Posts from the “Inshore” Category

DIY

Posted on May 7th, 2012

A tree falls across the road barricading you from where you want to go and there’s no way around it and the people already past it aren’t going to stop and look back on your account, so the only thing to do is pour gasoline into the chainsaw. DIY is the prevailing ethic behind most of the blogs out there in the fly subculture. There are no set rules as to what one is or has to be and anyone that tells you otherwise is not worth the breath he just wasted. I am proud to be part of two projects that have come forth via DIY channels in the past year, with my participation in them a direct result of doing this blog.…

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The Only Time I Bit The Cork

Posted on February 7th, 2012

Thanksgiving 2002. I don’t know why I felt compelled to do it, maybe an insecure need to prove I actually did catch that bass on a fly rod. Although in reality it proves nothing; it could have been a stage prop for all you know. (It wasn’t, piss off.) A recent post by Bows and Browns reminded me of my personal evolution in fish-related point and shoot. I have a large catalogue of hero shots that will likely sit unviewed for generations until my offspring’s progeny discover them in a hidden box and discard them after the estate sale. For a while I wanted to document everything. I bought a sleek and compact Elph and thought that Eastman Kodak really hit on something big…

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The Drinking Man’s Guide To Drinking

Posted on February 3rd, 2012

He was a Brit living in Singapore and he smoked cigarettes that smelled like incense. He kept buying us expensive vodka as a reward for our work and, at some point, suggested it would be a good idea to snort it. He turned out to be a fisherman and he told stories about chasing trout in Pakistan and we chose to believe him. He headed an agency branch and traveled Asia to work on ad campaigns and he appreciated our mindless intern support over here. He wanted us to try absinthe but of course we couldn’t get it so he ordered some 100 proof. Abby started to slump in her chair and I found myself unable to stop talking about this one Adirondack brook…

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MENHADEN: ROCK THE VOTE!

Posted on November 1st, 2011

The fishing has been sucking. Here’s a chance where we can all actually do something about it. Rather than mince words, I’ll paste them directly from a mailing by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation: In a matter of days, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) will meet to discuss the fate of menhaden (AKA the most important fish in the sea). At the end of that meeting, it will adopt an addendum to its menhaden management plan, which will determine new overfishing thresholds and target fishing rates. Now, more than ever, we need your help. In 32 of the past 54 years, we have overfished menhaden, and its population now stands at its lowest point on record—a mere 8 percent of what it once was!…

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Bass, Menhaden, Everything

Posted on October 19th, 2011

The striped bass of the Chesapeake, and therefore the Eastern Seaboard, got a dose of good news this week with a big spike in the Young of the Year numbers. I spoke briefly with my friend John Page Williams of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation about it, and he said it has everything to do with ideal weather conditions during spawn and early life stage. Of course, the best news for the striped bass in the long run could come out of the ASMFC meeting in Boston in two weeks. Williams and his friends in the CCA and other conservation groups have been working hard to ensure that the result comes down in favor of protecting the bass. “It looks to be a landmark vote,”…

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Karmic Payoffs Do Not Exist

Posted on October 15th, 2011

I emailed the forecast late last night to Nick Murray, who responded “Too late to back out now.” OK, then. I’d already bailed on a Montauk trip this week, and got burned by it. Stripers still eat during Small Craft Advisories.   You go on days like today, you figure you are owed something. But the fish don’t know shit about Karma or paying dues or risk-reward. They’re either there or not. They were not. But Mr. Murray caught a fluke.

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On and Off the King’s Highway

Posted on October 14th, 2011

The delivery captain loosened up and had some stories about things. New Age mystics had commissioned him for a night trip, once, and he lost power, and a strange green light rose up around the boat. Then one time a low-flying Cessna headed for the south island fell out of the sky and disappeared below the waves in a blink. We all needed to unwind after the crossing; holding tight in 8 to 10s in the stream built a collective nervous tension. The tables at the restaurant sat under a trellis on an open-air patio, and the breeze kicked up from the front that had hindered our cruise, sending napkins into the air. Tim tried the ring toss game and stuck it on the…

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How To Release An Albie

Posted on October 3rd, 2011

–Book a charter for $600 –Or, fill your boat with $600 worth of fuel –Or, mill about on shore with a boost from Trucker’s Friend to keep your wits in case they ever come close enough. –Drive around aimlessly in aforementioned boat in areas they are supposed to be, looking for busts. –Curse and throw stuff when the scoped birds are diving over bluefish. Claim that you hate their very existence even though you secretly want to stop and cast to them with a wired-on popper. –Finally see missiles projecting out of the water and slashing through rainbait; trip in your haste to make ready at the bow, knocking your teeth into a bow cleat. Calculate cost of future dentistry. –Load backcast, flub forward…

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