Free Fishing in NY

I've been interesting in fishing the Delaware River for a while now. It's headwaters start in NY and as it works it's way south it creates PA's eastern border, until it reaches the Atlantic near Philly.

The upper reaches of the Delaware are supposed to be some fine trout waters, with holdovers as well as wild born browns and rainbows.

Fly Casting,The Belgian Cast - MidCurrent

Having trouble throwing multi-fly rigs, big streamers, sinking lines or some other get-up with a lot of beef at the end of the line?

Try the Belgian cast..... (no, there are no waffles involved.)

Fly Casting,The Belgian Cast - MidCurrent

Tenkara, pink PFD's and jigs made of corn.

I bought my 3 year old a new rod the other day, as her current rod (of Dora Explorer make) took quite a beating last year and I'm pretty sure it no longer works. So I bought her an electric blue and hot pink (yes, the color combination that hurts your eyes the worst) Shakespeare. For $15 it's kind of a nice rod.

As soon as we bought it we had to try it. We only had about 10 minutes, so I tied on a jig with a pink head and chart body and we sat at the closest stream and tossed the jig. No takers but that's ok.

Fishing today?

Nah, I think not. The trees on the right side are usually a few feet from the bank.  And this is after the stream came down. Earlier in the morning the water went to about 50 feet behind where I was standing. 

Take the Pledge

Those fine folks over at Recycled Fish have post a Sportsman's Stewardship Pledge, meaning you take a pledge to be a concerned and water friendly guy or gal, sign up, and they will email you all kinds of info. You also have the option to join and, depending on your level of membership, you can get some pretty sweet goodies.

Recycled Fish is a non-profit organization that advocates a "lifestyle of stewardship" in regards to fisheries and waterways. Check em out, join if you'd like, but I would ask that even if you don't become a member, try and take away at least a little of their approach to conserving your local fishery.

Fly of the Week: Bird of Prey Caddis

Today I picked up the book Fly Fishing Guide to Upper Delaware River by Paul Weamer. The majority of this river is fairly close to my house (between an hour to Philly at it's mouth to about 3 hours to the border with NY.) I have never fished it but have always wanted to. And since a three hour drive is a little far for a scouting trip, I figured this book would be the next best thing.

Here Comes the Sun…..block | Shes a ManiYak!

Stumbled on this blog, and post today while trolling the OBN. Post contains some really good info on skin protection from that fiery bugger, the sun.

I hate to say it but I rarely put on sunscreen; namely because I never remember to buy it. But, after hearing story after story of anglers getting skin cancer, I've built up a wardrobe of lightweight pants, long sleeved shirt, and a goofy floppy hat.

Not that it is total protection, but it's better than nothing. but after reading this post, I may go out and get a bottle of sun screen to throw in the back of the van. Maybe one of these days I'll even use it.....

Here Comes the Sun…..block | Shes a ManiYak!

Happy Easter

Favorite Outdoor food.

The OBN has put out the prompt asking what our favorite outdoor/camping food is. Burgers, steaks, corn on the cob..... how is one man to chose?

I guess if I had to lay the chips down on one thing, fresh caught fish is tops. Steak and burgers always taste good, but when your dining on a fish that was getting it's swim on an hour ago, that's a slice of heaven.

My favorite way (because I suck at cleaning fish) is to gut it, chop of fins, tail and head and then wrap it in aluminum foil and toss it on the edge of the fire, flipping every 10 minutes until done.

Delicioso!

Trout Unlimited Photo Contest

I just received word that TU is having their yearly photo contest, with the winner being included in next years calendar. You also get your choice of some pretty cool gear:

The grand prize-winning photo will be featured in the 2012 TU wall calendar and the winning photographer will win their choice of personalized Winston BIIIx fly rod, a Ross Vexsis fly reel and their choice of a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses. 

There will also be some runner up prizes in the form of  Costa Del Mar sunglasses for the top four in the categories of Wild Fish, Landscapes/Scenics, Young Anglers and Anglers in Action. 


Deadline is May 1st, so you better get out there and get clicking. Camera's still click, right? Well, mine does anyway......

Earth Day Sweepstakes from the Sierra Club

Want a chance to win a trip to Vieques Island? Then take an Earth Day pledge to register! Even if you don't win, you'll still be doing something cool and only moderately hippie-esque.

Going Viral with Examiner.com

I guess since this is a blog on the internet, I'm already viral. But I'm getting even more viral-er, without needing $10 or a darkened alley.

I've been selected to be the Harrisburg Travel Outdoor Examiner for Examiner.com. I'll be writing about local outdoors destinations, as well as news, tips, et cetera.

Fly of the Week: the Pompous Jerk

I was flipping through last Falls issue of Fly Fisher and Fly Tier and they had an entire article on purple flies. I think that purple flies are great producers, along with blue, as most flies have very little to none of these colors in them.

The fish haven't seen a plethora of these flies, don't know what they are and as such, hit them up because they just don't know any better.

Fly of the Week Archive

I just created a page that will be the final resting place for the fly of the week. There's 31 of these bad boys to date (I'm honestly astonished at the number..... how the time flies.) So if you've just recently decided to join my on my misadventures and would like to see all of the flies that I've posted so far, just click up top and behold the plethora of semi-efficiently tied flies. Some even catch fish too!

I'll be updating it monthly, so if you miss a week and can't find it in the older posts, just sit tight and it will pop up in the archive pretty soon.

I might also do a gear review page, so that the reviews can be found easier.

Any other pages you folks think I should add?

Fly of the (last) Week: the Black Ghost

Finally, I have it. As good as it's gonna get any time soon, anyway. The Black Ghost is one of those streamer patterns that I've always loved but a) had no idea how to tie and b) didn't know where to start.

BACKPACKER First Aid Center

From the people at Backpacker.com, here is a series of slideshows and videos on first aid treatments.

From blisters to treating a fractured bone is here, good stuff for those of us that like to go stomping about far from civilization (and help.)

Backpacker Magazine - BACKPACKER First Aid Center

Tenkara: the first cast

I cast the Tenkara rod for the first time tonight. I had a few issues, but I'm pretty sure most of them were my fault.

For starters, I tried to use a knotted leader likeI normally use for fly fishing. On the western rig, they turn over really well. On the tenkara, not so much. I made a 13' knotted leader, using 2x/4x/6x. Cast after cast the leader just piled up.

Fly of the Week: check back this weekend

I've been working on the Fly of the Week, the Black Ghost, for a bit and it's not quite ready for prime time. It's a matter of a) not knowing what I'm doing, b) not having the right materials, and c) really not knowing what I'm doing.

If your really dying to see the Black Ghost, you can see the pics and the step by step on NAFFF right here. I've never tied a streamer like this before and it's proving a little more challanging that I thought (stupid feather wings....)

I plan to have this up on Sunday, when I have time to really sit and work on it.

Also, this is the last in the NAFFF series. While I have a few other flies in the wing (get it? wings? fly humor......) if anyone has any suggestions of a fly to post, or one they would like to see tied up, drop me a line at flyfishinado(at)yahoo.com. Even better, if you have a fly you wouldn't mind sharing, send it over. Sharing means caring.....

Tenkara has arrived.

I'm already impressed with Tenkara Fly Fish, the company I ordered the Fountainhead 11' Tenkara rod from. I ordered it on Saturday. By Sunday I had an email saying it would be in the mail on Monday. And today I had the package at my door. That's some speedy deliver, especially since some of the big box stores, oh, let's call them Cadela's, usually takes around two weeks. 

Contacting Me

I've received a few emails from people contacting me through the site. Most of these emails have been very short blurbs that, to be honest looked a bit like spam so I treated them as such.

If you are trying to contact me legitimately, please give me a little bit of info to go off of, ie who you are and why your contacting me. You will be more likely to get through my spam filter and get a response from me than a "hey, I like this, can you contact me."

A Gear Review: MSR Water Filter

If you do a lot of hiking in to a fishing spot, you know you need a bit more gear than the average fisherman does. One of those things is either enough water to last the day (which can be over a gallon on those really hot days. Holy Burdens Batman!) or a way to filter the water that you find there.

Sunday Morning Service

Decided that today was a good day to cross that first item off of this years Bucket List. I had found a stream last year on state game land that had a few trout in it while scouting for whitetail season. It was hot, a drought, and I thought better of fishing for 10 trout in a puddle that was 3' by 4'.  I didn't get a chance to get back before winter but today was going to be my day.

Need to Roll Cast?

I will freely admit, that I have probably one of the worse roll casts around. It's pretty much a downright disgrace. Every now and then I try to improve it, but no such luck to date.

Tonight was another night of perusing videos in an attempt to not suck at this any more, and I found a video by Mel Krieger, one of the best casting guys to hold a fly rod. It was his video that really made the connection for me on how to haul, so hopefully this will help with my rolls as well.

If your roll cast could use some improvement, here's the video.

Tenkara is on it's way.

I've decided to bite the bullet and give these new fangled Tenkara rods a try. I ordered the 11' Caddis Foutainhead rod  since it was, quite frankly, the cheapest one they had and I have a little trepidation about getting new and exciting things. It has to do with explaining to the Misses why I need yet another rod while I have all those "collecting dust." Trying to tell her they, like whine, get better with age didn't seem to work too well.

So keep an eye out for a review on both tenkara fishing and these little-known Tenkara rods on the scene.

If you tie flies, you need to check this out!

Straight from the Northwest Public TV, here is Fly Tying: The Angler's Art. It's a TV show that shows how to tie 3 flies per episode.

And with about 13 episodes per season, and 4 seasons, that a lot of flies.

FlyTying: The Angler's Art on OMN

Why I Blog.....

The Outdoor Blogger Network does weekly writing prompts, but up until now I haven't joined in. I'd been waiting for one that kinda struck a chord.

Well, recently Flyfishinado hit the 6 month mark, as well as getting over 1000 visitors from 33 countries worldwide, so I thought that this might be an appropriate topic to tackle.

A different kind of Dry Fly Fishing

Maybe I'm the only one that thinks this, but waders can be such a hassle. You kick them on like a kid getting into their footy PJ's, then your pants are up past your knees so you shove your hands down try to work your pants leg down while keeping some semblance of dignity.  All to go into water that barely reaches your shins.

Fly of the Week: the Leadwing Coachman

Our fly this week hails from the classic wet category. And if you've ever tried to tie a classic wet, you already know that this means it's going to be a pain in the a**......

I attempted to tie a wet fly once before. Once I realizes that it was only going to be an exercise in frustration, I promptly walked away and did not look back. So when Allen said that he was going to tie a Leadwing Coachman as one of the patterns for the NAFFF tie-a-long; I was a little apprehensive.

New Poll: what do you consider a caught fish?

I just posted a new poll to get everyones thoughts on this somewhat controversial topic. Here's a bit of background on it:

Up until recently I only considered a fish in my hand to be considered "caught" and it gets the esteem of becoming a notch on the rod. But these past few days I've had a few fish that I fought to my feet and, for one reason or another, got free.

And I started to wonder, does it really matter that I didn't bend over and grab him? A few of them I could have, but instead I let them fight for a few more moments. For a few, the only difference was a matter of distance between my hand and the fish since I was going to release him anyway.

So what do you think? Does a fish only count if is makes contact with your palm? Or are you content with fooling the fish to take your fly, fight him to you and them have him go on his merry way, no matter how they manage to get released.

I'll be honest, I was having a better thrill watching the fish hammer the fly and then experiencing that heart pumping action of the fight so much that I think getting one of them to hand would have been just a little cherry on top. Maybe I'm just getting to enjoy the art of the chase more than the catch.....

Opening Weekend: a Pictorial Recap

A way to friendly caddis.  

CGR - My Final Thoughts

I've been using the Cabela's CGR 4/5 almost exclusively for my past dozen outings or so. I'm mostly happy with the rod. For the past few days, I've paired it with my new Allen XL reel and lined it with the Cortland Sylk line. Floating DT 6wt to be exact.

Ah, Opening Day

That wonderful time of year where we get to fish the streams that the state dumps truckloads of fish into. Where fisherman and ladies come together in a spirit of camaraderie, lovingly embracing their fellow man in the mutual love and respect of a shared sport. If only any of this was true. 

6 Key Features of a Small Stream Dry Fly | Dharma of the Drift

And excellent post by Mr. Darma of the Drift, on this Opening Day eve.

If you've never been to his blog, make sure you do. He ties some fantastic flys, and is known to drop pearls of wisdom like this one:

"When you're on a small stream, it's usually good to dumb down your entomology skills, and instead of thinking in terms of 'isonychia', 'october caddis', and 'baetis', start thinking in terms of 'little', 'big', 'light', and 'dark'."

That's so true, it should be in the Bible.

6 Key Features of a Small Stream Dry Fly | Dharma of the Drift