DFoster

 “Despite what the rod manufacturers want you to think a Great Rod 20 years ago is still a great rod today”.  I’m not sure who said that but IMO it’s true.  

17 hours ago, TSMcDougald said:

I just discovered him about a week ago and really like his videos. Someone else I have recently discovered is Jonas Anderson, although he mainly does classic salmon flies (which are fascinating to watch).

Robert has a great blog as well called the Sliding Stream.  There's a ton of fly fishing history in every post.

https://theslidingstream.net/

Beautiful work Gene!  I see Lavender as well, but IMO there really not far from gray either.  I'm not familiar with "Lamiglass" is it the same or related to fiberglass?  

Well done Mark, those sunfish don't stand a chance!

On 9/11/2023 at 4:37 PM, TSMcDougald said:

Robert Smith

+1...Great music and a voice that sounds like everyone's grandfather.  His vids always make me want to sit at my vise-

On 9/5/2023 at 10:05 AM, flyflinger said:

 

But the fine for killing one might be quite high!   

 

  

Good luck, Wyle E has been trying for years and he's a super genius-

On 9/6/2023 at 3:43 PM, SalarMan said:

 

This comet won't be back until 3017...and I suspect most if not all of us won't be around for the return. 😂

You never know George- with the advances in modern medicine....Ok 3017 might be pushing it!

I simply believe that hunters and anglers should show respect for their quarry.  Respect is subjective.  Call it Karma or Divine intervention but I have noticed in my time that those who are overtly disrespectful seem to have really bad "luck" in their sporting pursuits going forward.  

Beautiful scenery and moose- Awesome!

12 hours ago, Mark Knapp said:

Very cool. Pretty fish.

Thanks Mark, I would imagine that in Alaska you have lots of falling trees and that all your waters hold trout if not salmon and Grayling?

 It’s a little different here in the Northeast. We have lots of flowing water in Massachusetts but a lot of our streams are too warm to hold reproducing populations of trout.  Our larger trout rivers are well known and as they hold the largest fish they (thankfully) draw the vast majority of trout anglers.  The small stream fly fishermen here tend to keep streams where wild trout are to be found a secret.  

23 minutes ago, Capt Bob LeMay said:

Mother nature has a habit of changing things in small waters - sometimes an improvement - other times things go the other way - whether it's a lovely freshwater stream or some backcountry brackish coastal area (where everything is actually temporary - until the next storm moves stuff around...).  I've been known to try to stuff a seven foot wide skiff up a six foot wide creek so we have our share of mis-adventures as well as successes.  A willingness to explore and push the envelope whether its trout waters or a salt creek can be very rewarding at times... 

Great report by the way - even though I'll likely never leave my jungle fishing... 

Thanks Capt'n - I like to share the more interesting things that occasionally happen out there with fellow anglers.  The environments are different but chasing the next fish is the same for all of us, as is the never ending search for the next "secret" spot.  I was fortunate to find a new one last week.

21 hours ago, niveker said:

Beautiful water and fish, DF.

I was thinking of the amazing streams you post as I fished it. 

Yesterday I got rained out on the way to my Small Mouth river, but on Saturday I found an absolute gem of a brook.  This is a cold, high gradient Brook Trout stream in the local hills and I got to do some true “blue line” fishing.   

Super spooky fish in shallow clear water meant lots of cast from a kneeling position behind cover.  The trout we’re willing to take dries and I caught all of these on #12 Gray and Royal Wulffs.  I ended up netting 4 and losing a really nice one on what was apparently a poorly tied knot.  A few others just missed the fly.  The Brook Trout were starting to show their fall colors. 

21 hours ago, cphubert said:

That is great news for New England strain of Atlantic Salmon. Last year Connecticut River basin return was 4 fish although the federal program ceased, we still have a strain and breeding program developed from the Maine stock. Any improvement to the salmon stocks in North America is positive news.

Agreed- 

On 9/8/2023 at 11:14 AM, Steeldrifter said:

Nice pictures. Falling trees can be a blessing and a curse. I've had spots that trees fell in and ruined the hole, and others where they fell in and made a new hole where there previous was not one. Goes back to the old saying of how a river is ever changing. Are white face hornets a different breed than bald face hornets? I've had a couple big bald face hornet nets here over the years but never noticed those to be all that aggressive. Guessing the white face ones are different and much more aggressive?

Yep - they're the same.  Mean little buggers.

 I had Tuesday and Wednesday off from work and had an interesting couple of hours fishing.  Upon arriving at the stream I was surprised to find this huge pine had fallen across what's known as "Cable Pool" effectively cutting it in two. I was here a month ago and that tree was standing.  Good cover for the trout but it does limit casting angles on a river that already doesn't have a lot of open pools.  This pool is probably the deepest on the river and is heavily pressured in the spring.  It's the first water you come to after leaving the parking area and it's one of the locations that our state stocks with Rainbows. It' a popular spot as you can imagine.  The second photo is taken from the opposite side.  That little sandy area under where the tree landed offered great casting angles and you could cover the entire pool without getting in the water.  After the spring stocking on any day someone would be fishing from that spot (maybe even me) so I'm glad this didn't happen then or someone could have been killed (including me).  At this time of year there are a few Rainbows left but this river stays cold and holds many wild Brook and Brown trout which are of far more interest to me .  Generally by the end of June I have the place all to myself because most people are not interested in working at catching the "little" guys-  

I followed the trail to a small path that leads down to one of my favorite spots.  I had walked in a short distance and I found these White Face Hornets had built their home right on the side of the path at about 4' off the ground.  Thick brush prevented me from going around without some serious bushwhacking and I didn't want to risk damage to my waders.  The only other option was to pass in front of the nest roughly 3'- 4' away, nope, not doing that.  Of all the wildlife in our state White Face Hornets are easily the most foul tempered creatures in the woods.   I wasn't about to learn the hard way what is the minimum distance they would tolerate me from their nest.

So it was time for plan B- back track a bit and try an area that I had never fished before. 

Over my years fly fishing this river, from time to time I have run into another fellow wild trout chaser.  Were all notoriously tight lipped about the location of natives. On occasion though a few have been kind enough to point me to some good spots.  Now they only did so only after they had spoke with me long enough to know that I cherish wild trout as much as them. The truth is that  I'm strictly catch and release, using barbless hooks, wetting my hands before handling fish, returning them to the water quickly and doing everything possible to insure they survive the release.   I want be able to keep catching these jewels for as long as I'm able. It's crucial to me that these wild trout to live on and reproduce.  I keep only a quick photo as my trophy.  Anyway I remembered one of those conversations from last Autumn and that lead me to a beautiful location.  One of those spots where there is a path in but you'll only find it if your looking for it.  Sure enough there were no boot prints in the mud but my own.  Dries were all I needed- Ausable Bombers, Ants and Hoppers were all working.  I know these fish are not big but they are beautiful and fun on a 3 weight.   I'm truly thankful that most don't want to chase these little guys...

Wow Mark that looks like fun!

A little good news-

https://www.boston.com/news/environment/2023/09/06/wild-atlantic-salmon-maine-rivers/

3 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Jeez that is quite the failure for a boot 🙀 Speaking of Korkers and customer service, I had an interaction with them this summer that really changed my mind about them quite a bit. On my 3 week trip back in June my boat lace frayed and broke on one of my boots. My boots are about 6-7 yrs old but other than the boa lace overall in pretty good shape still. I got a new boa lace and tried to relace them myself. The problem is on the older Korkers the plastic curved part the wire laces go through is ABSOLUTELY TINY, as well as curved. So trying to thread a wire through it is next to impossible. I sat at the motel room trying to thread the new lace for over 2 hrs and finally just gave up.

Anyway, after I got back home I emailed Korkers to see if I sent the boot to them maybe they could re-lace that boot for me . Took about 3 days for them to reply, but when they did, the reply I got was really a bit off putting imo. Basically the guy said "we are a small company, and can't really do things such as that"... He then said maybe to send him a picture and he could help me. Like that's gonna help at all 😒

Kind of blew my mind, Korkers saying they are a small company and can't really help. Hell I am a one man company with my rod business yet if someone reaches me about a rod they bought from me then I do everything I can to get them taken care of and not just brush them off.

I have always liked my Korkers, and I do like the Boa system, but I am seriously thinking about going back to normal laces just because of how Korkers brushed me off, and the fact that you can't fix Boa laces easily while on a trip like I was.

 I got the same feeling as you when I called about my 4 hour old boots loosing rivets, like it wasn't all that important.  Well we we're still in the Covid lockdown and being able to fish was about all there was to do. So yes, wading was pretty damn important.  I understand that states forced most businesses to close during the pandemic and this was through no fault of their own so I do gave them a pass.  Small companies need to be doing everything better than the mega corporations if they expect to survive. I could buy Cabelas brand and get the "your just number 6,234" blow off for a lot less money.   I  like the boa system a lot but have reservations about it's durability.  The plastic the knobs are made of seems awfully light.  They say the system is guaranteed for the life of the boot, fine. But what happens if it fails on a trip as yours did?  I can get laces anywhere.  We'll see how long last and I hope if I have an issue they are better this time around.  

Orvis is still waiting for me to send them a $31 check for fixing my Battenkill pawl spring.  The spring was installed improperly to begin with at the factory when the reel was made during covid.

A friend say's nothing made during covid is worth a damn. Company's were utilizing anyone willing to work in any capacity to fill orders.  When your accounted is given a crash course on how to weld because he's the only one that showed up things are bound to go wrong. 

First a little back story.  This summer's heavy rains  made my style of dead drift wade fishing difficult if not impossible.  Not willing to put my fishing gear away until the rains subsided I decided to try swinging wing wets at a distance and began catching Smallmouth fry.  This lead to swinging larger streamers and after landing a couple of adults I had found a fun way to fish the heavy flows.    The heaviest rod I owned was a 5 weight and it was struggling to push the larger flies to distance.  I started thinking about adding a 6 or 7 weight, finally deciding that a 6 was the best option given the width of the river and the fact that the Smallies average about 12"s.

NEW ROD DAY! (not made during covid)

Last week the stars lined up when sitting on consignment in a local fly shop was a beautiful Orvis Recon, 9' 6" 6 weight, perfect for what I needed. Not a mark on it.   I was told it was used only a few times on a single trip for steelhead. The owner wanted a little more than half of the list price for new.  

I got out to the river and I couldn't be happier with the rod.  I was able to reach area's with ease that were a struggle for my 5 weight.  I even managed to hook a Smallie.  While I was fighting him I noticed something didn't feel right with my footing.  I released the fish and a quick investigation revealed this-

These Covid Korkers are on there 2nd full season and I've had nothing but problems from the start.  I bought these near Halloween 2020.  The trouble started when the rivets that hold the lace eyes began to fall out the first time I used them.  I called Korkers and 3 days later I got a response to a voice mail that I left.  I was told that I could send them back and they would repair or replace them.  The rep said they were closed and he didn't know how long it would be until I received them back, probably months, unacceptable.  I bought some rivets and replaced them myself.  Then I noticed the molded shell on both boots had cracked through in several locations and despite tightening the studs several of them were missing.  Finally on Saturday morning the epoxy holding the sole to the shell completely let go.  I took a couple of vacation days to fish following the holiday and now I needed a replacement pair of boots that wasn't in my budget (see new 6 weight above).  Despite being very disappointed with these boots I decided to give Korkers another chance, hoping that now that people are returning to work Bob from accounting isn't still mixing their epoxy or running the rivet machine. Korkers has a great reputation for quality and service and I'm hoping the first pair were just the result of pandemic issues.   A quick ride to a fly shop and I came home a pair of Dark Horse with the boa lace system.  So far so good.  

This incident got me to thinking about how many Covid manufactured things I've had trouble with.  I have an Orvis Battenkill reel that I bought at the end of 2020 that's been giving me a hard time also. 

Guys I always wonder what happens to long time posters that suddenly stop? I think of the members here as long distance friends and it kind of bothers me when someone vanishes. I understand any number of life issues  can conspire to consume free time and attention.  I hope Moshup is fine and will return soon. 

On 8/30/2023 at 3:01 PM, TSMcDougald said:

One of the important things one learns from Davie McPhail is that you can always back up (unless you use a lot of half hitches and glue).

Great point!  I learned not to use half hitches and glue until I knew what I was doing. Even now I still ask myself “do I really needs half hitch here”?  😂

21 hours ago, Steeldrifter said:

Dunno how I missed this. Great pics!

Thanks Steve. It’s always nice to fish somewhere new as you know. 

On 8/31/2023 at 10:01 AM, cphubert said:

I also, my short tackle-pak vest is at least 35 years old. Will never understand Orvis discontinuing this design. I lost this vest once when loading the canoe onto the truck, I left it on the bank of a pond. I was distraught for a while about the vest (it was a Father's Day gift) and its contents but low and behold I received a box in the mail, an honest fisherman found it and got my address from the licenses in the pocket. I sent him a $100.00 gift and a box of my best flies. It is starting to deuterate from use and is seeing repairs more often, but I have not found any other vest I would replace it with.

Google "vintage Orvis vest for sale".  I got mine for $20 a few years back.  Now there a little more but many of them are new condition.

Oh my....!