Brown Trout & Fly Fishing Ghosts

Most nights I’d time leaving home so I could gear up right as the frogs began to sing in earnest. That wasn’t the event I was  targeting, but the amphibian chorus corresponded with the evening hatch. Trout could be taken all evening long. But the action intensified once the sulphurs started hitting the water. Seeing that little spring creek come alive was always amazing. Reclusive brown trout of all sizes would come out from underneath the banks and thick weedbeds to feed on fluttering mayflies.

Those bugs had the Letort Spring Run under some kind of spell. One year I was drawn in as well.

Early in the week I fished the headwaters. In places the channels were deeper than they were wide. Bonny Brook was always my favorite, and it yielded an unusual number of fish on the surface during this hatch. The sulphurs were present, but the slow and silty water isn’t ideal for mayflies. After a few days I focused on the quarry stretch. The vast system of riffles was perfect habitat for both bug and trout. It certainly still looks like a spring creek, but it lacks the character of the rest of the upper Letort. One night I caught three trout without moving my feet – the only time this has happened to me on the stream. The only downside of that section was the noise of the active rock quarry that was a short cast from the water.

After four or five days I decided to concentrate on the meadows just upstream of I-81. Vince’s Meadow, perhaps the most famous extant spot on the Letort, had always proved difficult for me. Earlier in the week I had talked to an angling mentor about my reticence to leave fish to find fish there. He lived on the stream. He knew the stream.

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Podcast Ep. 68: Taxes, Trespassing, & Trout

Some people fish in places where access isn’t a problem. By and large, most anglers are content to drive up to a state maintained parking lot or a well-used pull off. However, there is a lot of fishable water that isn’t so convenient.

In this episode I talk about a different kind of map that is useful for finding all sorts of fishing access. Not only might you be able to find new ways into public water, but there is a chance the information will lead you down a lawful path to “private” water.

Also, in this week’s recommendation I talk about one of my favorite panfish patterns: the triangle bug from Panfish on the Fly. It is easy to tie and incredibly effective. Now, you’re able to buy kits with special hooks and a material cutter that make the whole process even quicker and easier.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Brookies at the Ballpark

Minor league baseball is all about fun. Sure, the players are doing everything they can to succeed at the lower levels of professional baseball with the hopes of getting to the majors. But while they’re giving it their all on the field, there is a whole lot more going on around them. T-shirt cannons, “bring your dog” nights, and appearances from  B-list celebrities draw crowds that include die hard fans and families looking for a night out.

If you are an angler who lives around Altoona, Pennsylvania, the draw to come watch the Curve this June might be their new look. For one weekend, the Altoona Curve will become the Altoona Brookies. Complete with new jerseys, hats, and more, the Double-A affiliate of the Pittsburgh Pirates are going to celebrate the state fish of PA.

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I Don’t Hunt Anymore

I really like hunting. I enjoy the hunt itself, including the animals I do or don’t pursue. A hunt might have equal parts camaraderie and solitude, which I appreciate in equal measure. And then there’s being outside. It’s hard to have a bad day when I’m in the woods. Hunting the right way, you get a chance to enjoy the woods and all that they offer in a way that you can’t when fishing or hiking. Plus, I have no ethical problems with it. Fairly harvesting an animal is an experience I think more people should have.

I just don’t hunt anymore.

To be fair, I don’t golf either. Or ski. Or have season tickets to the local minor league team.

As a younger man I had a job, not a career. I had a wife (who was in graduate school), not a family. I lived in rural Pennsylvania, not suburban Boston. It was easier to spend a Saturday in the woods. Waking up early to be in the tree stand at dawn before work was simple. 5am to 8pm could be hunt, work, fish: it wasn’t unreasonable or irresponsible.

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Podcast Ep. 67: Fly Fishing from Your Sleeping Bag

There are plenty of reasons to mix camping and fly fishing.

Sure, there are some that are all about nature and the experience. But what I am talking about is the pragmatic things: proximity, cost, and a bad night’s sleep helping you wake up early to hit that trico hatch.

In this episode I explore a few reasons why I’ll often eschew the hotel room (and sometimes even the tent) when I am going on a fishing trip.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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The Living Seam

Scientifically speaking, the eye can’t see cold. Ice and snow and the moisture in  breath that turns into condensation can be seen. But what is being seen isn’t cold.

Yet the eye can see when it is cold out. Aesthetics accomplish what science cannot. Everything looks more still. The entire world looks as if a color-reducing filter has been applied to it. Cool colors and grayscale overwhelm the landscape. Generally bright underbrush is frozen and muted. The cold presses down leaves and moss and even saplings, mitigating their ability to break up the scenery.

The only place that is somewhat untouched by the cold is the stream bottom. Even gently tumbling water creates a great sense of movement. The refraction and the glare highlight the mineral deposits in the river stones. Browns and grays that would be lifeless in the air sparkle and dance under the current. The water cuts a living seam through an  otherwise stark panorama.

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Fly Reel Balance: Tale of the Tape

Five years ago I switched reels on a 6-weight rod. The large arbor reel that had been paired with the rod was it’s mate for going on 15 years. I acquired a new reel, and made the decision to use it primarily on that same 6-weight. The rod felt very different, and in a good way. The reel was slightly heavier, but the rod was lighter in my hand. I perceived the tip more acutely in casting and in mending.

Why would changing a reel  have such an impact?

Swing weight. Fulcrum point. Moment of inertia. I kind of know what all of those things mean as they relate to the fly cast… but not enough to write from that perspective. What I do know is how to use a fly rod.  And I am very aware that a fly reel matters. Of course, reels matter because you need someplace to store your line and occasionally something to fight a fish. Even the presence of a fly reel  impacts the way you use your fly rod quite a bit.

Usually, performance and price are the two greatest considerations when picking out a fly reel. Both of those facets are important. But weight and balance are just as important. In some situations, weight and balance might be more important than capacity, drag, and components. Weight is just that – how  much a reel weighs. In a way, weight is relative though. A heavy reel will pair well with a heavy rod. Similarly, a light reel will pair with a light rod. Seeing as there are countless permutations of each, that is were determining the reel’s balance matters.

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Podcast Ep. 66: 3 Things I Wish I Knew – Fly Tying

I’m not an expert fly tyer. …so why listen to 20 minutes of what I have to say on the subject?

While I’m not an expert, I am proficient enough to tie what I need. But I’ve taken the circuitous route to get to this point. I’ve started and stopped. I’ve used the wrong materials and tried to do things the hard way. I’ve made frustrating mistakes. And with all that, I can look back on some of the things that I wish I would have known about fly tying back when I started.

In this episode I share three things that I think are beneficial new new or struggling fly tyers.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Caped Crusaders: Fly Fishing’s Signature Shirt

Never judge a book buy its cover. Unless that book is a fly fisher and that cover happens to have a ventilated back cape. In that case, judge away. Because the only reasonable judgement that you could come to is this: that person knows how how to freaking fish.

Anyone who is anyone knows that the peak of comfort, performance, and fashion in angling starts and stops with the caped casting shirt. But how? And why? To answer these questions, we must look back in the annals of fly fishing history.

Charles Cotton, in his contributions to Izaak Walton’s Compleat Angler, references the quintessential angling attire: “If the fisher finds himself perspiring a bit from his actions in casting or strolling, a conspicuous slit may be drawn about his back. From shoulder to shoulder, this tailored addition summons the cool breeze from the water or valley floor and swirls it across the skin. It is most refreshing; stimulating one to making a finer presentation of fly or lure. It is also, I have found, a big hit with the ladies.”

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Rusty Flybox: Casting Matters

When was the last time you just casted?

Golfers go to the driving range. Not just professionals, either. Once-a-month golfers might stop by the range a few times to hit a bucket of balls. Swing after swing, you can deliberately work out kinks in your technique. It is practice, but it is also fun.

Fly casting really isn’t any different. On the water is not the best time to implement a tweak or try to master an entirely new cast. There are fish to be had, and lots of other variables to contend with. A lunch break on the lawn or a few hours on a local pond provides the right environment to hammer out some casting practice.

But it is important to go out there with some goals or ideas in mind. Here are two articles that talk about casting practice, and one that deals with how casting can influence your fly rod choice:

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