If you’re friends with me on Facebook, you already know that I’m a food and wine guy. Now, I love a charcoal-grilled cheeseburger as much as the next person (or, since we’re talking about breakfast, a sausage and egg and cheese sandwich). But I try to eat healthy as much as possible. A good example would be this delicious, easy-to-make breakfast. It’s been my pre-fishing breakfast for a long time.
I think the industry term is “Serving Suggestion.” I make the tomato juice a Virgin Mary version with hot pepper sauce, Worcestershire, and (antioxidant-rich) horseradish.
It’s based on the kind of breakfast you’d see served in many Latin American countries: brown rice, red beans, an egg and little bit of reduced-fat cheese. You’ve got your fats, your fiber, your carbs, and your protein. Serve it with a glass of tomato juice, and you can add a veggie to that list. It comes together in about ten minutes, and it will keep you going on the river until snack time. If you don’t want the cholesterol from the egg, remove the yolk. Or make it two egg whites for a low-fat, extra protein punch. Your favorite hot pepper sauce provides some flavorful heat.
You need 1/2 cup Minute brown rice, 1/3 cup small red beans, an egg, 1 tbs. reduced fat cheese. While the rice is cooking, rinse the beans in a sieve. (You can keep the extra beans in a sealed container for a few days.) I steam the beans on top of the rice about five minutes into the process. Fry the egg, plate the egg and rice & beans, and sprinkle with the cheese. (One tablespoon is not a lot of cheese. That’s on purpose.) Enjoy!
The infographic below just about says it all. I’ll be posting more on the ASGA position for ASMFC Amendment 7 soon, but in the meantime here’s a great way to have fun and get informed. You can register for the event here.
I’ve been doing a little housekeeping on currentseams. The biggest visual change is the menu bar. If you’re on a laptop, you’ll see an expanded menu, shown below, that directly links to pages with essential information. If you’re on a phone, you’ll still have a drop-down menu, albeit a newly expanded one. My hope is that this makes everyone’s life easier.
“About” replaces “About Steve Culton — and Currentseams.” “Guide Trips/Lessons” replaces “Book a guide trip.” I’ve added “Book A Presentation” and “Contact.” “About” retains virtually the same content. Ditto “Guide Trips/Lessons,” which has updated rates; I’m hoping to add a one-page/one-side pdf checklist with basic information that clients can download. The “Book A Presentation” content has been reordered and partially re-written; I’m also hoping to add some more presentations before this fall. As always, I stand ready to help and answer questions.
Yesterday afternoon I dumped all the entries into a bucket and had my independent panel of one randomly select three winners: Steve M, Zach G, and Glenn D. Congratulations! The winners have already been notified by email. Now, to the vise…
I’d like to thank everyone who entered, and everyone who reads and follows currentseams. I see we’re only 65 people away from 1,000…so get a friend to subscribe and we’ll be doing this again soon!
Could be some small saltwater baitfish in someone’s future. These flies were part of a suspension rig I used this past fall. As always, droppers are the fastest way to find out what the fish want.
Thursday night was the world premier of director Matthew Vinick’s film, Summer on the Farmington. The venue was Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford. Good choice! They had a large private room reserved for the event, with a dedicated bar, plenty of seating, room to socialize, and a food truck outside for people like me who get cranky if they don’t eat. (I had two delicious chicken tacos for 12 bucks.) The beer was likewise yummy; I thoroughly enjoyed my Dr. Strangehaze NE Style IPA.
We (I was accompanied by my beautiful wife) arrived early so we could socialize. How wonderful to see so many old friends, and to be able to enjoy being out for an evening of entertainment. Thanks again to everyone who took the time to say hello — I often forget names, but I recognize the faces and it’s a pleasure to get reacquainted.
Almost showtime. There was a palpable sense of anticipation in the audience before the film. Those are dry fly legends Drew and Don Butler in the third row, third from right and far right, respectively. Between them, Don and Drew have somewhere in the neighborhood of 300 consecutive months of catching a trout on a dry fly on the Farmington. You could learn a lot from those two, which is why I pick their brains every chance I get.
To the film. There’s a certain challenge to being unbiased when you’re judging a creative product that you were a part of. But, viewing a work of art is an inherently emotional experience, so I suppose I’m allowed to think and feel what I think and feel. And I thought and felt that Matthew’s film met — and exceeded — my expectations.
The film remains true to its title as it follows several Farmington River guides and anglers from the first day of summer through the last as they fish the river with dry flies. The footage is outstanding, from sweeping aerials to mayflies dancing on the surface to subsurface shots of trout feeding (worth the price of admission alone — props to Director of Photography John Kozmaczewski). But it’s not all just dry fly fishing. You get segments on the genesis of the tailwater, the creation of Trout Management Areas, the Survivor Strain Program, and more. Vinick has clearly done this homework, drawing on a rich assortment of knowledgeable sources, from DEEP staff to fly fishing store owners/managers. I heard more than one appreciative comment on the crisp pace and excellence of the editing.
Lo and behold, there I was, leading off the film. Our shooting day was a challenge; I learned later from cast and crew that my day was, by far, the worst in terms of actively feeding fish. In hindsight, I like that. If life isn’t fair, fly fishing certainly isn’t, particularly on this river. You get what you get and you don’t get upset. Matthew tended to use my interview bits as lead-ins to new subjects, and I liked that, too. Any time you see yourself on camera or hear yourself speaking, I think the tendency is to be overly self-critical, but I was very pleased with how the director used me in his story.
While the juiciest bits of the film are the action sequences, Vinick does an exceptional job of showing the fishing experience in its entirety, warts-and-all. You see the refusals. You see the swings and misses. You see the LDRs. Best of all, you get to see the tragicomic reactions when things don’t go according to plan, which tends to happen a lot in fishing. (Overhead, whispered by a nearby audience member during the film: “See, those are professional guides, and they miss fish too!”) Yup. We all put our waders on one leg at a time. And of course, you get to see the triumphs. There are some beautiful fish in the Farmington. Thanks to them for playing.
Farmington River guides in triplicate. That’s Mark Swenson surrounded by Steves (Hogan on the left); all of us appear in the film. Vinick uses the frenemy banter between Swenson and fellow guide Antoine Bissieux throughout the film, whether they’re gearing up, fishing, or hanging out at UpCountry Sportfishing. If you’ve ever spent any time around them, you know they’re not acting. Hilarity ensues!
Many of you will be wondering about future plans for Summer on the Farmington. Here’s what I can tell you. It will probably have another showing , time and place TBD. It may go to DVD or be streamed, but I have no further details. I wish I had better information to share, but when I find out more I’ll let you know.
All good things must come to an end, and so it was with the premier screening of Summer on the Farmington. The film was shown in two segments with a brief intermission, and when it was over we all rose and applauded. This is your humble scribe with director Matthew Vinick. Many thanks to Matthew and his crew, DP John Kozmaczewski, and applause to those who appeared on-screen to tell the story: Steve Hogan, Mark Swenson, Antoine Bissieux, Torrey Collins, Don and Drew Butler, Brian Eltz, Dave Goulet…and to anyone else I missed mentioning. And of course, here’s to the river. We are blessed to have such a wonderful resource. Well done, all!
Hello, all. I haven’t posted in a while, but here I am. Part of it was wanting to leave the contest post up to maximize exposure. I see we’re now a quarter of the way to the magic 1K followers mark — won’t that be exciting? In the meantime, you can still enter the 900 followers contest — but you’ve got to be a follower, and you need to leave a comment on the original post. Thanks to everyone who’s entered — I appreciate your feedback! I may do a Zoom around some of the questions and topics you’re interested in, kind of a currentseams potpourri. Stay tuned.
I’ve also been busy writing a piece for Surfcaster’s Journal where I’ll be the guest columnist for their fly fishing section. It’s about using floating lines and greased line swings and large flatwings to wreak havoc during the spring herring run. SJ is an online ‘zine, so subscribing or buying that issue will be the only way to read it.
And can you believe it? I still haven’t gone fishing this year. Ten lashes unless I find a remedy. In the meantime, I hope you’re getting out, having fun, or preferably both.
Pondering the question of the day, very likely “When the heck am I going to get my sorry butt out on a river again?”
Happy Wednesday, fellow Currentseamsers. It’s almost Valentine’s Day, so let’s share the love as we celebrate currentseams.com reaching the 900 followers mark! Suffice to say I couldn’t have done it without you, so thank you for being part of the Fine Nine Hundred. As usual, we’re doing a flies-tied-by-Steve giveaway. Here are the rules:
1) No purchase necessary.
2) You must be a follower of currentseams to enter. (If you’re not one already, you become a follower by clicking on the Sign Me Up button below the “Follow Blog via Email” header, at the top right if you’re on a laptop, and at the bottom of the scroll on a mobile device.
3) To enter, leave a comment on this thread that responds to at least one of these questions: What would you like me to write about? What questions about fly fishing or tying can I answer? What flies that I tie would you like to see video of? One entry per person. Deadline for entering is 11:59pm February 28, 2022. Three winners will be chosen at random. The winners will be notified in the comments section of this thread or by email, and will be responsible for sending me their address so I can ship the flies out. Sorry, I can only ship to U.S. addresses.
4) All decisions by me are final.
Thanks again for reading and following currentseams.
Greetings, fellow fly addicts. I don’t know how many of you are football fans, but I binge-watched the entire slate of wild card weekend games…and there’s still one more game to go. But, I digress. To the subjects at hand.
For the last two winters, I’ve held Tuesday Night Zooms — little fireside fly fishing chats over the internet. If you’ve participated, you know these were fun, informal presentations. It was a fantastic way for us to safely connect in these challenging pandemic times, and I’m grateful for the number of people who chose to spend an hour with me. I’ve made the decision to suspend those Zooms at least until after the Super Bowl. Part of it is trying to build up excitement for the Edison Fly Fishing Show (you’re coming, right?). Part of it is that I’m socked in editing film and building two new presentations, Modern Wet Fly Strategies and Finding Small Stream Nirvana. And part of it is other writing commitments (teaser: it involves flatwings and herring and striped bass). I may try to do a few later this winter. We’ll see how it goes. Don’t forget the Marlborough Show in April!
It’s a midgey time of year, whether small streams or the big water of Church Pool. Smut No. 1 is your friend, fished wet or dry or as the top dropper on your nymph rig.
I see currentseams has reached the 900 followers mark. Hooray! We will be having our usual celebration of a random drawing fly giveaway. As per policy, I’ll wait a bit to make sure that number doesn’t fall below the bar. Stay tuned for the announcement.
Lastly, dagnabbit, I have yet to fish in the New Year. Damn all this work. Methinks I need to throw responsibility to the four winds and play hooky. Hmmmmm….
(cue drum roll) In the end, this was an easy choice. I’d been trying for over a decade to reach 100 steelhead landed. What with trips few and far between, some truly bad luck/bad timing, and dwindling runs, the last few years had slowed my progress to a glacial pace. A fish here…none there…one…repeat. I was stalled at 97, and when I dropped my first hookup on April’s trip, it seemed like I had another appointment with disappointment. And then, the mojo shifted. Fish were on. And landed. And then I held #100 in my hands. I capped the day with a monster hen and a celebratory cigar. You can read the full, original report here.
Number 100, trusty yarn indicator in the background. I’m truly lucky to be able to pursue my passion for fly fishing, write about it, teach it, and have an audience. Thank you, everyone. And to those steelhead who suddenly came off for no reason even though I had a good, sharp hook set and played you flawlessly…well, never mind. I’m trying to be nice here.
This is where making such lists gets hard. Is #3 really better than #4? And what about #1? Is it clearly the summit? What if you have two really great moments? Such are the things that we detail-oriented writers obsess about. But I’m happy with my choices. I hope you’ll be, too.
#4 The High Water Smallmouth Slob Bonanza. You know, I waited all year for July to come so I could go smallmouth fishing. Heck, I couldn’t even wait that long. So I went in June. That outing produced far more trout than bronze, so I waited for a few weeks. And then the rains came. And came. And seemingly never left. The Hous would spike and fall and then spike higher and kindof fall and then it would rain some more and….yeesh! What a disaster. Finally, I made the command decision to go fish. Yes, the water was disgustingly high. Yes, it was the color of chocolate milk. Yes, it rained again while I was fishing. (No, really. A line of severe thunderstorms came through, and I had to find shelter for an hour. It poured buckets. And…what a shock. The water came up even higher and dirtier. You can’t make this stuff up.) The good news was that I now had a chance to work on my high/off-color water summer smallmouth game. That first night was an eye opener. I caught more, bigger fish than any outing in a couple of years. The rest of the smallmouth summer was an exercise in patience, timing, and mostly frustration, but I had money memories of that July evening already in the bank.
You could measure this slob in pounds, not inches. Best of all, it was taken at the surface. Hot diggity!
#3 You Oughta Be In Pictures. Director Mathew Vinick’s love song to the Farmington River, Summer On The Farmington, will premier January 12, 7pm, at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford. I’m excited to have been a part of this film, and I’m really looking forward viewing the finished product. Hope to see you there!
#2 My First Snook on the Fly. There are two things I’ll get up at 4 o’clock in the morning for, and one of them is fishing. It’s a 90-minute drive from Miami to Flamingo, and you go through some of the most barren country in the U.S. But the Everglades are a beautiful, wondrous place, and you can catch snook there. Well, sometimes. No snook for me on my first trip a few years ago. But this year… yeah baby! What a great fish upon which to break the snook seal. (Kudos again to my guide, Capt. Mark Giacobba.) Now, I gotta go back and get a tarpon…
I can still see the dark bulge of water materializing from within the mangroves, racing on an intercept course to the fly, and feel the sharp pull of the take and turn. Even the smaller ones are fun to catch.
currentseams.com 