Snorkel Fishing the Straight of Hormuz

 First on the docket for Noah and I one mild mid spring day was a stop to a dive shop, because he needed more weights. The man had just purchased his first wetsuit, and I'd already made myself a side character in his quest to get really good at catching fish while in the water with them. We'd done this before about two years ago, and we could kind of see the potential then but somehow didn't really take it as seriously as we should have. Now, though, Noah was dead set on becoming some sort of marine mammal... a seal-man, if you will. Though my time was a bit too occupied with teaching other people how to stab carp in the face with tiny feathered weapons, I wanted to take part in this process as much as possible. And so off we were headed to buy lead to sink Noah. Part of free diving is fighting both your own buoyancy and that of a wetsuit, weight belts with weight proportional to your own body mass help make reaching depth and staying down possible without unnecessarily fighting. From the dive shop it was back to Noah's, where we had to hook up the boat. His landlord was there doing some cleaning up around the property

"Hey Noah, how are you?" I hard him ask, to which Noah responded "Not bad, just taking the boat out today". His landlord responded "just stay away from the Straight of Hormuz". Inaudibly to both in the truck, I quietly snorted a laugh. When Noah hopped back in I turned to him and asked if he knew any good launches on the straight. We set off; not for Iran, Oman, or the UAE, but southeastern Connecticut instead, intent to ignore wars that shouldn't be happening in the cool embrace of clear, man made lake waters filled with a mix of mostly non-native species. 

At the launch we spent maybe as much as an hour fiddling with equipment, culminating with the motor refusing to start, forcing us to operate solely off of the trolling motor. This wasn't really what we wanted out of the day, ideally, but it was vaguely functional. we made our way to the nearest rocky reef surrounded by deeper water; an ideal setup for snorkel fishing. I was un-wet-suited and just there as a spotter, basically, though I had a couple fly rods and would make some casts as I moseyed around the periphery of Noah's dive fishing and made sure he didn't kill himself somehow. 

Snorkel and dive fishing isn't an entirely un-tried strategy, but it is very close to it. Most people, when prompted, are pretty baffled by the logistics of going into the water with a hook and line, swimming right up to your query, and trying to feed them and will just assume you are spear fishing. That, of course, is illegal in inland waters. There is basically zero information to come upon when it comes to underwater hook and line angling. Just a handful of videos here and there and whatever you can glean from spear fishing that couple be applicable. So, Noah is very much in untested territory here... or uncharted waters, if you will. To him- or really to the both of us -that is a hugely enticing proposition. The opportunity to learn more about the species we target, learn new ways to catch them, and get to observe and document more about their habitat and behavior without the aid of any tech like drones, forward facing sonar, or underwater cameras. We'd just figure it out with what our bodies were physically capable of. There are plenty of people that have done snorkeling to observe fish, and quite a few that have done it while people actively fished to the fish they were observing. There are far, far fewer that have meshed the two together in a comprehensive way. 

I motored around circles while Noah went down, scoured for fish, and occasionally came up with one. Had we just anchored off a ways we may have hooked more than he was doing. The notable advantage of angling from in the water and up close is that you can pick out the ones you really want to catch with exceptional ease... if your target is to catch sunfish, you can pick out the largest, the prettiest, or that crazy hybrid. Fewer fish with sore lips is never a bad thing in my opinion. But how would larger, more generally considered difficult species go? 

At one point Noah came up to the surface and I heard a muffled scream through his snorkel. He's hooked a decent largemouth and was being forced to give chase rather than break off (an issue he has since rectified, but it was a funny thing to have to "be the drag" on this occasion). Watching your wetsuit-clad buddy give chase to a bass underwater is just hysterical. Even funnier still, watching lake home owners react to seeing him pop up at random places out in the lake holding various fishes. We picked and poked a ways off of one particular shoreline finding bass and crappie. At one point I watched a smallmouth repeatedly jumping for a fully submerged Noah- a perspective that probably pales significantly in comparison from actually seeing the fish jump from below as Noah was in that moment. That is something we have got to catch on video at some point. 

I was picking off a few bass here and there, as well as one crappie and some sunfish. But Noah far outdid that, even in a scenario where I had great visibility and was mostly sight fishing. It is quite clear, and becoming more so, that snorkel fishing may at times be just flat out wildly more effective than fishing from above the surface. That's kind of crazy, given the limitations of having to be very close to the fish. Some of them just don't care, and some will even attack you. As far was the ones that do get spooked, we'll just figure it out, won't we? 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, Jake, Chris, Oliver, oddity on Display, Sammy, and Cris & Jennifer, Hunter, Gordon, Thomas, Trevor, Eric, Evan, Javier, Ryan, Dar, Eric, and Collin for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog and access more informative content, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version!

Lake Champlain with Drew Price

 It had been a long time since I'd last fished Lake Champlain when I went up to buy Drew Price's canoe. Noah and I made multiple trips some years back, finding success on our own. It was Drew's blog that had originally got me interested in Champlain and it's abundance of native, bowfin, gar, freshwater drum, as well as multiple introduced species that we'd not caught. The opportunity to fish the lake with the guy that really sparked my interest in it was something I was very excited for. 

Early the morning after my arrival, Drew thought we'd have a decent shot at lake trout. This was certainly something I was excited for, as it was a species I'd not yet had good opportunities to target. Drew warned me that it wouldn't likely be great fishing, but I didn't particularly mind. The idea of targeting lakers with fly tackle in deeper water and at a time when most anglers would troll or jig instead appealed to me. We went out to explore the possibilities on a couple humps Drew had been catching on in the weeks before. We fished heavy sinking lines and big heavy flies, plumbing the depths and hoping for a hard strike. Unfortunately it never came, though I did have a smallish lake follow the fly almost to the surface, something Drew had mentioned was possible. 

After a little while and no success, it was time to switch gears and re-launch further north. The rest of the day was to be devoted to a different game in the shallows. Lake Champlain is an incredible place to sight fish, with expansive weed flats and generally clear water occupied by such a broad variety of species it will make your head spin. After just a short run from the launch, we were in a spot Drew new held a large variety of fish. In no time at all we were looking at pumpkinseeds, bluegills, yellow perch, white perch, common carp, tench, rudd, bowfin, brown bullheads, and largemouth bass. Just  short ways down the sam shoreline we began to see pike, chain pickerel, and longnose gar. At one point we saw a giant channel catfish. If variety is the spice of life this place is heaven on earth for the freshwater angler. 

The first trophy of the day was a giant pumpkinseed. I'm a big fan of these extravagantly colored native sunfish. They were being fairly picky and particularly prone to spooking, something I'm not at all used to from this species. It actually took a while to get one, but when we did it was my personal best.

Even more abundant than large pumpkinseeds were the brown bullheads. I've never seen so many bullheads. They were everywhere, poking their heads out of nests they'd dug in the mud bottom. At times as many as six or seven of them were visible at once. One of the nice things about bullheads: generally, if you get a fly in front of their face, they are going to take it. They were much easier than the pumpkinseeds. They were easy enough that I caught more than one of them blind casting. That has certainly happened to me before, I've caught many bulheads on the fly over the years, probably more than most fly anglers could expect. But I'm not sure I've ever caught more than one blind casting in a day, and I got three this time on top of the small bunch I sight cast to. 

The highlight of the trip was a 25 minute time window in which we put some serious trophies on the boat, all on a Gamechanger Craw. Initially for that window, I was on the poling platform. We were looking for the giant channel catfish we'd seen earlier in the day, but not finding it. I spotted a good sized largemouth though, and Drew was able to drop the fly on it and it smoked it. It was an incredibly stout fish.

Seemingly just moments after releasing that fish we spotted a big bowfin. This was a fantastic opportunity for me to watch the bowfin master do what he does oh so well. I somehow managed to pole well and got the boat in a good position, and the fish followed the script. The eat was spectacular. The fight was spectacular. The fish was spectacular. 

Then I was up to bat, and we went to look for a huge bass we'd seen a bit before. When I laid eyes on her and saw that she was stationary and her body language was relaxed, I knew I had her. I sank the Changer Craw in front of her, letting it fall right to the bottom, then gave it one little move and she inhaled it. The fight was short, largemouth aren't exactly the strongest fish, but this was one of the largest black bass I'd caught in a long time. Ironically, after years of mostly catching largemouth incidentally rather than going out and targeting them, catching that fish has sparked a revival in my interest in the species and I've been specifically targeting them quite a bit lately. 

As the sun went down, we headed back toward the launch having put a ton a lot of fish in the boat and had just a fantastic time. I learned a lot from Drew, which I'd fully expected. It was great to finally get to fish with him, and I'm sure I will again before too long. 

If you're interested in experiencing what I did up there, that truly world class fishing, check out Drew's website and book a trip. There isn't a better guide up there. He's been in front of the curve the whole way. 

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, Franky, Geof, Luke, Noah, Justin, Sean, Tom, Mark, and Jake for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Fly Fishing

 Noah and I did an eel pickup down in Maryland a little while back. It was a one stop shop and we had a fair time window before the scheduled pickup, so we of course decided to fish first. Noah had already fished the area on previous pickup trips, so he had a pretty good idea of where we should fish. He'd caught spot, white perch, and some exceptionally tiny striped bass previously but we hoped to add Atlantic croaker and some other species to that list. 

We awoke in muggy conditions at our hotel and drove to the area we'd fish in darkness. Upon arrival, there were vague signs of false dawn but it was mostly still dark. The little public fishing dock we'd found had a light on it that was attracting some needlefish, which proved too finicky for us to catch. It took a while before we were actually catching anything. The spot croaker came along first and they were a lifer for me. 

Lifelist fish #181: Spot croaker, Leiostomus xanthurus. Rank: Species

I was using the 1wt, and on such light fly gear that little spot was a fun scrap. I was essentially nymphing, using BHHESH and bouncing along the pilings. Sometimes I'd make short casts and figure eight retrieve. Both strategies worked fine. As the sun rose the action picked up a bit.

Working long the bulkead towards the exit of what appeared to be an old boat basin I caught something different. It was clearly another small drum of some sort and certainly a new species but for a while we weren't sure what it was. Noah did a bit of research on the way out and determined that these were American silver perch. 

Lifelist fish #182: American silver perch, Bairdiella chrysoura. Rank: Species

As things progressed we got more spot, more silver perch, and soon some extremely tiny striped bass and some pumpkinseeds as well. The water in this part of the Chesapeake was just fresh enough that there were a few sunfish kicking around. Catching them adjacent to the other species would seem stranger to me had I not already experienced catching bluefish, stripers, pumpkinseeds, and common carp on the same day in the same estuary in CT. The tininess of the stripers was to be expected, since the Chesapeake is the most important spawning ground for striped bass on the East Coast. Unfortunately it is also one of the most environmentally damaged waters I have ever seen. The Chesapeake is being killed from pesticides and nutrient runoff at an alarming rate. It is also being severely over-fished. It's unfortunate that this is far too often ignored as a part of the equation in the decline of striped bass stocks, especially when you talk to fisherman. 

After a little while we decided to move just a little bit south to see if we could find something different. Indeed we did, under a bridge not far away. Tiny bass were blitzing on silversides and juvenile spot in the shadow of a bridge. We began hammering them, as well as the white perch that the were schooled up with. 

It was fast fishing that kept my 1wt bent and the little click and pawl reel singing, and in time I also discovered that there were quite a few spot hanging around as well. I actually caught them by indicator nymphing. I employed this tactic in salt water in Florida to great affect last March, and indicator fishing in saltwater is something I intend to delve deeper into soon. Float fishing saltwater isn't non-existent but it isn't common either, and using an indicator while saltwater fly fishing is even less frequently done. The possibilities interest me. 

Noah was fishing a small soft plastic on a jig and mostly catching schoolies and white perch. Lots of them, actually. They were pretty fired up. I kept with my nymphs, but switched up when Noah caught something that surprised us both- a speckled trout! Speckled trout aren't unheard of in the Chesapeake but it was pretty far from my mind when considering likely species in the are we were fishing. It was a tiny little thing, but any speckled trout is a speckled trout and it would be a lifer for me. I up-sized a bit and after more of the same old same old, I eventually and pulled up a baby trout! I'd missed so many opportunities to catch this pretty, toothy drum species in Florida. I honestly didn't think for a second my first speckled trout would come from Maryland. 

Lifelist fish #183: Spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus. Rank: Species.

None of these fish were big. None of them were rare either. They were definitely all fun on the 1wt though. It's unfortunate that the Chesapeake Bay is in such a bad way. If its possible to have this much fun there now, I can't even imagine how good it was years ago. Like the Everglades and so many other places, we have lost so much and continue to lose so much more. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, Streamer Swinger, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Fishing Underwater

 Years ago I found a video of an angler catching a nice smallmouth bass on an ice fishing rod. None of those aspects made the video at all special. What was so remarkable is that the fish was caught while scuba diving... the man was in the water with the fish, fully submerged. It ate the jig mere feet from the guy. 

That video sparked a bit of interest in both me and Noah, interest we never acted on... until one hot day in July we decided to go fishing underwater. We launched his skiff on a clear, deep central CT lake and rigged up the tip sections of our fly rods, ready to meet the fish in their own territory instead of bringing them into ours. We set out to anchor the boat near a rock reef, then jumped out and began to fish in a way we'd never fished before.

This proved to be the most noteworthy learning experience I've had in a long time. Actually seeing the behavior of the fish in that sort of clarity from within their environment was distinctly different even from watching them in clear water from above the surface. One of the particularly interesting aspects was that every fish, regardless of species, was less weary of our presence than the would have been if we were above the water's surface. I don't know how this will apply to other fish species in fresh an saltwater, but the observations of spear fisherman seem to indicate that most saltwater species won't really care. 

Getting fish to eat was not complex. Changing flies or hooks- or re-baiting, for that matter -while swimming was an interesting new challenge. Setting the hook was different as well: more like a jab than anything. Strip setting obviously wasn't an option with a poke-pole, nor was swinging. We had to fight water resistance. Fighting the fish was interesting too. Having a smallmouth jumping above me while I was in the water looking up was one of the strangest things I've experienced in fishing.

 We also got a much deeper understanding of where fish held on different structure. We fished/dove reefs, islands, and docks, and instead of simply catching or not catching fish on those spots as we would were we to stay in the boat, we saw where fish were and how the were behaving far more intricately. Fish aren't just anywhere on a stone reef; being in the water seeing hing let us find undercuts, slopes, and holes that weren't visible from above the surface. 

This trip was really just the start, this is something we're going to explore quite a bit more. Clearly it will have some serious revelations. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.

Small Ponds in the Summer

 Walking the edge of a small body of water on a warm July morning brings forth a sense of nostalgia in me that many other fly fishers are probably just as familiar with. Many of us cut our teeth on small farm and park ponds, casting foam beetles and ants at bluegills, crappie, and largemouth bass. It's simple fishing, very simple. There isn't anything difficult about it at all. It's just fun- fly fishing in its most basic form.

Though this used to make up the bulk of my warm-water fishing and I still do a lot of it, it has changed from being all I could do because I was limited to waters within walking and biking distance from home to something I do when my time is too limited. Such was the case last week, on a day I had to run around to a couple tackle shops to re-stock necessities. I had very little time between finishing those tasks and the day simply becoming too hot to fish, so I made a quick stop at a pond on the way home. The pond was one I used to walk to from where my Dad lived at the time. It has always been loaded with bluegills and crappie. It also has one large koi and a few pretty big bass. However this time I was just interested in getting a few panfish before the interior of my 4Runner was hotter than the surface of the sun. I fished a muddler, which is of course a tremendously effective fly for many purposes. With a dozen fish to hand I was soon satisfied and ready to head home. 

Of course, small ponds like this often hold a few very large, educated fish. I once caught a 6 pound largemouth out of this particular pond, and of course there's that big old koi. Aside from convenience and nostalgia there is still plenty of reasons to fish places like this. But I'll happily take a few bluegills and crappie and be perfectly satisfied too. 

 Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. I truly would not be able to keep this going without you wonderful folks!

Big River Bluegills

 Right now, big bluegills are setting up to spawn around here. Many are already on beds, and more are being build daily. For someone that likes to catch trophy size specimens of any and all species- like myself -this is the time to look for big bluegills. I love trophy bluegills. A sunfish in excess of 9 inches is an absolute blast on a 5wt fly rod, and bluegills in particular fight spectacularly well. Probably my favorite place to fish for big 'gills is the Connecticut River and its backwaters. The average size is really good and the fish are abundant as well. I know private waters with some truly huge bluegills, and I've often considered sneaking into them to get some. But when it comes to big public water bluegills in CT, there's little better than the big river. 

Last week I devoted some special effort to a particularly productive bank. Its one of those places I know I can count on each year, there are always beds for about a month solid and the fish are always trophy sized. The methods I use aren't complex, but my casts do typically need to be on point. Before the fish are all on beds, they are usually relating to specific logs. Not every dead-fall along the bank holds fish, but two or three are usually piled with them. Small streamers are my weapon of choice. The action is almost always hot and heavy. 

You may be scoffing right now. There is still this perception that bluegills are for children, and I've even seen kids turn their noses up after being indoctrinated in the trout and bass centric world of American freshwater fishing. I say bullshit, bluegills are awesome, and these big bull males pull harder pound for pound than any largemouth bass. 

Given the relative abundance of these fish and the fact that they are in fact an introduced species, harvesting some is not a bad idea. They do taste quite good, and though they are slightly less easy to clean than crappie or perch you can still get a lot of meat off of one. Just leave the big 9 inch plus specimens to preserve the trophy fish genetics. 

I'll be targeting giant bluegills sporadically through the coming weeks, both specifically and while out looking for other species. Hopefully I'll be able to encounter a few super schools of huge bull bluegills that pull like miniature permit and jump like... well, nothing else really jumps like a bluegill, really. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version. 

Vibrant Sunfish & Bass on a 1 Weight Fly Rod

 Geoff Klane of Brackish Flies had been trying to get a rod built for me for a long while now. I was looking for something very specific and very uncommon: a 1 wt fiberglass rod. Eventually the right blank came along and Geoff was able to build me a very special rod that I could still afford. What resulted is unquestionably the most beautiful stick in my arsenal. He did a phenomenal job on it. I went out to the Cape to pick it up from him and got to spend a little bit of time casting for sea run brook trout with it. I moved a couple but didn’t connect. It wasn’t until a few days later that I’d really get to put the new rod to use. I visited a small park pond with some particularly pretty pumpkinseeds. 

Bluegill x pumpkinseed hybrid.

Pumpkinseeds are the predominant stillwater native sunfish in the Northeast, and a very underappreciated species. Everyone waxes poetic about the beauty of brook trout, but in my opinion pumpkinseeds give them a run for their money for looks. With a white and red edged dark “ear”, shades of aquamarine, orange, red, and green across their face and flanks, and fabulously ornate fins, pumpkinseeds are a spectacular animal to look at. They are often very aggressive, and I had no problem finding them in this little pond between the bluegills. More than a dozen strikingly colorful fish put a bend in the new rod. 

I also found a non-native species, largemouth bass, in the early stages of spawning. The small males were especially willing and put up an exceptional fight on the light fiberglass rod. A couple actually peeled drag. Some of them were quite lovely too- there's definitely something appealing about the shades of green and live on their sides. There are certainly some large ones in this pond, but pressured as it is they are very difficult to fool. Maybe I’ll return soon to try catching one of those old fish. For the time being the colorful and willing pumpkinseeds were very satisfying. They were exactly the sort of thing I wanted a glass 1 wt fly rod for. 

Until next time, 

Fish for the love of fish.

Fish for the love of places fish live.

Fish for you.

And stay safe and healthy.

Thank you to my Patrons; Erin, David, John, Elizabeth, Brandon, Christopher, Shawn, Mike, Sara, Leo, C, Franky, Geof, Luke, and Noah for making Connecticut Fly Angler possible. If you want to support this blog, look for the Patreon link at the top of the right side-bar in web version.