Feels like -11 and that's the number I'm going with. Hope you all fared well through this "haven't seen this is in forever" temperature dropping cyclone bomb. Again, Thursday night in Lambertville was 48 degrees, and about 30 hours later it was below 10 degrees. And what's funny, it's supposed to be over 50 degrees here in New Jersey on New Year's Day.
So with the driveway cleared from the impending downed tree, it didn't fall and it's on my property, I made my way UPSTAIRS to the fly tying lair. My plan was simple. Break out some tying materials, loosen up the fingers, tie a mono extension and lash it to the hook and create some magic.....crash, bang, boom. Well, it's been about 9 months since I went on a tear tying up a bunch
of flies primarily of the herring and bunker type. Once you get into the swing the ties become easier, and look better. You get that muscle memory going in your hands and brain, and the flies come out better, quicker and easier. For those bang-em-out tyers like Buzzi, Warshauwer, Stryker, and Whalley the flies must almost tie themselves they spend so much time at the vice. So about half-
way through my first back-at-it fly I realized it was tied like shit, looked like shit, and would fish like shit. So I tore it down removing the mono extension, hey I'm no expert but that mono extension has to be straight and true (see above fly), and then started to tie a tad more seriously. Soon my tying
area was looking like pig pen, just like I like it.....chaos. But in the end my herring fly looked alright, in fact it looked like something a striped bass might actually try to swallow whole. It's tied on a 6/0 Gami hook and is 9 inches long, which to me is about the perfect size herring imitation. You know
I'm all about the Squimish line, you can visit and order off the website HERE. (Also, a correction, the other day I posted about big December bass and linked the incorrect post from 2013, you can see what I really wanted to post HERE, now that's a December fish!). Why Squimpish, because I just find the material to be easy to work with and the blends to be just enough of a color variation and flash to really show well in the water. Plus, and most important, I find it easier to layer then when using bucktail, I'm just not that good. You can't see it, but there's some purple SF Blend in the inner core of that fly also. The other reason I like Squimpish is, because I really suck at tying with bucktail, reverse, Hollow, Semper Fleye any style, Bob you know I love you but I really have to apolgize on what I do to your fly designs. Now that's not to say that 1 out of 10 isn't bad, I proved that last spring, when I had a hook get straightened out
by a leviathan who ate my Beast Fleye. Out of the water, kinda hideous, but must have looked tasty when it swam, and it did undulate, Jim Matson's favorite word, pretty well. So I have one down and plenty more to tie up for the spring. I need to stock up on some more eyes and hooks to proceed.
And out here it's cold, I think it's cold everywhere. A quick check in with Mom in Florida and she had temps in the low 30's so this artic blast is spread out across the United States. While keeping this old house warm, on a normal day, it's even harder when the power goes out, and yesterday at 3 pm it did. Whatever warmth we had was soon gone and by late night it was a balmy 46 degrees in the house. I practically set up shop inside the fireplace because, while pretty, most of the heat goes up
and out of the flue. I monitored the news and social media throughout the day and there was widespread flooding along the Jersey Shore and into the bays and rivers. Sandy Hook all the way to Perth Amboy saw flood levels not seen since 2012 and Sandy, so that means places like Keansburg
probably were wet. Before midnight the power came back on and that meant the heated blanket was put into full effect. I hope you all are staying warm and have a blessed and happy Merry Christmas with yours and safe travels if you are heading out.