Meeting another FAOL'er

[Jed]

Yesterday I went fishing with Jim (Backbeach). While we are both pirates, we met on the Swift river in MA. and fished for trout. It was not the most successful of days, though we caught fish but meeting and fishing with Jim was a pleasure. I can truley say that I am glad I got a chance to fish with him and can now add him to my list of FAOL friends that I have met. I have yet to meet someone from here that I did not enjoy spending time with.

Report, Swift River, Belchertown MA
Flow was low, no visible hatches while we were there. Spurratic rises for the few midges that did emerge. Most catching was done on small flies, 20 or smaller. Construction at the Y pool had the flows slightly different from usual and that made some difference as well. Caught Rainbow, Brown and Brook trout. THe night before I caught a Landlocked Salmon so there are fish there to be caught. Come on by and try it yourself.

jed

[Avalon]

Dear Jed,

Sorry that the fishing was sub-par but isn't it nice to know that you made another friend?

I've fished with people from this message board and from other local and national message boards and each time was a pleasant experience. While we may occasionally differ strongly in our opinions everyone I've ever met from an internet message board has been a "keeper."

That's the one thing that I really like about the internet. I've managed to meet people that I would have never met otherwise and each and every one of them has been worth meeting.

I just hope they think as highly of me as I do of them.

Best Wishes,
Avalon

[backbeach]

Jed is being too kind; all of the fish "we" caught were on the end of his leader! In fact, he is too much of a gentleman to mention that I dropped 2 fish- one due to a knot failure (GROAN). I had tied up a new long leader the night before tapered to 7x -which is the extreme end of my range- and used blood knots instead of my usual uni to uni. I can't remember the last time I had a knot fail, which I'll chalk up to a learning experience. I would like to make it clear that I don't consider the fishing to have been "sub-par", maybe the catching. I spent a beautiful day on a wonderful river with great company and had plenty of quality fish to cast to. I even managed to "sting" a couple on my own ties! I had a great time! I had seen enough of Jed's posts to have a pretty good idea that I would be fishing with a gentleman and a sportsman, and that he had a sense of humor (which comes in handy- fishing with me). Jed has been kind enough in the past to give this "pilgrim" from eastern Massachusetts enough tips to get me in the right situations to enjoy some success with his home waters. I had to laugh at my girlfriends reaction when I told her I was meeting someone from an online bulletin board to fish. (You would think I was making plans to meet Jeffrey Dahmer or something!) That "Brokeback Mountain" movie has probably got alot of wives and girlfriends nervous.... Thanks FAOL and thanks Jed, I hope we get a chance to share some fishing again soon, Jim

[Jed]

As I have said before, fishing is not about catching fish. It was a wonderful day and a pleasure to watch Jim throw those tight loops on his long casts.

Jim- see you soon.

jed