DFoster

Wow! You can't complain about the scenery even if the fish didn't want to play. The smell of the salt air at the ocean is wonderful!

Norm that sucks. Fly shop products are supposed to be treated to prevent bug infestations from happening. Even so I do my best to reseal each bag after use because the weak link in the system is the person who treats the skins.

That sucks Norm. When you get the replacement I hope you save a little $$ on your electric bill.

Wow! That Brown is one to remember. Really nice fish so far Steve! I'm really sore as well but regrettably it was from working on my house this weekend and not from fishing.

Where she left it is a popular fly fishing spot so I think whoever found it probably was a fly angler and would have been aware of its value. It's nice to know they made the correct decision and I believe by doing so something great will come there way. IMO no good would ever come from keeping something like that without first making an honest attempt to return it.

Here's a couple of versions of a simple soft hackle- Two materials unless you count the thread. PARTRIDGE AND FLASH HOOK: FIREHOLE 633 1XL 2XG HEAVY NYMPH THREAD: #70 BLACK UNDER BODY: THREAD ABDOMEN/BODY: PEARL MYLAR TINSEL -ICE BLUE, LARGE HACKLE: PARTRIDGE HEAD: S.H. HARD AS NAILS PARTRIDGE AND FLASH – HOT ORANGE VARIANT HOOK: FIREHOLE 633 1XL 2XG HEAVY NYMPH THREAD: #70 HOT ORANGE UNDER BODY: THREAD ABDOMEN/BODY: PEARL MYLAR TINSLE -ICE BLUE, LARGE HACKLE: PARTRIDGE HEAD: S.H. HARD AS NAILS

Good news everyone the missing rod and reel found it's way home. From Ken's blog- Two weeks ago we posted a notice of a lost T&T flyrod and a lost Bogdan reel. This blog has a good record of finding lost equipment but this was a special case. The rod/reel were the property of a woman's late husband and it had a ton of sentimental value. I also thought that the chance of reuniting this classic equipment were slim. But good things do happen. This morning I got an email from the owner that the rod/reel were returned and that she is very grateful to the local fly fishing community for spreading the word which resulted in this happy ending!

Glad to see you having such a wonderful trip Steve- the fish are gorgeous!

George It's never a bad thing to proceed with caution when it comes to computers. For most of us, including me, how these things do what they do is black magic. I can use one but I am no techie. Both my iPhone and laptop are the property of my employer and as it states in my employee handbook "may be monitored", the handbook doesn’t say by monitored by whom. Therefore, I never use either for banking, purchases or anything personal besides briefly storing a few photos which are off loaded to a remote hard drive. My wife handles all the scary stuff on her personal laptop and that allows helps me sleep well at night. I am planning on buying my own PC just as soon as I receive my 5 million dollar check from the Nigerian prince. 🤣

My favorite fish to chase- those are beautiful!

If she wasn't already addicted I'm sure she is now! Nice job!

It depends on what your looking for out of the trip. If you want stellar fishing there are better area's in the country. I live in Massachusetts I have been to the Catskills but I have never fished the area. I'm told by the local fly shop guides that have fished the storied places that they can be busy. Even so they recommend going because it's the fly fishing equivalent of getting to take a swing at Fenway Park or Wrigley Field. You'll be fishing on hallowed ground even if you have company with you. If you're used to having miles of river to yourself they told me there are many tributaries with small wild trout to be sought out. You also have the Fly Fishing hall of fame and museum and a lot of fly shops all nestled in the beautiful catskills- what's not to like? https://cffcm.com/facilities-grounds

I also have a love for fine tackle, and no, I can’t provide a single logical reason why. Tackle does not make the angler but to me and for some unexplainable reason nice tackle adds an undefinable level enjoyment to the sport. For others that’s not the case. The more pragmatic of us view the rod and reel as nothing more than a tool, it just needs to work. I almost always fish alone so my love of fine tackle is not driven from prideful boasting. It’s also not about income level. When buying anything, as a rule I generally try to buy the best that I can afford. I’m a working class guy who will do without until I save enough money to be able to get what I want. I do know a guy of means who fishes with gear that you would have a hard time giving away free at a yard sale. To each their own

🤣 That's better than not fishing at all I suppose. Depending on the local rains - low water does happen here some years. I'll switch to fishing for warm water species in ponds if I have to.

Ah I see- It's the fly fishing equivalent to that "everyone get a trophy" thing they have in youth soccer.

Only counting strikes- I'm not really seeing the point? (pun intended). Purist they may be but to me getting strikes are only a part of being a skilled angler. A strike is one thing and yes it usually requires skill (but not always). To me the real skill in fly fishing is keeping the big ones on and fighting them to hand. IMO I think it's even harder to master than getting strikes. Coming from the world of spinning tackle, treble hooks and 18lb leaders I completely underestimated the skill required to properly play a large fish in current on a barbless fly. After 15 years I still lose at least half of my big hook ups. I had one day last Autumn where I went 5 for 15 so the big trout still have got the better of me at least so far. I too run into those guys that carry everything down to the river. Several rods with spare reels, a huge, full back pack with 12 fly boxes and pretty much every single accessory available, not to mention lunch, a change of clothes, a complete first aid kit , bear spray, machete and rain gear. They probably have their tent and camp kitchen in there too. That stuff is great to have with you if your hiking into the Montana back country but where I'm fishing the parking lot is 500' away. But as John Wayne once said, "It's your back".

Fine looking catch!

Thank's Feathers- The large one was a stocked fish. The little guys are wild.

100% - it's all about memories. Sadly, I can't seem to win the damn lottery so fishing every day isn't a reality for me. When I can't be on the water it's a nice sanity break to have photos of past fish to look at. The world is a busy place and memories of a particular fishing situations, the technique and fly can quickly fade to all the non-fishing related noise I call my day job. What are your personal “must haves” to go fly fishing? If a photo isn’t important to you and you don’t intend to keep the fish then I completely agree, what do you need a net for? I know a guy who goes out fly fishing with nothing more than a micro fly box, half a dozen flies, pocketknife and a spool of "tippet" which is most often just 2lb Stren mono. He ties his own leaders but doesn’t bother to carry a spare. Everything goes in his pocket so no pack is needed. He’s got a carefree attitude about fishing. If he runs out of flies or tippet then it's a simple "oh well- that’s it", he goes home and it’s no big deal. Anything he catches he might look at it for a second before throwing it back. Simple is just the way he enjoys his fishing. Fly fishing should be about enjoying yourself. I especially do not enjoy losing a caught fish from my hand before I can get a photo of it so a net is a must have for me. 🙂

Nets can be trouble for sure when bush whacking. Clearly you're one of those people I referred to who can hang on to an ice cube with vegetable oil on your hands. 🙂

I'm a catch and release guy, I only ask for a quick photo of my fish before setting it free. One skill I have never mastered is handling trout for more than a few seconds before they squirt free. It's like trying to pick up ice cubes with hands covered in vegetable oil. In my first few years fly fishing I caught some really nice trout that I have no record of, now I always use a net when fishing for trout because dammit I want my photo! I have a couple of nets I've been using. One for small streams (small fish) - the net bag was nylon which is not good for trout and I was forever picking even barbless flies out of the mesh. The other has a rubber net bag but the holes are big enough that some of the 8" trout or smaller were slipping through and that usually means again- no photo. After I lost a small but pretty trout last week because I didn't want to deal with the net issue I decided to fix the problem. I picked up this Frabill net. The net bag is nylon mesh dipped in rubber, it's light weight and has a deep bag. It's large enough to handle anything I'm going to catch. It's a little larger than what I'm used to but so far (6 hours of fishing) it's been great. No lost fish and no flies entangled in the mesh.

Depends of where or what I'm fishing for. For thin blue line fishing I have an inexpensive Cabela's CGR 5' 3" fiberglass 3 weight that I love, but I love it because it excels at fishing the local thin blue lines. These rivers are completely overgrown and I have to roll cast or cast side arm with pin point accuracy to no more than 15'. A "pool" here can be as small as 2' x 2' and a foot deep. It has the action of a spaghetti noodle (technical term) and the 6" to 8" fish that live in these small streams are a lot of fun on that little rod. For trout fishing in most of our rivers my go to rod is a 7' 6" bamboo 3 weight that I built myself from a blank. The 3 main trout rivers I fish are 10' to 30' across with lots of overhanging tree limbs just waiting to snag my fly and make me wade over and spoil the water.

I "imagine" that one will haunt me this winter......😲

I've never found a pair but I have lost my share of them.

I had a great Saturday. I was disappointed to lose a huge fish but the fight was fun while it lasted and It's one of those I'll remember over the winter. There are browns in this river and because of the fly it took and the way if fought a big brown is at the top of my suspect list. Whatever it was took a #18 light brown PTN in about 7' of water. After about 20 seconds of fighting it out in the mid water column I could feel it digging toward the bottom. I had 5X on and with weight of the fish I had to give ground. After that there was little I could do to raise it, tiring it out was my only hope. Earlier I lost a few flies to submerged something in this exact spot so: Advantage fish. Likely it would only be a matter of time before my tippet caught on the something- smart fish. Just as I was thinking that exact thought "snap" and the torn up piece of tippet told the story. I really wish I could have at least gotten a look at what it was. I did win a few fights.