Monday, March 18, 2024

03.18.24 Blane Chocklett on Master's of the Fly...

 


     The last Master's of the Fly show for 2024 featured Blane Chocklett. Blane discussed his history in fly fishing, guiding, and fly design. One of his first flies that became really put him on the map was the
Gummy Minnow (below). Since then he has introduced numerous flies such as the Game, Feather, and 


Jerk Changers which have been popular with tyers and anglers alike. He was also the first to really introduce and use the metal shanks to tie on rather then a mono extension. Chocklett now offers those materials and flies at his store, The Chocklett Factory, HERE


Above, Blane shows off a nice striped bass on a Jerk Changer. 


Sunday, March 17, 2024

03.17.24 Happy St. Patrick's Day.....

 


.....still no 2024 bass. Next five days should do it. Things are looking good. Some of my favorite Monmouth County spots are gettin' good. Time for a night shift ride. 






Saturday, March 16, 2024

03.16.24 Glad I made the trek out east...


     Beautiful days can really put a damper on a trade shows attendance, especially if people have been battling cabin fever for months coupled with the recent Daylight Savings Time change. But that said the Long Island Fly Fishing Expo went off without a hitch and had, to my estimation, a good amount of attendees. As with all shows the first push of humanity is usually the largest. 


     I left the house around 5 am and arrived a little after 7. I was lucky to just have a vice and materials to set up and that gave me a chance to say hello to some people and browse the floor before the gates opened up. Last year I scored at the Idywilde booth and did a repeat performance this year. A year ago it


was a Rod Mounts (interior) fly rod rack for my Jeep and a few big bags of marabou. This year I got a book by Jersey boy Mark Sosin and an interesting fly material holder set called Fly Hive. These are large velcro tipped heavy plastic storage bags which are great for bucktails and saddles. They came out in 2005 and a set was 8 large bags, two smaller ones, and a carrying case for $99.95. I scored 10 bags for $10. I also found a fly dryer/display (BELOW) that had an asking price of $5...SOLD. 


    I was lucky enough to share the Squimpish Flies table with Uptown Dave. Dave is a well known tier and had a steady stream of fans and buyers for his various flies. We had lots of stop, look, and ask 


people and we hopefully were able to answer their questions and send them in the right direction which was either to a vendor at the show carrying the Squimpish line or over to their website. My trying-to-match-a-Spook fly had lots of pick-ups and put-downs. But the best put-down, literally,  came late in the 


day when an older salty looking fellow came over, picked it up, and said, "What the f%$k are you going to throw that with a 17 weight?". He put it down and walked away before I could give any kind of explanation. It was a mic drop moment. That's exactly how it went down, just ask Dave. It was that funny. 


     The show, to me, was exactly like it was last year, which was great. There may have been a few more presentations and I popped into a few. I saw Joe "Era's Tour" Cordiero teaching his Flatwing pattern.


    Joe left home in January before the Somerset show and hasn't been home since. He's been all the way south down to Florida and back. His patterns, materials, and book have been received well. I also got to see author John Fields talk on his 50 Top Flies For Trophy Striped Bass. Fields has a book coming out in June called Fly Fishing For Trophy Striped Bass. He's very excited, and so am I as I have a picture


in there somewhere. He said the book went to print yesterday and it's all set to come in on time. If you like you can pre-order that book on Amazon, HERE. Joe "Galapagos" Calcevechia was in the house and 


I got to hear all about striped marlin on the fly. Joe is in the process of hosting trips to the Galapagos and possibly Kenya to fish for hundreds of pound fish with sails. He will be booking for next year in the upcoming months. At one point he was catching up with Enrico and I jumped behind his vice to 


dissect his big fly, which I'm not sure what he has named. But if you aren't going to tie a big fly and need one just in case I recommend looking up his store at Saltwater Custom Flies and ordering one, just one will do, as long as the big bluefish don't make a showing while you're in the middle of your cast. 

     Brad satiated anyone's need for bucktail and I watched as the below happy camper just kept flipping through the bins and handing them to his wife. Brad even had black bucktails, but not homegrown black, but they were fine if you found them. I was able to get some Ahrex hooks from him as well as 

a Keogh saddle hackle in blue that he had on consignment. I used that on some herring flies I tied today. John Papciak had a nice photo booth going and of course I couldn't help but stop and say hello to Jim 



Levinson and see his fantastic Montauk/striped bass images. I just have to get one. I said last year I was going to seal the deal, even if I had to make payments, but I never did. I have my eye on the "Five Horsemen", 6/250. It's mine..one day. 


      Mark Sedotti had a table with his "Sedotti Slammers" for sale. He did a casting presentation and I spaced out and missed it. From what I heard he casted a 17 inch fly with a 5 weight rod...148 feet.

      Besides my Fly Hive finds, the favorite part of my day was watching the three young lads above tying up a storm and offering them for sale. Evan, Jackson, and Luke were just cool kids and it was nice to see some young life in the ballroom. Evan had tied up some, I think they're called Flexo Crab Flies, 


and I bought two to use up in Martha's Vineyard sight fishing for striped bass, hopefully, this June. The ride home through he Bronx to the GWB was a mess and I think the St. Patrick's Day parade traffic may have had something to do with it. While in traffic my ADHD wouldn't allow me to sit still so I tried out


the Fly Hive's with some saddles I had. I think they'll work perfect as I always find my fly tying room a mess and me never able to find what I need at that moment. On the way home I stopped at two spots just because it was so nice out even though Mother Nature had the fan turned on high. My mummichog 


Pop lip fly is more of a diver than a swimmer and that's because I have no curve in the silicone lip out front. There was no one home there or at the stop I made closer to home. There are no more shows, 


 meetings, or presentations left in this late winter and early spring so now it's just time to fish....hard. 

Friday, March 15, 2024

03.15.24 I wanna catch me a City of Brotherly Love striped bass....


     Made my way south down into Philly today for an Erin visit at St. Joe's. This winter I have been doing a lot of research on the possibility of catching striped bass in and around Philadelphia. Anglers have been doing it for years, if not centuries, and me catching one wouldn't be earth shattering for anyone but me. 


     The part that fascinates me is the Fishtown to Betsy Ross Bridge. Lot's of industry, lots and lots of new construction, tons of vacant lots and factories, and what's got me are those abandoned piers. It may not be the safest place to fish but it's fishing so why not take the risk. 

      During the visit we hit the TCO Fly Shop in Bryn Mawr and I was able to get some slotted tungsten beads for a fly I'm working on, as I'm still trying to match that Doc Spook, and some goldfish Krystal Flash for the mummichog flies I need to tie because I keep donating my stash to the river. 


     Early tomorrow morning I'll be heading out to the Long Island Fly Fishing Expo where I'll be sharing a Squimpish Flies table with David "Uptown Dave" Buduen. Should be a good time.

 

03.15.24 Now starts the two-a-days....


     Many striped bass anglers look to the magic number of 50 as the kick-off to the spring season. It's just sounds really good. 49 degree water temperatures, not so much, 50 degrees, let's go! I see that yesterday the Raritan Bay hit 50 degrees, at least in some spots, and I am sure higher in others depending how much and where the sun was beating down. 


     After work I stopped waiting to kick off my own year and get one to hand but this year, compared to last, it's just not going to happen later. I'll hopefully only be a week behind. The tide was on the ebb and it was near the bottom so that means low, real off-color water, and hardly much for current. I gave it a college try anyway and was lucky enough to only donate one more fly to the river bottom. 


     Out west the river is waking up. Dropping water, increased temps., and the arrival of shad has us on track to be similar to last year. Hopefully we'll just see some kind of steady weather this spring, not that up and down drought-to-deluge and equator-to-North Pole weather fluctuations. That leaves fly fishermen and striped bass off of their games. 


     It's time for two-a-days which means basically any time I'm near or pass any striped bass water, before or after work, or during the overnight hours, I'm going. Theresa is not looking forward to another spring of me being obsessed disruptive, and annoying. But if you think of it, I'm 56, who know's how many more springs I have left in this world, or physically able to fish. Let's just I'm here for another 20, that'll put me at 76, but the last 5 of those have me not game-time ready and my fly fishing career has peaked out, well it's over. So I'm down to 15 years from 2024. 

     So 15? How quick does 15 years go? Imagine it like you're a huge baseball fan and you can go to your last 15 games ever. Or you have 15 times you can go to your favorite bar or restaurant. Or see your favorite people for the last 15 times. 15 years goes quick, and it seems the older I get the quicker time goes. While the spring is my favorite the same could be said for the fall run on the beaches, or your annual trip to your favorite fishing destination. 

    While the non-getters say "It's only fishing", for many, the annual get up and go each spring is a great awakening in both body and mind and something that keeps us focused, motivated, punished at times, and alive. 

Thursday, March 14, 2024

03.14.24 Good to see the law out there....




     We're getting close. When I walked out of work yesterday the outside temps were in the 60's and after a drive around it bumped up to 70. Surely the fish would be awake. While the bump in temps and the hot sun beating down on the water is good, the recent rains and higher water kind of cancelled it out. That's at least for anglers throwing plugs, rubbers and flies. I heard the Raritan Bay bloodworm bite was good yesterday. I did a two-river tour and found the water still up and off color. On stop two I got a visit from a NJ DEP Conservation Officer doing a license check. It did take me a long minute to find it on my phone and he asked if next time I went out if I could have a hard copy on me and even better if it was displayed. 

     My morning commute started with listening to the Millhouse podcast with Bob Popovics. It was very good. Great audio. There is also a video side of the podcasts, which I just learned about, so you can see 


them as well. For me I listen as I am driving to work. So what did I think? It was very interesting. I know Bobby's story, because it has been told in print, video and audio before, and that was revisited for a short while, which was good for listeners who don't know it. Mill opened up with some history of IGFA and records and tippet, yet again, which is fine, because there is a connection between all that and the Saltwater Flyrodder's of America and Fred Schrier and Mark Sosin. But as you know if you are a listener Mill is all about all of that stuff, plus more on tournament fishing and tournament fishing wins. I felt Bob really wanted to spend the time, almost all of it if he could, talking about the history of saltwater fly rodding, which we all know really started in the Northeast. Popovic's opened up with it and went back at it in the end, but Andy directed his podcast where he wanted it to go and he wrapped it up as some more history of SWFROA was introduced. Popovic's, like most of the guests they have, sounded great, and the flow of the conversation is just really that good. I will surely have this one on my repeat list. 

      And when I got home my new SA line for the 12wt arrived in the mail. I'll switch it up today after working maybe will be able to christen it this weekend. 


Wednesday, March 13, 2024

03.13.24 Popovic's drops today....


      You know how much of a fan I am of Andy Mill and the Millhouse podcast he and his son Nicky created. Just about each day the one + hour podcasts keeps me company during my commute from Titusville to Newark. Some of them are that good that I don't mind a repeat. 

     While the boys were up in Edison for The Fly Fishing Show in January they stopped by Bob's house and The Shady and sat down with him. Today that podcast drops and I've been waiting for it. Hopefully Bob didn't blow it....kidding of course. I can't wait to listen. 

      But......you know me, always ready to offer my two cents. What I don't like about, well it's not the podcast itself or the boys doing it, is the feeling I get that saltwater fly fishing for tarpon, bonefish, permit and sailfishes is somehow the beginning, end, and be-all. Fishing "legal" within IGFA standards with four pound tippets, tournament wins after tournament wins, and a little chest beating about several guests as "the greatest ever" has me at least, feeling like what I do, and what we do up here in the Northeast, and specifically fly fishing for striped bass, just doesn't measure up when we all stand around and pull our pants down. That always leaves me with a sour taste in my mouth. 

Enjoy the podcast and soon I'm going to rant more on the North vs South beef that is brewing up in my bowels. 

Monday, March 11, 2024

03.11.24 Well the rains came....


      While the rain wasn't good for fishing it's good for the river and the fish. I fished it though just incase there was a hungry bank hugger. The rain ended Saturday but the river continued to rise until last night, maybe it'll crest today. It's just about 60,000 cfs now. A few days and a bunch of tides and things should kick off around New Jersey, or at least make it more enjoyable then the wind, rain, and cold. 



Sunday, March 10, 2024

03.10.24 Well I pulled the trigger....




      Yep, I just had to do it. I started chewing away at the bottom of my Orvis Access 12 wt last year. First the butt was gone, then the rings started to fall off, and it was time to make a decision. After casting the Orvis Helios D at Princeton Orvis a few weeks back that was all she wrote. I fish too hard to not have some battle ready gear to use. I really don't get caught up with the latest and greatest when it comes to gear but it was time. I skipped over the Helios 3 line of rods and stuck with the H2's, Recon, Access, and Clearwater rods over the last seven years. As I upgrade over the next year I'll have suitable back-ups in the 10, 11 and 12 wts that I use consistently. 


     Today I'll put in a rod repair order with the Mother Ship in Vermont, I think that's where they do rod repairs, so I'll be ready if something happens to my new 12 wt. I took the new rod out for a test drive yesterday, and while I didn't get it for its accuracy, it did cast better for me than the Access. One thing I'll be doing is replacing the fly line for it. After casting the new Helios with the SA Sonar line I'm going to make that purchase as well. The problem is there are a ton of options and I'm not sure if one line will do it. Below is the line I casted and am thinking of going with. 


     That wasn't the only package that got delivered on Friday. I also received my Telesin selfie stick for my Go-Pro camera. I had an earlier version but Lauren donated her Hero 5 Black, like I know what that means, to my cause. I hope to shoot some video this year. The stick extends to 10 feet so I'll be able



to stick it down in the water, or behind some rocks, or into the troughs on the beach. I also got an iPhone camera mount to just change the perspective of the pictures I shoot. You know my history with things so hopefully this won't be another short-lived great idea that goes south. I guess the worst is I lose the camera so I'm trying to see if I can rig it so that doesn't happen. 

    I fished the last two days still waiting to turn a fish. While the winter was mild the current unsteady weather patterns has it holding on and not letting spring arrive. Lot's of rain and wind is keeping things 


slow, for me if they are even in front of me. They just aren't chasing flies yet. The Raritan dropped a few degrees down below 45 and the Delaware is holding just below 47. I am sure they are here and I 


think a run of warm days will break things wide open. I'm liking how things are looking going forward from Tuesday and we'll need a few days and tides to clean things up from this weekend. And today is 


one of the favorite days of the year for me as Daylight Savings Time kicks in. I swear this whole thing, spring ahead and fall behind, isn't good for my mental health and seasonal mood disorder(s). So if you


don't let your iPhone dictate your life, like I unfortunately do, then you'll have to go around and set your clocks ahead by an hour. And good luck setting the clock on your older car, that's always a fun time.