Fly of the Month - March - Jig Flies

Fishing with jig nymphs is not new but has recently gained in popularity as Euro Nymphing techniques take hold. Fishing with traditional nymphs, bead-heads and indicators can still be effective, but you’re always adjusting the indicator and/or nymphs to get your rig to the right dept, which is on, or near, the bottom. Once your rig is on the bottom, there are the inevitable snags and lost flies. Whether you tie your own flies or not, it gets expensive. Jig nymphs ride hook point up thereby reducing snags and lost flies, even when they’re ticking across the bottom.

Jig flies use special jig hooks like Firehole Outdoors 516’s, Fulling Mill FM5045, and Tiemco TMC413J. You’ll also need a slotted tungston bead, that fits perfectly on the 60 degree vertical hook eye. You can tie stoneflys in size 8 and 10, pheasant tail variations from 12 to 18, caddis pupae and larvae, the variety is endless. You can even tie jig streamers.

Some of the best YouTube videos are on channels from Fly Fish Food, TightLine Video, and The Fly Fiend. This month we’ll tie jig flies. There’s no particular pattern we’re suggesting, so tie up 8 of your favorite pattern and bring them to the March meeting. For examples check with John Hildenbrand, Mark McBeth or Dave Suroweicki.

Egan’s Frenchie

Jig Prince Nymph

Carrot Stick Euro Nymph

CVTU Attends Fly Fishing Show in Edison, NJ

Over the weekend of January 25th and 26th, members of CVTU attended the Fly Fishing Show at the New Jersey Convention and Exposition Center in Edison, New Jersey. The exhibit showcased more than 230 vendors, over 50 featured fly tyers, and over 50 seminars and presentations.

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New Jersey Convention & Exposition Center, Edison, NJ

There were all the major rod and reel manufacturers, local northeast fly shops like TCO Fly Shop, Tight Lines Fly Fishing, and Dette Flies, and dozens of outfitters offering global adventures in fly fishing. There was plenty to see and plenty to buy. As always, there were some pretty unique innovations including TFO’s new rod that can move between a 10’6” nymph rod 9’ dry fly rod, simply by removing a rod section. No need to carry two rods or re-rig. Pretty cool.

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The crew at Topgolf… L to R; John Hildenbrand, Mark McBeth, Jeff Huie, Dave Shaw, Eric Nadoban, Emery Mersich, Dave Suroweicki

There was an endless selection of fly tying materials at bargain basement prices, and deals were there to be made. Just ask John H. about the bin full of assorted materials he got for $20. The crew spent at good 30 minutes sorting through a large bin of tungsten beads in all colors and sizes. At about .15 to .17/bead, they were hard to pass up.

Saturday evening was spent at Topgolf Edison for some food & beverage and spirited driving range heroics. These guys can cast a fly better than they can hit a golf ball. The accommodations at Home2 Suites were excellent and affordable with free breakfast thrown in.

We’re already looking forward to next year. Ask any of the crew for more details at our next meeting or event.

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Emery & Dave telling lies to Tom Rosenbauer in the Orvis booth

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Eric Nadoban admiring Dave’s golf swing

Mark scored some Mardi Gras beads from MarshOnTheFly outfitters

Topgolf on Saturday night

How to Tell the Difference Between Stocked and Wild Trout - Flylords Mag

This is a question that recently came up when I was fishing with a couple of CVTU members, Paul Ingrassia and John Lorenzo. It is something I wonder about every time I put a trout in the net. In this article, Flylords Magazine answers the question pretty clearly. If you’re armed with this knowledge, you should be able to tell if a fish is wild, stocked or a holdover from last year’s stocking.

https://flylordsmag.com/how-to-tell-the-difference-between-stocked-and-wild-trout/

Comments are welcomed

Tight lines,

Mark

Fly of the Month - February - Simple Rabbit Strip Streamer

This month we’ll be tying Streamers for the high, off-color waters of Spring. There are many effective streamer patterns that can be used on our local rivers and lakes to catch trout as well as bass. For this month’s example we’ll focus on using a rabbit strip, which is probably one of the most effective and varied materials for streamers.

A good strong 2X long streamer hook with dumbbell eyes is a great place to start, as the dumbbell eyes will help the streamer ride hook point up on the strip, avoiding snags. Add some rainbow dub (or other colors), some flash, and rubber legs to complete the pattern.

There are many other patterns and instructional videos on YouTube, so be sure to search for streamers that appeal to you and the fish.

Be sure to bring 8 streamers to February’s chapter meeting for the fly swap.

Fly of the Month - January - "Squirmy Worm"

In our streams and lakes in the northeast, aquatic worms are everywhere and a major food source year-round for fresh water game fish. The Squirmy Worm is perhaps the best worm imitation us fly fishermen have in our boxes. And we need not be embarrassed to tie one on and fish it. When there are no rising fish, the water’s high, or the traditional pheasant tails and soft hackles aren’t working, a “Squirmy” is often the ticket.

The pattern only has 4 materials; hook, bead, thread, and squirmy wormy material. It’s a relatively quick tie once you’ve figured out how to control the slippery squirmy stuff. The YouTube video provided by Fly Fish Food has some convenient tips on how to make your squirmies behave when being fastened to the hook. Be sure to tie them in different colors with different beads. Keep a bunch in your box to use as an anchor on a Euro rig or under an indicator. They work well on the swing and you’ll get a ton of hits downstream in fast water.

Don’t worry about the comments from the traditionalists. You’ll be catching more fish than them anyway.

Euro Nymphing Reels: What Really Matters?

In this article from tcoflyfishing.com, learn the truth about Euro Nymphing Reels…

Trout reels. Strike up any conversation about reels and you are bound to hear the old adage that all they need to do is hold your line. For a long time, I pretty much held that conviction. To be honest, for the vast majority of situations, I still agree with the concept. As long as the reel is durable and functions every time you use it, does it really matter which reel you have? The basic answer here is that most of the time it doesn’t. The reason a lot of people have such a dismissive view of reels when it comes to trout is because normally, stripping in your fish by hand is all you need to land even very large fish. Even if you do put a fish on the reel, trout don’t require an insane amount of pressure to keep them at bay. Palming a click reel or tightening your drag knob on a disc drag reel will do the trick. At the end of the day, fish fighting technique is more important to landing fish. 

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Fly of the Month - December - "Pats Rubber Legs"

Stoneflys are a great pattern for year round fishing which makes them a great fly for the winter. When it’s cold and the trout are sluggish they will often look for a high protein meal like a stonefly. The Pat’s Rubber Legs pattern is a favorite on Northeast waters and has been a go-to fly for many anglers on the Farmington, Housatonic and Delaware. It doesn’t require a ton of material and can be tied on a variety of hooks and sizes. Tie it with or without a bead and vary the color combinations and legs.

Tie up 8 of these or another stonefly pattern and bring them to the December fly swap at our chapter meeting on Wednesday, December 11.

Salmon River Steelhead - 2019 Odyssey to Pulaski

This past weekend marked the annual trip to Pulaski to chase Salmon River steelhead, for members of CVTU and Mianus TU chapters. 22 anglers braved the cold of the season’s first polar vortex, to cast for “Chromes” in one of the best steelhead rivers in the lower 48. The chapters occupied 5 of the 6 Douglaston Salmon Run lodges with the Douglaston River Lodge serving as party central for evening festivities. Our intrepid members were up bright and early both Saturday and Sunday to stake out the best runs and pools on the river, hoping to ensure a catch for all. With the help of John Hildenbrand and Mike Fatse, this “newbie” landed a chrome and hooked up another for an epic pull, but inevitable hook spit. Many others “got into fish” giving them stories to tell their families at next week’s Thanksgiving dinner.

The whole event was organized by our lead steelheader Dave Surowiecki, and he deserves our gratitude and thanks for doing a fantastic job herding cats and getting us all in our lodges warm and safe. Though I missed it, I understand that Dave gave a very educational presentation on how to fish for steelhead on the Salmon at our Friday night get together. Saturday’s BBQ and pot-luck was a blast with a plethora of great food and beverage. Fish stories were flying around the DRL kitchen, while the dining room table was crowded with fly-tyers whipping up patterns to replace all those lost to the river bottom.

Pictures of the trip are going up on the gallery page on CVTU.org, and many of us that attended can’t wait to go back. The Pulaski steelhead trip is becoming one of the most anticipated chapter events of the year. If you want more details or just like to listen to fish stories about the “monster chrome” that got away, be sure to attend our next chapter meeting on Wednesday, December 11, 7:00 pm at the Stony Hill Fire Department in Bethel.

Tight lines,

Mark McBeth

Restoring the Norwalk River - A Mianus Chapter Production

Check out this amazing video produced by our friends and partners at the Mianus Chapter of Trout Unlimited. It takes a close look at the restoration work performed on the Norwalk River in Wilton, CT. Chapter President Ben Couch, member Gustavo Castano, and Jeff Yates star in this high quality production.

With this video Mianus is raising awareness of the challenges suburban streams and what TU and its members must do to restore and sustain them for generations to come. Great work by Mianus and their hope is that this will generate additional donations and potentially win them the title for the Embrace a Stream Challenge.

Cheers to Ben, Gustavo, Jeff and all of your chapter!

Fly of the Month - November

This month’s FOM is the “Egg” pattern. Call them “Glo-Bugs”, “Eggstasy”, “McFlyfoam Egg”, or just a Salmon Egg pattern, they’re deadly for winter Steelhead and all trout. With our Salmon River Steelhead trip coming up this month we’ll focus our attention of one of Dave Surowiecki’s favorites, the “Eggstasy”. These are easy to tie, so you should be able to whip out several in various colors and sizes in a very short time at the vise.

Be sure to attend our Barflies event on November 7 at Reverie Brewing Company to get more hints on Egg and other Steelhead patterns.

Recipe:

• Size 14, 12, or 10 jig or scud hook

• Tungsten bead (size to hook)

• UTC 70 Florescent Orange

• Flybox Eggstasy in a variety of colors