Monthly Archives: January 2025

Two Wet Fly Tying Demos from Steve Culton at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show

I’m so honored to have the opportunity to twice be the Featured Fly Tier at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show next weekend, Jan 17-18-19. I’ve added new content to one program, and the other program is entirely new. All Featured Fly Tier demos take place on the main show floor.

Up first is “Matching The Hatch With Wet Flies,” Friday, Jan 17 at 2:30pm. I debuted this presentation last November at the International Fly Tying Symposium. Since then, I’ve added some more specific visual reference about the characteristics of the hatches I’ll be covering, which I think takes the program up another level.

Not bad company. There’s a lot of talent on this list!

On Saturday, January 18 at 11:30am, “Farmington River Favorites” will have its premier performance — and you can be there when it happens! This program will cover at least one pattern from each of the four major fly groups: nymph, wet, dry, and streamer. If time permits, I’ll throw in a bonus fly. These are all proven producers for me on the Farmington, and of course they’ll also work on any river in the northeast.

Tying the old favorite Squirrel and Ginger last year. Come see me this year, where I’ll be tying some new patterns that belong in your box.

Marlborough Classes: Tying & Fishing Wet Flies, Saturday January 18; Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies for Stripers, Sunday January 19.

Once again, I’ll be leading two “Classes With The Experts” at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show next weekend. This is a great opportunity for you to book some time with me for far less than the cost of a guided trip. Both classes are designed to duplicate a teaching session on the water. Here are some details.

Tying & Fishing Wet Flies. Saturday, January 18, 2:00-4:30PM. What you’ll learn: When, where and how to fish wet flies; how to tie classic spiders, soft hackles, winged and wingless wets (I will demo these patterns and discuss materials); leader construction and how to build a team of three wet flies; matching the hatch and fly selection; plus more. Did I mention having fun?

Wet flies have been fooling trout for centuries, and the fish aren’t getting any smarter. This lovely wild Farmington River brown savaged an Isonychia soft hackle on a steamy August late afternoon.

Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies For Stripers. Sunday, January 18, 8:30-11:00AM. What You’ll Learn: How to catch the stripers that other anglers can’t; why cast-and-strip presentations are ultimately limiting; how to target and catch bigger bass on a consistent basis; how to tie classic New England-style sparse flies like bucktails, soft-hackles, and flatwings (I will demo such patterns and discuss materials); the presentations that bring your fly to the fish; and more!

Being able to repeatedly catch big bass like this on the fly from shore is no accident. Take this class, and I’ll reveal my secrets of how I do it.

To register for these classes, you must go to the Fly Fishing Show website. See you there!

New Year’s Notes

First things first: Don’t forget to get your 2025 CT fishing license!

I hope you had a festive and happy new year holiday. I did. Today is a catchup day for me; I’m getting a lot of odds and ends done because on Monday, we’re back to the grindstone.

First up is show prep: getting things ready for the Marlborough and Edison Fly Fishing Shows, both coming up fast. Then, it’s book writing. And more book writing. All, of course, a labor of love.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be sending out more information about my show schedules. I’m hoping to see a lot of you there!

It won’t be long until we start seeing Tiny Black Stones.

Currentseams Best of 2024 #1: Ladies and Gentlemen, Steve Culton is Writing a Book!

You probably saw this one coming a mile away. Obvious or not, signing a publishing contract with Stackpole Books and beginning work on the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River was easily the biggest deal for me in 2024. Technically, I’m halfway done. Practically, I’ve got a lot more work to do.

For starters, even though I’ve finished my first 50% of the work, I’ve still got to go back through it all and make some editorial adjustments. This isn’t merely changing a few words; the workload can probably be counted in weeks. No complaints, though! It’s a privilege to be charged with writing this book, and anything with my name on it is going to be the best it can possibly be.

I’ll be back to it sometime in early January. And of course, you’ll hear all the latest and greatest right here as things develop.

This is where the magic happens. I really like my writing space — although, the vista behind me is currently brown and white and gray. Winter is a good time for a big writing job.