the Great debate heard in fly shops online and on the water is what is most important the fly or the presentation. This debate can go on endlessly but to be completely honest both sides are wrong. While you can fish a perfect match of the fish are feeding on with a poor presentation and catch some fish or conversely fish the completely wrong fly with a perfect presentation yes you will catch some fish. If that is what you want and some people are satisfied with that it's ok. If you truly want to be in the 10% of anglers that catch 75% of the fish then put them together you will catch 5 times the number of fish you do now. 

Some people with go on and on able how the fly is not important as so and so catches all their fish on a size 14 Adams dry fly or so and so nymph. yes they may catch all their fish on them but how many are they missing because they are in the wrong current seam or fishing a dry when the water temp is 40 degrees and there hasn't been a hatch in 4 months. There a 5 or so things to consider when you are choosing what fly you are going to use. \

1) what are they easting? look for bugs in the are, on the water or in the bushes.

2) silhouette of what they are eating is next. Mayflies, stoneflies , caddis and midges all have different body / wing types in both larval and adult form.

3) size what size bug are they easting, there is a bigger difference than you may realize in a size 12 to 14 natural, the trout will get locked into a curtain size bug with an extended hatch. 

4)  finally proper color is also important especially during hatches like the Hendrickson and again during the Sulphur hatches later in the spring. it dose not have to be exact but close.

 where are the majority of trout feeding surface, film , mid current or bottom. once you determine that. how are they feed , flashes, bulging rises, splashy rises, slow head to tail rise or head bobs. These will tell you best where to start. 

Now you know what they want not you need to present it to the fish correctly, it may sound easy but sometimes it can be maddening. if they are feeding subsurface depth control is the number one thing to manage. If they are feeding up to emergers or adults then you have to get the fly to the lane the fish is feeding in. at that point control of your leader and tippet are A#1 to manage. Any drag will cause the fly to act out of the ordinary so it may put a fish down or cause a refusal. 

These above hold true no matter the technique you are using streamer fishing, swinging wets, dries or nymphing. So next time you are on the water try to put these together to see if it helps.

  

 

 I am back after almost 10 years I am back to writing as well as doing my own thing again. Many changes have happened in this time but the largest is that my eyes have been opened to what my fly fishing should be all about. For the last 16 years I have been living someone else's idea of what fly fishing should be. In may I had to walk away from what I was doing to get back to my roots. I am doing what I truly love to do fly fish and help others get batter at it. 

This spring I will be going back to guiding and will start to offer my many signature patterns for sale on a limited basis as well some custom orders for close friends , old customers. In addition I will be doing several tying classes this winter location to be decided in November. I plan on weekly blog posts going forward with info on all of our local water and some destination info. After working in fly and tackle shops for more than half my life I am going to pass on some knowledge that will help when interacting at a shop I will call this section " My side of the counter ". 

 I am really looking forward to what the future is going to bring and hope you all will tagalong both here and in person.

Steve

Weekly report and newsletter

            RODs…….When you plan to try/buy a rod bring along your own reel with the line you plan to use and test cast them before you buy. If a shop hesitates or will not let you test cast a rod, find another shop. That is just good customer service. I look at rods as a tool to get a job done. A rod that works great for one situation will be useless in another. There are some all-around rods that are good at most stuff but don’t excel at any either. 9’ 9 weight is a good all-around saltwater rod a little heavy for some stuff and light for other but will work. As will an 8’ 6” 5 weight rod for fresh water. It may be a little light for bigger streamers and too large for some small midges. But will cover most of what you will be fishing. But remember if you plan to do any specialized fishing don’t be afraid to get the correct tool for the job, it will make it that much more fun. I have far more rods than I could use in any normal season. Many of those are dedicated solely for guiding, these guide rods have two important things they are easy to cast for any level of caster and they are constructed well. They are far from top of the line rods but they are also not entry level ones. My personal rods are all very different from these rods. While the rods I use for guiding all seem to be general in size & length, I have a tool crate of personal rods from 11’6” & 12 two handers down to a 6’6” fiberglass 5wt for small streams. I tend to be very specific when I am fishing, it may be 10’ nymph rod, slow action old style dry fly rod or an ultra-fast rod for casting heavy steelhead rigs. When it comes to rods they are a real personal choice of what or how we want to fish. At this point in fly fishing history we are lucky because we have the greatest choice of great rods from $100 to $1,500 rods in all sizes shapes and colors.

Report

Natchaug:

Flow is at  21 CFS (), water clear

Water temps are 65 degrees in the Am rising to about 70 at 3 Pm.

Right now there are small tan caddis sz 18, yellow sallies, mahogany quills(paraleps) sz. 18 , BWO sz 18.-20 and a few march browns sz 12-14

Willimantic:

flow is at 45 CFS (, water is clear

water temps are 65 in the morning rising to about 70 at 3 PM

 some small midges, small tan caddis sz 18, yellow sallies, mahogany quills(paraleps) sz. 18 , BWO sz 18.-20 and a few march browns sz 12-14

Mount Hope:

Flow is at 7.9 CFS , water is clear (I would skip fishing here if possible)

Water temps are 66 am to about 72 PM

 small tan caddis sz 18, yellow sallies, mahogany quills(paraleps) sz. 18 , BWO sz 18.-20 and a few march browns sz 12-14

Fenton:

Flow is at 5.1CFS , water is clear ( like above I would try someplace else)

Water temps 58 am to almost 63 in pm

Paraleps sz. 18, BWO sz 18,  gray caddis, look for egg layers in the afternoon.

Shetucket:

Flow is at 195 CFS )

Temps are 67to 72 flow is clearing

Should see some decent grey caddis sz 16 -18, BWO sz 18, tan caddis 18

Salmon:

Flow is at 31 CFS, flow is clear

Water temps are  67 in the am going up to 73 in pm

 there  tan caddis sz 18, paraleps sz 18.

What to use:

As always buggers sz 8-10 in black, olive or a thin mint will work well.  Streamers like 6-8 grey ghosts and black nose dace will work as well. Bow river buggers sz 6-8 will produce as well. For nymphs try black hares ears sz 14-16, Riffle stones sz 8 fished dead drift as always will take fish.  The mahogany duns use a small red quill sz.18 and a sz.18 rusty spinner. For the caddis hatch use a sparkle pupa fished in the surface film. For the BWO a sz. 18 dry will work great. March brown floating nymphs emergers are good sz 12, tan X caddis sz 16-18 BWO parachutes are working really well also sz 18-20

Shop droppings:

We have some nice used rods for sale 11’6” 6 wt. Two hander , TFO pro 9’6” 5wt. with prism reel and Airflo line. A couple of bamboo rods and several NEW Greys rods left 8’ 4wt, 8’6” 5 wt , 9’ 5wt , 9’ 6 wt in the GS 2 series, XF2 11’ 7wt, XF 2 6’6” 2wt, 9’ 8 and 9 wt. salt water rods. Hardy Zane  9’ 8wt XF 2 9’ 12wt Stop in and check them out.

Tight lines,

Steve’O

Weekly report and newsletter

this time of year the small grey caddis & green caddis will hatch sporadically throughout the day. When this happens the best way to fish is using a small grey or light green wet fly or soft hackle fished on the swing. If you see bulges use an unweighted fly swing it to the area were the bulge was. If the fish are not showing swing the fly into tail outs. At the end of the drift use a little rise of the rod tip to get the fish to take.

Report

Natchaug:

Flow is at 117 CFS (normal), water clear

Water temps are 50 degrees in the Am rising to about 55 at 3 Pm.

Right now there are black and brown stones sz 16-18, Hendricksons (pink sz 12, sz 14 red quills)with small black caddis sz 18.

Willimantic:

flow is at 216 CFS ( normal), water is clear

water temps are 50 in the morning rising to about 55 at 3 PM

small stones black and sz 16-18, with some small midges, Hendricksons and a few quill Gordon’s,  with little black caddis mixed as well.

Mount Hope:

Flow is at 48 CFS , water is clear

Water temps are 50 am to about 53 PM

Small stones and some small grey caddis. Hendricksons, look for small black caddis as well.

Fenton:

Flow is at 33 CFS , water is clear

Water temps 50 am to almost 54 in pm

Should have decent stones egg laying about now. Hendricksons, gray caddis, look for spinners in the afternoon.

Shetucket:

Flow is at 849 CFS (this is about the limit of fishable high water)

Temps are 50 to 56 flow is clearing

Should see some decent grey caddis sz 16 -18, small stones

Salmon:

Flow is at 193 CFS, flow is clear

Water temps are 49 in the am going up to 56 in pm

Some caddis and yes Pat S there Hendricksons in the river now.

What to use:

As always buggers sz 8-10 in black, olive or a thin mint will work well. Small stone fly imitations in sz 16-18 to match the hatching stones ( dark brown/ black) . also try small dark wet flies later in the afternoon fished just under the surface upstream, this imitates the drown egg laying stones. Streamers like 6-8 grey ghosts and black nose dace will work as well. Bow river buggers sz 6-8 will produce as well. For nymphs try black hares ears sz 14-16, Riffle stones sz 8 fished dead drift as always will take fish. For quill Gordons use a Quill Gordon Wet instead of regular dry. The Epeorus nymphs actually shed their shuck on the bottom and rise as an almost fully formed adult. Warmer day they will only sit for a short time then take off so the wet fly swung to bulging trout works wonders. For the Hendricksons remember the male and female look completely different. Makes are a full hook size smaller (14) and reddish brown, female is size 12 and a pinkish /tan color. The males usually hatch first then the females will come off. Try a red quill parachute early the switch to a female colored dry once that stops working. With almost a week o emergence we will also see the spinner fall later in the afternoon, look for lazy rolling rises and hit them with a sz 12 rusty spinner.  

Shop droppings:

We have some nice used rods for sale 11’6” 6 wt. Two hander , Greys 9’ 4wt StreamFlex, TFO pro 9’6” 5wt. with prism reel and Airflo line. A couple of bamboo rods and several Greys rods left 8’ 4wt, 8’6” 5 wt , 9’ 5wt , 9’ 6 wt in the GS 2 series, XF2 11’ 7wt, XF 2 6’6” 2wt, 9’ 8 and 9 wt. salt water rods. Stop in and check them out.

Tight lines,

Steve’O

Something new

 

I am a gear head and I know it so a few weeks ago I picked up a gift to myself or father’s day. JT has had a couple Hardy Marksman II rods in the shop for about a year now. I had cast them when they first came out and like it, but not long after I broke down and got a Zenith 9’ 4wt. I love this rod ,it is a great all around rod but I have found it to be a bit too powerful in the butt for smaller flies, I seem to pull flies size20> out of a trout mouth if I put any side pressure on them and then end up fighting them longer than I like. So being the Hardy (Butt boy I am) I got the marksman in 9’ 4wt, I love this rod too it is a true medium fats rod with a mid to tip action. It cast well out to about 60’ with no trouble and will load up pretty easy close as well. What I really like is how well it handles fish especially 12”+ trout on smaller hooks. I was able to put good pressure but the tip did its thing very well when a fish pulled back with side pressure. I still like the Zenith better as an all-around rod most importantly when there is any wind, it shines. It is also for reasons unknown a great wet fly rod with all the common sized wets. The tip flexes just enough on the take but hold up well during a fight.

Speaking of rods one thing I always try to make a point of when discussing rods is the following.  The one best piece of advice I can pass along that I have picked up in my 35 years of fly fishing is NEVER, I mean NEVER buy a rod if you have not cast it. All the manufacturer hype in the world will do you no good if you can’t form a good loop. Contrary to what a lot of people do, with a quick wiggle or checking the taper by pushing it down on the floor really does nothing to tell you how it casts. You have to actually cast it. I find it funny when  I see posts in internet bulletin boards asking what rod they should buy. I try to always tell them the rod that best suits their casting ability and style. I learned this years ago when I just had to have a T & T Horizon rod. I got one as a gift and could not cast it worth a hoot and after month of frustration trying to learn to cast it for a trip to Florida, I ended up using my old rod. I ended up leaving it in Florida with my dad who loved it. Lesson learned! 

            When you plan to try a rod bring along your own reel with the line you plan to use and test cast them before you buy. If a shop hesitates or will not let you test cast a rod, find another shop. That is just good customer service. I look at rods as a tool to get a job done. A rod that works great for one situation will be useless in another. There are some all-around rods that are good at most stuff but don’t excel at any either. 9’ 9 weight is a good all-around saltwater rod a little heavy for some stuff and light for other but will work. As will an 8’ 6” 5 weight rod for fresh water. It may be a little light for bigger streamers and too large for some small midges. But will cover most of what you will be fishing. But remember if you plan to do any specialized fishing don’t be afraid to get the correct tool for the job, it will make it that much more fun. I have far more rods than I could use in any normal season. Many of those are dedicated solely for guiding, these guide rods have two important things they are easy to cast for any level of caster and they are constructed well. They are far from top of the line rods but they are also not entry level ones. My personal rods are all very different from these rods. While the rods I use for guiding all seem to be general in size & length, I have a tool crate of personal rods from 11’6” & 12 two handers down to a 6’6” fiberglass 5wt for small streams. I tend to be very specific when I am fishing, it may be 10’ nymph rod, slow action old style dry fly rod or an ultra-fast rod for casting heavy steelhead rigs. When it comes to rods they are a real personal choice of what or how we want to fish. At this point in fly fishing history we are lucky because we have the greatest choice of great rods from $100 to $1,500 rods in all sizes shapes and colors.

We all have a history

Beginnings

          They say you can never go back to a place and see it exactly the way you remember it, I guess that is even truer for a fisherman who spends time fishing the moving waters of rivers. Rivers are ever changing ,what just happened has already slipped down steam on the current. Not too long ago I went back to check out a small piece of water in the town in which I grew up. The one thing I kept thinking was that it is a lot smaller than I remembered. In those days, almost 40 years ago now, you didn’t take pictures of your catch you took it home. My dad, who is still the best trout hunter I have had the pleasure to spend time on the water with, always brought a trout or several home. I remember the last time we fished together it has to be 10 years ago now he would have been in his mid 70’s. I was fishing a bend pool on a small brook that runs behind my aunt’s house; I was having fits trying to get a big trout I knew lived there to take my fly. The entire time I was fishing this bend I had that feeling I was being watched, well I was. My dad popped up off his log roost in the skunk cabbage and asked if I was done wasting his time. He then proceeded to crawl too within about 10 feet or so of the water, rub his wet fly in the mud and flipped it out into the water. It drifted maybe 2 and a half feet and he tightened up on the line, his rod bent and a beautiful 17” brown was thrashing away at the end of the line. He stood up to fight it and brought it to hand relatively quickly. What happened next is what I remember about this trip the most; he unhooked the trout and then slowly slid it back into the water. That was the first and last time I ever witnessed him practicing catch and release. Later when I asked him about the fish he explained he had hooked and lost it 3 times that spring and once the previous fall so he figured he owed the fish a couple of chances. I have not been back to that spot or fished with him since. He had a bad heart attack and open heart surgery the following fall and is now on all kind of meds that thin your blood and he gets cold real easy. Even on days that everyone else is hot he will wear a sweater. Other than that he is healthier now than he was 20 years ago. He can still out run me today even at 80+ years old. He has those sharp blue eyes of a Scandinavian fisherman and when it comes to trout fishing he has an above average intelligence.

          While he’s dad in my heart he is not my biological father, he past away when I was about 5 years old. My mom was a hard working single mom way before it was posh to be one. She spent as much time with us as she could by taking a teaching position at the local public school. I was about 10 when she met my step dad and they got married the next year. He did as good a job being a father as any man could have. The one thing I am most thankful for is he introduced me to the outdoors. Actually in two ways the first was the actual outdoorsy stuff hunting squirrels and rabbits with a pellet gun and chasing fish in the local pond. I already had a love of fishing having spent a whole summer when I was 6 or 7 catching brown bullhead from a road culvert that emptied onto our property. The second was he passed along all of his outdoor magazines to me. Field & Stream and Sports afield were the two I remember the most. I would read them cover to cover and just gobble up the info and photos. One of the ones I remember the most was a article by I believe Vince Marinaro, about trout fishing with a fly rod. This kind of fishing struck a cord with me deep down soul kind of stuff. The art of the cast, the subtle way the line floated in the photos and the beautiful fish I learned from reading were trout. I wanted to learn more about them and this seemingly ancient way to fish.

          What happened next in my young life probably has more to do with who I am today than anything else. 2 years after they were married my mom and step dad decided to move to his house in a small farming town about 15 miles south east of were we lived. The town we lived in was growing at an ever increasing rate. The year before we moved the public school went to double sessions to solve an overcrowding problem. I was already in a catholic school due to my mom’s desire for me to get a “better education”, that was the public line; I believe it was because she figured the nuns would keep me in line and make me work at learning. This little town was worlds away from were we had lived, when we moved there the population of Holstein milk cows was roughly triple the human population. There were tough times at first making new friends but for me the biggest advantage was the several small brooks that ran thru town. None of them was very large but they held water for the whole year and had some “trout” in them. The Best of them ran thru my Aunts property and there was about a half mile of it we could fish. It held mostly stocked browns and rainbows with a few hold over fish as well as native brook trout. It is a classic small freestone brook with normal pool / riffle –pool riffle make up. My dad and his sister are very close so most every Friday growing up the families would get together for dinner. During the spring and summer as soon as I had finished, off I would race out the door get my rod and head down to the brook to fish till dark. Early on I did more exploring than fishing but as I learned the water I took my share of fish. To this point most of my fishing was done with an old 8' 8wt fiberglass rod ( a noodle) . I fished this way for a year or so I was about 14 when I saved enough from mowing lawns in the neighborhood and baling hay to buy my first good fly rod. It was nothing fancy a Daiwa 8’6” 6wt fiberglass rod and a couple of weeks later I bought a Pflueger 1492 with a weight forward Cortland 333. I would ride my bike to the only sport shop that was close enough and pick the owner’s brain. He was an avid fly fisherman with a more modern sense of the sport than my dad. To dad a 15 foot cast was a long one and he used a section of Dacron to a 3 foot piece of mono as a leader. I had it set in my mind I was going to be modern fly fishermen just like in the magazine articles. I would practice casting in the back yard for hours. I would always imagine myself on some far away river chasing after large trout. Little did I know that 39 years later I would be back haunting those same little streams I wanted to so quickly leave behind.

          That summer just before my freshman year of high school we began to camp seasonal at a new campground. My mom was still working at the public school so she had the whole summer off. We would spend the entire summer vacation at the campground with my dad commuting to work form there. This new campground was smack dab in the middle of some of the best trout water in the eastern part of the state. The “swimming hole” was actually the beginning of the Natchaug River. This pool is the point were Bigelow brook and the Still river come together to create this gem of a river. For most of its length the Natchaug flows along the boundary of its namesake state forest. It then dumps into Mansfield Hollow lake where it meets the Fenton and Mount Hope Rivers. The Natchaug emerges from the dam as a much different river than the upper reaches. From there it winds its way a few more miles until it meets the Willimantic River to form the Shetucket River one of the large tributaries of the Thames River. It is a great piece of water that in 2005 began to be managed as a trophy trout area with a minimum length and 2 fish limit. The natchaug river and those small streams that I fished as a kid all set a foundation that has served me well for many years I think that number one building block was have fun, followed by be flexible. I try to pass these two things on to my guide clients and to the students I have in classes at I teach.

so look back on your beginning even if it has only been a few years I bet your already building that foundation. Life has slowed down this year so I will actually have time to post more so look for more stuff to come ............and I mean it this time.

 

" Got one"

         

Some things never change

 

It has been 37 years since I first started to use a fly rod, that was at age 12 in 1976. Prior to that I use either a spinning or spincasting  rod with a clear bubble and fly to catch trout. Most of the early years of my fly fishing were spent on small streams with a Diawa – Dianna fiber glass rod 8’ 6wt with a Pflueger 1494 1/2 reel on it. I fished mostly wets and streamers with the occasional dry fly for the elusive top feeders. Well 37 years later I have a closet full of equipment, including a couple of outfits worth more than my first car, a used Volkswagen rabbit. My fly choices have become more sophisticated and I do tend to catch far more fish but I can tell you I enjoyed it just as much then as I do now. Lately I have been noticing how much things have changed in fly fishing but how much they stay the same. A couple of things that have spurred this on were a couple of fishing buddies passing along reading material to me . One in the form of 12 PDF digital books that date as far back as 1854 and the other some old Fly Fisherman Magazines from 1977-79. These old magazines really drove the point home as to how commercialized the sport of fly fishing had become. This is not nearly a bad thing, as I believe that we have far better equipment –rod, reels, lines along with a better understanding of trout and their food.  Also far more species are being caught with fly rods in both salt and fresh water. One of the funniest things that has not changed, E.M Tod writes about it in his book wet fly fishing published in Scotland in 1884, is the debate over dry fly fishing as being more sporting / more “fly fishing” than fishing with a sunk fly. That same sentiment is echoed in another old book I recently read by Charles Z Southard published in 1914 the debate by this time had made it to the shores of the United States. Both men adopted pretty much the same attitude towards fly fishing as I have, remain flexible and let the Trout tell you what fly to fish don't try to " force feed them a pattern you want to fish". One last piece about this Mr. Tod writes something very funny in one chapter about using both a dry fly and wet fly at the same time, with the wet being a dropper off of the dry fly. I thought that was something new guess not. He follows that up in the same chapter and I will paraphrase” tis better to go the river with both wet and dry flies then decide to which to fish than to preclude one for not being actual “ fly fishing” .  A man of the latter thought mine as well fish after being poked in the eye with a sharp stick”as he will be just as effective. That made laugh out loud when I read it.

                It amazes me all of the equipment changes that have taken place in a just 37 years seeing that bamboo and green heart were used pretty much exclusively for well over a hundred years each then to see one material come into favor fall out and then begin a revival in just those 37 years is amazing. Fiberglass rods ruled the day from the mid 60's until about 1980-81 when companies started to build much better graphite models. Now they have started to make a comeback with many custom and a bunch of production models on the market today. One surprising thing I read about is that the whole Boron/graphite mix is not new .A couple of rod copanies were doing that in 1979 but it was not very successful so they abandoned the idea until a few years ago when Winston and Orvis brought out models with mixes. Speaking of Orvis & Winston they are a couple of the big names along with Scientific Anglers, Hardy, Thomas & Thomas and Cortland that have lasted. With new comers Powell and Scott Power ply just coming on the scene.  Most of the ads in those pages were for companies that are either gone or no longer make fly fishing equipment,.Berkley not only had several fly lines but a line of fly rod and reels under the specialist label. Lew Childre one of the big bass rod companies had a line of “ speed stick” fly rods. H.L. Leonard was still producing Bamboo rods out of their Central Valley, NY location and had just become a member of the S.E. Johnson (wax) company. Having worked in fly and tackle shops for almost 20 years  on an off it is kind of sweet to see some shops that have survived far longer than most. Dan Baileys, Bud Lilly’s, Kaufmann’s  fly shops out west. Housatonic Meadows and Sportsmen’s Den here at home. There were more fly shops listed for Connecticut and New York than for either Montana or Colorado in an add for Cortland fly lines.

                Catch and release was a hot topic ,with some modern devotees who were outspoken against it, "as wasting a precious resource by tossing half dead trout back into the river". Water clean ups were just getting started, dam removal was an unheard of thing and conservationists were just then pushing for fish ladders on dams. I guess fly fishing has gotten much better due in large part the early conservationist movement started in the 70’s has lead to most of our trout water being much cleaner. Unlike today where talk of less stocking with better management of habitat for wild fish they spoke of increased stocking to further opportunities for all anglers. One kind of disturbing thing that I picked up was a bit of high minded elitism that many of the writers of the day had. One article I read made a point of that if you were fishing either up or down stream if a spin fisherman is encountered they should always yield to you as you were the more sporting gentlemen. I guess some things take longer to change than others as this attitude persists to a small point today. I feel, to each his own! Another thing that reading this older material has done is renew my love affair with wet fly fishing. After reading a couple of old books on it and reading an article by Lee Wulf about it back in April I spent a day swinging a Quill Gordon wet and just banging the crap out of the trout over a three day stretch. So I guess the more fly fishing changes it comes back around again.