of the guy's name since the 80s. I think I'm the first person to mention this guy on a fly fishing blog and if you can prove me wrong, I'll tie you some monster streamers.

After sticking around for two hours waiting for the walk to begin, I was ready to get out of there so I wound up running it. Turns out it was only around 2.5 miles and I knocked it out in under 25 minutes. After that, it was 10:30 and I felt a I deserved a beer so it was off to the nearest watering hole, which to my surprise, was already full of alcoholics slamming beers. They did have Racer 5 so I wasn't complaining.

I then hit up the Orvis shop in Plymouth Meeting. They were having "Orvis Day" and the food spread was awesome, as were the deals. I wound up picking up a digital camo slingbag with a $25 discount. I like it for the most part so far, but I'll do a full review later. I'm not so sure on digital camo. It feels very new school, and I'm not sure how it helps on the stream unless you're being hunted by the Terminator or something.


After getting a hipster sling pack, I felt the need to get a little old school. I stopped at The Classic Fly Fisherman, feeling the need to pick up a new reel to match the 70s fiberglass Fenwick I got for my birthday. Bob helped me pick out a nice Marryat from the 70s that fits perfect with it. The drag on this this is so sweet. I even got some line and backing for it. The whole setup casts pretty sweet, but I gotta get used to using a slow rod. I cast way too fast and with way too much force. Time to slow my roll.


The rest of the day evened out with rooftop tacos and an IPA at Whole Foods, watching some idiots battle with foam weapons at a flea market, and my son putting together some weird twisted toy orgy in the bathtub.


Once the kids were down, I tied a few bugs and went night fishing. I got the skunk, but I came up with a pretty dope new streamer pattern. I love these eyes. Need more ASAP.

No fish, so taking a stupid picture of my feet and some fly line was the best I could do.

 Today was family time, with a small window of opportunity to hit the stream. I only caught one fish, but he was smart as hell and it took 30 or so casts to get him. Took a size 20 CDC BWO Comparadun.

Now it's time for Dexter and Homeland. Enjoy the remaining hours of the weekend.

A couple of bugs, and please let me clarify....

So, I didn't realize the Somerset post would draw so much traffic. I checked my stats Sunday morning and realized the post made it on to Trout Underground's twitter feed, which had the place jumping with unique visitors all day. (Thank you Mr. Chandler) If you're stopping by for the first time, welcome to the site. Take some time to dig through the older posts. There's usually more tying photos but I've been lazy.

I'd also like to apologize if my show recap came off as negative. To clarify, the Fly Fishing Show is enormous and I'm sure Mr. Furimsky and crew put in tons of work to pull it off. If you've never been there before, it's definitely worth checking out. Don't let my negativity hold you back. It's full of materials, people who are amazing at twisting up bugs, sweet gear, and seminars. I think I was just expecting some better deals. I didn't find them but after reading other recaps, some people did. Dave Kile over at PA Fly Fish put together a nice video recap of the show.



So anyway, if you're not on Instagram, I posted a few pics tonight of some stuff I've been tying. After watching some streamers being tied at the show, I came to the realization that less is more. I've been loading my streamers up recently, attaching a ton of feathers. Sure, they look pretty, but I noticed that short of using a heavy sink tip, they don't fish as well. After seeing more of a minimalist approach from the few guys at the show, I decided to back off on the bird parts. Here's a simple Fish Skull streamer that can be tied in about 5 minutes. I call it the Vitamin C and I can't wait to try it this weekend.

Size 6 Streamer Hook
6/0 UNI in brown
Orange Marabou
Brown Craft Fur
Oversized skull eyes fastened with a little epoxy
Orange crystal flash

1.Tie in the marabou just in front of the hook point. Palmer to about 3/4 the way up the shank. Tie off.
2.Make a dubbing loop, wrap to the eye, and half hitch.
3.Cut off some craft fur, and pull out the short fibers just like you would with some deer hair.
4.Add the fur to the dubbing loop, give it about 10-12 spins (keep it semi-loose) and wrap forward. Tie it off and comb it back.
5.Add about 4-5 strands of flash for the lateral line on each side and then whip finish.
6.Slip on the skull, and epoxy on the eyes.


I also saw Howard's blog post over at Wind Knots and Tangled Lines and he got me on a terrestrial kick. I whipped up half a dozen Hopper Juans tonight. These things have a lot of steps but once you get into tying them, it goes fast and you get better at making them with each fly. I'm not going to post the steps and recipe, you can head over to The Hopper Juan to check it out. They sit well on a bottle of Bell's Two Hearted Ale.



Also, I came across a pretty nice new blog today. It's called Fumbling the Fly and the guy ties a mean Circus Peanut. Head on over and become a follow and tell him I sent ya. :)

Also, wanna laugh? Gfen breaks down his thoughts on Tenkara. (Watch the F bombs if you're at work)

So, it's the holiday season

I have 4 days off work, well that is, unless my wife gives birth and then I'll be off 3 weeks. She's 3 cm dilated and 58% affaced (whatever the hell that means) so she'll most likely be going any day now. Between that and all the other things going on with work and holiday gatherings, I haven't had time to post much, although I have been able to fit in a few quick fishing trips.

Here's a quick recap of the past couple of weeks with as few words as possible.

Slaying trout last weekend on a new midge pattern I came up with called the Rubber Rat on the Little Lehigh with a couple guys from the EPFR forum




Still running in to trout late night on the stream behind my house



I got my winning package from The Fiberglass Manifesto. I look like a dumbass in a buff.




Is anyone else on Instagram? If you have an iPhone, you should jump on it! Take amazing photography, add a watered down version of Facebook, and a dash of Twitter mentions and hashtags, you have a pretty amazing app. Some great fishing photography. Here's a link to my profile. Feel free to link up with me. I've uploaded a few nice pics in the last week or so.





I'm lobbying to make Bell's Two Hearted Ale it's own food group



The best Youtube video of the year, hands down (I'M MAKING PANCAAAYKES!)



We lost another dictator. Boohoo.



That's about it. Happy Holidays to you and yours. Time to start drinking.