Relativity and the Universe

Things are simple after the Big Bang someone came along and invented fly fishing or for those creationist out there, god on the six day when he should have been resting went fishing instead.
Ponder that for a moment!

It was the night before opening day....

And all through the house not a creature was stirring not even Doug at his vise. Jeff in his bed wearing his cap and me in my waders waiting for dawn. Rich pacing and waiting rod in hand, Ron and Chris shuffling fly boxes with dreams of brookie's in their heads. Now on brownie, on rainbow, go brookie, go steelhead, go cutthroat . Down to the stream get on the line, tie on your fly after all it's almost opening day!
Good luck and tight lines,
Art

Long awaited

Final check on all the gear, two days till opening day!

Views From the Other Side

I'm waiting, yea it's me your old pal. Remember last summer when I surprised you and broke off your fly! That was fun almost had me, yea, I'm the one everyone talks about, I get bigger ever time one of you guys has a brief encounter. Sometimes you say I was that old brown, next time I am a rainbow, growing larger in my legend, keep guessing. You'll never get me, I'm the one that got away! Keep trying anyway, it's been fun!
See ya soon, name the river, I'll swim there! You'll never catch me!

Feeling Good, Reel Good!

Nothing beats endless hours spent waiting for a hatch any hatch. Come on fish lets go! Here fishy, fishy!

What Now Brown Cow (trout)

Early evening on the West Branch

Tales From the Canoe

Ever take your wife fishing? We'll you better damn make sure that she catches a fish, any fish! That if it rains, that it's the briefest of summer showers and no bugs except the kind the fish eats. Other prerequisite's are breakfast, lunch and dinner out, a stop at every antique, curiosity shop, art gallery, pottery place going and coming. Other tips are don't waste your time trying to fish you'll be busy untangling lines, changing flies, unhooking and releasing fish and paddling so your queen always has the best spot at catching. Did I mention the facilities, yes restroom breaks need special planning. But as they say" if the queen is happy, so is the kingdom".

Take Me to Your Leader

And tie me on!

That critical choice which fly to put on, what size tippet, length of leader, weight or no weight? Throw in a lack confidence or complete confidence in me your fly and chaos may erupt. Start at the beginning, pick a rod and line weight you can comfortably throw with some accuracy. work on your cast and not just one type of cast. Then learn to read the water; look for seams in the flow, bubble edges, boulders, under cut banks. Pay attention to fish behavior; feeding when on what. Showy rises or slow bulges all give a hint to whether a nymph, emerger, wet fly, soft hackle or one of a half dozen forms of dry flies to tie on. The river is an active site and the decoding is fairly straight forward once you start paying attention. The next step is to resist the urge to just start casting spend the time watching and then start close and work outward. A couple of careful cast not a couple of tremendous slap the water chucks. Nothing rising maybe not an active day, maybe just move on to the next pool and start again. Slow day, tomorrow maybe better or try another technique or change the speed of the fly. Or maybe you need to come back during those magic hours (dawn or dusk) for success. If all else fails then tie on a bubble gum usual!

Riparian Zone

What a weekend, members doing a clean up of the stream-side, the fish ladder and parking lots prior to opening day. Some willow was planted upstream of G, hopefully they will take. We've only had two survivors so far from the last two years and not much happening with the previous attempts with Red Maple's. At some point the planting needs to be re-thought and revised. Repair of existing wing dams has been in a bureaucratic maze and that seems to have stalled as well.
What's really doing do well is the public outreach; Trout in the classroom, fly tying at the Patchogue Library, Decoy show, Free Fishing day @ Belmont Lake and fly casting clinic. Some more can be done such as: merit badge counseling with BSA, possibly a river keeper type mission. Any other ideas? One week to opening day, get ready!

To Nymph or not to Nymph That is the Question

Critical Actions and other Stress Related Sayings

Yearning for the simple life, tech free is a worthwhile goal. Think of how easy it could be without the ever present cell phone with folks hunched over busily tapping away some coded message about some really unimportant stuff. Or not have 500 channels on the tube to pick from! So I'm asking you out there give me a list of the tech thing you can go without for a day? Or a week? Don't be shy just list them in the comments box below.

Dreaming Man

The Fish, the Whole Fish and Nothing but the Fish

So help me.......

Gearing up opening day coming soon to a stream near you!

Living the Life as You See It

Admittedly laying in intensive care last fall, this was the last thing on my mind! But the reason we live is for moments like this, once your gone who cares. Fish on!

Dazed and Confused

Ever wonder why the letter system on fly line was changed to a number system and why the grains never seem to match up to the rods exactly? You do get the sense that the folks who make the lines are only vaguely acquainted with those who make the rods. Yea man! It cast like a 5 wt., but a 4wt. will do it some real justice! Confused try buying a sinking line. I would like the bleeping fly to get down to the bottom or just off the bottom of (pick your favorite trout pond anywhere) lake. The fish seem to hold at 18 feet so what do I buy? Bring a comfortable chair as the sales guy/gal launch into techno babble about density, sink rates and ...... you get my drift. Dazed and confused, screw it , I'll fish the hatch!

It Was a Day Unlike Any Other Day

Until I sat down to tie a few bwo's! Layed out all the tools, materials and put a 20 into the vise and suddenly turned into all thumbs. No matter what I did the dubbing was too thick, the wings a mess, and the hackle forget about it. So after about four of the crapiest flies every tied by man, I did what any sane man would do.... Throw them away and lay down for a nap. So after a rest and a meal it once again set everything up and out came a few beautiful bwo's good enough to eat.
Morale of the story, never let a feather beat you.

Sneaking Around

Checkin' out the latest stuff and must have items, gosh I have them. Maybe a few more won't hurt but my wife's already warned me no new fly rods. What's a guy to do?

A Few Laughs

Last Cast

Sadly reported to me the passing of Dennis Quinn, angler and gentleman.

“May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face

And the rain fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand”

And Yes it's Almost St. Patricks Day

Killarney Lakes, Co. Kerry, Ireland 

Two rod limit!

How much to fish? 90 eruo's will get you a spot on the weir in Galway for salmon, trout 35 euro's a day. Considering the hotel and airfare it better be really good fishing!

Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Scenes From the End

As we meet for the last time (until next fall) and tie up a couple of last second must have flies, one must ask oneself "what am I going to do on Saturday mornings?" Go fishing of course, next weekend is the river cleanup and the following is the stocking of those sacrificial browns and rainbows! And then the event we have waited six long grueling and cold months for....OPENING DAY !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pushing the Limit

Long winter of TV  watching; fishing shows and YouTube. I have to ask the question is it really necessary to scream every time they hook up? Come on act like you've done this before!

Serendipity part 3

Wandering around my vast collection of photos of me catching fish I realized that boy did I have fun!

Rambling Man

Our president talking at last nights meeting, the guest speaker Angelo Peluso gave a rather entertaining talk on Long Island Sound and fly fishing !

Philosophy Redux?

Silly to think about such stuff, fishing should be simple. Enjoy sometime on the water take in the sights and maybe catch a few fish. But everything gets complicated, water quality, native fish v. stocked fish, protecting a stream in a park from development and multiple use of a resource.

Stated in their mission statement TU says to preserve and promote cold water fisheries, simple statement but interpreted many different ways by many different and diverse people. Try not to read too much into this, try to enjoy the experience. Without the fishery, would there be an experience? Can it be shared?

River Clean Up

Next Saturday March 22 at the campground be sure to bring gloves, your waders and some energy.

Clean waters make for good fishing!

Last Call for Fly Tying

Jeff tying on a fat one, wings in the right place, now dubbing, add the hackle dub to the eye and wrap that hackle! Last session, next Saturday March 15th @ the library coffee later!

Daylights Saving Time

My first question who gets that hour we saved and what are they doing with it. The next is what a great idea, just as I was getting use to driving to work in the dawn light someone has the bright idea that I really need to drive in the dark again.

Maybe a sign that there is light at the end of the tunnel and another trout season is just around the corner. One more fly tying session left, and I just bought another box to fill. What I don't tie now, I'll do later on or next fall. There are a few things that you can never have enough of, fly rods, canoe paddles and flies.

Hey Charlie Looks Like their Back!

"Yea Fred, it's almost that time of year again! But opening day isn't till the first. I know but he's a fisherman and you know how they are. I mean really stand in this cold water just to wave a stick around and not eat this delicious grass!" " let's get real close and see what he does! I need a good laugh! " Nah, let's eat those maples in the wire again they were yummy!"

Twilight's Last Gleaming

Sunset at West Branch Angler Resort

Just in Case.....

You forgot what summer looked like! Some of last summer's fun, fishing for blue gills at Laurel Lake. Notice the trees are green, the reeds are green and the water is not frozen!

Getting Antsy

Cabin fever, too much family togetherness, filed your taxes, spring cleaning done, tired of watching (take your pick of Dotown Abbey, Breaking Bad, Walking Dead dancing with whatever) TV.

We all need a good days worth of fly fishing, it's been sometime and for some of us a season we didn't think we would make at all. The smell of the woods, the cold water around us, pulling on the waders again, stringing up our favorite rod, tying on one of those flies we worked on last winter, adjusting the indicator and laying out that first cast. Perfect loops, laying gently on the water, the fly slowly drifting into the zone and........

Darn alarm clock I'm late for work, get showered ,dressed, gulp some coffee and head down the road in the cold predawn winter. Work, again, ugh!!!!

A Conversation Overheard

One brookie says to the other " I don't mind those guys waving those sticks around, but really pink flies with stingers! Who do they think we are some dumb rainbows?

Winging it and Loving Every Second

Quiet Reflection

Even the most seasoned of us get a little antsy with a forecast of endless winter. After all we have all been told how dangerous global warming is and climate change this and that. But really, single digit temps! Another 6-8" of white stuff I'm glad I have that snow blower, but I would be just as happy if it just quietly rusted away in the garage.

I guess I can always tie up some more of that special fly, watch some YouTube videos of some one else catching trout somewhere. Or just take another long afternoon nap! Maybe make up a big batch of pea soup and watch some more YouTube videos again and again and again.

I think I now understand the the true meaning of cabin fever. Opening day? Bring your snow shoes and a nice pick to open up a hole to drop your fly in. Climate change?

Ah, the Promise and Fulfillment

Soon this could be you! Are you ready?

One Month and Counting

Opening day looms! Are you ready?