Thanks Zoomers and some yummy striper morsels

Many thanks to everyone who attended last night’s Zoom (Pro Tips and Q&A). We’ve been averaging around 50 people (which does not suck) and I’m grateful for the enthusiasm you’ve shown — love all the questions! Stay tuned for details on the next Currentseams Zoom.

Absent any striper fishing (what strange times we live in!) I’ve been striper tying. Tasty snacks abound: clam worms, mullet, silversides, sand eels, isopods and grass shrimp. Dig in!

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Tip of the Week: Fish are not smart. Stop treating them like they are.

Fish are not smart. They don’t get educated. They don’t think. They can’t reason or feel emotion. You are intellectually superior to a rainbow trout (brains shown to scale). True, this: once you stop treating fish like an intelligent adversary, you’ll start catching more of them.

The McMillan quote is one of my favorites.

Brains

 

Tuesday Night Zoom! “Pro Tips and Q&A” May 12, 8pm

It’s another Currentseams Tuesday Night Zoom. My “Pro Tips” part will be brief (and, I hope, highly informative) but the real focus will be you: I’ll be answering your questions on all things fly fishing. So get those topics ready. Note that if you’re already on the Zoom list, you don’t need to re-up. See you Tuesday!

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Thanks to another good Zoom crowd. Next week: potpourri?

A hale and hearty thank you to everyone who attended last night’s Zoom on matching the hatch with wet flies. Next week I’m thinking about doing a little fly fishing randomness…a little bit of this…a little bit of that. Most of all, since Zoom held us to 40 minutes sharp, I want to do less talking and do more live Q&A about anything fly fishing. So get those questions ready! You’ve got a week…

No meat shortage here. Like kielbasa, perhaps next week’s Zoom will have a little bit of everything.

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Tuesday Night Zoom! “Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies” May 5, 8pm

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Thanks to everyone for all the excellent Zoom topic suggestions. This one showed up (in various iterations) multiple times — and so by popular demand, you shall have it.

Zoom Thanks, Zoom for your Fly Fishing Club, Zoom Fly Tying Lessons…

So much Zoom. So little time. In the wake of two highly popular Zoom talks, I’m getting a lot of inquiries about how this translates to other fly fishing arenas. Here are some answers.

First, if you’re looking for a remote speaker for your fly fishing club, that’s a can-do. This of course would be a private presentation, limited to your club members — pretty much the same thing I do when I present in person, only online in the Zoom format. (These talks are far more detailed than what I’ve been doing online.) You can find my current presentation menu here. For rates and more information, please email swculton@yahoo.com or call 860-918-0228.

Next, I just started doing online fly tying lessons. Same deal: we connect through Zoom for a private one-on-one session. The rate is $65/hour. Please call or email to set one up.

Finally, thanks so much for the great turnout last night. I appreciate your interest and your enthusiasm. I’ll let you know about my next Zoom presentation when I figure it out. Stay safe and stay healthy!

Now we can do something like this from the safety and comfort of our homes.

SShoreFlycasters 2

It’s another Tuesday Night Zoom! “Trout Fishing For Striped Bass,” 4/28, 8pm

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That about says it all. Hopefully we’ll be relatively glitch-free this time. If not, we’ll figure it out…

Bead Head Soft-Hackled Dark Hendrickson

Or BHSHDH for short.  The Bead Head Soft-Hackled Dark Hendrickson is simply a weighted riff on the classic Dark Hendrickson Winged Wet. Take the basic color scheme. Add a tungsten bead to give it some serious weight. Tie it on point, and the next time the the creek is up you’ll get your rig down fast with a few strategic mends. (Recipe by request, because at currentseams.com, we aim to please.)

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Hook: 2x strong wet fly 12-14
Bead: Black tungsten, to size
Thread: Grey
Tail:  Lemon wood duck or dark blue dun hackle fibers
Body: Muskrat fur
Hackle: Dark blue dun hen

Tying Notes: I hate to lose the lemon wood duck of the winged wet, so I usually tie this fly with that wonderfully variegated buggy feather in the tail. Having said that, the fly pictured uses hen. Muskrat is the traditional body fur; you could substitute any grey fur or dubbing blend. The feather I happened to choose for this fly has a mysterious dark center; it’s just a random occurrence. Sometimes I’ll use a black Sharpie to color the eye of the hook — it’s a quick visual code that tells me I used a tungsten bead.

 

Booming and Zooming! Thanks, and up next…

Booming and Zooming. That’s what the test pilots called it when they broke the sound barrier while flying in a parabolic arc. We did our own version of B&Z last night: 50 attendees at the inaugural Currentseams Zoom — Wet Flies & Soft Hackles in case you missed it — and only one big boom! (thanks for your patience) that we sorted out. So: thanks to everyone who took the time to participate. I had fun. I hope you did, too. I know some of you arrived late and I didn’t see you in the entry queue. Mea culpa. And apologies. I appreciate your patience as I sort through this technology.

We’ll do another one of these, hopefully next week, date TBD. I like the 8pm EST start. I’m  hearing a lot of interest in a striper talk, so that’s probably where we’re headed. Figure the same format, a presentation then Q&A.

If you have not yet gotten on the official Currentseams Zoom email list — please send me an email — not a comment here — to swculton @ yahoo so I have a valid email url. I’ll get you on it lickety-split. Thanks again, and please stay safe and well.

Did somebody say stripers on Zoom?

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Tuesday Night Zoom 4/21/20: Wet Flies & Soft Hackles

You’re invited to my inaugural Currentseams Zoom, tonight, Tuesday 4/21 at 8pm. The topic will be Wet Flies & Soft Hackles. I’ll talk for a bit (I’m assuming I’ll have more than 3 players, so I’ll be limited to 40 minutes) and then we’ll do a Q&A. I’ll thank you in advance for your patience as this will be my first time doing this. There will certainly be bugs, but I’m hopeful that we’ll work through them.

So: you’ll want a link and a meeting ID. I’ll send that out via email…in fact, some of you may already have received it. IMPORTANT: If you responded to my Zoom post last week, you’re already on the email list, except Lee, David Larson, and Dan Tobin. If you’re one of those three guys, please send an email to swculton@yahoo.com so I can get a good email address; if you’re not, and you want to join my Zoom email list, please do likewise.

Thanks for your enthusiasm, and I’ll see you at 8pm.

That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

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