The cold winter months can be an unpleasant time for most fly fisherman in the New England area, today being one of the coldest day this year at 1 degrees. I prefer to fish and enjoy the outdoors when it is warm. The activities I partake in to keep myself from going insane during these cold days are tying flies, attending fly fishing events and fishing related tag sales.
I have been tying shad flies to stock my inventory for the upcoming shad season. I also have been tying up baitfish fly patterns for stripers,pikes and false albies.
Last week, I attended the Connecticut Fly Fishing Expo, this was a good turn and a nice replacement for the large fly fishing show in Marlborough that I couldn't attend. There were fly tiers crafting many sorts of flies from freshwater to tropical water. I learned how to tie a crab fly, which would have been usefully since I was in the Bahamas a week prior. There were many vendors there and I could not help myself but picked up a few things (saltwater fly materials and hooks). I met with Fred from Spey Casting NE and Paul Sweeney and we talked spey fishing, which is one of my favorite topics in fly fishing. The conversations we had, will lead to my next side project -converting my new 9' 6'' fly rod into a two handed fly rod and I will be testing out the new OPST skagit shooting head on it.
Last week, I attended the Connecticut Fly Fishing Expo, this was a good turn and a nice replacement for the large fly fishing show in Marlborough that I couldn't attend. There were fly tiers crafting many sorts of flies from freshwater to tropical water. I learned how to tie a crab fly, which would have been usefully since I was in the Bahamas a week prior. There were many vendors there and I could not help myself but picked up a few things (saltwater fly materials and hooks). I met with Fred from Spey Casting NE and Paul Sweeney and we talked spey fishing, which is one of my favorite topics in fly fishing. The conversations we had, will lead to my next side project -converting my new 9' 6'' fly rod into a two handed fly rod and I will be testing out the new OPST skagit shooting head on it.
Today, I went to the flea market in Agawam, I picked up a Daiwa click&pawl reel, with a full caged frame. Being a spey caster that prefers mono-like running line, full caged frames are necessary to prevent chances of the running line from slipping out. It did needed some extra love for it to look like the pictures below. I plan to use it on my custom 2 handed mini switch rods.
The upcoming events that I may attend are...
Bear's Den Fly Fishing Expo on 2/20
I have never been there but people said it is worth it if I have never been.
Hunting/Fishing Swap in Feeding Hills on 3/06
I have been going there for a few years now and I have always found some nice fishing items.
Look forward to see you there!
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