Tuesday night I spoke to the Merrimac River Valley TU Chapter in Manchester, NH. The topic was the Farmington River, and we talked about that and a host of other fly fishing subjects. What an enthusiastic, attentive group! What’s more, MRVTU understands that a fed presenter is a happy presenter, and so they are hereby awarded the OPP with BOTC, and are entitled to all the privileges of that rank. Thanks again, group.
One of the questions I took involved the concept of the “go-to fly.” I explained why I couldn’t answer the question — at least not the answer the asker was looking for — and that answer is best summed up here.
On Wednesday night I spoke to the East Jersey Trout Unlimited group about wet flies — specifically, getting into wet fly fishing, with the program title being “Wet Flies 101.” What a great group, very involved audience, and a gratifying turnout. The passion this group has for fly fishing is very evident. I’m already looking forward to coming back, especially if I can start the evening off with a burger and an IPA at ReBar just a few minutes away.
During the post-presentation Q&A, I was asked a really good question. I didn’t like my answer, and it bothered me all the way home. I’d like to represent the question, and give what I think is a much better answer.
Q: You say when you’re swinging wets, you have to wait a few seconds before you set the hook or you’ll lose the fish. How come when you’re nymphing you need to set the hook right away? A: I don’t know if this is a definitive answer, but I can tell you my best calculated guess. When you’re swinging or dangling a wet fly downstream in current, you’re fishing a tight line. There’s tension present. And then, you have a moving fish applying force, and then quickly changing the direction of that force. My advice to clients is to feel the hit, ask the question, “Are you still there?” and then set the hook. Do that, and the fish essentially hooks itself. When you’re nymphing, the fish behaves differently. It doesn’t rise from the depths, then turn and swim a few feet back down to the bottom. It’s typically feeding on station, near the bottom, perhaps not moving much at all, or maybe just a few inches. It sees your nymph, opens its mouth, and eats the fly. It’s a far more passive transaction. Setting the hook forcefully downstream seals the deal before the trout can reject the fly (if it does that at all). When you’re nymphing, you can still catch fish without setting — we’ve all had instances when we’re not paying attention and we manage to hook and land the fish regardless — but setting the hook had and fast will certainly result in more trout to net.
Do this when nymphing — a downstream set with a low, hard sweep — and your catch rate will soar. Hooksets are free, so look for a reason to set the hook on every drift!
I always have a good time at the Fly Fishing Show. But looking back at this year’s Edison show, it might have been my favorite — ever. I think it’s because I reconnected with so many old friends, strengthened some newer friendships, and had more first-time meetings. I gave away and traded a bunch of flies. My classes drew well, and I had some impressive crowds for my talks. Oh. I also bought stuff — some I wanted, some I needed, all of it putting a smile on my face. Here’s my show experience in pictures.
I knew Jeff Currier was an exceptional angler. I didn’t know that he’s one of the best — really — on the planet. I’ve been saying hi to and chatting with Jeff and his significant other, Granny, at these shows for a couple years, but at Marlborough I spent more time hanging out, getting to know him, and giving him some wet flies. At Edison, I gave him some smallmouth flies to try, and I bought one of his mugs. You see, in addition to being a world-class angler, Jeff is also a talented artist. The mug isn’t for coffee. I’m going to put it on my fly tying bench and use it as a stash container. (I bought the striped bass mug, not pictured.) I also picked up a new chest pack for guiding on the Farmington, the Umpqua Overlook, and some zingers and a fly box and some spiffy new Dr. Slick nippers that are way too expensive for nippers — but they look so damn good. Reviews on all to come.I also picked up Joe Cordero’s new flatwing book, Colors In The Current. You can get it from his website, and I will be reviewing here in the future. Here’s Joe signing my copy. Speaking of signing, I also finally got Ed Engle to sign my copy of Trout Lessons, and Landon Mayer to sign my copy of The Hunt For Giant Trout. Yes, I’m a total fan boy. Dang! I missed George Daniel.Not a bad lineup to bat leadoff. I had a nearly packed house for my Friday talk, Modern Wet Fly Strategies. The 9:45am slot is the first seminar of the day, and it can be a tough draw. At 9:30am, the room was empty save for me. I needn’t have worried. A trickle became a steady stream, and 15 minutes later I had another strong audience. If you came out to see me, I want to thank you. I’m truly grateful for your attendance and your enthusiasm.Jonny King as featured fly tyer. I always tell people to come say hello on the river or at these shows, and I was delighted by the number of people who did so at Edison. Jonny was one of them, and now I have a new friend. Author John Field, whom I’ve spoken to, but never met, also tracked me down. He said he’d tried to get my attention earlier, but I hadn’t heard his shouts. Rats! I’m hearing impaired, and on a busy show floor, even with my hearing aid, a lot of audio information gets lost. So If I breeze on by, my apologies, and please don’t take it personally. I probably never heard you.Dinner time in Edison means a trip to my favorite Chinese restaurant, Shanghai Dumpling. It doesn’t get much more authentic than this. Tim Flagler turned me on to it a few years back, and I always get and extra order or two to bring home. Besides the dumplings, the spicy pork Udon is the bomb. We all like spending money on shiny new gear, but classes are a much better investment if you want to become a better angler. Thank you so much to the keen students and enthusiastic anglers who took this class and my wet fly class on Saturday. Fish on!All good things must end, so I left the show the way I started it: at the Blue Quill Angler booth. Pat Dorsey and Chris Steinbeck, on the bookends L and R, have become good friends. They let me park my stuff at their booth when I wanted to wander the floor, and I’m grateful for that. I got to know Landon Mayer better at Marlborough and this show — we trade flies like kids trade baseball cards — and he is an exceptional tier and so enthusiastic about fly fishing. I wish I was heading out west some time soon to see my friends and fish, but that will have to wait. So I’ll console myself with a little Colorado dreaming…and chuckle at Pat and Landon Bogarting my wet fly presentation board.
What a fantastic show! This past weekend in Edison, I reconnected with old friends, made some new ones, bought some stuff I really needed (no, really!), walked the floors, took in some tying demos and bits of seminars, lead a couple seminars, taught two classes, and had about as much fun fly fishing as you can without actually being on the river. I’ll be giving you a more detailed report later this week — in the meantime, here I am converting the masses to the ancient and traditional art of the wet fly.
A tremendous start to Edison 2024! It’s always gratifying to speak to a larger audience, and the size of the crowd that came to see me present my seminar “Modern Wet Fly Strategies” at 10:15am Friday morning was a wonderful sight to behold. Thanks so much if you took the time to see me, and kudos to you for looking to expand your knowledge base. Fly fishing show seminars are included in the price of your ticket, and are the perfect way to see experts and discover new methods, tactics, and strategies. Photo by Landon Mayer.
Speaking of shows, this Saturday, Feb. 3, is the “best little fly fishing show around.” Yes, it’s the CFFA Show, 9am-3pm, at Nomads in South Windsor. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend, but there will be other tyers and speakers and the usual assortment of vendors. I’ll see you there next year. In the meantime, you can make sure you don’t miss any of my appearances by following currentseams or following me on Instagram @stevecultonflyfishing. See you out and about or on the river.
Here’s a handy-dandy schedule for your reference. As always, I’m hoping for a strong turnout from my readers, so if you’re coming to one of my seminars — included in your show admission ticket — please say hello. Also, please note that the show runs the entire weekend — I’m only there on Friday and Saturday. There’s still time to register for one of my classes, Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies forStripers, and Tying & Fishing Wet Flies. You must register through the show website.
For your enjoyment, I present a little Monday light reading. Here’s my story from the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show two weekends ago. Believe it or not, Edison is this weekend!
I hit the ground running Friday morning with a very well-attended Destination Theater presentation on the Farmington River. It’s always nice to start off with a packed house! As you’ll see, Friday was a very busy day for me…I had just enough time to pack up, zip over to the show floor, do a little meet and greet, and grab a bite before my 2:30 appearance as a Featured Fly Tyer. I really enjoy the FFT gig. The setup is excellent, and if I have a chance, I always make time to watch other tiers do their thing. Unfortunately, Friday was wall-to-wall for me, as I had to pack up and scoot back to the hotel for my 4:30 Seminar, Hot Bronze: Wade Fishing For Summer Smallmouth. Many thanks to everyone who took the time to see me, and I was particularly gratified by the SRO crowd during the Featured Fly Tyer. The subject was “Guide Wet Flies,” and I demoed a Hendrickson spider, a Pale Watery wingless wet, LaFontaine’s Diving Caddis winged wet, and a bonus track, my Squirrel and Ginger.Attention, flatwing fans: Joe Cordeiro has a new book out. It’s called — drum roll — “Colors In The Current,” and you can buy it directly from Joe on his website, here. Paperback $35, hardcover $65, and Joe will sign it for you if you like. The book is loaded with proven patterns for you to try on your favorite flat, estuary, or beach. A shout out to Joe and his son Greg for letting me park at their booth to eat my lunch all three days. Oh! Joe’s also got a ton of saddles and other flatwing must-haves….Yeah, we’re busy here…I taught two classes, the striper one pictured above, and on Sunday, “Tying and Fishing Wet Flies.” I can’t say enough about those who make the effort and investment in expanding their knowledge base. That’s how you get to be a better angler, folks. A more expensive rod won’t help you catch more fish. OK, enough pontificating. Back to the show.Speaking of learning, this is a guy you want to hang around with if you want to become a better fly angler or tier. Tim is always generous with his time, and you often have to wait in line to talk to him. Tim presented after me at one of my Destination Theater talks — I did three that weekend — and I took the liberty of introducing him as the guy, who, “whenever I want to tie a new pattern or brush up on a favorite, I type the name of the fly and “Tightline” (Tim’s production company) into the search bar.”Bad luck! Saturday night into Sunday was a major winter storm, and so the venue was rather uncrowded on Sunday. Still, the show must go on, so I took the opportunity during my down time to meet and greet, do a little shopping, and watch master caster Shiela Hassan do her thing.
And that’s a wrap! See you next year. And see you this weekend at the Edison show.
Many thanks to the Farmington River Anglers Association for hosting me Wednesday night. I presented to an enthusiastic crowd of two dozen anglers at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford. I very much enjoyed the pre-talk pizza, and it’s pure genius to hold meetings at a craft brewery. The subject was tying and fishing wet flies and soft hackles, highly appropriate since the Farmington is a fantastic wet fly resource. We followed up with a lengthy Q&A session that was loaded with some outstanding questions. Here’s one that I think will resonate. Q: How and when to you add weight to your wet fly rig? A: (click here for my article, “Adding weight to a wet fly team.”
If you’ve always wanted to take a wet fly lesson with me, this is the next best thing to being on the water! Class is in session next Saturday, Jan 27 at 2pm at the Edison Fly Fishing Show. Instead of sitting on a picnic table bench next to the Farmington River, we’ll gather in a cozy meeting room and learn all about tying and fishing wet flies. This is a a great opportunity to get some quality instruction at the fraction of the cost of a guide trip.
Don’t let the simplicity fool you. Learn to properly present a soft-hackled fly, and you’ll become a dangerous fish-catching machine.
My plan is to offer a combination of video and real-time demos. If the group wants, I’ll demo-tie some wet flies so you can see what goes into building an effective soft-hackle, wingless wet, or winged wet, from construction to materials; demonstrate how to build a traditional three fly team; show you how to prevent that rig from tangling; talk about essential wet fly gear and tackle; and more. Of course, you’re going to want to learn how to present wet flies and catch more fish. Yep, we’re going to cover that, too.
Another trout — you could measure this one in pounds rather than inches — that thought that wet fly was a real bug.
New year, new kind of class at the Fly Fishing Show in Edison, NJ. Rather than a tying class, it’s now the closest thing we can get to an actual lesson in the salt! I’m really excited about the change, and everyone who attended my class in Marlborough gave it rave reviews. So, instead of spending a few hours on a salt marsh or estuary, we’ll gather in a cozy meeting room and learn all about tying and fishing presentation flies for striped bass. If you’ve ever wanted to fish with me, but have been unable to do so, this will be a great opportunity to get some quality instruction.
Jeff took this class at Edison last year. Here’s what he’s been doing since then! Photo by Jeff Carson.
What are presentation flies? They’re flies that rely on specific materials — mostly natural — specific construction — mostly sparse — and specific presentations — to create the illusion of life. Presentation flies are highly impressionistic. They look alive and like something good to eat, even when at rest. Most of all, you don’t need to strip them in, ad nauseum, to get stripers to eat them. In this class, I’ll talk about materials and construction and, if the group wants, demo at least one pattern.
So, how and where do you fish such patterns? We’ll cover that, too. I’ll show you how to build a saltwater team of three flies; we’ll discuss different bait and feeding scenarios; we’ll talk about the different kinds of water where presentation flies shine; and of course, we’ll dive into presentation — you know, that thing you do when you’re not treating your fly rod like a glorified spinning rod.
You must pre-register for this class. You can do that here.
Bigger bass don’t like to chase. The key is to bring the fly to them — and you can learn how in this class.
This Wednesday night, 1/17/24, I will be speaking at the FRAA meeting at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford, 7pm. The talk will be “Tying & Fishing Wet Flies.” This is a good one, folks, and if you’re not already tying and fishing wet flies, you’re really missing out. If you are, I bet you’ll learn some stuff you didn’t know before. The meeting is open to the public, and of course, what a treat that it’s at a craft brewery!
The timing on this is serendipitous as I’m feeling much better (as of Sunday noon I was no longer contagious). The FRAA’s scheduled speaker had to cancel, they asked me to fill in, and here we go. I haven’t spoken to the FRAA in very long time, so I’m looking forward to presenting. This is my only (as of now) scheduled local speaking event this winter, so I hope to see you there!
Come find out why this fly is a must-have in your Farmington River box. I know, I still you owe you a Marlborough report. And the Edison show is coming up in less than two weeks! I’ll get all of this information out to you ASAP.
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