Tag Archives: Torrey Collins

“Early Season Tactics: Hunting Transition Trout” in the current issue of The Fisherman

Like the title says, you can find my latest piece in the March 2021 issue of The Fisherman magazine. Early Season Tactics: Hunting Transition Trout is about the rough patch of fishing we face in the next month or so. It’s loaded with useful strategies and tactics to help you catch more fish, and includes a guest appearance from UpCountry Sportfishing‘s Torrey Collins. You can read the article here.

Quality content like this usually isn’t free; The Fisherman is kind enough to allow public access to the article. Why not support them with a subscription? You can do that here. Many thanks to my editor, Toby Lapinski, for giving me the opportunity to write about fly fishing subjects that matter.

You can read about how I caught this gorgeous creature in the article. Photo by Toby Lapinski.

Torrey Collins’ Magical Mystical Secret Dubbing Sauce

Ooh. Aah. Ohh. It’s spikey. It’s buggy. It’s sparkly. It’s Torrey Collins’ (manager of UpCountry Sportfishing in New Hartford) proprietary hare’s mask dubbing blend. I was able to score a wee bag of the goods from Torrey — that sounds so scandalous — and I’m looking forward to making some deliciously horrible bugs with it.

What’s in it? I’ll let Torrey tell you: “I shave a hare’s mask mask, then add in gray squirrel (SLF Squirrel Spikey Dubbing) to darken it and make it spikier; Antron Sparkle Dubbing to make it easier to dub; and assorted color pinches of UV Ice Dub & Prism Dub for some subtle flash and UV. Lethal combination.”

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Farmington River Report 8/23/18: Not a bad evening’s work

I spent yesterday late afternoon/evening shooting Torrey Collins for that Farmington River piece for Eastern Fly Fishing. Mostly work for me (I can think of worse jobs I’ve had) but I did wet a line here and there. The river was up a bit (they bumped the flow from the dam 40cfs to make it 440cfs in the permanent TMA) and the fish were open for business. We hit three spots and found players in all of them. Good hatch window in the first run, and the fish were all over Torrey’s nymphs. I took a break from shooting and swung a couple wets, and given the hatch and surface feeding activity volume, I was surprised to only stick two trout. Caddis and Isonychia were the stars. The last two spots were in heavy water, and we fished until dark, having most of the river to ourselves. Thanks again, Torrey.

Like me, Torrey isn’t bashful about wading into some of the river’s snottier sections to catch trout. Here, his daring is rewarded with a hookup.

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Holy pink band, Batman! This photo is all natural, no light or color enhancements. What a gorgeous creature.

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Housy article complete, Farmington feature next

The Housatonic River piece is off at the editorial suites of Eastern Fly Fishing; it’s due out in the Feb/March 2019 issue. Next project is a feature for the same mag on the Farmington River. Haven’t taken fingers to keyboard yet, but I’ll be out this week shooting photos on the river with UpCountry Sportfishing’s Torrey Collins (hopefully his gf Mandy will be joining us). As always, if you see me on the river, come say hello.

Fish-friendly photos. That’s what I’m talkin’ about.

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