A Stop Along the Way

This was it. On the afternoon of July 9th, Noah and I packed our things into his van, strapped on the kayaks, and headed northeast. This was going to be a hell of a journey.

But before we even got to our state of interest, we payed a visit to our friend Geoff Klane at his town of residence. Lowell, Massachusetts; where Geoff guides for different species on fly tackle in the canal system within the city. Noah and I weren't licensed and so didn't fish, but I had wanted to see this fishery for a while and also hadn't seen Geoff in a long time.

Geoff met us at a place with free parking and walked us around his home waters. It was classic urban fishing. There were places with some garbage in the water, we met some interesting characters on our circuit, and the fish were large and plentiful.

If you live in New England and carp on the fly is your thing, you really ought to visit Lowell at some point. I've fished canal type fisheries before, but they certainly aren't numerous. In some cases I've found the fish to be extremely finicky, bolting at the first sign an angler may be present. In others, the fish are used to people and used to getting fed, so they're actually pretty foolish. The Lowell carp are somewhere in between. They seemed to know that we were there, and although that didn't make them want to leave, they certainly didn't maker themselves easy. But when Geoff did get a carp to take, it was one of the most aggressive carp takes I've ever seen. The fish moved a few feet at a fair rate of speed for the fly.

Geoff also baited with dog food, which got both the carp and some bullheads worked up. It's always fun to watch either species surface feed.

The fishery in Lowell is pretty cool. It reminds me of other urban places I've fished, especially Frederick, Maryland (Connecticut Fly Angler in Maryland). We saw sunfish of a couple different species, largemouth and smallmouth bass, brown bullhead, and common carp. I definitely intend to actually fish the place some time. If you want to, I recommend hiring Geoff. He knows the place well and will put you on the fish. Beyond that, he's just a really good guy.
Check him out on www.brackishflies.com.

After a fun little afternoon, Noah and I said goodbye to our friend, left Lowell, and continued Northeast. Our adventure had just begun.

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