Category Archives: General Ramblings

DEEP Farmington River Sampling scheduled for September 9, 10, 11

This comes from Neal Hagstrom of the DEEP:

Just a heads up for everyone. The DEEP will be sampling the River Sept 9-11th. We will be working from Barkhamsted downstream.

On the 9th Hogback Road, around the Campground, and possibly the drive-in Pool.

On the 10th Halford’s Run, and the Greenwoods – the big brood stock collections at the Wood Shop that pm.

On the 11th Ovation and above Satan’s Kingdom. We hope to get flows restored mid-day on the 11th. 

This assumes that mother nature cooperates and no rain limits our work. Angler’s cooperation on clearing the river during these activities is greatly appreciated because your safety is a primary concern and people in the water affect the efficiency of our operation. 

As always, all broodstock will be returned to the river in early December after they complete their recovery from spawning.

If there are questions I can be reached at the Marlborough Fisheries Office 860-424-4179

Neal

~

In case you are unaware, the MDC draws down the flow from the Hogback dam in early September so DEEP and volunteer crews can take their fish census and gather brood stock browns for their Survivor Strain program. As Neal mentioned, it is best to stay clear of the crews while they are working. That doesn’t mean you can’t go fishing elsewhere on the river. However, given the recent stretch of unusually hot weather and a forecast that calls for more of the same, I would suggest that it might be prudent to give the trout a break.

If you’ve never been on a sampling, it’s a fascinating experience. Anyone can volunteer by contacting the DEEP.

Tip of the week: visit the river while the water is way down. Note where the truly deeper holes are. Bank that information for future withdrawals.

A brood stock brown that was captured and bred in fall, 2012, (red elastomer left eye) then returned to the river in December of that year. I caught her in April of 2013. I wonder how many of her kids I’ve crossed paths with?

Big Survivor Strain brown hen

Currentseams Three Hundred Followers Contest Winners

First Place: Ray Hamilton

Second Place: Rick Perrault

Third Place: Max Kantor

Congratulations! One of the possible prizes is the six striper soft-hackles I tied for my upcoming American Angler article. Ray gets first dibs on them. If he doesn’t want them, Rick gets next dibs, etc. If no one wants them, I will fish them myself. So there. Winners, please email me (swculton at yahoo) and let me know what you’d like. Your other options are a selection of trout streamers, trout wets, or steelhead flies. I also need your mailing addresses. Please don’t post those here.

I would like to thank everyone who entered. Your comments were both insightful and helpful. Best of all, they were just plain nice. It was truly gratifying to hear from so many people, and I feel like I got to know each one of you a little better.

A middle-of-the-night fishing trip toast to the winners. Wait — a toast to everyone. Thank you for your readership and support.

Block Island All-Nighter Wee Drop

Calling all readers: help me with some future Q&A videos

As we transition into fall, I will be trying to get off my video butt. One of the items I want to get back to is the “Currentseams Q&A” series. Here’s where you come in.

I need some input on questions and subjects you’d like answered. Fishing, tying, equipment — whatever’s on your mind. If you could take a few moments to respond in the comments section, I’d appreciate it. (Good fishing karma will be bestowed upon those who offer suggestions.) To be clear, I’m looking for input on questions to be answered — those could involve fly tying (“How do you double or fold a marabou hackle?”) or anything else related to our sport.

Thanks in advance.

Q: Is that a sculpin or a crayfish or a trout fry? A: Nope. 

Farmington River brown buck

Three — count ’em, three — hundred followers. Contest time!

Currentseams finally reached the big three-oh-oh. And I have you, loyal reader, to thank. We’ll be doing our usual flies-tied-by-Steve giveaway, only this time it will be three times better — because this time we’re going to have three winners!

One of the prizes will be one of each of the six striper soft-hackles I tied for my article in the next issue of American Angler. The other two will be a selection of trout or striper or steelhead flies. As they say in my kids’ school: “You get what you get and you don’t get upset.”

Striper Soft-Hackles

Here are the rules:

1) No purchase necessary.

2) You must be a follower of currentseams to enter.

3) To enter, leave a comment on this thread saying you wish to enter AND tell me a little about what you like about the site, or would like to see more of (this is my grassroots market research method). One entry per person. Deadline for entering is 11:59pm September 3, 2015. 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.

4) All decisions by me are final.

Thanks again for reading and following currentseams.

Fishin’, writin’, ‘n’ stuff

Busy is the word here at currentseams, although I have been able to get out a little bit. Due to my schedule it’s all been night action.

I fished the Farmington twice this week with mixed results. The first night was painfully slow; two or three bumps in two hours, all small fish. Last night was far more active with over a dozen bumps. One standard-issue brown to net, and one big mysterious hit that failed to hold. I did do something stupid last night: I walked down a side stem I hadn’t fished in two years to discover it was basically unfishable, then decided to walk back up a different stem that was fast, deep, and should have been the one I fished. What a workout! It wasn’t a total waste of time as I did find some very fishy hide holes that I will investigate on a future outing.

On the writing front, I just submitted a steelhead piece to Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, and I’m putting the finishing touches on a soft-hackled flies for stripers article for American Angler. There are a few other things in the pipeline at some other pubs; I’ll let you know if they are accepted.

Finally, currentseams has reached 300 followers. Hooray! That means a fly giveaway. Details on that coming soon.

As always, thank you for your loyal readership. Writers aren’t much without readers, so I truly appreciate it.

Come say hello to currentseams. I know it’s my site, but really, most of it doesn’t suck. While you’re here, sign up to follow. You’ll get fishing reports, how-to articles, essays, fly tying, photos, videos, random stuff like this, and the occasional chance to win some flies tied by yours truly. 

Hello

Why I like foam-backed mouse patterns

Because if the gator brown photos come out lousy, you still have a record of a good night.

Evidence from a recent outing. This fly is called the Master Splinter (not my design). You can find the pattern recipe if you do an online search.

Chewed Mouse

A few odds and ends on a rainy Monday

Happy June. Although today feels more like early April. But we desperately needed this rain. Nature finds a way.

I have the cover story in the current issue of American Angler. The article is called The Little Things, and it’s about seemingly small adjustments, strategies, and practices that can have a significant impact on your fishing. When I get my copy, I’ll post some pictures and devote a post to it.

Come say hi. “Are you Steve Culton?” This has been happening more and more when I’m fishing, and I’m glad for it. People often follow it with something about not wanting to bother me, which is very polite, but unnecessary. You’re not bothering me. If we’re sharing the same water, please say hello. It’s always a treat to put faces to names.

Help me help you. I get a lot of requests like this: “Can you give me the recipe for (fly pattern name)?” I am always happy to help, but many of the flies I mention in my posts are already archived on this site. You can find them by using the currentseams search function on the right side of the page. It looks like this:

Screen Shot 2015-06-01 at 4.28.58 PM Just type what you’re looking for in the box, then hit enter or return. If it’s on currentseams, you’ll get a list of links.

Use email or phone to contact me. Many people try to contact me through the comments section of various posts. I respond, then often never hear from them again. If you’re interested in purchasing flies or booking a guide trip, please call me or send an email. You can find that information here.

Speaking of guiding, my schedule should start to open up some in June. June and July are great times to fish the Farmington. As always, I highly recommend weekdays over weekends for a more pleasant, less crowded angling experience.

Closing in on 300 followers. That means another fly giveaway. Of course, we need to hit the magic mark first. In the meantime, this is a good time to thank you for following, thank you for reading, thank you for your positive energy, and thank you for all your kind words. I truly appreciate them.

My best catch ever

You’ll find this pillow on the couch in the TV room. I cannot vouch for the great fisherman part. But I can tell you with absolute certainty that I married very, very well. I really did. We’re celebrating our fourteenth anniversary today.

Anniversary

A Sulphur Emergence in March

Would that it were so. But for now, I’ll have to be content with two dozen of the Magic Fly (Pale Watery wingless wet) sizes 16 through 20, waiting in the wings. June still seems like a long way off. But you can never have too many sulphur emergers — especially the Magic Fly. If you’re new to this pattern, you can find the recipe and a tying video on this site. You’ll be glad you did.

I’ll drink to a warm June evening when the sulphurs are coming off in numbers and the trout are getting stupid.

Magic Flies

I also see we’re getting near the 300 followers mark. Of course, once we reach it we’ll do another fly giveaway.

Coming soon: another trout streamer. Think out-of-the-box.

Speak up about Kensington Hatchery funding

I was forwarded this a few minutes ago. These are the words of Bruce J. Rich, President, CT Fly Fisherman’s Association:

“The deadline for submitting testimony regarding the Public Hearing on DEEP’s budget is Monday March 2, 2015.  Note that “testimony” does not mean you wish to speak.  Testimony can be in written form only and sent via email to (SC’s words: please cut and paste this email address: apptestimony@cga.ct.gov).  
In the Subject Line write: Testimony to Appropriations Comm. for the March 2, 2015 Public Hearing on Hatchery Funding
Note that the committee prefers to receive email testimony as an attachment to the email, preferably in pdf form (although MS Word form should suffice). 
 
Attached is my updated testimony in pdf form which you may use all, or part of, in your message.  Just be sure to replace my name & address with your own.  Note that your message can be very short, but it’s important at this time to get as many people as possible writing to support keeping Kensington Hatchery operational. 
Don’t squawk later, get busy now.”
Here is Bruce’s letter in pdf form: Testimony submitted to March 2
“My great, great grandaddy came from the Kensington Hatchery.”
Streamer Brown 1:15