Slowly building an army

I haven't been on the water lately, with much of my time going to work, and family. Today was my only day off until Christmas, and thinking about overtime checks doesn't make it any more enjoyable. I plan on a trip soon though, doubtfully on Christmas day... just hopefully before the new year. So until that day comes, I have been tying up a bunch of small dries that wont work.  Maybe if the holidays don't get the best me, I'll keep trying out new patterns at my evening desk.  I've got some ideas that look cool, just no stream time yet.  I'm building my small army in the meantime, acting as drill sergeant, I'm whip finishing these flies into shape

 sz. 15 mosquitoes, Juicy treats?
 

I'm hooked on mustads lately,  Once you unfold that paper, it's hard to stop. 

The International Fly Tying Symposium 2014

I really wanted to head out and fish a nice backwoods stream today, but since this morning, it's been blowing a bit too hard to cast light lines. With winter right around the corner, it's getting colder by the day... forcing the wood stove into duty earlier than I would want. Wouldn't it be great to have nice 65ish fall weather all winter! It's mid 40's today, with 25-40 mph winds, a far cry.   so what to do.......  Tie flies! 

  

   As ALL New England fly fishermen know, winter means stocking up boxes, and attending the Marlborough, Ma Fly Fishing Show.  I enjoy going to the show every year, regardless of my opinions of the directions that certain companies are going. (don't ask)  I always have fun, learn something new, and spend more money than I should, but like I've heard from other yearly patrons, the show has lost it's edge, it has become monotonous, vendors have backed out, or more likely.... I (we) have gotten old. The show, I have conclusively decided, has become something that should have evolved into more. More vendors, more new products, more new faces, more newer fly trends,  Please don't take this negative criticism as negative criticism, but more as me complaining about my getting older. I DO like the Fly Fishing Film Festival, and have attended the last two years. It's pretty cool to see videos that I have watched on my smartphone appear before me on the large screen, as well as many videos that I have yet to see, this alone will bring me back again this year... maybe
    So now for the part of the post that made me sit down and start writing altogether; This year, I will be attending another show... possibly as a replacement show, I'm still undecided.  This year I will be possibly boycotting Chuck Furimsky's Fly Fishing Show in Marlborough, and instead attending Chuck Furimsky's International Fly Tying Symposium
   Maybe I should have started going to the Somerset, NJ Fly Fishing Show years ago, as I hear it is the best of the tour to attend. Many tyers at the Marlborough show the last few years have stated that the NJ show is the best one, the one worth going to, the one that everyone (vendors) show up to. Not Marlborough. 
   I'm a New England guy, I dislike with a passion a certain breed of summer boat tourists, (NY is not New England) I don't like Yuengling, I drink too much cider, I love Vermont, I hate the cold winter, & I complain about the hot summers, so to travel to NJ is a huge decision. (mainly b/c I have to drive thru NY) 
   I have made my reservations, and will be at Somerset. That Fridays work won't end fast enough, I will be constantly thinking and re-thinking the following:

Will my Wife understand my overpriced need for a new reel?
Did I bring enough beer? 
Do I have enough orange packed? 
Will there be good parties? 
Did I pack enough hashish?
Will Hank Patterson be there?
Will Hank Patterson chug a PBR with me? 
Will PBR be a sponsor? 
Can I drink inside... openly? 
Will I be the only one not allowed to drink inside? 
Will there be lots of Fiberglass?


I'm guessing that (as long as the hotel doesn't kick us out) me and my two proud Yankee friends will have an amazing time.
 

First fish on my new fiberglass

A glimpse at my Glass

I made me a new 2wt recently, its a 6 ft glass (eBay noname)   spun up the reelseat and cork myself on my lathe, and used the CCG hydro to put the black snakes on. Haven't fished it yet, but it casts pretty good in my back yard! 

Ct DEEP Fishing Day

Yesterday me and my daughter spent the afternoon hauling in Bluegills on a flyrod. She had sooo much fun, that she kept asking me all night to go fishing again today, so what the hell. :)
     Sometimes I like to search the great 'ol Interweb for fishing plans. Todays query turned up a State sponsored youth fishing event, and it was in NL, just 10 min away!   Link
   Called No Child Left Inside,  this event was geared towards educating tomorrows fishermen/fisherwomen. there were displays showing local species, trivia games, and tons of fishing poles for anyone to come use. Along the Pier at Ft. Trumbull, the state had 3 'bait stations' set up, with more than enough live bait, sandworms, and squid for everyone! Pretty cool event, with a huge turnout.
   Now the best part..... My 3 y.o daughter showed up everyone! She had no reservations at all about baiting her own hooks, in fact, she didn't want my help at all. Dropping bait off the side of the dock was a learning experience, she has a pretty good fly-rod cast, but bait-rods with push-buttons took a little tutorial. after a while of talking about fish, nibbles, and how to tell if fish were biting..... FISH ON. reeling in was pretty fun, she almost lost it wrapped up on a piling, but when it emerged, everyone gasped. This Porgy was HUGE! well, we got it on dock, and she picked it up right away! I had told her if we caught one, she could put it in the 'Catch Tank' all by herself. well, she grabbed that fish by the leader and tail and made a B-line for the holding tank, about 100 yards away. on the way there, everyone in attendance was telling her how great her fish was, how good a job she did, etc. it was awesome. she had the biggest smile on her face the entire time. The DEEP photographer got a photo of her in all her glory, and then the fish went in the tub so everyone could see it swim around, and learn about Scup (porgy) All'n'all, not a bad afternoon.

Photo share test 2 from google+ gallery

Fishing thru the summer of 2014 Pictures (streamside photo dump)

I'm still alive, although constantly living with this fishing disease has kept me on the water more than my blog. I've been fishing Alot, just not catching Alot. maybe it's a slump... I've been here before, just not this bad. I mean yes, hell I'm catching fish.. just not as many fish as I'd like, and not of the record sizes that I dream of. Brook trout have been good, just small. largest trout this year is maybe 8". :( I can't even edit the photos to make them look large. Beautiful, yes. Monsters, no Stripers have been plentiful, nearly every trip out. I've been catching a bunch, sometimes only 1, sometimes 4 or 5. think one night i may have got more, but thats it. one thing about this year that I hate (as a shore fly-fisherman) is that these abundant stripers never seem to get over 20"! there's buckets of them out there, just little ones. oh well. It's still fun, still a great fighting fish on 2x, but I wish there were a few 30's or 40's thrown in. Although my blog has been a bit thin... hang on, and I promise to get some more posts out there. maybe a SBS on a fly? Here's some photos of this years small streams. maybe next post will be salt-water, I've got some killer flies for the stripers. Check out my Tumblr if you havent seen it before, lately it seems to be my method of virtual soci http://ct-swampyankee.tumblr.com/ Anybody recognize any areas? The covered bridge is a sure symbol of WTMA here in SECT, and was actually virgin to me. (its kinda big water for me)

this casing is about the size of a quarter, with legs, maybe bigger. I saved it, my fly tying area is sometimes littered with dead bugs as well as fake ones. (i gotta have references)

Starting May off with a Mayfly Tattoo

< Much like the fishing bug, my tattoo bug was needing ink. This Buggy guy "Mayfly, Imago" came from a book 'Dry Fly Entomology' by a dry fly purist Frederic Michael Halford. a bit of artistic freedom by my tattoo artist, and this hundred and twenty year old fishermans study of the mayfly became a permanent part of my body. I kinda like this scientific/entomological direction that my tattoos are going, and am thinking of continuing the theme in the future...