Category Archives: General Ramblings

Best of 2018 #9: Speaking, meeting, and greeting

For me, the next best thing to actual fly fishing is talking about it. That might sound scandalous coming from a writer, but I do love my speaking engagements. I did more gigs in 2018 than any other year, logging thousands of miles in the process. Print and the web are great for reaching a global audience, but there’s something far more satisfying about being able to hear people laugh at your jokes or see the ah-hah! light go off. I have several new presentations in the works for 2019: Wet Flies 2.0 (a deeper dive into the ancient and mystical art of wet fly fishing), Targeting Big Stripers From The Shore (’nuff said), and Lost Secrets of Legendary Anglers. Oh! How could I forget? Another, as yet untitled, about tying and fishing flatwings. Fishing club social committees, you know where to find me.

A reminder that I kick off the 2019 speaking season at the Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, MA, January 18, 19 & 20, 2019.

Revealing the black arts of wet fly fishing to the next generation of anglers.

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Fly Fishing Film Tour Wednesday 11/14 at Stony Creek Brewery

Good food. Good films. Good beer. And it benefits veterans. That’s good enough for me.

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Tell the NOAA no fishing in the Block Island Transit Zone

This is important, folks. The NOAA is considering a rule that would allow recreational striped bass fishing in the Block Island Transit Zone, a part of the EEZ. The BITZ is an important refuge for striped bass, especially breeding age females which sometimes spend the entire summer there. If approved, charter boats will come and wantonly kill the future of this glorious species. Please visit the link below, hit “comment now!” and provide your opinion.

Click here to comment.

She needs your help!

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Billy Mitchell podcast: Steve Culton talks fly fishing

For your listening pleasure, a 50-minute podcast featuring yours truly. I haven’t heard it yet, but I am boldly going forward and posting the link. Here’s what Mr. Mitchell had to say about it: “We talk (the sometimes technical) trout fishing on the Farmington, catching stripers on the fly year-round, and using THE FORCE to find fish.”

You can listen to it here.

He speaks!

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Many questions (rhetorical and otherwise)

I once read that a good way to learn things was to ask a lot of damn fool questions. I tend to do that in my fishing, whether I’m wondering to myself, trying something new, or picking the brain of someone who knows a lot more than me. Here are some recent points I’ve been pondering:

Is “pushing water” the most trite, overused, overhyped concept in streamer construction today?

How do all those stripers find my 1″ long sparse grass shrimp flies at night with no moon in water with visibility of under 2 feet?

Why don’t more striper anglers think in terms of matching the bait, and presenting the fly like the naturals are behaving?

When it comes to choosing lines and leaders, is there a more important question than: “What do you want the fly to do?”

If intermediate lines are the most versatile, why do the vast majority of striper anglers use only one presentation with them?

Is there a striped bass swimming today that cares if your fly turns over?

Last but not least: why the hell didn’t I get out and fish in the wake of last weekend’s storms?

If you want to consistently catch bigger bass on the fly from shore, fish how, where, and when most other people don’t.

Block Island All-Nighter first keeper

This is how we do it

No fishing today, but lots of writing. Polishing an article and starting to build some new presentations. I’m so fortunate to have this job, and it’s all because of readers and anglers like you. Here’s the scene from currentseams headquarters:

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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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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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Thus endeth tonight’s planned Housy expedition

Water flowing at 150cfs in the summer and doubling overnight = usually good. Water flowing at 700+cfs and doubling overnight = not so much. I guess I’ll finish that smallmouth piece and then tie some flies…

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Needs must have Farmington River flies

The results of a wee tying binge for myself and customers: summer nymphs and dries for ye olde Farmington River. All eagerly awaiting a hungry mouth(s).

Rainbow Warriors, Frenchie variants, soft-hackled PTs, wingless March Browns, Usuals, Catskill Light Cahills, Magic Flies. Be prepared to downsize your dries to 20s this time of year. (Although I had success last week casting big (8-12) stuff to smutting trout in frog water.)

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