Author Archives: Steve Culton

Housy Report 9/6/18: the curse of the cold front

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: a weather pattern exists for days, then a cold front comes through and kills the bite with ruthless efficiency. So it was yesterday when I guided John. Air was cool (70 degrees) and overcast, water was up about 100cfs to 500+cfs, but running clear. A few bugs (micro caddis, Isos, sulphurs, tiny BWOs) but nothing substantial. We fished the Cornwall TMA. Right away I could tell we were going to have a tough time. The run was uber-sexy, lots of submerged boulders and seams and not a touch on several proven patterns. We finished by swinging wets to some slashing fallfish, and we had fun catching a half-dozen or so.

Off to Spot B, a slower, deeper run. One really nice bass from this run, taken on a soft-hackled crayfish fished hop-and-drop along the bottom. Spot C is normally infested with smaller bass — on this day it was a barren wasteland. Off to Spot D, where we finally got into some risers at dusk, both trout (which have clearly moved out of some of the thermal refuges) and smallies. John did a great job in some truly tough conditions, always kept a positive attitude, and was rewarded in the end.

Sidebar: I saw more anglers yesterday than I did the entire summer. And that’s not an exaggeration.

Well done, John, seen here delivering a team of two soft-hackled wets on target.

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Look what we found! This dude was sitting in about 3-4 feet of water not too far from where we were standing. He clobbered the fly on the hop phase of the retrieve.

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This fly, still in testing & development. 

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Long Island Flyrodders awarded a 2nd Legion of Cookout Merit (with Romeo y Julieta clusters)

Many thanks to the Long Island Flyrodders for again being hosts with the mosts. I was treated to a fine cookout of cheeseburgers, kielbasa (perfect for someone from New Britski) and salads. Throw in an ice cold beer (thanks, Mike) and — wait for it — top it off with a post feast gift (thanks, Ken) of a Romeo y Julieta Reserve corona gorda, and you’re talking a very fed, very happy presenter. As always, this is a welcoming group, and I enjoyed talking fishing with everyone. Oh — the presentation was “Trout Fishing for Striped Bass,” which I think went over very well. Lots of good post-talk questions. Thanks again!

Dessert. A fine vitola that also kept the bugs at bay.

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As a fellow griller, I can tell you it ain’t pleasant standing over fire on a 90 degree day with a dew point of 69. Kudos to the grillers! And yes, I came back for a second helping of kielbasa.

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Everyone’s invited to tomorrow night’s “Trout Fishing for Striped Bass” presentation.

The Long Island Flyrodders have graciously offered to open my Tuesday evening presentation to all currentseams followers. So, that’s tomorrow night, September 4, 8pm in Levittown, NY. Hope to see you there, and in fine Steve Somers fashion, directions here.

Want to catch more — and bigger — stripers? Then come to this presentation.

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Farmington River Report 9/1/18: Finishing with a bang

Yesterday I guided Pete and his son Scott. They wanted to learn the mystical arts of the wet fly, so we had a stream side mini-class then had at it. The water was a little higher than I’d like (400cfs+ in the permanent TMA, 64 degrees) and the hatch activity was about a 2 on the 10 scale, but we managed to move a few trout in Spot A. Still, not the action I was hoping for. Off to Spot B where I noticed a few risers. They weren’t having the wet (this is the second time in two weeks I’ve witnessed this) so I switched Scott over to an X-leg Hopper Caddisy thing with a wet dropper. Second cast, we had a rise. A few casts later, pay dirt. Many thanks to both Pete and Scott for being such swell company. Weather was great, and the river was far less crowded than I expected.

Just as time was running out on the session, Scott nailed this stunning high-teens wild brown. What a gorgeous fish!

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Pre-Labor Day Odds & Ends

I can tell everyone’s busy elsewhere, and that’s good. Enjoy the last blast of summer! Normally, I’d be pounding up slab smallies on the Hous, but I’m playing an everlasting gobstopper-type game with the flows, which still aren’t below 500cfs. So, we wait. In the meantime:

One of my flies, the Soft-Hackled Flatwing, will be featured in an upcoming issue of On The Water magazine.

I’m speaking at the Long Island Flyrodders next Tuesday, September 4. The subject is “Trout Fishing For Stripers,” but I’m pretty sure it’s a members only gig. So if you’re a member and you’re reading this, see you then!

The Soft-Hackled Flatwing is an oldie but goodie. Play around with colors and let the stripers tell you what they like!

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Release Countermeasures

Six Countermeasures to go, ready to drive some big brown or slab of a smallie out of its mind.

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Farmington River Report 8/23/18: Not a bad evening’s work

I spent yesterday late afternoon/evening shooting Torrey Collins for that Farmington River piece for Eastern Fly Fishing. Mostly work for me (I can think of worse jobs I’ve had) but I did wet a line here and there. The river was up a bit (they bumped the flow from the dam 40cfs to make it 440cfs in the permanent TMA) and the fish were open for business. We hit three spots and found players in all of them. Good hatch window in the first run, and the fish were all over Torrey’s nymphs. I took a break from shooting and swung a couple wets, and given the hatch and surface feeding activity volume, I was surprised to only stick two trout. Caddis and Isonychia were the stars. The last two spots were in heavy water, and we fished until dark, having most of the river to ourselves. Thanks again, Torrey.

Like me, Torrey isn’t bashful about wading into some of the river’s snottier sections to catch trout. Here, his daring is rewarded with a hookup.

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Holy pink band, Batman! This photo is all natural, no light or color enhancements. What a gorgeous creature.

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Housy article complete, Farmington feature next

The Housatonic River piece is off at the editorial suites of Eastern Fly Fishing; it’s due out in the Feb/March 2019 issue. Next project is a feature for the same mag on the Farmington River. Haven’t taken fingers to keyboard yet, but I’ll be out this week shooting photos on the river with UpCountry Sportfishing’s Torrey Collins (hopefully his gf Mandy will be joining us). As always, if you see me on the river, come say hello.

Fish-friendly photos. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

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Book Review: “Nymph Fishing” by George Daniel

I love the concept behind Nymph Fishing: after writing Dynamic Nymphing, George Daniel went out and did a whole bunch of nymph fishing with the goal of being able to write this terrific follow up — detailing what works and what doesn’t in multiple situations, what’s new, what’s changed, how he’s adapted, what he’s playing around with, all the while encouraging you to do the same.

And that may be what I like best about George. He’s a giver. He’s insatiably curious, and detail-oriented enough to take notes, write it all down, and share it. Now, I consider myself to be a pretty good nymph angler — I teach nymphing, after all — but it’s evident that George’s nymphing knowledge base far exceeds mine. What’s more, he doesn’t think he’s all that, and that gentle yet confident humility is what often marks the dividing line between a good teacher and a great teacher. His writing style is easy to read and follow, which cannot be said of many how-to fly fishing books.

You’ll find all kinds of leader diagrams, step-by-step photographic instruction, and fly patterns (hooray for tying nerds like me). But what I like best is that George squarely addresses the pros and cons of contact vs. suspension nymphing, and guess what — I can now point to one major nymphing authority who won’t snicker at me with my home brew yarn indicators dancing across the surface of the Farmington. Fly fishing is problem-solving, and there are many, many ways to do so.

The copy of Nymph Fishing they sent me had a big sticker on the cover that read, “REVIEW COPY NOT FOR RESALE NON RETURNABLE.” Yeah, right. This one’s mine. You’ll have to get your own.

In the interest of full disclosure, George is a friend. Those of you who know me, though, know I’m a straight shooter. This is an excellent book, and if you want to become a better nympher, you should be reading it. Nymph Fishing by George Daniel, Stackpole Books, ISBN 978-0-8117-1826-4

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Striper Report: Too stupid? Or just stupid enough?

I woke up at 7:20am yesterday, took Cam to soccer camp, fished the Farmy for 90 minutes, picked him up, did some work, took Gordo to hockey camp, drove us home, made supper, hung out with the family…then got in the car at 10:40pm and drove to Rhode Island.

It poured on the way down, but SoCo was mostly just fog and dense clouds bracketing the universe’s attempt to shine through. Spot A was an estuary; there were bass and bait (silversides and peanuts), but the bass were 80 feet out, sporadically ambushing bait from below, unwilling to chase a fly, and I couldn’t present the way I wanted to. Spot B was the open beach. I didn’t like the easterly breeze, some of the surf was sketchy big, and I decided that absent ay signs of bait or bass, it was too much work. Spot C was some skinny water like the kind you can find around the edges of Narragansett Bay. Second cast, three fly team, on the dangle, BANG! A good fish, 10 pounds, on the peanut bunker bucktail top dropper. Hooked two more then called it a night — or is that a very long day, since I didn’t get into bed until after 3am.

That’s eight consecutive months of a striper on the fly from the shore. Last night’s winning entry was this small bucktail, 2″ long and so sparse you can read the newspaper through it. I love catching bigger bass on smaller flies.

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