My name is Steve Culton, and I live in Connecticut. I am a fly fishing guide and instructor, fly tyer, and outdoor writer. My work has appeared in Field & Stream, American Angler, The Flyfish Journal, The Drake, The Fisherman, Flyfishing & Tying Journal, Eastern Fly Fishing, Fly Rod & Reel Online, and the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide.
Most of all, I’m just a guy who loves fly fishing.
My passions include trout, striped bass, steelhead, smallmouth bass, and small streams with wild brook trout populations. I occasionally teach out of UpCountry Sportfishing in New Hartford, CT. I also give fly fishing presentations to clubs and organizations around the northeast, as well as at regional and national shows. You can contact me here or at swculton@yahoo.com.
So, why Currentseams?
Current seams are magical places. They form where slow water meets fast water. Where depth meets shallows. Where bottom structure impedes flow.
Trout, striped bass, and steelhead love current seams. Whenever I am fly fishing, I am always on the lookout for their telltale wrinkles. I never know what I will find within. But I know it will usually be something good.
Currentseams.com is a library for my articles, stories, fly tying, fishing reports, videos, my guide service The Fisherman LLC, and more. I’m pretty sure it doesn’t suck. But I leave that decision to you. The site gets regular updates, so be sure to check it out every few days. If you like what you see here, help me out and tell a friend. Feel free to ask questions if you have them. Leave a comment on my writing. Or just say hi. Okay?
Thanks.
I’m usually not this grumpy. Although my wife might disagree.
currentseams.com 
Looking forward to an enjoyable ride!
Cheers,
jk
Steve, I will look forward to seeing what you have on here. Looks like you are off to a very good start.
Just started fly fishing. Look forward to learning all I can from your website. Many thanks for extending the effort to share your knowledge and experiences.
Ralph
Thanks Ralph. Welcome aboard! If you sign up for email alerts, you are eligible to win flies every 100 followers — and we’re almost at 700!
Steve: I think we have the same book of fly patterns- authored by Taff Price. There are alot of interesting patterns in there. Ron Lomas
I don’t have that one, Ron. But it’s easy to imagine a lot of the more popular patterns being in hundreds of books. What’s the title of the book you’re referring to?
Steve: The title is: Fly Patterns An International Guide, the new edition by Taff Price and Illustrated by George Thomson
Thanks, Ron.
I just read through all your posts….very enjoyable!!
Thanks, Miss P. Puts a big smile on my face.
Steve,
Just joined your blog…love your flatwings! I am headed to Montauk in early November and plan on tieing some additional flatwings. I especially loved your “Rock Island” pattern. I have a few RLS capes but of course those and any other flatwing capes seem to be non-existent on the market. I have read quite a range of suggested substitutes and wondered what you recommend for flatwing feathers?
Thx Dave Studeman
Hi Dave,
Thanks for the follow…welcome to currentseams. Thanks also for the kind words on the flatwings.
I hear you on the paucity of flatwing saddle options. If you can find old Hareline Dyed-Over-White Saddles, snap them up. Some of the Metz #2 saddles aren’t bad, although there are limited color choices. For smaller flatwings, you can thumb through Whiting Bugger packs to see if there are any webby, tapered feathers within. Cabela’s also has the odd serviceable saddle now and then. But I wouldn’t buy any of those saddles I listed unless I could eyeball them in person.
Enjoy your RLS saddles while they last!
Hope that helps.
Thanks Steve, I will start hunting!
Hi – you have an amazing blog! I am fortunate to live and fish near a house that Vincent Van Gogh once lived in for a couple of years in London… thanks to you, I’ll never look at a brown trout’s spots in the same way again. Also, I love fishing the current seams – please visit ‘enter the sea trout’ on my blog to see why! Best regards – metiefly.
Hi back. Kind words, sir. Thank you so much. That’s a beautiful sea trout you hooked into. Well done.
Much appreciated Steve!
Hey the Rainbow on my blog page that you liked today (flyfishingruinedher.com) was caught in a Current Seam! It was so textbook… Just right in the “honey” with a nice humm.
Stumbled onto your site and loved it. Anyone who thinks the Grey Hackle peacock is one of the world’s greatest flies is a true believer in my book. And you fish for stripers, too. I spend most of my fishing time on the beaches and inlets of Rhode Island’s South Shore. Quite a change from the small streams of Eastern PA where I plied my wet flies.
Looking forward to a lot of good reading and learning on your blog.
Hi, Jack. Thanks for stumbling in. I love fishing for stripers in SoCo.
Steve
Hello, Looking at Gray Ghost patterns & came across your site. It made for some enjoyable reading 🙂 I look forward to more.
Hi Candace,
Welcome to currentseams, and thanks for the kind words. If you are so inclined, you can sign up to follow the site with email notifications.
A friend (Jerry) and I fished with Steve on the 30th. If you want to learn the wet fly ways, fish with a great guy and learn a bit more about the Farmington Steve is the man. I have fished wets for awhile but Steve easily took me to the next level and then some. Both Jerry and I were totally satisfied on the day.
I have nominated you for Most Influential Blogger Award ; )
Is that a real thing? That is very kind of you. 🙂
Can you tell me more about it?
Yes I think so unless someone pulled a bad prank on me
Well yes it is a real thing~ Someone nominates you and then you need to follow the rules and pass it along if you so feel like accepting. It does take time, and effort and I know I have had some people already respond that they couldn’t accept or they already had been nominated. But I picked ten of the blogs I really enjoy, to include yours and put them in the nomination. If you look at my blog it will tell you how to accept the award. I wasn’t sure how to do pingbacks, so I just did links and contacted everyone individually
Steve,
I truly regret not being able to make your presentation at the Thames Valley TU meeting. As luck would have I lost power for 12 hours that evening and had to tend my generator. I have, however, been following your blog with great interest.
I have a comment on those pretty Yellow Flag Irises. They are an invasive species. So it’s reallt too bad that you’re seeing them everywhere, regardless of their beauty.
Alton
Hi Alton,
Sorry you missed it. We’ll catch you next time. If you follow the site, I’ll post the next time I give it.
I didn’t know the name of the iris or that it is an invasive species. Is it a harmful invasive, and if so, how?
Steve,
Besides sickening livestock and other herbivores it outcompetes native, beneficial vegetation. The following website from the state of Oregon provides more information.
Alton
http://www.oregon.gov/ODA/PLANT/weeds/Pages/profile_yflagiris.aspx
Thanks for sharing this, Alton. I guess the good news is that while I do see the flower on the river, it is in small, isolated bunches.
Fished white clay on Pennsylvania, after April and may not to many fishing. I fish the bait section. I tied some size 18, 20 wet flies using just yellow or orange floss and light Hungarian partridge or
Grouse. I noticed that they either hammer the wet fly as it swings or after it swings as I pick up the line trout hit it and I didn’t know they were on it? Is this the idea of leisenring lift? Your comment/ just finished reading ur article nov/ dec 2013 American angler. Good stuff!!!
George, thanks for reading, and thanks for your question. I answered it in the new Q&A section on 7/22/14.
Mr. Culton, I finally got around to following up on your suggestion to acess your site… Based on the content , creativity and polished style I’ve come to look forward too my suspicions that you are more than a casual contributor to the site I first read you have been happily confirmed , thanks for the heads up and I look forward to enjoying your future efforts .Bill J.
Thanks so much for your kind words, Bill. And please — it’s Steve.
Steve I met you at farmington meeting few months ago. I am planning on a wading trip in Pulaski in March/April. Any tgoghts on a guide. Thanks
Jim Kirtland (Row Jimmy) is the guy I use when I float up there. Highly recommended.
Nice does he do wading trips as well
Larry,
Please contact me through my email: swculton at yahoo etc. Thanks.
Steve. Just finished reading your article in the August American Angler. You pointed several things that I often forget to do. I appreciate your comments on breaking the conventional rules on occasion. Aggro time to winnow some the extraneous nymph patterns in the fly box
Thanks for reading, John. I’m glad it was useful.
Nice site, just stumbled upon it… some good reads. I am possibly moving within range of the Farmington next year and this site makes me more convinced to work over there.
Thanks for the comment, Travis. It’s good to be within range of the Farmington. 🙂
Steve, love the site, your tying videos are very well done and educational. I’d Ike to ask you if I may to do a tying video of a shrimp pattern i.e. General Practitioner from the “Perfect Fish”. Thanks Steve
Hello, fellow Steve. Sadly, I am quite being in my video tying efforts. I think tying a shrimp pattern is a good idea, though, and I will try to remember!
Great article in American Angler re Ct River Salmon. 2 months ago I caught a Salmon in the Westfield River in Huntington. F&W told me was stocked 3 yrs ago and should have left the river a year ago. The biologist said it was possibley the last Salmon in the Westfield. It was released unharmed so hopefully it will return. TY
Thanks, Jack. That’s quite a feather in your cap.
thanks for your well written articles and access to your archives. they are very helpful to this new fly fishing devotee.
Hi Kathleen,
You are very welcome. My pleasure. 🙂
Great presentation at TU North Jersey tonight, Steve!
Thanks for coming Jack. I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Steve,
I’m one of the 487 followers who enjoy your email posts, writings and observations on fly fishing.
Recently, on your site, I noticed a reference to a w/s caddis. I’ve been searching google and can’t find what w/s is referring to. Would you please explain.
Mike Postol
Hi Mike,
It’s Dolophilodes distinctus, the winter/summer caddis. Do a Google search using either of those two phrases and you’ll get tons of information. It’s a really interesting bug. Hope that helps, and thanks for following currentseams. 🙂
Im enjoying your site very much…tightest of lines Steve!
Frank
Glad to hear it, Frank.
Just trying to find out how to join?
Hi Joe,
You can sign up for email alerts on the home page. Look in the margin on the right hand side, and click the button that says “Sign me up.” OK?
Thanks for reading and for your interest!
Steve
Where can I see that three fly leaders you talked about at the SSFC meeting? Thanks. Joe verlicco. Still can’t find it where to sign up. What am I missing?joe
Joe, do a search on my site for “Striper Dropper Rig.” Or do an internet search for “Striper Dropper Rig.” To sign up, scroll down my home page. Look in the right hand margin. See where it say’s “Follow Blog Via Email”? Click on the “Sign Me Up” button. I hope that helps!
Steve,
Thanks for the Zoom sessions lately. Very helpful and fun. I have a few questions about the Pale Watery Wingless pattern. I’ve had to vary from the recipe because I am stuck away from home and have limited supplies: the ginger hen hackle I has a dark mottling and gives is a darker collar. Will this make the fly less effective as a sulpher pattern? What other sizes and colors can I tie this pattern in to mimic other emergers on the Farmington -‘such as caddis and bwo?
You’re very welcome, Don. I can’t answer your first question, but I know who can: the trout. They will tell you if they like the darker hackle or not. Of course, if you had a cream hackle, that would likely work, too.
As far as other sizes and colors go, let the insects be your guide. What size and color are the caddis? Make your fly so. What size are the BWOs? (You already know the colors, olive body and blue dun hackle.) Make your fly so. Then do likewise with other hatches. Have fun. be creative, and tell us how you do!
Steve, I just listened, two times, to your podcast on Salt Water Edge. Wow, great job. Sadly I am one of those guys who, when I’ve gotten to salt water, I forget all my trout fishing techniques, and strip and rip. Well, no more, I get it, and thanks. I really like your flies. I’m not a fly tier, and leave it to the pros like you. I am a fly casting instructor and a NYS fishing guide. Unfortunately I started my company just before this virus hit, ugh, hopefully things will turn around soon. Maybe I’ll see ya in Dories cove? Ha ha!! I may have to give that Abrames Samo #3 a whirl. Take care, Jay Engel Saw Mill Fly Casting, Yonkers, NY
Hi Jay, and welcome to currentseams. Thanks so much for signing up. I’m thrilled that you liked the SWE podcast. If you learn to fly fish for stripers — rather than learn to treat your fly rod like a spinning rod — you’ll do well. I love the Salmo Sax #3. I think you can still get one at SWE. Good luck with your business, stay safe and be well. Steve
Very fine and interesting site you have here.
When you are kalking about current seams, is it the moving counter currents in a river curve ?
Steffen Juul, Denmark
Hello Steffen, thank you for reading and commenting. Current seams are everywhere there is moving water: streams, rivers, the sea, even some lakes and ponds. As I wrote elsewhere on this site, They form where slow water meets fast water. Where depth meets shallows. Where bottom structure impedes flow.
And yes, the edges of those counter-currents you describe in rivers have current seams too.
I hope that helps!
Steve
A fantastic presentation at the Long Island Fly Rodders on September 5th! Thanks so much!!
Peter, it was my pleasure. Thanks for coming out, thanks for subscribing, and thanks for your kind words.