Many thanks to the Farmington River Anglers Association for hosting me Wednesday night. I presented to an enthusiastic crowd of two dozen anglers at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford. I very much enjoyed the pre-talk pizza, and it’s pure genius to hold meetings at a craft brewery. The subject was tying and fishing wet flies and soft hackles, highly appropriate since the Farmington is a fantastic wet fly resource. We followed up with a lengthy Q&A session that was loaded with some outstanding questions. Here’s one that I think will resonate. Q: How and when to you add weight to your wet fly rig? A: (click here for my article, “Adding weight to a wet fly team.”
This Wednesday night, 1/17/24, I will be speaking at the FRAA meeting at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford, 7pm. The talk will be “Tying & Fishing Wet Flies.” This is a good one, folks, and if you’re not already tying and fishing wet flies, you’re really missing out. If you are, I bet you’ll learn some stuff you didn’t know before. The meeting is open to the public, and of course, what a treat that it’s at a craft brewery!
The timing on this is serendipitous as I’m feeling much better (as of Sunday noon I was no longer contagious). The FRAA’s scheduled speaker had to cancel, they asked me to fill in, and here we go. I haven’t spoken to the FRAA in very long time, so I’m looking forward to presenting. This is my only (as of now) scheduled local speaking event this winter, so I hope to see you there!
Come find out why this fly is a must-have in your Farmington River box. I know, I still you owe you a Marlborough report. And the Edison show is coming up in less than two weeks! I’ll get all of this information out to you ASAP.
I’m hoping you’ll join me at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford for the premier of Director Matthew Vinick’s film, “Summer on the Farmington.” Doors open at 6pm, film rolls at 7pm (that’s this Thursday, February 24). You can’t get tickets at the door — it’s advance sales only online through the FRAA. I’m looking forward to sitting back, relaxing, and viewing while enjoying a tasty craft brew. If you’re there, please say hello.
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.
Director Matthew Vinick just released the third teaser for his upcoming film, “Summer on the Farmington.” You may recognize that almost-handsome face, and I’m pleased to note that no cameras were broken during the filming of my segments. Here it is:
You can also find the other teasers featuring Mark Swenson and Antoine Bissieux. The world premier is Wednesday, January 12, 2022, 7pm, at Brewery Legitimus in New Hartford. Tickets are $25 and are available online through the FRAA. Hope to see you there!
currentseams.com 