Musings and observations while waiting for Mother Nature to stop torturing us with her fickleness.
With less than a month before anglers can pursue salmon and lake trout for open water fishing, the pace has quickened at the shop. Anglers are buying fly-tying materials to craft their favorite streamer flies. It’s interesting to see anglers’ wheels turning in their minds trying to create ad…
Old Man Winter made sure that we did not forget about him this week. Snow, wind and arctic cold bursts are back on the scene. In what has been a rollercoaster winter, it was not a surprise. As the wind cuts through the winter clothes, we begin to look for signs that winter is waning and spri…
My first recollection of fishing dry flies was at the local fish and game club where my dad was a member. The spring-fed pond was stocked several times a year with big hatchery brook trout.
It is said that behind every good man there is a good woman. While time will tell if I am a good man, I have been blessed with a 45-year soul mate. My wife, Leslie, is my rock and my inspiration. I know that I would be a shadow of a man had our paths not crossed on the soccer field at the Un…
Wow, it is cold out today. While Granite Staters are weather tough, they are also weather wise. We throw another log on the fire or more pellets in the stove and set up our fly tying equipment, our tablet, and a favorite beverage and get busy filling our fly boxes and planning fishing trips …
Every decade or so one of those endless debates among anglers rears its head. Scrolling through social media the other day an opinion piece from Kirk Deeter, editor of Trout Magazine, jumped out at me. My reaction: “Here we go again.”
Hunters and anglers have long led the call for conservation of our fish and wildlife. These user pay an excise tax on all of the hunting and fishing equipment they purchase. The money is collected and then redistributed back to the states for use programs that protect and propagate fish and …
Mother Nature has been tempting ice anglers so far this winter. Just as the ice appears to be safe there is a warm up that makes the ice unstable. With this in mind, ice fishing tournaments have still been planned.
Scrolling through social media the other day my eye caught a post from Fulling Mill about the new flies for 2023. The fly displayed was named Weiss’ Penny Perdigon. The fly was tied on a jig hook, for tight line nymphing, with a copper bead and a copper holographic tinsel body, coq de leon f…
It's that time of year where anglers make their resolutions for 2023. Before we get into the 2023 resolutions, let’s see how we did on the 2022 resolutions.
As the clock struck midnight, Troutman walked into his fly-tying room. He knew that his wife, Pink Lady, still had a couple of gifts to wrap and place under the tree. Christmas Eve was always a whirlwind of activity preparing for all the events on Christmas Day.
One week from today is Christmas Eve. I don’t know about you, but this kid still gets a rush of excitement and anticipation on Christmas Eve. The reasons may be different than they were 60-odd years ago, but the emotions are still there.
In November, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis released their annual report on the contribution of outdoor activity to the National Gross Domestic Product. The numbers showed that outdoor recreation accounts for almost two percent of GDP at $454 billion. This was an 18 percent increase ov…
Watching the thermometer earlier in the week, it became apparent that ice would start to form on the smaller ponds and sheltered bays of the bigger lakes. These are the signs that tell anglers ice fishing is right around the corner.
One of the great things about angling is the never-ending education received. Every time out on the water can add to the building of the encyclopedic knowledge of trying to outwit a creature with a brain the size of a pea.
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