Presentations ...

Hot off the press is a new presentation titled "Fishing the Mid-Season Hatches" which takes an audience on a journey through the March Browns, Sulphurs, Cornuta Olives, Speckled Sedges, Cahills, Green Drakes, Yellow Sallies, Isonychia and others important "middle" season emergences. I'll be presenting this new program for the first time at Main Line Fly Tyers in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. on September 18. Like previous programs on hatches, I'll show images of the insects in their lifecycle stages, discuss behaviors that are important to your angling strategies and talk about the fly patterns I carry to match them. Reach out if you are interested in booking a presentation at your club or chapter. It will be fun they said. Till then ...

The Coot & Claret

It's been a very busy stretch of life lately, but some new plans will be chasing me back to the vise soon to tie some insurance flies for a trip. The "Coot & Claret" is an original pattern that has worked some magic for matching those little western Mahoganies on multiple past trips. I'm not loyal to any particular hook and use Daiichi #1550 or #1480, Partridge Spider L3A and Dohiku #301. The tail is rusty dun rooster fibers, the body is Pearsall Gossamer #191 Claret or Kimono #321 Tokyo Rose. The hackle is a Coot wing covert tied very sparsely. I fish these down and across on the swing, or powdered and cast upstream to cover rising fish. There's something to be said for these old style spider and flymph patterns, they are fishing insurance you shouldn't leave at home. Till next time ....

Favorite Places

We all have a favorite place we go to to reset, recharge and refresh. This is mine. My closest people know where I go to get away, but I'll just say it's somewhere in the Pa Wilds and leave it there. With the days getting shorter and the air and water temperatures starting to cool after a brutally hot summer, this place is calling out to me. A wise man should always listen. It won't be that long before our wild trout start to color up for the big dance, and I'll return to the mountains to enjoy them until I start to see them pairing up. I don't think I'll wait that long though before I pitch a tent here, enjoy some cowboy TV and sip some brown water. Nothing like a favorite place. Till next time ....