I'm Back!

Old Art's been busy doing the stuff. A quick trip out to the sonoran desert to clear the head and refocusing on what's important. Nothing like a few giant cacti to get your attention. Now to reread Edward Abbeys "Desert Solitaire. "A man on foot, on horseback or on a bicycle will see more, feel more, enjoy more in one mile than the motorized tourists can in a hundred miles.” Good Stuff! Flying back to Denver, I could not help but look out the window at the Rockies below and think of all those cutthroat trout below. Where's my rod when I need it!
Happy Holidays !

End of the Rainbow

With the final day of the season rapidly approaching will this be the end of the brown trout. A proposal to stock only rainbow trout was presented late last spring. This was due to the high rate of return. For christmas sakes, they're fish not bearer bonds.

Octobers presidents line:

In a blink of an eye, the season is ended and a new one starts. The fishing was good, bad and indifferent this year. Not enough rain, low rivers, not enough bugs, too much heat, and bright days the excuses are limitless. Some had a great season, some had a mediocre season, if you did not get out then you had no season. I had a great season, just being there to do it! The outdoors has been a big part of my life. From my earliest memories, walking in the woods, hiking up a mountain, canoeing and kayaking, fishing and being with friends around the campfire all great experiences and memories.

Wading in the Carmens, the other morning reminded me of what a gift it is to be alive. A deer crossed the stream a few feet way, only glancing up to see what I was up to. Ducks, geese and swans float past not even a bother as I scanned the waters. Trees are turning color and the water willow leaves have all turned brown and shriveled up. The willows we planted upstream still alive and someday will shade that little riffle that we planted them by. Therefore, as fall advances into winter a reminder that the best is yet to come.

However, it will only be there if we fulfill our mission as a chapter. Protecting our waters, habitat and preserving our river is our number one priority. The day-to-day threats: climate change, pollution, development, runoff, habitat destruction and more are still there. As a chapter, we have a proud tradition of public outreach and education, we cannot let our guard down and forget why we are here.

October starts our fly tying seasons at the library. Come on down, no experience needed. A perfect setting to learn a new skill, or spend some time refilling your fly boxes for next season. The camaraderie is outstanding as veteran tiers share their secrets and war stories.

Due to the holiday, the meeting this month is on October 19 at 7:30pm at the Blue Point Town Rec. Center. As usual, an entertaining meeting is planned, with refreshments and a raffle. We look forward to seeing everyone then. For those who cannot attend a meeting, you can join us on Facebook. All you have to do is type in “Art Flick TU” and ask to join the group. It is a great form to post your fishing pictures, tell your stories and catch up on chapter news. Since it is a closed group, there is no worry about who will see your stuff, just Rich, Doug, Chris and a couple of other members. Check our website for the schedule of events and news and read our blog “Art Flick's Fly Box”

Not Feeling Like the End

Two weeks till the first meeting of the fall, the weather has been hot all summer, little rain and every river anywhere is low. My trip to the WB of the Ausable was unproductive, my catches on our local stream are limited to one fish and lucky to get that one. I think when it does rain it will be biblical, and wash everything out.

Our featured speaker will be Chris Visco on his trip to Alaska. Most of us probably dreamed of making such a trip, remembering all those Curt Gowdy shows on fly fishing for Arctic Char. Should be a great presentation. See you there!

Silence of the Rods

Wow, couldn't catch a cold if I tried! After a sabbatical I returned to find a giant bass took my spot. The SOB was well feed on every trout that was hooked, quickly breaking lines as it dashed away with it's ill gotten meal. Finally short of forming a posse, a gallant fisherman removed the bass(tard) from the stream. Put back in his place for now with a belly full of brook, brown and rainbow trout.

Summer of Boredom

So after a protracted spring and winter I stand at the edge of summer wondering what to do? Plan a trip, buy a new car, stay put and take some time off and get stuff done around the house and yard? Fish the Carmens again! Catching nine inch rainbow and six inch brook trout gets old quick, so what to do. we had a meeting a couple of weeks (maybe it was days) and the topic was those damn brown trout and how rainbow trout were a great return on investment and how glorious it is to catch those endangered six inch brookies. So I went out with renewed spirit and caught a few, didn't feel anything like those damn brown trout at all. So I asked the last brown I caught for her opinion on brook trout she said " mmm fried in a little butter delicious".

Starting to question catch and release are we helping or hurting? Thinning the stock and de-stressing the limited resources may actually help grow larger fish. With around ninety fish per acre, thats about 100 per mile if you believe the data is anywhere correct and I don't think they are even close. Thats a pitiful number of fish compared to other places around the country that I fished. 1500 per mile up in south west Wisconsin between Black Earth creek and Mt. Vernon creek two of the best I ever fished in. So why are the totals so low? No one knows and it seems that no one is interested in figuring out the why's and how's. 

My take is this, too little cover, river depth is too low to support, flow is being strangled by the dams, no vegetation, too much algae, too much silt, my list can go on. When I was a kid the DEC stocking list had Brook, Brown and Rainbows in much larger quantities. Less stress from septic systems fewer houses, runoff without chemicals from lawns, no fish ladder bring predators from the sea.    When I first fished this river 25 or 30 years ago, I always caught nice size fish now 12 incher is a bragger. 

Time for a trip up to my other home waters in the Adirondacks and catch some fish hopefully the same silliness about return on investment does come up again. Maybe a couple of brook trout in the frying pan will do me some good.

Proving that Point

Just to let everyone know that I do practice what I preach, last Sunday I fished my favorite spot . Arrived late, no one around. Caught seven fish (three rainbows, three brook and one brown) and lost four more. Total time fished starting with pulling on my waders and ending when two other anglers were in shouting distance fifty five minutes. Caught plenty of fish and the fish stopped taking my offerings. Stopped for the day and went home. The coffee was still hot in the pot!

So I can hear the skeptics out there and you know who you are! " What would you have done if you caught none?" I probably would have moved to another spot  after a half an hour and my max for no fish is around two hours in total. But I did surrender the spot to the first anglers who showed up and would I have done that if I just started, no. But, I would have shared it for awhile. Oh by the way total invasive fish killed-zero. Native fish released safely.

Well as you all know that is a sore spot with old Art. Seems that all fish are native and introduced in the same way. After the Indian's and colonist caught their limit (who's kidding who they fished for food and if the fishing was good unlimited numbers), the resource was gone! Stocking did a good service restoring populations. The evils of "non-native fish" is that they eat not the brook trout but the little native minnows.  The USGS actually has a policy to eradicate Trout. Yes an official government policy. To save the snail darter and silverside whatever and a whole host of forage fish, browns, rainbows and even the sacred brookies are listed for eradication on some streams somewhere.

The USGS is a group of "scientist" who amongst other things study earthquakes, volcanos, and make topo maps. So why the hell are they messing with fisheries? They along with the likes of Bureau of Land Management, the Forest Service are part of the Department of Interior the same group that sells off our National Forest mineral rights, timber and gas reserves to mega corporations for big bucks. Seems like they have a mixed mission, preserve and destroy in the same department. But it is the federal government and like everything else seems a little skewed!

All I know is that I like to catch a few fish and the billions sportsmen spend in this country they should have a few fish available on streams with clean water shaded by trees with no quakes from fracking.

Etiquette

The other day, I was fishing and some guy had walked down half the river (in the wrong direction) looking for fish. My first thought was what an ass, must have walked on several dozen Brook trout and didn't see one. I  asked him " was that your car up river?" The answer was yes, and I told him that he walked through all the holding water and thanked him for wasting my time!

So what is the etiquette on any river? I'm not sure, nor do I think I should be the monitor of behavior! What I do think is this: give someone fishing a wide berth, limit your time on a certain spot to 1/2 to 1 hour, walk and fish up stream, try not walking through the holes and even if your practicing catch and release stop fishing when you would have reached your limit if you were keeping fish. I have a personal limit of 5 fish caught and released in any particular spot. If your not catching fish after an hour I got news for you its just not your day. Pack it and give it a go somewhere else or another time.

Spend sometime exploring a stream, fish are everywhere if you know how to look. Some factors to consider when out: water and air temperature, amount of sunlight hitting the water, lack of insects, rain, wind and how many other fisherman may have hit that favorite pool before you.

So that day last week when someone spent three hours in my favorite spot and another guy turned off all the waters above that off turned out pretty good.  Caught a dozen fish in three different spots. All after others fished the death out of them with no luck. Am I a better fisherman, NO! Just a more patient one. Not ten minutes after that guy spent three hours I caught my first brown of the season and I nice rainbow! Oh and the best part, I did spend just one hour there and stopped when the fish stopped. Time to go home and give it another go another time!

Maybe

This might boost attendance!

Suspect Apprehended

The suspect was charged with being invasive, polluting a stream with piscatorial waste, endangering the life of a young brook trout

After a brief trial, the jury found the suspect Sal Trutta not guilty and we was promptly released again and again and again!

Attacked from All Sides

I use to think of fishing as a pleasant diversion from the reality of 21st century life. Spending my summer morning trying and sometimes succeeding in catching a few trout on the fly. Yes, those flies that I spent my Saturday morning all winter long tying. Now I find that I am part of a bigger problem, I have altered the ecosystem and the fish I love are nothing more than challenged lab rats. Poisoning our streams with their waste and invasive behavior. Scaring the native fish into extinction. And you fishermen (persons) over fishing with reckless abandon. Shame on you!

I came across this in the NY Times last weekend http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/11/opinion/the-cost-of-trout-fishing.html?_r=0 Scary that this guy teaches ! What he forgets to mention is the reason why we had to stock and the complete history of the American Conservation movement of the late 19th and early 20th century. Perhaps a course in history is needed for the old college professor! Stick to your rocks and leave the trout alone.

Due to industrialization, overpopulation , pollution and lack of fish management, we wiped out most of our native fish, destroying their habitat  in the process. So we turned to stocking to replenish the waters. The result was an economic boon every spring to some very small towns that are in depressed economic conditions. Stocking has built fisheries where little was left but coarse fish.

There is a great debate over native and non-native trout. It is conducted in the rarified air of the 21st century amongst purist and realist. The fish that are now vilified were saviors 100 years ago. What changed? Lee Wulff once said " a trout is too beautiful to waste" (or something close). We have a credo " limit your catch not catch your limit". Where is Teddy Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, John Burroughs, John Muir and those luminaries of the American Conservation movement when we need them?

Tight line <<@/////>><<

Art Flick

enjoy the video

After a Long Winters Slumber

Still feeling the effects of this winter! Today cold and damp, no rush for warmer days the season is way too short. This should warm you up!

Post Winter or Pre Spring

Hard to tell its spring considering the first day included another 5 inches of snow and this weekend has a few flakes in the forecast. Opening day id just a few days off and old Art is not ready at all!

Clocks Ahead, Spring Behind?

Two weeks or so to opening day and lakes still frozen, snow in my backyard two feet deep and yes spring is a week away. Coming to my rescue! Help send me some spring, warm days, fishing, sunshine and flowers! Art has spent most of the winter slaving away doing the Devils work , oh not the real devil. A guy's got to make a living.

My plan is to ties up some more flies for the season, make up a couple of furled leaders, tie a few tapered leaders and give my gear the once over. Next Saturday is the clean up at Southaven Park and BBQ. So come on down and pitch in.

System Overload

Wow, try to get something done and wait and wait and nothing happens! Been here before? Oh, just cabin fever setting in and old Art hasn't been posting any good stuff. Try this on for size:

Spring will come! Be ready!

Art's Bored!

And that means trouble, poor guy had to spend a day standing outside in the pouring rain (not fishing) but working Art has been one disagreeable bastard! "I'm tired of winter" "this really sucks" are uttered from his mouth every chance encounter with anyone he meets.
"I've tied every fly known to man" and "nothing on TV" can be heard throughout the house. Mrs. Art would like the old guy to just go away and fish, but there is ice on the pond and kind of rough on the the line slapping the frozen water. The fish are on the other side wondering what the racket is all about!