“Open up that good book let it revelate to you.” –The Dexateens Just got in a review copy of The Big One, a book by David Kinney about the Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby, which is kind of a big deal around here (meaning the general northeast saltwater “here”). Some would call it a religious experience, and I can’t wait to find out if this book captures that. Reading commences tonight with a train beer.
Cast, surf, eat, drink, sleep. *[Typing is not one of them]
Tagged: east coast break, live in saltwater, redfish, snuke, speckled trout, tarpon
And not the german trouty kind, either. Roughfisher weighs in on fly fishing’s real frontier, where all the so-called trash fish become the treasure.
This Ken Shultz article came out just before the NY State DEC discovered IPN. The Connetquot represents in one localized microcosm the best and the worst of a hatchery sustained fishery. On the one hand, a stream this close to such high population density could never support pure wild fish with unrestricted access to them. Operating a stream on a pay-to-reserve English beat system with a carefully managed stocking program allows for solitude rather than shoulder to shoulder and the chance to fish larger than normal brown, brook, and rainbow trout. On the other hand, it is not reality. On the one hand, the big sea runs and the cagey eight-pound holdovers with the hooked jaws exist in numbers not seen in normalcy. On…
What happens when a Montauk Surf Vampire and saltwater guy with a slight Florida ditch obsession conspire to fish a trout stream? Nothing. More later on the state of said trout stream, stocked, and the ongoing efforts to de-stock it in hopes of restocking it later. In a word, bizarre. [UPDATE: Jason did in fact hook and land a rainbow, but I had blocked it out of my memory.] *(With apologies to Robert Lowell)
Tagged: brook trout, brown trout, getting skunked, rainbow trout, stocked fish, The Fin
A guy catches the fish of a lifetime and kills it, and the fly fishing community is up in arms. The non-fishing population, and even many anglers who don’t fly, don’t get it. Isn’t the point of fishing to catch something to eat? I showed the picture to a friend and got that exact response. To many outside the fishing community, catch and release seems akin to torture. Or, as some who have made the hunting analogy say, nonsensical–like wrestling a deer to the ground, dunking its head under water for a quick photo op, and letting it go. (I’d credit the originator if I could remember where I read that one.) That analogy sort of works because, for all the mystical bullshit about…
Unrelated email conversations with Jeremy of Flies and Fins and Michael Gracie of, well, Michael Gracie, brought back the memories of a trip that constituted four days of uninterrupted awesomeness. I haven’t gotten to play the tuna game since that trip, though Lord knows we try, but it’s not an everyday–or even every year–happening to have fly-rodable bluefin come into the backyard. Watch the water rip at 3:18; that pretty much sums up why this is the holy grail of northeast salt. Damn I’m ready for the season.
Tagged: 12-weight quarry, bluefin tuna, flies and fins, michael gracie
Thanks to everyone who came over here and signed Capt. Gordon’s North Carolina Gill Net Ban Petition. The list to date of 273 signatures is a great start. And thanks to Redington for donating a 7/8 Titanium CDL Reel. A note before announcing the winner… As mentioned, 273 signatures is a great start. But 1,000 would be a great finish. Some people out there could be asking the question, Why does an expat Floridian living in New York care what happens to a bunch of redfish in North Carolina? It’s an easy answer. Despite all the once in a lifetime trips to remote outposts chasing after taimen or masheer or milkfish that we dream of and read about or eyeball in hi def, most…
Reading this Moldy Chum post the other day, it struck me…That pic looks really familiar. Then it occurred to me: Cheney’s not Vader. Cheney Equals Brick Top. Who is Brick Top? The American Museum of Fly Fishing has the right to invite whoever it wants to speak at its fund-raising dinner in Manhattan tomorrow night. But the Museum should be aware of what happens when you make your bed with Brick Top. As Turkish explains, If you’ve got to deal with him, just make sure you don’t end up owing him. Then you’re in his debt. Which means, you’re in his pocket. And once you’re in that, you ain’t ever coming out.”
Nothing on the water looks normal at 2 am. Land masses that provide depth perception in daylight warp into ominous light-flecked shapes. Reflective channel markers pop up unexpectedly in front of the boat moving too fast through black water. But tarpon feed at night and people sleep. The dates are picked, the strategies are being worked out; it’s happening again. Night Ops 1: Drifting live crabs,big water, big-fish. Night Ops 2: Casting flies, light pools, little fish. (Never thought about the light babies until a note from Flies and Fins regular Marshall Demott. Now we know.) Then the tide dies and it’s back to the ramp. The guides are all there mainlining coffee in the dark while they wait for their clients to show.…
Tagged: black keys, coming soon, megalops, night ops, old school hetfield, oysterhead, poon, silver king, tarpon
