Vol. 13 No. 24

You can avoid having ulcers by adapting to the situation:
If you fall in the mud puddle, check your pockets for fish.
~Author Unknown

A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS – SO DON’T MISS OUT ON AN OPPORTUNITY!

I was walking back to the truck when I came across Dany – Connected to the first salmon of the 2009 season! The truck was 500 yards away. I would never have been able to capture this moment if I hadn’t had a camera right there in my fishing vest.

FISHING THE FORGOTTEN WET FLIES

When the term "wet flies" is used many anglers think of the bright and gaudy patterns that were employed for brook trout in the late 19th and early 20th century. They figure that this type of fishing has gone the way of the passenger pigeon. Nothing could be further from the truth!!

UNDERSTANDING SELECTIVITY

Fly fishers, especially those that fish for trout, are inordinately attuned to matching the hatch and selectivity. At certain times trout can be very choosy or selective about what they eat, and this singular trait has been elevated to a level approaching a religious experience. Some have suggested that this ability to be selective is a mark of intelligence, giving the trout an ability to apply logic and reasoning when they are feeding. In reality we can be very thankful that nothing is further from the truth.

THE SNOW IS GONE!

And for me, I say Thank God. Yes I lived in Michigan for a good number of years and my worse memory of living there was stepping out of a little Morris Minor in dress shoes on the way to something nice and sinking up to my ankles in slush.

A SEASON ON THE FLY

By Gene Murray (HideHunter)

Several months ago Rick Z made the generous offer to donate flies with the intended end of stimulating some articles for the Panfish section of FAOL. Never at a shortage for words, I took Rick up on his offer.

A RIVER NEVER SLEEPS

In my home library is an original copy of Roderick Haig-Brown’s original publication of A River Never Sleeps, so you can imagine my surprise when I opened the mailer from Skyhorse Publishing to find a newly reprinted copy of this classic.

PRIDE GOES BEFORE THE FALL (II)

Fiction by Neil..

As darkness fell he held his tippet up to the fading light and tied on yet another fly. Out in the darkening stream the big trout continued to rise, and as he placed another fly perfectly in the drift line of the largest riser it floated downstream unmolested.

The Lighter side

A picture is indeed worth a thousand words!

ASIAN CARP - AN ECOLOGICAL DISASTER

I like fly fishing for Carp (European Carp), but this invasion of Asian Carp to the United States has me worried about my safety when I am on the water fly fishing, for any species of fish. I live and fly fish in Minnesota, and fish mostly for non-trout species, found in ponds, lakes, streams and rivers near my home at White Bear Lake. Over the years I have become concerned with this infestation, of our home water by Asian Carp.

CARP RULES

As far as carp go, fly fishers have become a somewhat enlightened bunch. We are far less likely these days to wrinkle our noses when these fish come up in conversation. We no longer threaten to excommunicate members from our fly fishing clubs when they suggest heading to the local lake for an afternoon of carpin’.

LaBranche

Just when you think you know something. By now I should have heard of every last Catskill fly there ever was. I've certainly read enough books. So imagine my stunned amazement when I came across this fly in Ed Van Put's book Trout Fishing in the Catskills.

BULL FROG SLIDER

Like many of you I have fished frog imitations for years. But my bait casting counterparts arsenal of frog imitations have been constantly improving while my collection of frog poppers and sliders have for the most part stayed the same. Looking through what was available in preformed popper and slider bodies I knew that I if I wanted a slider head to look like a real frog I would have to make it myself. Here’s what I have come up with.

Pennsylvania FISH IN!

Dates: June 1 - 6th 2010

Waterville, PA .

Randy (Big Daddy Rods) and Ed Maurer (Heritage Angler) have put together this years regional Fish-In for the FAOL folks in the east. 

ATLANTIC SALMON AND STEELHEAD TYING CONTEST 2010

Time has come to announce the 2010 US Open Atlantic Salmon and Steelhead Tying Contest. We will accept entries from March 31, 2010 to June 30, 2010. Flies must be postmarked no later than June 30, 2010We will photograph each fly and post these on the website as soon as possible and open the Reader's Choice voting for a period to be announced later.

FAOL is many things to many different people. It’s a source of information for many of our readers, a place to interact with other fly anglers through the bulletin board; a market place, trading post, grievance department, and a place to maintain social contact with far flung friends.

Likewise, FAOL exists because of the efforts of many people, and it is to these people that we owe a continuing debt of gratitude.

First are our contributors. These are the individuals that over the past 13+ years have faithfully supplies the content, free of charge, which we publish each week. I believe that we are the only fly-fishing web site that puts out a new issue each week. Without the constant stream of material, from fly patterns and how-to articles on every aspect of fly-fishing including book and product reviews and fiction works we would not be able to produce this weekly fly-fishing journal.

We are thankful for the sponsors that support the publication of FAOL. These are the individuals and corporations that pay a fee each year to advertise their products on FAOL. Our country has been experiencing hard economic times and fly-fishing businesses have not been exempt. Advertising dollars are a precious commodity and we deeply appreciate every one of our sponsors, large and small, that have continued to believe in us and back up that believe with their advertising dollars.

Likewise we are thankful to our technical guru Ron Tidd. Without his tireless devotion to maintaining and developing our web presence we would off line in short order. Ron is the one person that is such a vital part of FAOL that initially had no particular interest in fly-fishing. We all owe him a debt of gratitude that we will never be able to repay.

Finally we owe a continuing debt of gratitude to our readers. From the casual visitor to the weekly devotee you are the reason that we do what we do. We rely on your input; both positive and negative as we continue to attempt to bring you relevant and enjoyable content each week.