Last night I presented The Eastern Brook Trout: New England’s Wild Native to the Hammonasset Chapter of TU. The group really came though in the clutch, locating an extension cord and power strip (must get those for future gigs) for me, and then — this is where it gets good — serving up some delicious pulled pork sandwiches. I really enjoyed meeting everyone and talking fishing and fly tying.
That reminds me: Time for a wild brook trout outing.
Yup, it’s that time of year again. Three speaking engagements over the next thirty days, one of them hopefully near you. I really love presenting. It’s a great way to connect with other anglers at a grass-roots level. Hope to see you at one of them. And here we go.
Thursday, September 11, 7pm, I’ll be speaking at the Hammonasset Chapter TU meeting. The subject will be The Eastern Brook Trout: New England’s Wild Native. Location is the QRWA headquarters, located at 540 Oregon Road, Meriden, CT.
Thursday, September 18, 7:30pm, I’ll be presenting Wet Flies 101 at the TU Croton Watershed meeting in Pleasantville, NY. You can get directions from their website, cwctu.org.
Wednesday, October 1, 7pm, TU Naugatuck Pomperaug Chapter meeting in Naugatuck, CT. An encore performance of The Eastern Brook Trout. You can directions at tunaugpomp.org.
You don’t need to be a TU member to attend any of these meetings. Please be sure to say hi to me if you decide to come. I have more appearances scheduled, and I’ll post them as the dates get closer. I’m also working on a new presentation that should be ready soon.
Thanks to all of you who subscribe to and read currentseams. I truly appreciate it.
Much. Here are some details.
Radio/Podcast: I just recorded a segment on fall/summer fishing the Farmington with John Kovach’s Yankee Fisherman show on HAN radio. I’ll post the link when I get it.
Magazine articles: Look for upcoming articles in the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide (Salmon Fishing for Stripers); The Drake (W/S Caddis); Fly Fish Journal (The Streak, a 12-month striper odyssey); and American Angler (tbd…this will motivate me to get those story ideas to the editor).
Web articles: Last night I started my 2014 Block Island Diary. I promise it won’t suck. I have a few interviews with Ken Abrames to sort through — currentseams.com exclusives. And of course regular fishing reports and tying articles/videos.
Appearances: Yup, it’s that time of year. I’ll be presenting Wet Flies 101 at the TU Croton Watershed meeting on Thursday, September 18th. You can find directions at cwctu.org. I’ll be presenting Eastern Brook Trout at the TU Naugatuck Pomperaug meeting on Wednesday, October 1. You can find directions at tunaugpomp.org.
I also see currentseams is approaching 200 members. I think we’ll have to do another fly drawing to celebrate.
We’re not quite yet to this point. But make no mistake — fall is here.
So I pulled up to the pavilion at Mathies Grove around 9am and no one’s there. Except the lone sentinel in her sand chair who informed me that she was saving it for the softball players. Say what? I looked northward, and there was the Spey Clave in the field. I hadn’t planned on tying in the sun — I was wearing a long sleeve rugby shirt — but as the father of a Marine, I know that you adapt, overcome, and improvise. A few volunteers later, we were lugging a picnic table 150 yards across a field, and there I was, all set up and ready to tie.
Several thank yous are in order. Thanks to everyone who stopped by to chat, watch, and ask questions. The old faces were comforting, and the new ones a pleasure to meet. Thanks to Ben Bilello for tying such beautiful salmon flies. Thanks to Mother Nature for making the sun warm and the air cool. Thanks to Scott from the Compleat Angler for grilling up a storm (that burger hit the spot). And thanks to Fred and Jerry from Spey Casting North East for hosting me. (I’ll give them a from-the-heart — and head — plug: if you are interested in two-handed casting, you will not meet a nicer, welcoming, experienced team of instructors. Brilliant, both of them.)
I will be doing a tying demo, Wet Flies for the Farmington, at this year’s NE Spey Clave III. If you plan on going, swing by my little picnic table and say hello. By popular demand, I will have a small selection of wets for sale. If you’ve never been, here are some details from Spey Casting NE:
New England Spey Clave III – May 17, 2014
Mathies Grove on the Farmington River
Sponsored by FRAA
Many manuf. Reps will have rods and lines to test cast
Demonstrations on the Farmington River
Andrew Moy – Topher Brown – Rich Murphy – Mark Sedotti – Fred Wilson
Free lunch by: The Complete Angler, Darien, CT
Raffle for Spey Rods and Lines – Proceeds for FRAA
Last night I concluded a busy winter and spring presentation schedule with “Wet Flies 101” at the CT/RI Coastal Fly Fishers. Nice people and — bonus! — pizza are the friends of any speaker. Thanks for helping me set up, thanks for the spirited Q&A, and thanks to the gentleman (a thousands apologies, I forgot your name) who gave me the articulated streamer. Hope to see you again soon.
A RI coastal scene from a couple summers back, taken a few hours before fly fishing commenced.
Had enough rain yet? I can only imagine what your favorite trout stream looks like. One of those neither man nor beast nights, so I was astonished to see such an impressive turnout at the Thames Valley Chapter of TU meeting. “Wet Flies 101” was the topic. I can’t say enough good things about this group: we had projector difficulties, hardware interface problems — just about anything that could go wrong, did. That is, until several chapter members pitched in and pulled it all together for me. My hat is off to you. Thank you for having me, thank you for helping me, and thank you for being such an attentive and curious audience.
It was also nice to see so many familiar faces. You know who you are.
We could use a little sunshine breaking through the mists.
.
“How many flies did you actually tie?” It was Ben Bilello, salmon fly tyer extraordinaire, who was doing the asking. “Two-and-a-half,” I said. “I only did one,” countered Ben. That’s kind of how these things (Fly Tyers’ Roundtable) go: lots of talking, very little tying. But, as the Al Franken-voiced Stuart Smalley might say, that’s OK.
Many thanks for the CFFA for inviting me to tie. Just as many thanks for everyone who stopped by my table to talk fishing, tying, and especially those who indulged me with tales of fishing glory.
I switched it up last night and tied some striper flies. These are Crazy Menhaden flatwing/soft-hackle hybrids.
April is shaping up to be a busy month at currentseams. Fishing-wise, winter looks like it’s finally decided to vamoose, the stripers are on the move, and before long, we’ll be hearing rumors of sightings of those big mayflies with the three tails.
I have three more appearances scheduled this month:
Wednesday, April 9th, I will be tying at the CFFA Tying Roundtable. 7pm, Veterans Memorial Clubhouse, 100 Sunset Ridge, East Hartford, CT.
Tuesday, April 15th, I will be presenting “Wet Flies 101” to the Thames Valley Chapter of TU. You can get details at thamesvalleytu.org.
Thursday, April 24th, I will again be presenting “Wet Flies 101,” this time to the CT/RI Coastal Fly Fishers. While the presentation is freshwater-centric, many of the rigging and presentations cross over nicely to striper fishing. connri-saltfly.com
Not yet. But soon.
My Word-o-Matic article writing machine has been going full bore. Look for a piece on matching the hatch with wet flies in the next issue of American Angler, one on the Farmington River Survivor Strain in the spring issue of The Drake, and a small stream wet fly article in an upcoming Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide.
Lastly, many thanks to those of you who have asked me to be your guide. With two jobs, two kids playing on a total of four travel sports teams, and a spouse who travels for business, my schedule is under constant attack by the time-space continuum. Thanks for your patience, and I’ll do what I can do to make things work.
I learned two things tonight. One, it’s hard to find pizza by the slice in Naugatuck. And two, the guys of TU Chapter 281 are perfectly willing to share a couple slices of their own.
A fed guest speaker is a happy guest speaker, and thus fortified I presented “Wet Flies 101.” Another receptive, friendly group, armed with lots of good questions. I am truly fortunate to be able to do what I do. Thanks again!
In other news, I have some more videos in the works, and a currentseams exclusive interview with striper legend Ken Abrames. Stay tuned.
currentseams.com 