03.15.22 Thoughts on fly tying these days....

      Soon the arrival of herring will mean the late night fishing will begin. I looked through my current assortment of flies, that I tied above, and found they have all been light in color. So I decided to crank out a black fly. I sat down, tied up a mono extension and began the build, not knowing where I was actually going to wind up. Some bucktail, homemade blend, some SF Blend, and some tab eyes. It taped out at just 9 inches, which is what I wanted. I thought it would come out better than it did, but, that's the reaction I have with most of my flies. When I look at it I don't know if I see a baby snakehead or some other non-herring like creature. But that's okay, I will catch a fish on it and report back. 

     So, what is reality when it comes to tying flies? Now I am not a customer, of say, adult entertainment. Have I seen it, sure, who hasn't on either side of the aisle, the problem with adult films is, that, not unlike what we see with the Kardashians or any other Photoshopped or filtered images of "famous people" these days, its just not reality. I don't look like an adult film star, I can't move like one, and I most likely will never be one, and that's okay, I realize my limitations. 

     What the hell does that have to do with tying flies? Well, in my twisted mind, a lot. With the technological advancements today, and tyer talent, things, like technique, have become more accessible via social media, and therefore more easily replicated. It's a very nice gesture for someone to try and help others along by creating these videos, tutorials and articles. While we all know the great fly tying innovators and their respective patterns, today we find a new arrival of tyers, well more appropriate, artists. And that's where it makes sense to me. 

    I am lucky enough to have seen Lefty tie a Lefty's Deceiver in person. I was dumbfounded when he would say, "just take a clump (of saddle feathers) and tie it on the back", no measuring, no looking at it, no wondering, it was a three minute fly that caught fish. And that was his goal, similar to other well known fly tyers. Popovic's flies, he says, were designed to solve a problem, and in order to catch fish you have to match the bait, which he did over and over again. 

 

      In recent years my buddy Leif started tying what I call the "Ugly Ass Fly", a stupid-simple effective and get-the-job-done-fly that has taken striped bass from Martha's Vineyard to redfish in North Carolina and everything in-between, and I mean everything. It ain't pretty, but it gets the job done, a lot of the time, in fact most of the time. But that thing would make famous tyers turn over in their grave. 

     With the absence of one of my "suppliers" this winter I spent more time than ever behind the vice. Some of my flies should be called "Ugly Ass Fly 2", while others came out not so bad. What I have to remember is, I am trying to tie flies that will catch fish. A hungry fish scouting around for something to eat will hit just anything anytime if it presented correctly at the right moment. That goes from plugs to flies, to, well, a store bought shrimp like I witnessed the other day. 

     Now don't get me wrong, when fish are keyed in to bunker, you better bring the meat, and if they are on bay anchovies you better scale down. What then, is the necessity to tie a perfect fly from bow to stern? Will it catch more fish if the profile and action are kind of similar? I have seen on You Tube videos absolutely beautiful flies, big and small, tested along the bulkhead or in the bathtub that have sweet action, but I have also seen less than perfect flies swim pretty darn good as well. 

     As I write I have just been notified that my recent order from Squimpish Flies has begun its journey to my house. It's a great synthetic material and is being used by the most talented tyers here and abroad. While I, and maybe you, may not get the taper perfect, or the top and bottom blending perfect, it is a great product because it "protects" the novice, or The Average Tyer (maybe a new blog?) from most imperfections in the tie, while bucktail is a little less forgiving. SF Blends are similar in that they can be tied in a variety of ways, and take a trimming from sharp shears very well. 

     That brings us to todays tyers, again artists. They have a talent, you have some too, but it may not be from behind a vice. Maybe you are fishing fanatic, watching times and tides and fishing around the clock when you can, great tying without the fishing part makes you a great fly tyer. Generally, the flies you tie are good enough. Good enough to catch striped bass, good enough to be shredded by a bluefish, and good enough to donate to the river bottom or the top of the tree you caught on your backcast. 

    This post is only talking about saltwater flies, that freshwater stuff is in a league of its own. You may be a fly buyer more than a fly tyer, and that's okay as well. Maybe you get by with a little help from your friends, and thats okay too. The big joke is thinking that you'll save money by tying your own flies. Ask anybody that has a spot in their house that is their fly tying den. Hundreds if not thousands of dollars of hooks, materials, tools, gunk, goop, flashlights, and lights. It may pay in the end to just purchase. But purchasing gets expensive also. There are few production tyers out there. For cheap flies 

you have to order overseas from the tying mills where child and labor laws may not be in place, and the biggest companies out there get their flies from overseas, when the last time you saw a honest walk through done of the people who tie those flies? You can read a good post on it HERE, from The Itinerant Angler. They aren't people serving time, your local Boy Scout Troop or from the assisted living facility her in the United States, lets just be real. That's why they are cheap, in both price and quality. The prices non-production, although they may crank them out as fast as they can, tyers get are well justified. How much money do you make an hour? Do you know how long it takes to tie a Beast Fly? And how much talent it takes? And the materials? C'mon man.

     But there seems to be a difference between todays best tyers, not all, not generalizing, and the best from the past. Very rarely was there a financial reward attached to their passion. Maybe a few bucks from doing a class, maybe some royalties from a. book or allowing a company to pimp your fly, but it was more of an open door and transfer of information. It was about growing the sport and sharing the knowledge. It happens today, don't get me wrong, but it just feels different. People are getting paid, and I don't know if the right ones are reaping the deserved awards. But who am I to judge and who cares what I think. 

     So, in the end, tip your hat to those super talented guys and girls, support whatever local fly tyer or supplier you can, you'll get better stuff and a lesson to boot, and enjoy tying or buying or a mix of both. Remember this the next time you find yourself out on the beach or enjoying a butt under the parking lot lights at 330 in the morning when your bud is looking for that right fly before you head back out. What do you see stuffed in their fly wallet or zip loc bag stuffed in their StormR? The same shitty ass fly they've been using because they either caught a fish on it, once, or are too lazy to swap it out for one of those shitty ass flies they tied up over the winter. Either way, don't feel less, you tie a nice fly every now and then, you'll catch some fish on them, but remember, you will never be a porn star. 

03.15.22 Four river stop day....

    'tis the season for early alarms, and that really makes the wife happy. Anyway, up on the river a little after 5 am. There's a guy who fishes every night, and when I pulled in sure as shit he was there. "Go somewhere else", was his opening line. He fished from 11-5 without a tap, "It shut down three days ago". Interesting, was it the cold? Did they move? Will they be back? Anyway I was out to other spots. 

     This year is all about the rivers. From beautiful setting to urban jungles I am going to hit them all. So far I've struck out with each time out. Hey, Colin, give yourself a break, it's only the second week of March. Spot 2 didn't have much of a current going so after some casts I moved to spot 3. Long walk, good scout, very cool water. It's just too early. Within two weeks these places will go off.

     So right before I head into the college I re-hit spot 2 and the outgoing had started, and was really starting to move. Good casts, low and slow, didn't lose a fly, but didn't get a tap. So after the college it was run home to meet patients in the office. In between I stopped at spot 4, made some casts into the just-over-40 degree water. Saw my first boat out there this season, anchored up and fishing for shad. These guys just don't fish for sand to fish for shad, they catch them and then chunk them for the striped bass. Two days away from my first spring bass, and tomorrow the Simms waders arrive just in time. 

 

03.15.22 Oh, my precious....

     Sometimes I hate when those Facebook "Memories" pop up. This recently came in from 2014. It was pre-season. The boat was getting some work done. I went for a new dual axle Load Rite trailer. I wish I was ready this year for the early Raritan Bay bite. My boat, Jim's old boat, it out of commission and could use a few days at the boat spa like in the picture above. One day she'll be all good. Probably after a new tank, new fiberglass deck work, and a good engine and electrical overhaul. It's amazing to me that's what my boat looked like. Jones's are just plain pretty. Lots of fish caught in that old boat. 

03.14.22 Walked a bit to find a new spot, but.....

     Fought the sticker bushes scouting out a new spot. But just as I got in the clear I saw the v-shaped branch stuck in the mud....someone else has found this spot too. Are there any untouched spots in any body of water anymore? It's a good, and that's all I'll say about that. Remember, in a month or so and I refer back to this day, I can tell myself I told myself. While there I aired out a few casts and luckily

everything hasn't grown in yet. In that month or so it will become a tangled jungle-like mess, but I know the fish will be here, or close by. This weekend's weather set us back a week I think. We were trending

up, and it hasn't started out here like it has in other rivers closer to the oceans and bays. Water temps

are again in the 40's, we need the nights to not drop out temp wise to hold. Everyday another day closer. 

03.13.22 Now lets get on with spring....

     With Daylight Savings Time and the Bomb Cyclone now behind us and the official start of spring a week away it's time to say good bye to winter, I hope. Blistery cold the last two days with rain and snow throughout the northeast. Five days ago the Delaware hit 45, now almost 10 degrees colder. This week it looks like we will have all over 60 degree days which should help. Next Friday is the full moon and temps near 75, game on!

03.12.22 Some cool follow ups....

     With the snow now falling today, a Saturday, its a great day to tie flies, or sit on the couch and binge watch something and eat too much, oh yeah, and take a nappy nap. But before I do something non-productive I checked my email. Good news! My new Simms waders will be here on Thursday. Sadly, I'll be working in the hospital and won't be able to greet them at the door as they just come in time for 

me catching my second striped bass of the year, on Friday March 18th, with my first coming in the early morning hours on January 1st. Then I looked and saw I received correspondence from the ASMFC. They got my public comment and it will be shared with the management board for its consideration. Don't forget to write in, the meetings generally have a low recreational attendance, the commercial side and the wanna-harvest-more side seem to dominate the meetings. So letters, original in nature, and in laymens terms, really speak from who is doing most of the fishing, the average-working-class-fish-when-you-can-broke-as-hell-creepin'-while-your-sleepin'-can't-afford-gas-wife-hates-that-you-fish-think-you-re-having-an affair-and-wishes there-was-a-moratorium-wife, angler, both fly and other. 

 

03.11.22 Two rivers before the Bomb Cyclone.....

 

     Good day before the storm. Fish, patient, fish, patient, fish. Although spring is here and there are signs in each stop, this weekend we are bracing for a potential Bomb Cyclone. What is a bomb cyclone? According to Scientific American, "A bomb cyclone is a large, intense midlatitude storm that has low pressure at its center, weather fronts and an array of associated weather, from blizzards to severe thunderstorms to heavy precipitation. It becomes a bomb when its central pressure decreases very quickly—by at least 24 millibars in 24 hours." That will slow any real progress towards spring, at least for a few days. Some spots are having a banner early spring, others waiting for things to pop.

     First stop and the Early Brown Stoneflies were out in numbers. The other day I was covered with them and while in the hospital one was crawling around my lab coat. They have been stuck in my car and every time I leave it I have a few hitching a ride. Water temps bumped down to 41 so it'll be a week or two until the first bass chases a fly, some in the know say they are probably already here. 

     Stop 2 was really promising, as I saw about a dozen fish caught, of course none on the fly, I seem to be the only guy anywhere carrying a fly rod. I took a long walk and found a spot just after the flip of the tide that had good backcast space. When those reeds grow in it's game over for the fly rodder here. But it really didn't matter, as I continue to be hitless and fishless over 11 days. 

     The cool thing of spring here was a, group of snakes which are referred to a den, pit, nest or bed. The term is not used as a noun- like say a snake cave or snake den, more like an adjective, if I have it right. There were more in the bunch, well whatever, but they sought cover or went back down the hole, to their, well den. So after I was done and ran into my Facebook friend Jimmy Jam, I stopped and watched

what was going on. As I spoke with another guy and fishing, the above gentleman comes over, readies his rod, takes out his bait, which was, drumroll please, store bought frozen shrimp for human consumption. I looked the other guy and said, "Really". So he makes a cast, puts a bell on it, and as he placed his rod down it started to ring, 'Must be a cat or a big white perch". Needless to say we were 

speechless when he brought in a 28-1/2 inch striped bass that, you know, went into the truck of his car. And with that I was like, "You gotta be kidding me", and any okayness I had with not catching was shot. 

     So after the afternoon office visit I figured what the hell and hit the local river again, this time at the bottom of the tide. Maybe there was one that kinda got warmed up today as the river hit 43 degrees, nope, no takers. Did see a catfish and shad caught so things are moving in the right direction. Near the bottom of the tide is a great time to scout and before it gets going I have to go and get this large. and fly eating branch out of the way. I thinking the weekend is shot and it'll take a few days to clean the waters and get them heated up, prediction, first bass, March 18th. 

03.11.22 My letter to the ASFMC, we'll see.....

 

Send your comments in now to, 

comments@asmfc.org     

03.10.22 Ready to start catching....

     What a differences a day makes. Two days ago it was 70 degrees, yesterday just over 40. Lots of rain. Water temps dropped a bit. But I'm getting close. No hits or runs so far. Passaic, Hacky, Raritan, Delaware and Toms, I've wet a line in each since March 1st. 

     I've used flies small and a little bigger. My goal is to catch the first bass that wakes up or arrives in the mid-Delaware. At 16 miles per day in travel time, and with meeting the opposite sex on their mind, there's no time for sightseeing. So, it would take a bass 8 1/2 days to get to me from Cape May. I've seen the shad, so the bass should be close behind them. I'll keep at it until I score. 

     I've done good so far, one fly lost, two trees caught that almost dislocated my shoulder on the forward cast, and I almost pulled a guys dentures out of his mouth yesterday as he walked with his wife. 

     Not wanting to lose any fly tying momentum I may have had going I sat down and banged this one out. Taper better, blending better, used a mix of bucktail, SF Blend and Squimpish to get it done. 4/0 Predator hook, so I'll keep this one out of the salt as the rust forms quick on those line of hooks.

      Water temps up to the mid 40's, with a drop now due to the cool air temps and some cool rain and snow. Looks like through the weekend we'll have up and down weather, and I'm sure what that will do to the water. Last year I kicked it off March 27th, when the water was up over 50. 

03.09.22 New Jersey is now the best state for striped bass fishing....

     .....really it is, in my opinion. If I were to take you for a tour of New Jersey, a fly fishing tour, but the spin guys can come as well, and claim you can catch striped bass in our loviest, and not so loveliest cities.  So we go, Hackensack and Paterson, yep, Jersey City and Bayonne, yep, Newark and Elizabeth, yep, Perth Amboy and New Brunswick, yep, Asbury Park (in the old days) and Trenton, yep, Camden and Atlantic City (once world record), yep. Would you believe me?

     Now just look at New Jersey, let's say the average "shoreline" on both sides is 170 miles. On the Delaware River side you can catch a striped bass from Sussex County down to Cape May County, and on the "ocean" side you can catch a striped bass from Bergen County down to Cape May County. And then there's the rivers in between, to name a few, Hudson, Hackensack, Passaic, Kill Van Kull (kind of), Raritan, Navesink, Shrewsbury, Shark River, Manasquan, Toms, Mullica, Great Egg, Maurice and 

Rancocas. 

     If you can catch a boat ride you have the bays to fish, Newark, Upper and Lower New York Bays, Raritan, Sandy Hook, Barnegat, Great, Great Egg Harbor, Absecon, Ludlum, Great Sound, and all those sounds and small bays in Cape May. That's a lot of places to fish for striped bass. 

     Everyone knows the last few years the beach fishery, well, isn't good. If you are just going to fish, and don't care about catching, then New Jersey beaches are perfect for you. You see, the fishery has changed. I'm not a global warming guy, but, to me, it seems the winters are a tad more milder these days. So what that means is the fish stay longer, or never leave, and wake up, or arrive earlier each spring, and are active, really active. 

     What used to be a fishery after  March 1st of soaking bloodworms, clams and chunks, is now one where paddle tails, plugs and even flies can get a bite. So weather is one thing. Now Connecticut guys have a solid winter over population in their rivers, and I have seen them caught around or through the ice, but that's not what I'm talking about. Here, in New Jersey, in a few weeks this state is going to explode. And it's mostly going to be an "outback" thing. Sadly, the hammer will drop when the private, charter, and head boats starting over-harvesting just about every slot fish they catch. I hope you all have submitted your public comment to the ASMFC regarding Draft Ammendment 7 to get these "fishing in a bath tub" spots catch and release or artificial only during the spring and fall. 

     So besides the weather, why have so many striped bass decided to stick around the great Garden State? Water quality? Maybe, hopefully, there has been alot of work don in North Jersey, waters is still toxic for humans, but is getting better. Bait? Ah, bunker, you can thank Paul Eidman for that. Adult, peanut, and everything in between. There's bunker in the bays now, and throughout the year in can be found out front and in the back. Thank God they eliminated the snag and drop fishery, and went to Circle hooks, maybe next getting rid of those trebles, or make them barbless at least, or maybe one per lure if needed. 

     Back to the beach fishery. Not good. You know how I feel about beach replenishment, or "nourishment" as Frank Pallone likes to call it. It's a ecosystem killer. But its a vote getter, and it will never change, no mater how many hundreds of millions of dollars they waste, trying to beat Mother Nature at her own game. As I write, Jetty Country again, is no longer, Allenhurst to Long Branch, well, done. Before the insanity of keeping homeowners, who now claim the beaches as their own property, the groins, and the structure they helped create, was a stopping place for all predator fish, striped bass, bluefish and fluke. They would wait for the bait and then it was game on. "Blitzes", if you ever really seen one, are not the "Flurries" we see today. 10-15 minutes of mayhem and then off the beach and gone. Blitzes, I am told in the good old days, lasted for days, not straight, but every day on the time and tide, bass would push in and it would go off. I caught it 10 years go below, Marine Place, Deal, NJ.

 So the problem now is, there is no structure, there is no bait, yes mole crabs, some white bait, but the bass you see are in and out of the surf, as there are no holes for them to hang. If you do find the "hole", there will be 6 guys there. It's funny to see, outgoing tide, no one to your right, no one to your left, but then in the distance to the north 6 guys are within 75 feet of each other. Guys, that's how you find a hole if you can't read structure. 

     In years past, maybe 10 years ago, guys lined the groins, or set their alarms early to get the groin tip spot, knowing bunker were in, and they wanted to get a few casts before the boat guys f'ed it all up by driving through them, or corraling them away from the beach into deeper waters.  That is no more. 

     And for that reason many Jersey guys, surfcasters, made the pilmigridge to the waters of the Cape Cod Canal and Montauk. I am no expert, or even a novice on either, but I can tell you from many discussions with angers and guides, "It ain't what it used to be", and if it does happen, its way later, and here and gone. So those trips aren't made anymore, 6 hour ride (one way) for a 6 hour tide just isn't worth it anymore. Now, you know I love fly fishing Newport and Martha's Vineyard. I am just a few 

times a year angler, so I know nothing, but again talking to anglers in the know, and who have known for a long time, "It ain't what it used to be". Now I don't mean one angler on one day who catches a 20 pound bass in 12 inches of water throwing crab flies. I mean a large number of bass, good bass, better than 30 inches, cruising the flats looking for bait. That too has gone, or more fairly slowed, for now, hopefully to return. And with those fisheries, it is a short window or a season, and its over, till next year. Back to spots, Block Island, like a summer time hot spot, again, "Not what it used to be", yes, there in the summer, and in the New York Bight you can swim live eels and catch 30-40 pound bass in August, but that's a niche, that's an art, that takes a boat, and it's not fly rod fishing. 

     So if we talk about seasons. No other state, as solid as New Jersey, has a 9 month striped bass season. If you take the open season of March 1st to December 31st in the bays and rivers, with the beach open all year, it is a 9+ month fishery, and you can catch. Not to many other states have that. 

     We are positioned in a fantastic place. Striped bass are anadromous, live in the salt, return to the fresh water to spawn. We have the Chesapeake below us, the Delaware to the left of us, the ocean to the right of us, and the Hudson above us. All of those fish come and go and stay and leave and pass by at different times. It would be a hoot if each strain had a different color fin so you would know who and from where you are catching. I think you need an ear stone sample, an otolith, to really tell. 

     We start in the spring, as the bass hit the back warmer waters looking for food, shrimp, worms, crabs, and now bunker, both big and small, they follow the shad and herring up the rivers. Then out front the big migratory fish follow the bunker, now way off the beach, either post spawn or pre sworn, depending on their natal river. In the summer, they're still here, first and last light and into the night, bass look for mole crabs, small white bait, crabs, and yes again, bunker, from on the beaches to under the dock lights.

      Then in the fall, not too good lately, we have a mullet "run", now just a few good days of mullet running down the beach. But, since the fall fishery is really now a late fall fishery, their aren't many bass around, or the beaches now aren't an appealing place for them to come and eat. In the late fall the bays are choked with bait, and the bass don't wait and will go and find them. Sadly, its a boat fishery

and most days a shit-show out there. Yes, guys always claim "We were all alone", and that happens, but its not the norm. I can tell you seeing 100 boats in a spot, or over a channel or on a flat, just ruins your day even if you are a mile away, why, because you can't stop thinking of how many bass are being killed, wounded or maimed. 

     If the surfcaster or fly rodder is a loser or is cheap then they won't get in on the boat bite. If the bunker didn't come down the beach they pray for one thing each night in the late fall, "Sand eels". Ah sand eels, I love a sand eel bite, not those 1 inch annoying sand eel clouds in the Vineyard or Cape, but our nice 4-6 inch French fries that bass love it eat. The problem is, again, structure. Below is a picture of one of the untouched beaches in New Jersey, Island Beach State Park, similar to Sandy Hook. The beaches we have destroyed from Sandy Hook to Cape May don't hold bait like the others. So what 

you get is places, like above, like this fall, where there is a bite, and there is a bunch, I mean bunch, of anglers. Driving, catching, kicking, falling, crossing, you name it. This fall IBSP had a bite, like a stupid bite, like "This is going to last for months". Tons of bait and tons of fish I think a little on Saturday, stupid lights out fishing Sunday and Monday, Tuesday, everything was gone, that I know because I was there on that Tuesday. 

     To be fair, there are fish in other states, there are places with prettier surroundings, there's places with better access, places with nicer fisherman, places with less poaching, well maybe not. I have tried to be fair in describing the good and bad about striped bass fishing, mostly fly fishing, in New Jersey. One thing I didn't point out, in regards to fly fishing and the bays and rivers, it is just a bitch. Why? Access to the water and access to the fish. I have been there, on a solid bite, fishing alongside some sharpies casting bottle plugs 150 feet out, and cranking them in and down, as I try and cast my 450 grain line 15 feet because there's half a garbage dump behind me with wild trees, an abutment to my casting side, and  gas pipe line signs on the left. Or its a nice wide open place where you can pull up and see the water and even watch your rod which is soaking bait from you drivers seat, well casting Clouser's between the parked cars isn't really enjoyable. And the river mud, and concrete sub-surface jungle, and the debris, you get it, if you're a flyrodder. 

     But here's why Jersey is cool. Above is Keith Allonardo. Regular guy. I met him on Facebook, virtual friends. He's a school teacher. Wife, dog, nice guy. So a few years back in June he was walking the Cape May beaches, which I have really learned are a big 'Turn Left and Go" sign, or 'Turn Right and Go" sign for the striped bass depending if they are going south or north. Cape May used to so good, how could it not be. its where the Delaware Bay and the Atlantic Ocean meet? So he's walking with the wife and has his fly rod, per him, it wasn't a fishing outing, and he made some casts and caught the fish of a lifetime. A 50 pound bass on a smallish Clouser. He caught it, quick picture, and it was back in the water. He represents New Jersey's best anglers. One who loves and respects the striped bass. You can see the video below,

     So for all of these reasons, in my humble opinion, New Jersey is the best place on the East Coast to be able to fish for and catch striped bass for 9 months out of the year, and actually have fish at your feet or below the bow. Again fly fishing is tough though, especially "In the back", the far back, the urban jungle back, but that's where the fish are, in the spring and in the fall. But stay in your state, you don't come and fish here, but if you do research this fishery, it will only fascinate you and make you respect striped bass even more.