FlyFishNewEngland.net 7th Annual Fly Swap

FFNE 7th Annual Fly Swap

We are in to our spring fishing season here in New England -- rivers and ponds are freshly stocked, the herring runs are going strong and sea lice laden schoolies are being caught in Rhode Island. And in true fashion of the "occasional blogger", the 7th Annual FlyFishingNewEngland.net fly swap, that happened in January this year, is finally being documented.
It's actually the dead of winter 2020 and one year has passed since the last fly swap. I started to write this post in the spring of 2019 (see lined out intro paragraph above) and am finally finishing just a few weeks before the FFNE 8th Annual Fly Swap.
Better late than never....

6th Annual FlyFishingNewEngland.net Fly Swap

-- 6th Annual FFNE Fly Swap --

It's hard to believe we've been doing this fly swap for 6 years now. I've posted about the 1st, 2nd and 3rd FlyFishingNewEngland.net fly swaps. With a record turnout and the high quality flies submitted, this 6th annual event warranted a post from the "occasional blogger".
This year was the biggest with 15 tiers and 18 total in attendance at our host's (Chris M.) house. We also had friends, wives and significant others join us for the festivities. Several tiers submitted multiple flies (Matt B. submitted 5!) so we had a total of 23 flies for each tier to take home.

First Fish of 2017

-- First 2017 Fish --

I'm shocked, yes shocked, to find stripers in January! First fish of 2017 and it seemed like the "fish on every cast" action from November continued. The expectations where very low heading out, but I fished with a very "fishy" guy who figured it out and got us all into some.

Spring is in the Air

- The Melting Begins -

We've experienced a record snowfall this winter and the rivers and streams in New England will benefit. After two months of brutal cold temperatures and multiple 1+ foot snow storms, warmer temps have started the process of melting the ice on the streams and the snow in the woods.

I took advantage of the warmer air temps and went searching for open water this past week on the local trout streams.