Family Fall Fly Fishing Firsts

-- NY & MA Landlocked Salmon --

We all love fall fishing. Here in New England, not only do we have excellent fresh and salt water options, we also get a spectacular display of color as the leaves change. As my favorite time of year, fall is too short, but that's what makes it all the more precious.

With my son, Matt, being about 300 miles away attending school in the Adirondacks, our fall fishing outings together are usually limited to just one around the Columbus Day weekend. We had a great trip last year on the West Branch of the Ausable in the ADK with Matt putting me on my largest brown trout to date (Matt just posted a video "Golden Brown" which captures the beauty of this big brown).

Local Confidence Builder

-- Good Day on the Water --

Oh forgive me bloggers, for I have sinned! It's been 4 months since my last post and I have no excuses. Summer has flown by, again with no vacation, but a couple of fun outings chasing local bass & gills.

Yesterday was definitely one of the highlights of the summer.

With the trout streams at record low flows and recent salt skunkings, I needed a confidence builder outing and decided to hit a local pond yesterday. I've had both good and bad days on this pond, but that didn't matter -- its 10 minutes from the house and has some decent variety of fish (pickerel, bass, perch, cats, and gills).

Why Knot Fishing

-- Why Knot Fishing Team --

I had the privilege of connecting with a new group of New England anglers through social media earlier this year. One of the founders of the group, Joe G. (@j_googe on Instagram), started a conversation with me about the group and I offered to help spread the good word.

Joe sent me this info to share about their mission.

"Why Knot Fishing is a community fishing company based on the North Shore of Massachusetts, but with team of anglers located around the state.  We will be focusing on providing fishing reports, fishing reviews and fun fishing stories.  We will also be running events over the summer including a surf fishing event on Plum Island on June 14th and a kayak fishing even later in the summer.

5 Months

-- Bookends of a Skunk --

That's how long I waited to feel another fish on the end of the fly line. In the eight years of active fly fishing, I've never had a skunk that long. Would like to blame it on the brutal New England winter or lack of time on the water, but for whatever the reason, I'm calling the 5 month skunk over.

The Winter Solstice post last December was the last time I had a fish on the line. I've been out plenty of times -- chasing trout, bass, gills, carp and stripers -- but no luck for 5 long months.

Low Tide in the Salt Marsh

 - Early Season Schoolie Hunt - 

Got out with my striper buddy, Mark, on Saturday looking for the first striped bass "schoolies" of the season. It was a beautiful day exploring some old and new water in Rhode Island. Also met some new fly fishing friends as well.

Water temps were 50 degrees, but the schoolies were not interested. We started at place where I had luck last year with my first striper on the fly and fished the tide change from high to low.

#theartofskunk

-- First 2014 Outing --

It's been a very long, cold winter here in New England and most other parts of the country. In the seven plus years I've been fly fishing, I don't remember the local streams being as frozen over and unfishable as they have this winter.

With Matt (aka Troutdoors) home for spring break, our first order business was to get out to the river and wet a line. We checked flows and they were rising so we knew the spring thaw had finally started.

The title of this post, #theartofskunk, comes from Ariel over at Atom Fly Fishing, who coined this hashtag about 2 years ago. It's become an unfortunate label to many of my Instagram posts, so if you looking for some fish porn in this blog post, leave now.

Bacon Wrapped Jalapenos and a Fly Swap

 -- Fly Fish New England Fly Swap -- 

I joined the Fly Fishing New England board a little over a year ago and am really enjoying the great local knowledge and camaraderie. Right after joining, I was able to get into the board's first fly swap and wrote a post about it.

The best part about this fly swap is that it's local and our host, Matt, brews some excellent beer. Last year, in addition to swapping flies, drinking beers and getting to know everyone, I brought some bacon wrapped jalapenos (BWJs). The BWJs were a big hit. Well, as the December winter froze over all the local streams and cabin fever sets in, posts on the board started up about "When is the next fly swap?" When the date got set for 1 February and the theme of fly swap was "your most productive fly", discussions about the BWJs also surfaced. A tradition is born.

Troutdoors 2013 Video Wrap

 -- Troutdoors 2013 Video -- 

My son Matt (aka Troudoors Fly Fishing) bought a GoPro over the summer and is becoming proficient with getting some nice fly fishing footage both in Massachusetts and in the Adirondacks where he's attending college.

I really enjoy the edits Matt puts together and this summary of 2013 came out very nice. The best part (boast, boast) is the big brown landed at the end. That is the largest brown I've ever landed and the first on a streamer (a black nose dace - one of the first flies I've tied about 5 years ago).

Enjoy...