I can smell the fish

Well its another year. Lets hope for good weather, reasonable release schedules and good health.  I haven't gotten my new fishing license yet nor have I tied any flies to speak of. I've been painting. It took about a year to get my new basement organized and outfitted as a studio.

Trout the dog has been a Decoverly for the past 6 weeks being gun and bird trained. He has great promise. Old Bailey is now in his 14th year he still has a nose but no legs. Patch is 4 he's got everything.

I'm gonna try fishing the West Branch of the Delaware again this year. I hope to go with Jerry Hadden on a drift a couple of times. You can reach him at 570-853-4048. or flyfishing@delawareriverguide.net.

This was a good winter at least as far as the weather went. Let's hope that March and April are fair to moderate as to rainfall. No FLOODS!

Trout the dog not the fish

Bless me father It's been a month since I last post.

I haven't been fishing every like I'd hoped. Weather, commitments, and Trout have kept me busy. Not trout fishing but Trout. We got a new puppy and we named him Trout. I know I used to have a dog named Trout but think of it as a family name. At 11 weeks old he's a peeing terrorist. But oh so cute. He happens to be half brother of Patch our 3 years old setter.

 I have been fishing though. Mostly for shad which have been sporadic but have just turned on big time. I fish for shad at the boat ramp on the Big Eddy at Narrowsburg pool. It's close to my house so I don't feel like I have to spend a lot of time. I've also been trout fishing on the Delaware with some success. Where I've been, I won't say where, the water is quite deep and I've been casting from the shore to feeding fish. Nice big native brownies. They have been surprising easy to catch. Hard to find easy to fool. A 17"er fights almost a tough a a 2' shad. But not quite. This is going to be a summer of exploration for me. There are just too many places to fish within an hour of here. The Lackawaxen River is only one. The main stem of the Delaware is mighty big water but seems to be full of big ass native fish. Same for the East Branch and I've never fished there ... Gotta try it.

 I've also fished Masthope Creek. Tiny and tree covered. But well stocked it seems. I got a few nice little rainbows there. It's 'cute' trout fishing. The stream was designed like an English trout stream when it was part of the big beer estate.

 With quite a large stretch of the Lackawaxen being made less access able it's time to try other places.

I'm Back

After a couple of years back luck, lyme disease, broken legs and other maladies I'm back in wading form. And unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it I'm free to fish every day having had my job eliminated recently. Yesterday I took a drive along the tow path. The road is in horrible condition. Parking at the dollar hole has been blocked with access to the water there blocked by private property signs. But no sign saying no fishing. How convenient the property owner can rent his cottage as being on a well stocked pool but the fish stockers might still stock the pool. A very fine pool by the way. We pay they fish. What a good deal.

The water is real low. Almost June low. The long term weather for opening weekend is for showers and average temp in the 50s. There are a lots of caddis and stones in the air. There was a major multiple hatches on the Delaware the other day. BWOs, Quill Gordons, Big Caddis (cinnamon, black and green). The water there is even lower than the Lackawaxen. Opening day may be relatively easy wading and warm water. - more later -

Fly tying season... Tie or buy

Every year at this time I dig out my fly boxes and take inventory. I make lists of my favorite and best producing flies. I organize the bobbins, spools and tools on the the fly tying table. I realize that today I have more money than time when it comes to flies. And I don't have enough to buy the 3 capes I need to restore the contents of my fly boxes. There was a time when time and money didn't seem as hard to find. Time is so scarce these days.
This year I've taken a critical assessment of my fly stocks only to find that most of my flies are used and real old! Used and old... Over 10 years old! I realize that it's been that long since I've spent much time at the vise. It's funny but that surprised me.

This year my New Years resolution is to get back to serious tying. Not in quantity but quality. Oh and to to buy some of Ivan's beautiful ties at Bright's Shop.

My opener

Saturday the 24th was my opening day. And it was good. The weather was nice with only slight breezes. Just enough to keep the black flies away but not enough to really screw up too many casts. I met a guy who makes bamboo rods and was fishing a brand new one. A 5 weight. Real nice. I'm not a bamboo sort of guy being a litle clumsy at times but it was a beautiful piece.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I cracked a leg bone this winter and that the idea of wading heavy water was making me nervous. Well the water level was down to a near perfect level and the were hatches and fish snapping throughout the pool. There were fish slashing on emergers and sipping what looked to be spinners. There were a million size 14 spinners with little yellow egg sacks dancing above the pool. It seemed that the activity was greatest when they wer in the air. If anybody can identify the mayfly with the yellow egg sack please let us know.
I caught four fish and lost one beauty. The guy with the bamboo rod said I had lost it because I was horsing it in too fast. He was right. I like to get my fish in as quickly as possible so they don't croak. But the big ones need a lot more finese. I just feel so bad when I kill a fish by over playing it. Anyway I did land a nice rainbow and two really beautiful brookies and a small rainbow before I decide not to press my luck, my knee luck not my fising luck, and get out of the water. It was a good idea. I sure appreciate getting in the stream this year a lot more than the last few years.
Fish on.

Opening weekend a little too cold

Maybe I'm getting a little too old or maybe it's the heated seats in my ride but damn it sure seemed cold this weekend. Cold enough that I didn't even suit up. For the past several weeks I've been watching the fish in my pond. They've been sunning and cruising around. Not this weekend. My fish aren't stupid. And except for the occasional typo neither am I. I don't especially like fishing the bottom with a lot of lead nor do I like freezing my _____ off. So after cruising the Tow Path, some long studies of the complex current patterns and a few close-up looks at the river I fled to my heated seats. There's always next week.

I wasn't alone in staying in the heated seats. There were a few old soles –– and I do mean old –– 'round and about but for the most part the river was empty. Only the easy wading holes had anyone in them. I did see one worm killer trudging up the road with a very sorry looking 8 inch rainbow swinging from his stringer.

Wow! We made it through another winter

This winter was a rough one. Record snowfalls. Broken legs. Thankfully I'm getting better just in time to go fishing. I going to go up to Roscoe this weekend and see if I can muscle into a easy wading spot or two and drown a few flies. Who knows.

There been a lot of noise this winter over gas drilling. There a lot of scare tactics from the anti side reminissant of the 70s. Red herring stuff. Gas is here. They beefed up one pipeline and built another. It's not going to happen it's happening. Our world is changing. Farms are disappearing. Suburban sprawl isn't far behind. We have to manage our future. We need to promote outdoor life. Fishing. Hunting. Real conservation and stewardship.

Let's go fishin'.