Tag Archives: best fly fishing website

Currentseams Best of 2023 #1: Landing Steelhead Number 200

When I was a kid, I counted every fish. That continued for a few decades, along with a resurgence when I started fly fishing. Numbers was how I measured success.

As I’ve gotten older and more experienced, I find the energy has drifted away from “how many? and moved toward other questions. Were the people nice? Were there any people at all? Did I enjoy myself? Did I fish well? I think on a subconscious level, I still track numbers. Everyone likes catching a lot of fish, right? In the case of a dwindling supply of stripers, numbers tell a story outside of personal pride. But if it’s just about numbers, sooner or later you’ll be disappointed. If there is a state of Nirvana to be reached in fly fishing, surely it cannot be connected to volume.

Steelhead are different.

They can be maddeningly difficult to hook and land. One day they’re eating, the next day they’re not. You can do everything right during a battle and lose the fish (and that may be your only hookup of the day). The conditions under which you fish for them can be downright unpleasant, if not brutal. And, more often than not, you’re jockeying for position and territory, first finding it, then maintaining it, something that I do not enjoy.

It took me 40 hours of fishing time to land my first steelhead. Then it took me about 13 years to land the next 99. Astonishingly — at least to me — it took me just 2 and 1/2 years to get to 200.

Part of it was good fortune — being able to find and fish water that held a lot of willing steelhead. Part of it was a renewed commitment to steelheading, due to some very good runs in recent years. Part of it was branching out to new waters. A lot of it was newfound skill and acumen and careful observation and study, thanks to guide friends Bob Packey and Row Jimmy, who present a master course in steelhead fishing every time I head out with them. Gentlemen, I have learned so much from you!

And so, dear reader, you’ll forgive me for counting each and every steelhead. In fact, I hope you’ll celebrate along with me. 200 in the hoop!

“He gave her three kisses and great was the smack.” — nearly the lyrics from an old folk song. Number 200, the second fish of the morning, gets the now traditional buss. It felt good to get it done early. How could I know there would be 19 more to come that day? What an embarrassment of riches!

~

On that grey, damp day, the steelhead ranged from dime-bright freshies from the lake…
…to the darkest horse I believe I’ve ever seen, courtesy of Cam. What a fantastic job he did. For someone who doesn’t fly fish all that much, he turned in an impressive performance. Yup, we’re as happy as we look. The number sits today at 219. And April is coming.

Many thanks to you, my readers, for subscribing, reading, asking questions, and, most of all, for your support, kind words, and enthusiasm. I wish you a happy and prosperous new year, and the tightest of lines in 2024.

Currentseams Now Has Over 1,000 Subscribers!

Currentseams now has over 1,000 official subscribers — and it’s all your fault. Really, I can’t thank all of you enough for your interest, your readership, your passion, your enthusiasm, your comments, and especially for your kind, giving nature. I like very much what this site has become, and that’s in a large part due to your participation. Yeah, I wish I had more tying videos. Yeah, I wish I had more essays and articles. Yeah, I need to update some stuff (like my wet fly team diagram). But that’s something to aspire to.

Of course, we’ll have a drawing to celebrate. But not right now. Summer is upon us, and we’ve all got cookouts to attend, vacations to go on, and fish to catch. My plan is for something later in summer. Of course, as a subscriber you’ll see it first here. In the meantime, if you’re not a subscriber — ten lashed with a cane rod — now’s a great time to sign up. Be sure to follow me on Instagram @stevecultonflyfishing, too. Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!

It’s as easy as that. (Sorry, this isn’t a live link. The real one is off to the side or the top or the bottom, depending on your device.) Who’s going to be 1,012?

Currentseams Best of 2022: #10 – #8

Gather round, currentseamsers, as we kick off our traditional best-of-year-in-review! These are what I consider to be my most notable moments of 2022. Some of them are about fishing trips; others, my writing; maybe it’s an appearance I made or some kind of recognition. Whatever the reason, it’s a chance for me to take stock of the year and celebrate the good times. And we could all use some extra good times, yes? I’ve linked the original reports if you want to read more. So let’s make our first cast…

#10: The Summer Blizzard in August. This was a monumentally disappointing year for smallmouth bass. The numbers and size just weren’t there, and the drop has been so precipitous, I remain alarmed. But there were a few bright moments, and I can tell you this: the white fly population is in tremendous shape. White flies are a remarkable hatch, as it really doesn’t get going until you can no longer see your fly. But fishing under the hatch at dusk can mean the bass-o-matic, and once night falls, seeing your fly becomes irrelevant. Be advised: white flies will find every opening on your face, so keep your mouth closed. White flies taste really, really bad. Read more.

#9: The World Premier of the Film “Summer on the Farmington.” After many months of shooting and editing — these things take time (and we had a Covid spike that forced a postponement) — what a midwinter treat to gather at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford to view director Matthew Vinick’s homage to the West Branch. I was delighted with my bits, and as a whole I thought Matthew did an excellent job covering the subject in an informative and entertaining way. Read more.

#8. Currentseams Makes “40 Best Fly Tying Blogs and Websites” List. Sometimes I wonder if all the work is worth it. Are people actually reading — and, most of all, enjoying — what I’m doing here? Certainly it’s a labor of love (I don’t get paid for any of this), and while I do occasionally get positive feedback from you, it’s nice to be recognized by an outside source. I’ll try to get even more quality fly tying stuff out for you in 2023. Read more.

Currentseams menu and minor content changes

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.

Writing about stripers, the contest, still no fishing, and other amusing Saturday diversions

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?”

It’s a Fine Nine Hundred Followers Celebration!

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.

As Steve Winwood sang, “Gimme some lovin’…”

New date for “Summer on the Farmington” Film: Thursday, Feb 24

I’m hoping you’ll join me for the new world premier (ok, so no searchlights, tuxes, gowns, or red carpet, but still it’s technically accurate) of Director Matthew Vinick’s film, “Summer on the Farmington.” Same place (Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford), same time (7pm), new date (Thursday, February 24)! You can only get tickets in advance online through the FRAA. Hopefully this current spike will be over and we can look forward to enjoying a tasty craft brew.

The Currentseams Best of 2021: #1

(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.

The Currentseams Best of 2021: #10-#8

Every year, I go through the same angst-ridden process. What will I write about for my top ten year-end wrap-up? Did I even do anything that’s worthy? Maybe it’s due to residual holiday stress. Maybe it’s simply mind clutter. Or maybe I’m just a dork. Because it always turns out that once I make a list, I have so many things to write about that it seems impossible to whittle it down to ten.

2021 was another challenging year. The pandemic robbed us of so many precious in-person moments, from shows to club meetings. Rivers and oceans continued to see an unprecedented number of anglers, and I can’t say that that has improved the angling experience. Climate change continued to wreak havoc on our weather patterns; it seems we were either flooded or baked or parched. Even tailwaters like the Farmington were not immune to the ravages of the new normal.

But, enough of what’s not so good! Let’s have some fun. Ready? Here we go…

#10 Tuesday Night Zooms/Tying Zooms. Pandemic be damned — we can still safely connect via Zoom. These sessions often drew well over 50 people. It’s always cool to be able to see faces and hear voices, even if it’s over the internet. I’m grateful for the gifts some of you sent to show your appreciation — thank you for your generosity. And thank you again to everyone who attended my virtual fly tying classes.

The product of a virtual wet fly tying classes. I also had the opportunity this year to perform one of my favorite tying demos of all time. It was a private virtual gig for a gentlemen in an assisted living home that specialized in early memory-loss issues. He was a former angler and fly tier, and I promised that I would fish with the flies I ted and send him pictures of those fish. I kept that promise, and his caretakers said he was thrilled to see those shots. Wow!

#9 Big Winter Browns. You may not always connect, but when you do, there’s a chance that what you hook on that streamer is going to be good. I still don’t Euro nymph, but I did spend some time tying and learning to fish long-leader jigged mini-streamers. It’s an effective tactic for close-in work. Here’s the proof.

A substantial spawned-out hen. I still relish the sight of those stunning haloed spots on her flank and her golden belly. Photo by Toby Lapinski.

#8 Writing and Finding New Audiences. For years, magazines have been in a sad decline. It’s shame, because when it comes to reading pleasure, there’s nothing more enjoyable for me than the printed word on a paper page. But, this is the modern way. Some print pubs continue to hang on, if not do rather nicely. Others have shifted to electronic formats. Whatever the medium, I’m grateful for the opportunity to write and be read. You could have found me this year in The Fisherman, On The Water, Field & Stream Online, Surfcaster’s Journal, and American Fly Fishing. And, of course, right here at currentseams.com.

You can read my story “Sensei Elmer & The 50-Fish Nights” in this issue of Surfcaster’s Journal, but you’ll need to subscribe or buy the issue. Please support publications that you enjoy reading.

Many thanks to Nutmeg Chapter TU for last night’s zoom

A hearty thank you to Nutmeg Chapter TU for the virtual hosting last night. I presented one of my more popular talks, “The Little Things.” The Little Things is all about seemingly insignificant factors that can have a huge impact on your fishing. Pay attention to the little things in your fishing, and tight lines will follow. I know everyone’s busy getting ready for the holiday so I’ll keep this short. Annual Christmas photo card coming soon!

One of those little things: target river banks, especially in high water. Doing so yielded my biggest smallmouth bass of 2021. What a pig!