So I really don't know what I was thinking when I tied this fly, other that that I wanted something worm like. Why the gold tinsel? I have no clue. I don't think I caught more than 10 fish on this fly, but one of them was really special. It was my first trout over 20 inches, a wild brown in my home river no less. That was the fish that really got me. I've caught a lot of big trout since. I will always remember that one though.
flyfishingcts.blogspot.com/2013/12
My first false albacore was a memorable fish, more because of the ridiculousness of the fight than anything else. I've had some memorable fights but none quite as absurd as that one. The fish sounded and charged the boat a minute into the fight, actually going right under the boat and continuing to run on the other side when I caught up to it. Mark Aplert then had to get the boat going and chase the fish so I could keep a backing overlap from stopping the fish and breaking it off.
flyfishingcts.blogspot.com
This rather ruined dragonfly nymph has a very memorable catch behind it. It wasn't my biggest carp, not by a long shot, but the fish I hooked before it had stolen my fly line. I caught a sizable carp on just backing and a short leader. That's pretty wild. flyfishingcts.blogspot.com
This foam humpy was the second fly an 18 inch holdover brown on the Beaverkill ate, was hooked with, and was caught on by me withing 6 hours. At the time that was my biggest trout on a dry, and it was my first nice fish in the Catskills.
This used-to-be Hornberg lived on me hat for a while. It found itself there after it caught me a 15 inch brook trout and a 14 inch landlocked salmon in 6 minutes my first time ever fishing Upper Dam. Two nice fish in a remarkable place in fly fishing history. Very cool, a very much worth saving. That same morning I caught my longest wild brook trout ever in a canoe on my own in Quimby Pond. That was a very cool day.
This fly caught my first, second, third, fourth, and fifth striped bass on the fly. Those fish changed me. I've not been quite the same person since. I'm a bit... saltier.
 |
Some of the most memorable fish I've caught have been oddballs, and the Radioactive Muddle above definitely caught an oddball. flyfishingcts.blogspot.com/2015/08
This little yellow stimulator took what is still my biggest CT wild brook trout at 14 inches. I got to fish with my grandfather, which doesn't happen often, and I caught one of the best fish of my life. Those are special memories.
This decapitated sulfur parachute caught my biggest wild brown trout. He was 24 inches, stunningly colored, and well built. I didn't get a photo of him. But I can picture it like it happened an hour ago. It was a huge dry fly fish, a memorable take, and a powerful fight on a fiberglass rod... basically that fish was the essence of dry fly fishing. flyfishingcts.blogspot.com/2017/06
This beadhead Picket Pin took a decent smallstream brookie from Maine's backwoods, but that isn't the maine reason I kept it. I kept it because my dad and I worked our butts off to get to a deep spring hole, working way harder than we had a right to to reach the fish. Then we doubled up on the two biggest brook trout in the stream. Mine was a male, his was a female, they were both about 12 inches long. It was an incredibly unlikely moment that I will never forget.
And finally, this. I may never beat the this. Nothing I can think of, aside from discovering an entirely new species, will overshadow this. Not a goliath grouper on the fly, not a 200lb tarpon, not a giant arapaima. I caught one of the last sea run Atlantic salmon in CT on a sz. 14 dry fly and 4x tippet.
Well, that's that. I'm going fishing.
Catching that sea run salmon is a memory of a life time. It is a shame that the program to bring them back didn't work out, with only a few coming back despite the millions of smolts put in. I have read that the salmon that came spawned in our waters before the dams were built in the 1800's were a unique strain that could not be duplicated.
ReplyDeleteIt's remarkable how few people realize the initial perceived success of the project. The first year that fish were projected to return, they did. And not just a few. Hundreds. There were so many fish trying to pass the Salmon River's Leeseville Dam that DEP workers had to put a picnic table in the eel pools to keep salmon from using that to bypass the fishtrap. You see, at the time they were not allowing fish to pass the dams and spawn on their own, they were taking them to hatcheries to spawn them in a controlled environment. Fisherman weren't catching tons of salmon because very few made it past the dams. Yes, the numbers have declined since, drastically. Why? Climate change. That really is the only available option. We messed up our atmosphere so much that it's pushing Atlantic salmon closer to extinction ever day.
DeleteI didn't realize the numbers of returning salmon were so good at the beginning of the restoration project. I don't know why the numbers dwindled in later years, but it is sad they did. An ample annual spawn run of Atlantic Salmon in the Connecticut River valley would have been awesome. Interesting though, that there are still a few that come back each year. Perhaps some kind of survivor strain? I don't know.
DeleteCT used to be the Southernmost part of the salmon's range in CT. Since the project started, temperatures and currents in the Atlantic have changed enough to push Salmon out of this part of their range. The same thing is currently going on in main. Some fish still return because some fish still revive. This was the last year to see fish from the federal program, so its statistically improbable that salmon will continue to return from this year on.
DeleteA great post of fly and fishing memories! The memory of that Brook trout will always be with us and I can't wait to do it again.
ReplyDeleteTie, fish, write and photo on...
Yup, that was a happy day.
DeleteRowan
ReplyDeleteFirst off an incredible journey of fishing, with many more years ahead of you to add to the journey. I can see you writing a book one day and sharing your fly fishing expertise. Those memorable flies would look awesome framed!! Hope you and your family have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year---thanks for sharing
Thanks Bill,
DeleteMerry Christmas and Happy New Year to you as well.