My apologies for not having a more fun or substantive post for today, but I am being relentlessly harassed by the Time-Space Continuum. I’m sure you understand. So for today, a reminder that I will be doing a book signing on Saturday, August 22 at UpCountry Sportfishing in New Hartford from 11am-2pm. You’ll be able to bring a book you’ve already bought for signing, or UpCountry will have books available for purchase. Also, one week later, Saturday, August 29, I’ll be at The Compleat Angler in Darien, CT from 11am-2pm. Hope to see you there, and I hope you’re enjoying the river, the summer, and the book.
Hot on the heels of the release of my new book, the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River, I will be doing two book signings at Connecticut fly shops. On Saturday, August 22, I’ll be at UpCountry Sportfishing in New Hartford from 11am-2pm. You’ll be able to bring a book you’ve already bought for signing, or UpCountry will have books available for purchase. One week later, Saturday, August 29, I’ll be at The Compleat Angler in Darien, CT from 11am-2pm. Ditto bringing your book or buying one there. Support your local fly shop (and of course your local author). Hope to see you there!
There have been discussions with other area fly shops for book signing events — no firm dates yet — but naturally you can read all about them here as they are posted. I’ll also be making the rounds at many northeastern TU and other fly fishing clubs. If you’re looking for a speaker, here I am!
The book is getting rave reviews, and I couldn’t be happier. I’m so grateful for your support. Get your copy signed by yours truly this month at UpCountry Sportfishing and The Compleat Angler.
If you ordered the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River through an outside vendor, it should start shipping tomorrow. Yeeeee-hawww!!!! I’ve changed my tune a wee bit on selling copies directly to you; if you would prefer to get a signed, inscribed copy from me, you still can. You’ll find out how if you click here.
I’m pleased to announce that once again, Tony Lolli has featured me in his At the Vise column in On The Water magazine. The format has shifted a bit; instead of a “guide flies” focus, it’s more of a profile, and it also features the book.
You know that guy! On The Water is a terrific magazine with excellent photography and printed on a paper stock that feels good in your hands. Well worth seeking out. There’s an digital version, too. Many thanks to Tony for letting me play again.
Finally, the International Fly Tying Symposium has moved from Somerset, NJ, to Lancaster, PA. Lancaster is a ~most excellent~ space — it’s where they hold the Fly Fishing Show. This year’s IFTS is November 21-22. More details to come!
First, thank you to everyone who requested a personalized, signed copy. I received over 50 requests, which was fantastic!
But less than half of you have mailed a check or made an e-transfer. The situation is that I’m not going to the P.O. every day. I’m waiting to get at least 12 orders processed before I make a trip, and I’d like to be done with this ASAP. I don’t want to be doing this in September. The first dozen books went out last Friday. The next dozen are going out tomorrow. Then, it’s wait for 12 more orders to be finalized. So please don’t delay. Besides, you really, really need this book now. Dontcha?
In case you missed it, here’s what you need to do: 1) Pay me. Between the my cost of the book, packaging materials, and postage, it’s a nice, even $50. You can do one of three things: mail a check to me at Steve Culton, P.O. Box 657, Durham, CT 06422; pay me via Venmo (@Steven-Culton) which I prefer, or second choice PayPal (Steven Culton). Easy-squeezy.
2) Send me your address. Email your shipping address to swculton@yahoo.com. Please do not post your address on this website. Please remember I cannot ship outside the U.S. Ditto easy-squeezy.
3) Wait. Hopefully, just a little. I’m not going to schlepp down to the P.O. every day; rather, I’ll try to send them out in batches of 10 or 15 or whatever, as orders trickle in. I’ll send you an email back when your book is shipped.
If you’ve already squared up, this could be your book…
Finally, the day you’ve been waiting for! I got a visit from the UPS guy, who dropped off three cartons of shiny new books for me to sign and send off to you.
If you’re one of the 50 or so people who signed up for a personalized, signed copy, here’s what you need to do:
1) Pay me. Between the my cost of the book, packaging materials, and postage, it’s a nice, even $50. You can do one of three things: mail a check to me at Steve Culton, P.O. Box 657, Durham, CT 06422; pay me via PayPal (Steven Culton); or pay me via Venmo (@Steven-Culton). Easy-squeezy.
2) Send me your address. Email your shipping address to swculton@yahoo.com. Please do not post your address on this website. Please remember I cannot ship outside the U.S. Ditto easy-squeezy.
3) Wait. Hopefully, just a little. I’m not going to schlepp down to the P.O. every day; rather, I’ll try to send them out in batches of 10 or 15 or whatever, as orders trickle in. I’ll send you an email back when your book is shipped.
I thank you for your excitement, your enthusiasm, and your patience. I can’t wait for you to read this book!
Let’s get the bad mojo out of the way: the Block Island stripers-from-the-shore fishery has officially cratered. Five nights, not a touch. (What?!?!?!) More details on the misery to come.
On the exciting news side, my author’s copies of the Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River have arrived. These are not the ones I have earmarked for sale to you (those people who have said they want a signed copy, and if you haven’t, it’s still not too late to reserve one). The book looks and feels great, and I’m beyond pleased with how it came out.
For those who have reserved a signed copy: my order with the publisher has been placed. My guess is that the books will arrive sometime in the next two weeks, hopefully on the shorter side of that. The mailers have been ordered. I just need to calculate the cost to you, and set up payment, which will be check, Venmo, or PayPal. I’m hoping to have that information to you this week. I thank you for your patience. Really. Hang tight, and you’ll be reading before you know it.
In late winter I sat down with Carl Ochnio to talk about my upcoming book, Fly Fishing Guide to the Farmington River. (There’s still time to put your name in for a personalized signed copy.) This is part of a the “Hooking Up” interview series Carl has been doing for the CFFA. With his kind permission, I’m able to share a pdf of the entire interview. You can find it in the link below the photo.
Please note that publish date is now August 4. Sorry for any confusion!
I fished the lower end of PTMA yesterday from noon to 3:30pm. Once got to the river, I ran into a group of wonderfully chill gentlemanly anglers, and we had a short gab-fest before I decided to head into the river for some pre-hatch prospecting. Bob, of Bob-and-Andy fame, was also there. I’d met Bob-and-Andy at this mark many years ago, and since then, it’s really not April unless we cross paths on the river.
The wind made it an unfavorable day for casting a team of three wets, but I managed to go almost the entire session without a fouled-up leader. After an hour that produced one lonely bump, I declared to the group that one or more of three things was true: there are not a lot of fish here; the hatch is going to be underwhelming; the trout are content to feed on the bottom. It turns out that options A and C were likely in play. When the hatch finally got going, around 2:15pm, there were bugs everywhere: in the air, on the surface — and precious few trout rising to them. I’d give this hatch volume an 8 out of 10; when you can count the rises per minute on a few fingers (instead of dozens) that’s not going to make for epic fishing. Normally, with this Hendrickson hatch volume, I’d bang up a good dozen fish or more fishing wets pre-hatch and during the emergence. Not today.
Hello, old friend. This would be a male Hendrickson; three tails, darker cast, large eyes.
What did follow script was the place in the water column where the fish were feeding. Pre- and during emergence, they took the wet, until the point where they didn’t, and then it was dry flies on the surface. This is a good time to talk about shadow hatches, which I do in the Farmington River book. In addition to Hendricksons, there were also caddis and BWOs in the mix. The savvy wet fly angler will want to have at least one of those other food groups represented. What do you know? Of the three trout I took on wet flies, two came on the caddis middle dropper (Hare’s Lug and Plover).
I managed two more on the surface, bringing my total to five. At the risk of sounding ungrateful, I was not impressed. Of course, I could have gone elsewhere. But with three anglers below me and five above me, real estate was scarce. So I stayed.
Today, writing about it, I have to scold myself for being so dour. It was a sunny, April day. The Hendricksons were out. There were some rising fish who wanted to eat. I got to reconnect with old friends and make some new ones. I didn’t put two dozen in the hoop or land a 20″ wild brown. But, yeah. That’s still a really good day of fishing.
Happy Tuesday. I’m sure we’re all chuffed that it’s April, with winter (despite subfreezing temps tonight) in the rearview mirror. The glorious promise of a new season is spread before us like an all-you-can-eat buffet. Since I haven’t written anything instructional in a while, here are some considerations for April fly fishing in the northeast, submitted for your approval.
A handsome April rainbow, taken on a mini-jig streamer. Run silent, run deep.Photo by Toby Lapinski
Be prepared to go deep. The water is still plenty cold, and will be even on the warmest, sunniest April day. It may also be high. Which means that unless the trout have a reason to be active surface feeders, dries will be challenging. Your highest percentage plays are going to be dead-drifted nymphs and jig or traditional streamers, dead drifted, swung, or stripped.
The fish aren’t spread out. Generally speaking, the fish aren’t everywhere; rather, they will pod up. So where you catch one, you’ll likely catch another. An exception would be large, alpha wild browns. Look for them in the prime lies at the heads of pools, dump-ins, and even some whitewater.
Pick and choose your dry fly days. Just because it’s warm and sunny doesn’t mean the fish will be feeding on the surface. Rather, look for specific hatches and hatch windows. Hendricksons, caddis, and BWOs will all be hatching and, in the case of the mayflies, spinning and falling. If you must prospect with a dry, a nymph or wet fly dropper is almost never a bad idea this time of year. Of course, if there is hatch and feeding activity, rock on.
Don’t poo-poo junk flies. High water, off-color water, stupid stockers — these are all compelling reasons to fish Squirmy Works, Mops, and other ghastly creations.
Be (ware/aware) of shadow hatches. I write about this in greater detail in the book. Just because the Hendrickson are hatching doesn’t mean that the trout are eating Hendricksons. Know everything that is likely to be a food source and you’ll catch more fish.
Be courteous to other anglers. It can get crowded out there. Try to share the water when possible. Ask if you can fish near someone. Good fishing karma comes to those who are polite. And in a matter of weeks, the crowds will begin to thin out.
May comes next. Another topic that’s covered in the book. You think it’s going to be high 70s and sunny, and all too often it’s 50s and cloudy and windy. May is caddis month. So get those boxes filled on your April off days.
Is this a great time of year to be a fly fisher, or what?
A little random potpourri day on currentseams. I had written a post similar to this one, which was supposed to go live on Tuesday, but somehow WordPress ate my draft (don’t you just love when technology fails?). So here we are.
I received about two dozen requests for personalized copies of the book through me, and that’s enough for me to proceed. My next steps are to figure out how much all this will cost me (mailers, postage — probably media mail) so I can then pass the cost along to you. (How’s that for transparent business practice?) I’m hoping to have that information out by the end of the month, and if you want a signed copy from me, you still have plenty of time to let me know. I won’t ask for money until I get all those ducks in a row, and hopefully I can get books out to you before the official release day of August 4.
Fishing time has been scarce for me this spring, especially on the striper front. I didn’t go once from January through March. Normally, I’d go at least once a month in January and February. But every time I had a time and tide window, it was either sub-freezing cold front misery or a disgustingly high water. I’m really looking forward to being able to swing some flatwings in April. If the elements allow!
March can be a productive big-bass-on-the-fly-from-shore window. Not this year. At least, not for me.
On our local trout waters, it’s a tricky time of year. You basically have two options: targeting stocked trout or targeting wild and holdover trout. I must confess that playing the stocker game is fun for a while; however, I have a limited interest for that. Wild or stocked, the trout will tend to remain stacked up this time of year, even though it’s beginning to warm up and we’re seeing more bug activity. They’ll begin to spread out sometime in April. Bug-wise, think little dark stone flies and midges and caddis, which are plentiful food supplies. Of course, the Hendricksons will be the first big glamour hatch of the year, starting on the lower Farmington in about two weeks. But after last year‘s disappointing showing, that hatch remains a big question mark. We shall see.
Mrs. H, missing the middle fork of her tail.
I did get out to a small stream last week after the rains, but the water was high and cold. There were no bugs and the air temp in the 30s didn’t help. I went out this week in much warmer temperatures and a little bit lower water, and what a difference a week made. But I’ll give you more on that in a post next week.
As a newly minted member of the Regal Vise Pro-Staff, I’m working on a wet fly piece for their website (which is currently under reconstruction). I have no idea when it will post but I’ll let you know. Also look for a future blog post for me on the J. Stockard website, where I’m also a Pro Tyer.
Finally, many thanks to the Yale Fishing Club for hosting me on Tuesday night. It’s always a good time, and I’m a sucker for New Haven style pizza — well done, group! They’re going to fish the Salmon River in New York in a couple weeks, so we tied up some Blood Dot eggs which will serve them well.
currentseams.com 