The blob is the latest joke to be added to what used to be a fur and feather sport.Will someone please come up with a name other than flyfishermen for those who use these type of things.They denigrate the sport. - DanT, comment from This Blog on 10/10/18
DanT says it all!!!I agree with DanT. This sports' definition, a definition that has existed for a 100 or more years, has been run through the weeds to encompass a growing style of slinging weighted flies, flies that have very little resemblance to natural stream organisms for the sole purpose of causing trout to strike outside of a feeding purpose! Trout see hundreds of insect prey every day that are represented by flies that are of the natural color/form/shape found in a trout stream. To fool a trout with a natural looking insect is the epitome of fly fishing. To get it to strike a Blob, a bright green Mop or a glowing Rainbow Warrior or something like that is a lesser version of fly fishing. Maybe it's not fly fishing at all.
A blog post of mine back in early August mentioned a "fisher" on the Farmington. I watched him catch trout after trout but after a short while I wasn't fooled by his 9ft limber road or the fact that he was casting fluorocarbon line but by the fact that his 9 ft rod was rigged with a spinning reel and the fluor was 3X! He was fishing with meal worms (legal where he was). I wanted to introduce him to flies but I seemed to have gotten the fact that he had been approached before. I showed him a fly that looked like his meal worm and there was some interest but he said that his trout were never deep hooked and he released all of them.
I asked him what he would do in shallower water seeing that he had lightweight split shot a foot above the fly. "Take the shot off" he said. DUH!! I should of known. That's easier to do than changing a weighted fly and that's easier and makes a lot more sense then looking for a water flow (faster) that suits nymphing. (can't believe I saw that on the internet!!!!)
In short, there are degrees or levels of fly fishing. If your game is to catch as many fish as possible with costume jewlery you must realize that after a few dozen you are working over freshly stocked trout which includes the Farmington. If your intention is to fool trout with something that looks and acts like a natural insect then you are in the zone, you are FLYFISHING!!!
The Rivers
They are coming down slowly but surely. Look for 300 on the EB, 250 on the Ware and 500 cfs on the Millers.
Guided Trips
Book me NOW!! October and November are great months that can be warmer than May and April. These are my favorite months!!!!
Ken
16 comments:
Your buddies on another fly fishing BLOG just put up a post on instagram describing their euro nymphying leaders. I had to ask, "where's the fly line?" I like to catch fish but at that point just use the meal worm guys setup. Pretty sure that guy guides. Joe Cermele on field and stream had a person guide him on the Farmy using meal worms.
Oh also, love that fly. Looks like it'd be deadly in the WB. I've pulled caddis out of their shuck and they look exactly like that. Maybe a material list for that beauty?
Patrick Maloney,
HaHa, You're right, "Where's the fly line"???? Some of these newbies latch on to anything that appears to be NEW. If they had any experience they would know that this tight line shit is just the same thing that us country boys did years ago with a spinning rod. We moved on!!! Try to convince them?? Not a chance.
That fly - my friend works those up. I'll get the recipe.
Ken
Yeah, I used to feel superior too till I tried tightlining. Not quite as simple as a mealworm with a spinning rod, or as attractive to the fish! I found it to be a useful method in non-hatch situations and especially in pocket water that most fishermen skip to get to the famous pools. It reminds me of Joe Humpreys method of all mono nymphing with a tuck cast, but using a weighted fly instead of split shot. Effective everywhere? Nope. A useful arrow in the quiver? Yep. Like any fishing method it can get as sophisticated as you want.
Had to look up what a Blob Fly was. I will pass! I mainly use stonefly patterns, Zebra midges, BH Pheasant Tails and BH Caddis. "If your intention is to fool trout with something that looks and acts like a natural insect then you are in the zone, you are FLYFISHING!!!" So, am I a fly fisherman?
Hi Ken -- Hope you are well! I went to the Nissitissit today as it just came down and had a good late afternoon. The fish that were put in before the deluge spread out. All streamers today, a big Zonker and a few colors of BH wolly bugger.
After reading your post, it occurred to me that I learned a lot of "fly fishing" skills before I ever picked up a fly rod. I've never been big on definitions of what a "true" angler is. I was an anxious and exited 10 year old fishing worms on rivers in Maine every summer. Ultra light rod, 6 pound test to a swivel, 1 foot leader to an Eagle Claw snelled hook with a big juicy night crawler on it! All of those skills came in handy later with a Woolly Bugger or any streamer. My feeling is as long as you are having fun, taking fish ethically, I don't care if you are using attractors, lifelike nymphs, bright streamers or, even, lures or bait. Just respect the fish, the environment, the rules and your fellow angler. It's all good.
Don't try to exclude people but include. Once people get the junk flies out of their system, they can come around to "natural" flies as they get better. I have had a great time on many rivers learning from more experienced fly fisherman. What I have noticed is that people start out and try to learn as much as they can. They try every fly they can try. Overtime they settle into their top favorites and often back to the tried and true ones.
Ken have you been to the spillway lately? Just saw a picture on a buddies facebook page, he took it on a bike ride this evening. The water has to be just a few inches - if that - from going over the spill way. I'm sick of the dreary rainy weather... But after seeing that, I sort of want another 3-4" rain storm, it could give the swift another one of those salmon on the swift fall and winter. That, would be fun!
I have played with tightline nymphing, both before cool leaders were developed and since. It's fun, and a good way to fish. Especially if you are trying to fish deeper or swifter pockets or waters and need to get DOWN in a hurry. It makes me think, perhaps oddly, in other strategies the fly world labels as Euro like using 20-30 foot dry fly leaders for still and glassy waters.
In the end, I want people fishing. People fishing = people likely willing to step up and protect our waters and woods. If someone wants to do the fly analog to drifting a crawler, have fun. If they want to swing and strip a 8" streamer, rock and roll. And if you want to fish big funny foam flies, do it.
Respect the waters, help protect them, and help introduce folks to fishing. Long term, it's a positive for all of us.
Will
Jonathan White,
I respect your opinion.
Anonymous,
As I said in my blog post it would be a version of fly fishing.
Will,
They haven't updated the website yet but Quabbin was at 94.5% of capacity as of 9/1/18. We had a lot of rain in September.
Falsecast,
I've fished all my life from cane poles to graphite and split bamboo and believe that there are levels to this sport. One level is where an angler tries to catch as many trout as possible with a fly rod. The next is where an angler tries to catch the biggest trout possible and the last, the highest level, is where an angler tries to catch the most difficult trout. I get much more satisfaction releasing three trout caught on a size 18 soft hackles than 10 trout caught on a squirmy wormy but that's just me. Fooling a trout with a NATURAL LOOKING OFFERING is more in tune with the aesthetic values of this sport than pounding them to death with glitter bombs!! Just the art of fly casting is of value (that's with a traditional fly line, of course).
There seems to be a frantic, testosterone driven element that has crept into this pastime and I'm thinking that it's not a good thing. That's what BassMasters is for!!! Neither is the obsession with equipment that makes us slaves to the marketing puppet masters of the fly fishing business. Remember, that new rod is not going to make you a better fly fisher!!!!
I'm not really into making this sport more open. I'd love to see a $50 or a $100 trout stamp, in addition to a regular license, to fish moving trout water in this state. They do that in other states. The casual angler can cut his teeth on perch, horned pout and bass (I did) instead of filling his freezer with trout and when he's ready to make the plunge he ponies up the dough and joins the club, bait excluded!!! If you are invested ($$) in an activity you will care more about it.
Ken
You can effectively present blobs and euronymph without a flyrod and flyline.You cannot effectively present a dry fly or swing a wetfly without a fly rod and flyline.So in my mind flyfishing is defined by the gear you couldn't do without to perform a given task.If a flyrod and fly line are absolutely nessessary to present the imitation that equals Flyfishing.I don't care how people choose to fish.Go out and have fun however you want.But technically some of this stuff is just not fly fishing.
Dant,
I agree mostly with what you say. If someone was at the Y Pool with a long spinning rod and reel but was tossing a weighted fly under a bobber is that person fly fishing? The answer is no and that person cannot "go out and have fun however you want" at the Y Pool. The only difference is that the euro guy uses a fly reel instead of a spinning reel.
Ken
Nice seeing you yesterday, Ken, and thanks for netting that fish for me!
Herm
I think denigrating how other people fish is probably only going to start arguments. Talking up the virtues of certain fishing methods, why they are more fun, challenging, and satisfying might actually convince people to branch out, try something new, and perhaps change. In the end, people will draw their own lines. On the Swift, with lots of slow, clear water, I fish dries 90% of the time now. Oddly, when I'm not fishing dries, I'm probably throwing junk flies (mops, eggs, worms, and someday I'll probably try the blob). I like watching the fish react to the fly, examine it, and sometime, eat it. I used to fish more realistic nymphs, but I don't find them as much fun as the visible nymphs in the clear, slow water. I can keep myself entertained for an hour or so fishing junk flies, but it isn't very challenging, so I go back to casting dries. The small flies, light tippet, tricky drifts, pinpoint accurate casts, and the demanding fish are a much more engaging puzzle that will keep me casting for hours, send me home wondering, and inspire creativity at the tying bench. Other rivers have different character, and I fish them differently (though dries are still my favorite). I find faster pocket water more appealing for nymphing or swinging soft hackles or streamers, and those techniques are fun under the right circumstances.
Well if you're going to be a fly fishing snob (I only flyfish) and complain or show disdain for how others flyfish, please go fish somewhere for wild fish only as I believe THAT is the essence of the pastime. Stocked fish are for the hook and cook crowd. Frank Rizzo
Unless you have fly line on your reel just say you are going fishing. I don't care how you catch fish but don't pretend to be doing something that you aren't. When I throw a frog bass fishing I'm not dry fly fishing.
Ken, I took a vacation day yesterday to fish the Farmington with my brother. After reading about the high flows, I decided the Swift would be better spent for my vacation day of fishing, being I am not brand new anymore and didn't want to spend the day trying to stay top side on the Farmington. Better angler and wader than me, even my brother said it was tough fishing when I talked to him last night. He did connect with a few on streamers though.
On the Swift I have had dry flies on my mind lately and that is what I started out with yesterday. The Ausable Wulff got a swing and a miss or maybe a refusal from a trout, a holdover from spring stocking. I had abandoned dry flies for the most part this season, but recent success has me fishing them again to remind me it is my favorite way to fish.
While fishing, first time this ever happened to me, the DFW stocking truck pulls into the area and the men did their job. I talked to the fellows for quite a bit and they were great guys. The one fellow really hustled the trout from the truck to the river. Those trout were jumping all around, almost like they were happy to be free of the holding pens. I stung a few of them, but not many.
Fishing well upstream of the stocking zone tonight, I connected with a beautiful brown that jumped trying to shake the fly. Barbless hook came right out and off it went.
Best, Sam
Frank Rizzo,
I do. I fish for brookies at Cady Lane.
Herm,
Good to see you too!!
Ken
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