Sorry to hear that Tommy. I too fish Stony Brook a lot--around the Rosedale Road bridge. Around there, there is so much crap early in the season that I used to take the kids down with garbage bags (and fill them). It gets better once the trout have been yanked out.....

Yes, I thought it was junk for a while, but persevered. Now I hardly ever touch a fish, or use a net. Simon

Strange--I have several Hardy reels, but I bought them in England. I ran over one with my car, but had several spare spools. I called them up, discovered that the line was discontinued, but they said they'd have a look round the various factories...found one for me. I had to pay for it...

20lbs may be an exaggeration--but the biggest trout I've ever caught was about 8lbs, and this was much, much bigger! I was using a 6 wt I think with 1 or 2x. To be honest, I mostly just horsed it in--it didn't fight much at all. I caught this fish in March though, and I suspect they get more...

I've been after carp a couple of times in a pond in Princeton. I was trying to get one on a dry. They seem to cruise around feeding under the surface most of the time, but occasionally come and suck stuff off the surface--quite a sight to see these huge mouths coming up! Anyway, I got one to...