Passing It On

A First Fish on Fly. 

When I first started showing a serious interest in fly fishing, I had no idea what I was doing. No one in my family every fly fished and the learning curve was intimidating, especially for a young kid without any experience. My slow development consisted entirely of trial and error, on my own, or with Adam on the various streams around my parent's house. I never received a lesson on casting, knot tying, or fly tying. I was on my own.

As word slowly spread of my interest in the sport, a family friend gave a helping hand. At a swim meet, I received a stack of "how to" books and magazines from Fly Fishermen to old Orvis catalogs. I immediately became a kid at a candy store and devoured the material. A small time hobby slowly evolved into a small obsession that featured a seemingly endless amount of knowledge, flies, and fish. I fell into the deep end and never looked back.

When news came that a coworker had purchased his young son, PJ, a fly rod kit for Christmas, I immediately thought about the impact a few magazines and books had on my development as a fly fisherman. I arrived the next day at work with a box full of magazines and some of the very same books I received 14 years earlier. Later on, I brought in a Redington form practice rod, after I heard of casting sessions gone awry. As winter progressed, I received a thank you letter and a small box with a DIY homemade fly. The kid was hooked to say the least.

When spring arrived, I promised I'd stop by and help out with casting and fishing. I brought several rods and let the kid try them all out in the yard. The highlight came when we were discussing the various ways of setting the hook. PJ interrupted and informed me that, "a strip set is mainly used when fishing for tarpon because they have a really bony mouth". As the smirk left my face, I realized that one day, he'd probably catch a tarpon on fly. However, he'll have to work his way to that point in time. Later, we transitioned to the local pond that featured largemouth bass and crappie. With the water really low, the fish were a little skittish but after putting in some time he caught two crappie, his first fish on fly. 

As we left the pond, I reminisced about my first fish on a fly rod and how hard it was as a young teen teaching myself how to fly fish. Passing on knowledge and gear, I can only hope that PJ's learning curve is shortened and that he finds a lifetime of enjoyment from the sport of fly fishing. 

Paying Bills Ain't Something I'm Gonna Do Today

It is Friday pay day and I am super pumped. My dwindling bank account is in need of a boost to fund my passion yet there is a little hiccup this time around. It's time to pay some bills. I calculate them in my head and my paycheck is reduced to smithereens as the full realization of my current predicament hits me hard. The moment is brief before I erase it from my mind and begin tying flies for tomorrow's event. With each turn of hackle and each spin of deer hair the bills get pushed further and further from my mind and money is no longer an issue. Paying bills ain't something I'm gonna do today. I'll be just fine.

Hitting the water, I am accompanied by two friends and we are driving our yaks into a strong wind. We make our way up a long skinny pond intermittently throwing to the banks. Spin and fly, just fishing and hammering bass, pickerel, and crappie on a variety of patterns.  Watching us from above is a small family of bald eagles and several herons prowl the banks before taking flight from our intrusion. We are interrupting their fishing.

Along one bank under an overhanging tree is a deep hole that also happens to have three types of structure. A tree, lily pads, and an overhanging vat of vegetation. Perfect habitat for a big bass. A sidearm skip cast gets my popper under the tree and as close to the bank as possible. Strip, strip, pause. Strip, strip, pause. From the right coming from the pads is a large flash and an explosion on top of the water. Big boy boomeroo wanted it bad and I tie into some weight that runs deep towards the structure. Lipping the bass, he is a little different compared to the others I have caught out of this place. Similar in length, this fish has girth and a much larger mouth. I release him and sit back on my SUP Yak to have lunch and take it all in.

With lunch scarfed down, I play catch up with the other yaks. They are deep into the headwaters of the pond in truly tight quarters, casting plastics and spinner baits into deep channels of flowing water. I watch in awe as they hammer the fish, often doubling up in the process. I take a few shots here and there and find some success but no where near what I was witnessing. 

Overhead, rain clouds and thunder are threatening. The wind is picking up and the leaves on the trees are showing their undersides. It is time to head out, back into the real world where we are faced with a myriad of problems and choices until the next time we get to escape and free ourselves from society. 

First Day of Class...CANCLED! There’s Only One Thing to do...

The night before my first day of class I spent the night researching local lakes in search of carp to get my fix out here at school. My research yielded that a 45 pound carp was taken from a lake right up the street from campus. So the next morning I woke up early to check this place out.

I arrived at sunrise and started to patrol the shoreline, it only took 15 minutes and my damsel had been sucked in...and I was engaged with a carp…haha. I had seen a few more but lilly pads were making it difficult for me to place my fly. I resorted to working the shoreline with a huge bugger for the rest of my time out, it produced a small crappie and a largemouth.

I went back and got ready for class and did more research on this lake and discovered that it holds a substantial Muskie population, possible state record status…hmmm. I checked my email and was notified that class had been canceled…back to the lake it was. This time I brought my buddy Nate who I taught to fly fish last semester. We arrived at the lake and I was compelled to throw a 6 inch bunny streamer and work this weed bed next to a sharp drop off…This didn’t last too long, I need to pursue “The Fish of 10,000 Casts” on my own time. I rigged up with a large popper with a woolly bugger dropper and Nate and I took turns working this flat.

Nate With a PIG Largemouth..Haha



One of the 2 Best Pictures My Camera Has Ever Taken.

#2

My First Ever White Perch

Feisty Little Crappie

The Fish of The Day

Lost My Bugger on a Stump...

I need to tie some flies that mimic the bait fish that we caught this night. I think my goal for this semester is to tackle a musky on fly…

First week back from school...

Once my semester came to a long deserved close I had to explore a few bodies of water on the home front in order to kick off my last ever summer vacation. My first stop was Indian Creek, followed by the Lehigh River bordering the Walnutport Canal.

Got to Love Wild Fish

Beautiful Wild Brown

The River was super high and off colored so I opted for my 8wt. and geared up with a lead-head and a box of streamers.

This Brown slammed my black bugger on the swing, it hit and fought so hard I thought it was a smallmouth. After a few powerful runs I managed to get the fish within a reasonable distance to lip it (still thinking its a nice smallmouth). Once I got a glimpse of it in the turbid water, I promptly located my net on my back and went for the scoop.

Average Smallmouth

Small But Mighty

As a walked down the Canal path I took a few casts and was rewarded as well...

Slab

Crumby Shot

Hello Summer...