Posts from the “Fly Fishing” Category

Mr. Almost

Posted on April 17th, 2012

The fly line entangled in some shoreline debris and I looked down to yank it free, and at that moment a green shape chose to cut through the water to my popper. I had no tension on the line so I watched its fat profile surge and descend on the popper, create a brief interlude of chaos and disappear. The excessively corpulent type of largemouth, the kind that would give FLW types arrhythmia, has eluded me for 12 years, ever since a memorable encounter on a small lake in Michigan. Since then I’ve had to settle for the small to decent to merely large. The near misses are haunting. In the end it gets added to the personal rolodex of frustration, along with the…

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Split-Shot Photo Fail

Posted on April 17th, 2012

I’m a fan of the split level fishing photo, where half the shot is underwater and half is above, like this. Or this. But when I stick my waterproof point and shoot (with the 73 second shutter delay) in there, they come out like this:     Or this: There’s a reason some people get paid for what they do.

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Here Is New York

Posted on March 29th, 2012

After September 11, 2001, longtime friends of my in-laws sent around an email detailing a new emergency response plan. Should all forms of modern communication cut out once again, we were to follow one simple directive: Head to McSorley’s. Located at 15 East 7th Street in the once dangerous but now hipster Lower East Side, McSorley’s serves beer. You must buy two–either light or dark–and you must keep drinking to keep your seat. When I first moved to the area we went once a month on Saturday afternoon, crammed around tiny wooden tables and ordered rounds. And plates of cheese and crackers, with slices of onion and extra sharp mustard. There was nothing hip, cool, insider, or happening about it but to me it…

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Epoxy For Example

Posted on March 27th, 2012

Maybe it’s the need to further simplicity, maybe it’s a stubbornness to stick with a go-to that continually works over a broad spectrum of species and conditions. But fish that eat other fish tend to like these hard-headed flies with big eyes and synthetic hair. With stuff like Clear-Cure Goo they take two minutes to tie and last until you lose them or your knot fails. I’ve likely repeated this thought far too many times in photos and typed words, but until something doesn’t work, it does. Know what I’m saying?

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Threats

Posted on March 23rd, 2012

The fish should have been in shallow but they weren’t. I asked the old European man with the carp bells on his rod tips about the situation. “The stocking trucks came this week,” he said. The carp wanted nothing to do with this. The lake has several access points along the shore where the growth has been cleared or the hiking path bends close to the water. Fishermen had stationed themselves shoulder to shoulder bombing fluttering spoons out beyond the drop-off. A few placed plastic buckets behind them in the dirt. One walked by and held up a stringer dangling three perfectly proportioned 12-inch rainbow trout. “I caught 70,” he said with a wink. Three is what you can keep. I’ll chop ya up…

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Paging Mr. Deneki

Posted on March 21st, 2012

Like many of you out there, I’ve indulged the fantasy of owning a remote and bad-ass fishing lodge. The reality is I am not properly wired for anything remotely related to service. But Andrew Bennett is, and he owns the Deneki Lodges on Andros, The Kanektok, and the Dean. I was fortunate enough to be invited down to Andros South for the first FIBFest back in the day. Andrew struck me as a bright, easy-going guy who could laugh at himself but at the same time had his shit together. These type of people can be disconcerting, especially when they are younger than you. I threw a few questions at him, just to find out what it’s like to run your dream business.  …

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