Tag Archives: fly tying

“Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies” tying menu from Marlborough 1/17/25

This is the tying menu for my Featured Tier presentation at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show, Friday, January 17, 2025. PDF format. Thanks for watching!

Steve Culton Schedule for the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show, January 17-18-19

Several of you have asked, and here you go! I’ve included a jpeg and a PDF for you to print out. I’m hoping for another strong turnout from Currentseams followers, so please find me and say hello! PLEASE NOTE: I have the wrong time for my Sunday Classes with the Experts. The correct start time is 8:30am.

Edison Fly Fishing Show Classes: Tying & Fishing Wet Flies, Friday January 24; Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies for Stripers, Saturday January 25.

Right now is a great time to sign up for one or both of my “Classes With The Experts” at the Edison Fly Fishing Show the last weekend in January. This is a great opportunity for you to book some time with me for far less than the cost of a guided trip. Both classes are designed to duplicate a teaching session on the water. Here are some details.

Tying & Fishing Wet Flies. Friday, January 24, 2:00-4:30PM. What you’ll learn: When, where and how to fish wet flies; how to tie classic spiders, soft hackles, winged and wingless wets (I will demo these patterns and discuss materials); leader construction and how to build a team of three wet flies; matching the hatch and fly selection; plus more. Oh yeah, we’re going to have fun!

It’s almost time for Little Brown Stones, and the Sandy Moorgame makes an excellent imitation. You can learn to tie and fish classic North Country Spiders like these, and other wet flies, at my Edison class.

Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies For Stripers. Saturday, January 25, 8:30-11:00AM. What You’ll Learn: How to catch the stripers that other anglers can’t; why cast-and-strip presentations are ultimately limiting; how to target and catch bigger bass on a consistent basis; how to tie classic New England-style sparse flies like bucktails, soft-hackles, and flatwings (I will demo such patterns and discuss materials); the presentations that bring your fly to the fish; and more! Same deal — we also want to have fun.

Get on target to catch bigger bass from shore on a consistent basis. I’ll tell you how I do it when you take my class in Edison!

To register, you have to go to the Edison Fly Fishing Show site here. See you there!

Two Wet Fly Tying Demos from Steve Culton at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show

I’m so honored to have the opportunity to twice be the Featured Fly Tier at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show next weekend, Jan 17-18-19. I’ve added new content to one program, and the other program is entirely new. All Featured Fly Tier demos take place on the main show floor.

Up first is “Matching The Hatch With Wet Flies,” Friday, Jan 17 at 2:30pm. I debuted this presentation last November at the International Fly Tying Symposium. Since then, I’ve added some more specific visual reference about the characteristics of the hatches I’ll be covering, which I think takes the program up another level.

Not bad company. There’s a lot of talent on this list!

On Saturday, January 18 at 11:30am, “Farmington River Favorites” will have its premier performance — and you can be there when it happens! This program will cover at least one pattern from each of the four major fly groups: nymph, wet, dry, and streamer. If time permits, I’ll throw in a bonus fly. These are all proven producers for me on the Farmington, and of course they’ll also work on any river in the northeast.

Tying the old favorite Squirrel and Ginger last year. Come see me this year, where I’ll be tying some new patterns that belong in your box.

Marlborough Classes: Tying & Fishing Wet Flies, Saturday January 18; Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies for Stripers, Sunday January 19.

Once again, I’ll be leading two “Classes With The Experts” at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show next weekend. This is a great opportunity for you to book some time with me for far less than the cost of a guided trip. Both classes are designed to duplicate a teaching session on the water. Here are some details.

Tying & Fishing Wet Flies. Saturday, January 18, 2:00-4:30PM. What you’ll learn: When, where and how to fish wet flies; how to tie classic spiders, soft hackles, winged and wingless wets (I will demo these patterns and discuss materials); leader construction and how to build a team of three wet flies; matching the hatch and fly selection; plus more. Did I mention having fun?

Wet flies have been fooling trout for centuries, and the fish aren’t getting any smarter. This lovely wild Farmington River brown savaged an Isonychia soft hackle on a steamy August late afternoon.

Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies For Stripers. Sunday, January 18, 8:30-11:00AM. What You’ll Learn: How to catch the stripers that other anglers can’t; why cast-and-strip presentations are ultimately limiting; how to target and catch bigger bass on a consistent basis; how to tie classic New England-style sparse flies like bucktails, soft-hackles, and flatwings (I will demo such patterns and discuss materials); the presentations that bring your fly to the fish; and more!

Being able to repeatedly catch big bass like this on the fly from shore is no accident. Take this class, and I’ll reveal my secrets of how I do it.

To register for these classes, you must go to the Fly Fishing Show website. See you there!

New Year’s Notes

First things first: Don’t forget to get your 2025 CT fishing license!

I hope you had a festive and happy new year holiday. I did. Today is a catchup day for me; I’m getting a lot of odds and ends done because on Monday, we’re back to the grindstone.

First up is show prep: getting things ready for the Marlborough and Edison Fly Fishing Shows, both coming up fast. Then, it’s book writing. And more book writing. All, of course, a labor of love.

In the next few weeks, I’ll be sending out more information about my show schedules. I’m hoping to see a lot of you there!

It won’t be long until we start seeing Tiny Black Stones.

Currentseams Best of 2024 #4-#2

#4: The Edison Fly Fishing Show. I love being a part of all of the Fly Fishing Shows, but there was something about this year’s Edison show that particularly struck my fancy. I think it’s because I reconnected with so many old friends, strengthened some newer friendships, and had some really good first-time meetings. I gave away and traded a bunch of flies. My classes drew well, and I had some impressive crowds for my talks. Oh. I also bought stuff — some I wanted, some I needed, all of it putting a smile on my face. If you came to see me speak or if you took one of my classes, thank you again. And did I mention the wine party and my take-out run to Shanghai Dumpling? See you next month!

If we were kids in school, the teacher might have to separate us…

#3: The Best Striper of the Year an Hour Into my First Trip. After I caught and released her, I considered staying to fish some more. But I knew that it wasn’t going to get any better than this wonderful 25-pound fish. The experience made such an impact that I ended up writing a story about it, “At the Intersection of Lucky and Good” for Surfcaster’s Journal. You can read it in issue #86.

I almost didn’t go that night in March. I’ve written before that while I believe that fish aren’t intelligent, the eyes of a striped bass like this one communicate a different story to me. I hope she’s still swimming.

#2: Bill’s First Steelhead. I have three sons, and they’ve all caught steelhead. Except for Bill. Number One Son went with me once about ten years ago, but the neither the weather nor the steelheading gods smiled upon us. Time went on, year after year, until it came to pass that Bill and I found ourselves standing on the banks of North Sandy Creek in the pre-dawn hours of the Monday before Thanksgiving. As I have done with my other sons, I placed Bill in the skilled hands of guide extraordinaire Row Jimmy. For over an hour, nothing. And then it happened.

Happiness is hooking and landing your first steelhead. Well done, Bill!

Currentseams Best of 2024: #7-#5

#7: Steelheading in PA. You can get spoiled pretty quickly on the Erie tribs. Not the case this year. A parching autumn drought kept the creeks at a trickle, and what did come up from the lake was skittish and in constant state of high alert. I fished Elk Creek in November with guide extraordinaire Bob Packey and solo. The water was comically low, and I saw more raptors in the trees than anglers on the water. I felt like King of the Creek with nine on the first day. Then, the heavens opened up and it poured. Too much of a good thing, for the next day the creek was the color of tea and milk and loaded with leaves. That was my first blank on Erie tribs ever. I returned in December with my middle son, and seeing as you just read about that a few days ago, I won’t make you do it again. Unless you want to, and in that case you can find it here. The point is: even when the fishing is at its worst, Erie tribs are frequently better than anywhere else.

As with small streams, it would be safe to say that I am addicted to steelheading — although the steelheading affliction is probably far worse.

#6: Featured Fly Tier at the International Fly Tying Symposium. This was my third year doing IFTS, but my first as Featured Fly Tier. I went on after Bob Clouser (what a tremendously nice guy!) and I think I crushed it. The subject was “Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies,” and you can see me do it again at the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show next month on Friday, Jan 17 at 2:30pm.

In addition to being featured tier, I really enjoyed seeing so many old friends, and making new ones. Plus all the tying swag that’s available, some of which I bought. Plus the chance to watch and learn from the industry’s best. You can do the same at the Fly Fishing Shows this January — see you there!

#5: Speaking at the Shows and to Fly Fishing Clubs. It was a busy speaking season for me. I did my usual full boat of talks at the shows, but I also spoke to eight different groups this year, both in-person and via zoom. Speaking/teaching/presenting is a true love of mine, and I hope that if you’re in the audience, you see that in my delivery. If you’re in charge of booking speakers for your group, you know where to find me!

What a treat to make a return to the FRAA in January. I hadn’t been in a while, and I must say that holding the meetings at Brewery Legitimus is a most excellent idea.

Currentseams Best of 2024: #10-#8

It’s been a different kind of year around Currentseams headquarters, what with us moving into a new house in April, and then diving into the process of writing the Farmington River guide book. It was a difficult year for weather, and flows. Sometimes I felt like the energy was “Fishing? What’s that?” But, you persevere, and when you get out you tend to relish it even more. Here’s my annual list, presented in installment form, of my top 10 most memorable moments of 2024.

#10: Small Streams. Not actually a moment, but rather a series of outings across the seasons. Veteran readers of currentseams are quite familiar with my passion for thin blue lines. Fishing them was a bit of a challenge this year, mostly due to the horrific drought of late summer into fall. I haven’t been since October, but I’m generally confident that nature found a way. Please, if you like to fish small streams, respect, preserve and protect the resource. Sometimes nature needs little help, too. If you’re going to be at the Edison Fly Fishing Show next month, I’ll be giving a seminar on Small Streams on Friday the 24th at 10am.

Leaves and low water made for some challenging conditions this fall. I should be standing in water instead of stream bed. Always be sure that in low flows, the water is at non-stress temperatures.

#9: Smallmouth Season. It wasn’t the best year for smallies, but nor was it dreadful — and we have had some dreadful years in recent memory. The White Fly hatch was a good one, and while I didn’t consistently get into the bigger slobs, I had enough foot-plus fish to keep me happy. Then there was the solitude factor — priceless. One day, I invited fly tyer extraordinaire Lou DiGena up to fish. We started off in an area that has been completely unproductive for me the last two years. I was fishing one of Lou’s crayfish patterns under an indicator when I connected with my best smallmouth of the year.

A hunka hunka burning hot bronze.

#8: Photo sessions for the Farmington River book. I spent several days as both subject and shooter and I must say that I enjoyed both roles immensely. Many thanks to Steve Hogan, Derrick Kirkpatrick, Joey Takeman, Antoine Bissieux, Yannick Riviere, and Lou Digena for letting me shadow and shoot them. Special thanks to Matthew Vinick and Bob Lindquist for taking the time to shoot me. Thanks to the DEEP for letting me tag along for their September sampling. You’ll see it all in the book, and the best part is that I get to do it again this winter and spring.

A little selfie action on an August afternoon.

Steve Culton Schedule for the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show, Jan 17-18-19

It’s just a month away! The 2025 Marlborough Fly Fishing Show will be held Friday, January 17 though Sunday, January 19. I’ll be there all three days, along with some of the best and brightest in the fly fishing world. This is a great opportunity to up your skills, meet some exceptional anglers, and have a plain old great time. From demos to talks to classes, I’ve got a busy schedule:

Friday, January 17, 11am, Destination Theater Room A: The Farmington River: Southern New England’s Blue Ribbon Trout Stream. In addition to the river, I’ll also be talking about my upcoming book on the Farmington River.

What a fantastic resource, right here in our back yard. Oh! There’s this new guide book coming out, too…

Friday, January 17, 2:30pm, Featured Tier: Matching the Hatch with Wet Flies. Come see me on the main show floor as I talk about matching specific wet flies to popular hatches — then show you how I tie the fly. These patterns are all consistent producers that should be in your box.

If you aren’t familiar with the singularly awesome power of this wet fly, you should come get acquainted.

Friday, January 17, 4:30pm, Seminar (Release Room): Wet Flies: Fishing Under the Hatch. A new look at fishing wet flies and soft hackles. If you’ve ever wanted to be that person who is catching all the fish, come to this seminar. There are times when wet flies will dramatically out-fish any other style, and the angler who understands the hatches — and how to match them — will be handsomely rewarded.

Saturday, January 18, 10am, Destination Theater Room A: The Farmington River: Southern New England’s Blue Ribbon Trout Stream. In case you can’t make it Friday, a repeat performance. In addition to the river, I’ll also be talking about my upcoming book on the Farmington River.

Saturday, January 18, 11:30am, Featured Tier: Farmington River Favorites. Come see me on the main show floor as I talk about and tie some of my favorite Farmington River guide flies. My secret weapons revealed!

This lovely wild brown ate one of the flies I’m going to demo. You should have it in your box.

Saturday, January 18, 2pm – 4:30m, Class: Tying and Fishing Wet Flies with Steve Culton:  This is the next best thing to a lesson on the water! You too can become a dangerous wet fly machine. While not a tying class, I will demo tying classic North Country spiders, winged, and wingless wet flies that trout can’t resist, and show you how to rig and fish them. The course also covers basics like leader construction, matching the hatch, fly selection, where to fish wet flies, and how to fish them. All levels. Click HERE for more info and to register.

Sunday, January 19, 8:30am – 11am, Class: Beyond Cast & Strip: Presentation Flies for Striped Bass. Have you ever wanted to catch bigger stripers on a consistent basis — or the stripers that no one else seems able to catch? This class is for you! It covers traditional New England-style bucktails, soft-hackles, and flatwings, and how to fish them. These are sparse flies that look alive even when at rest and creat the illusion of life. While not a tying class, I will demo some patterns. All Levels. Click HERE for more info and to register.

Being able to repeatedly catch big bass on the fly from shore is no accident. Come to this class and I’ll show you how I do it.

Sunday, January 19, 3pm, Destination Theater Room A: Wet Flies 101. If you’re not fishing wet flies, you’re missing out. This is an intro to the ancient and traditional art of subsurface fly fishing with wets and soft hackles.

As usual, I’m counting on the currentseams crew to make a strong turnout. See you there, and please come say hello.