Category Archives: 2026 Schedule and Events

Crossroads Anglers Tuesday night and IFTS less than 4 weeks away

Happy Monday! I wish I had some fishing stories to tell you — specifically, fishing stories about a recent outing — but lately, it’s been no fishing for me. I was supposed to guide on the Farmington today, but my client had to cancel. Tempting though it would have been to be on the water, I decided to, as David Bowie said, “stay home…and get things done.” So, here we are. Also: we need rain. If you have any influence of the weather, please exercise those muscles.

Tomorrow night, Tuesday, October 27, I’m talking about the “Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River” to the Crossroads Anglers at the South Foxboro Community Center, 6:30pm. Everyone is welcome. I’ll have a box o’ books in case you don’t have one, and if you do — smart person! — I’ll have a Sharpie on hand for signing. Here’s a link to the Crossroads Anglers website. Hope to see you there!

Lots of talking coming up. I can’t thank you enough for being there and listening. Photo by Joey Takeman

Coming up fast: The International Fly Tying Symposium, November 21 & 22. Previously held in Somerset, NJ, the show has shifted to Lancaster, PA. While that makes it a little G.U. for New Englanders, I’m hoping some of you will make it down. And if you’re reading this in any of the mid-Atlantic states, you’re now within reasonable driving distance from the single best fly tying show in the world. In addition to some outstanding tyers, there will be vendors galore, like Regal Vise, for whom I ‘m a Staff Pro, and J.Stockard, for whom I’m a Pro Tyer. Every year, I find some hard-to-locate tool or tying material at the Symposium. But the best part is the talent. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned just by walking around and talking to my fellow fly tyers, or listening in of one of their talks. There are classes (you must pre-register), Featured Tyers (come see me demoing Wet Flies & Soft Hackles for Northeast Streams on Sunday, November 22 at 10:30am, and Seminars (I’ll be presenting Tying & Fishing Wet Flies, Saturday, November 21 at 1:45pm). While you have to pre-register for classes, the featured tiers and seminars are all included in your admission ticket. If you’re there, please come say hello.

And now, I’m heading off to shoot an Instagram video.

FRAA Awarded the Order of Pizza with NEIPA Clusters, and other late October musings

Many thanks to the FRAA for hosting me last night. I’m beyond giddy with all the positive feedback I’m getting about the book — it’s truly gratifying to hear that people are digging not only the content, but also the writing. There will be no dull textbooks from this author! We had a strong turnout last night at Brewery Legitimus, and I helped myself to several slices of pizza, washed down with a delicious Dr. Strangehaze NEIPA before hitting the floor to speak. The book tour continues next week, October 27 at the Crossroads Anglers in Foxboro, MA.

We’ve reached peak foliage time on the Farmington, and that means two things. First, the leaves will soon be brown and tumbling down, which can muck up a fly presentation. You may want to avoid breezy days, which can produce whirlwinds of vegetal matter in the air and then on and in the water. Second, the browns are now firmly in pre-spawn, if not actual spawn mode. Be on the lookout for redds, the cleared out gravel beds where browns like to deposit their eggs. Think smaller gravel, and shallower, moving water. Redds are usually easy to spot; if you see a light oval patch surrounded by dark substrate, that could be a redd. The presence of trout holding on or nearby, doing some kind of canoodling dance, is another indicator of spawning activity.

Wild fish come from somewhere, so it’s important to leave that somewhere — and its procreating inhabitants — alone to do their thing. This dramatically spotted brown was sampled from the PTMA in September 2024.

Note the locations of these redds for future reference. You don’t want to be walking over an egg bed in January. Crushing the next year class of wild fish is disastrous and avoidable. It goes without saying that you shouldn’t be targeting spawning fish. That’s unsporting and plain bad form. Sometimes non-spawning fish will set up a few dozen feet below a redd to pick off stray eggs. Targeting those fish with egg patterns can be productive, but please take care to watch where you plant your feet — and please leave those active spawners alone.

At FRAA Weds Oct 21 and the Instagram reel that lost its mind

I’m back on the book promo trail this week as the Farmington River Anglers Association hosts me Wednesday, October 21 at 7pm at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford, CT. The subject, of course, will be the “Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River.” If you don’t have a copy, I’ll have some with me, and if you do, bring it along and I’ll be happy to sign it. This is a must-attend talk if you fish the river — no matter what your level of expertise, I guarantee you’ll learn something — and you get to enjoy a local brew while you listen. That’s a double win!

Old photo. I ditched the traditional vest for a chest pack years ago. This massive rainbow was taken on a wet fly, and if you come to the presentation, the “wet fly guru” will tell you what it was.

So. This summer when we went for our traditional family walk out to Block Island’s Sandy Point, I shot a video of some seals with the commentary about the irony of the government being able to protect seals, but not stripers. (If you’re unaware, striper stocks are generally suffering, and the from-shore striper bite on Block has absolutely cratered since the seals took over.) I kept the reel in my back pocket for a future posting, which turned out to be last Friday. I figured it would be an underperformer, since it’s just some waves and beach and seals with my background commentary. Holy firestorm, Batman! That reel got more views and more comments than anything I’ve ever posted on Instagram. Some of the comments were partisan political (the presence of seals is not the fault of either major party.) Some were misguided (while menhaden are a crucial striped bass forage in general, menhaden have very little presence on Block Island and have nothing to do with seals being there or stripers being scarce from shore.) And some were commiserating, both from a Block Island and Cape Cod perspective.

If you’re not following me on Instagram, you should @stevecultonflyfishing. Then you won’t miss any future excitement. The content I post on Instagram is unique to that social medium, so you won’t be double-dipping between here and there.

Hope to see you Wednesday night.

Farmington River Mini-Report 10/13/26; Croton TU awarded the Legion of the Cheeseburger with IPA Clusters

I guided Owen on Tuesday. Owen is pretty much a beginner, but very enthusiastic — just the kind of student I like to teach. We spent our afternoon on the water from the Riverton bridge to several hundred yards above. It was a chilly, overcast day, and we started off with some indicator nymphing. That was surprisingly a blank — and then a trout slashed at the indicator. We tied on a mini streamer, but no love. A bait angler below us got into two fish, but we decided to head upriver.

At the next mark, Owen locked into a fish on the nymph rig, but the trout sadly became unbuttoned. By this time, there was a decent amount of trout-eating-emergers activity. It was caddis action, and I was surprised by the last on tiny BWOs. We moved over to wet fly, and were rewarded with some bumps, and then an eat. It might have been the ugliest stocked rainbow I’ve ever seen in this river — ragged tail and fins, fins missing, scales gone AWOL — but it was exciting to see Owen connect with his first Farmington River fish. We headed upstream again and got one more bump, but that was it. Great, job, Owen!

So, Owen lands his first Farmington River trout, and I get to present the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River to a roomful of enthusiastic anglers. I’ll drink to that.

Then last night, I spoke to the fine people of the Croton Watershed TU Chapter. Croton TU knows that a fed presenter is a happy presenter, so they are hereby awarded the Legion of the Cheeseburger with IPA (Singlecut) Clusters, and all the privileges associated with that honor. According to the chapter president, the crowd was excellent, and from my point of view, very enthusiastic and welcoming. We had a good post-talk Q&A session, and I want to thank the people who bought a copy of the book. I’m already looking forward to my return.

Next up: Wednesday, October 21, Farmington River Anglers Association, 7pm, Brewery Legitmus, New Hartford, CT. This meeting is open to the public. And it’s at a brewery! If that’s not a doubleheader sweep, I don’t know what is. More info is here.

Croton TU this Thursday kicks off a flurry of book appearances

After a couple of weeks’ respite, I’m back on the speaking trail this Thursday night. It’s the first of three speaking gigs this month, all dedicated to the best book on the Farmington River, my Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River (he said most humbly). Of course, books will be available for purchase and signing, and if you’ve already bought a copy, bring it along and I’ll sign it with a smile. Here are the details:

Thursday, October 15, Croton Watershed TU, 7pm, Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Pleasantville, NY. This meeting is open to the public. More info can be found here.

Wednesday, October 21, Farmington River Anglers Association, 7pm, Brewery Legitmus, New Hartford, CT. This meeting is open to the public. And it’s at a brewery! If that’s not a doubleheader sweep, I don’t know what is. More info is here.

Tuesday, October 27, Crossroads Angers, South Foxboro Community Center, Foxboro, MA. According to their website, “Steve is a real character and this promises to be an entertaining affair.” Who am I to argue? Guests — unless you’re a member, that’s you — are always welcome. More info, right here.

I love my job, and if you come to to see me this month, I’ll prove it. Fly tying, and writing about and teaching fly fishing are all passions, but I think speaking to groups and presenting at shows is my favorite.

“Featured Tier” now added to my Int’l Fly Tying Symposium schedule, Nov 21-22!

I got some exciting news on Wednesday: I’ve been named as one of the “Featured Tiers” at the International Fly Tying Symposium on November 21-22 in Lancaster, PA. What an honor! I’m tremendously excited about this. The Featured Tier gig will be on Sunday, and it’s a nice followup to my Seminar on Saturday. In my Featured Tier slot, I’ll be demoing “Wet Flies and Soft Hackles for Northeast Streams.” I’ve yet formally decide on the specific flies, but I’ve got a pretty good idea of what will be on the vise. They’ll all be fish-catchers and proven patterns. Stay tuned for more details.

What a lineup! I’m both honored an humbled to be included with these people. When I’m not speaking, I’ll be on the show floor at a tying table.
Batting leadoff on Sunday. I’ll start the day at my tying table, do the demo, then return to my table. This is going to be good!

It was a “Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River” week as Thames Valley TU & Main Line Fly-Tyers are awarded the Legion of the Cheeseburger with IPA Clusters — and the Ask About Fly Fishing Podcast link

I’m in a bit of a reflective mood this morning. Without an audience, a speaker is just talking to himself. Of course, I do this frequently throughout the day, or when I’m fishing, and naturally, when I’m rehearsing, which I’m proud to say I still do before every speaking engagement. So I don’t take these thank-you messages lightly. Last week was a busy one, three gigs in three nights. On Tuesday, I presented Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River, my all-new, upgraded talk based on the book, to Thames Valley TU. While I was unable to take advantage of their generous offer for a pre-game dinner, I made up for it with a stop at Five Guys on the way home. TVTU is a dedicated group, and it was a treat to see so many old friends.

Thursday, I ventured down to Philadelphia where I visited the Main Line Fly-Tyers. I’d spoken to them once before, via Zoom during Covid, so this was my first in-person talk. I was thrilled to have over 50 attendees! This time, I was able to take advantage of their pre-talk hospitality at Phil’s Tavern. Excellent cheeseburger (the patty melt if you must know). Really, really enjoyable. Thank you so much to both groups for being so welcoming, for your interest in the book, and for asking so many good questions.

Coming soon to a fly fishing club near you. My next gig is October 15 with the Croton Watershed TU.

Speaking of questions, in between it all was the Ask About Fly Fishing podcast. It’s recorded live, but you can listen to it any time you like with this link. I’m so grateful to Roger, the host, for giving me the opportunity to talk about the river and promote the book.

I’m going to try like hell to get some more fishing-specific posts up this week. (I know you’re rooting for me.) But to do that, I gotta attend to a lot of other things on my list. Which is what I’m going to do right now.

Appearances near and far, Ask About Fly Fishing podcast — and perhaps some fishing?

I now, I know, I’ve got a little broken-record syndrome with these posts, but I don’t want you to miss out. (It seems like every week, I get an email that says something like, “I wish I knew you were going to be there…”) So let’s get to it.

Tuesday night. 9/15, I’m at Thames Valley TU. Doors open at 6pm. I go on around 7:15pm. All are welcome. The subject will be the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River, and I will have books for purchase and signing. Of course, you want to know where it is: the North Franklin Fire Dept., 5 Tyler Drive, North Franklin CT. This is an all-new Farmington River presentation, so unless you were at the SEMass TU meeting last week, you haven’t seen it!

Wednesday night is the much anticipated Ask About Fly Fishing Podcast. It goes live at 9pm ET. Here’s their promo description: “On our upcoming broadcast “Fly Fishing the Farmington River: Trout, Hatches & Tactics” with Steve Culton we will give away a one-year membership to Fly Fishers International, a one-year membership to Trout Unlimited, and a copy of his latest book Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River (you have to be listening to the live show to win this). To qualify for the drawings, you need to register. Use this link to visit our registration page, complete the form, then send us your information, and you’ll be included in the drawing.” I hope you get a chance to listen in, and please ask lots of questions!

Last but not least, I’m road tripping to Philadelphia to speak to the Main Line Fly Tyers on Thursday night, 9/17. It will be held at the Greater Plymouth Community Center in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Doors open at 6:30pm. As with the TVTU gig, the subject will be the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River, and I will have books for purchase and signing.

And maybe…just maybe…I’ll get out to do some fishing at some point. Stripers beckon. Wild brook trout beckon. The Farmington River beckons…

Kicking off a very busy fall, Ask About Fly Fishing Podcast Sept 16 at 9pmET

Happy day-after-Labor Day. I actually fished this weekend, on the Cape no less, and was rewarded with two hours of blissful solitude under the stars, an outstanding cigar (Olmec Grande Maduro), and…not a touch. Can you believe that it’s September 8th and I still haven’t caught a striper this year? Only 7 outings, but hey, come on now. Not to worry. It’s going to happen soon.

Also happening soon is my speaking engagement with SE Mass TU — tonight, in fact — in Middleborough, MA. It’s the first of many gigs this fall that center around the book, Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River. The meeting starts at 7pm at the Mitchell Memorial Club, and walk-ins are welcome. I’ll have books for sale and signing. Next week, Sept. 15, 7pm, I’m at Thames Valley TU in CT. Thursday, Sept. 17, I visit the Main Line Fly Tyers in Philadelphia. Ditto ditto books for sale and signing.

If you can’t make any of those dates, you can catch me from the comfort of your home on Wednesday, Sept 16. I’m honored to be the guest of the Ask About Fly Fishing Podcast, which will be broadcast live at 9pm ET. If you can’t make it, you can still listen to it at a later date. You can ask questions, and I’ll answer them live on the air — or is it ether? They also do a free drawing — I’m not sure what the prize is — which you need to register for. It’s going to be fun, and I’m really looking forward to it. See you around!

Thank you, Compleat Angler, a very busy fall, and other odds & ends

Happy Monday! Despite the weather — Saturday was one of the ten best weather days of the summer — we had a strong turnout at the book signing event at The Compleat Angler in Darien. We had one customer buy three books, and three more buy two books. I love it! As I did with UpCountry Sportfishing, I signed dozens of copies for them to have on hand, so it’s not too late for you to get a signed copy at either location. If you’re looking to order a signed, dedicated-to-you book directly from me, you can still do that, too.

Or, you can see me at one of the many stops I’ll be making this fall and winter at shows and club meetings throughout the northeast. I’ll be bringing a box o’ books, and you can get a signed copy from me at any of the clubs. (You should plan on buying at the bookstore at the Symposium and Fly Fishing Shows.) There will be more dates added as they come in!

I’m truly grateful for all the positive feedback I’m getting from you about the book. What a thrill to know that you’re liking what you’re reading.

A reminder that the DEEP will be drawing down the Farmington River in early September for their annual fish census and broodstock collection for the Survivor Strain program. I don’t have the date yet, but I suspect it will come after Labor Day.

I hate to see summer go, but I’m looking forward to some serious fall fishing. Brook trout, stripers, Farmington River trout, steelhead…man, I’m just about salivating.