Should be worth it. The famed Werner's Hole/Hemlocks (or "turn by Rosies" for the old NJTROUT crew) holds fish all summer. Usually OK temps unless a real hot spell. Above 206 the Flat Brook can be awful low; the lower stretches can be warm. The few miles below 206 seem to be the sweet spot...

One lesser tried area is central NYS. Tioughnioga, Cohecton, Otselic and others have sections that can be drifted. However, the driftable water is more towards warmwater than cold water fisheries. Boating starts around the brown/smallie boundary. Most of us Salmon R fishers go by the best...

Yes and no. Leonard Wright was discussing the upper Neversink above the reservoir which is an infertile gin clear mountain stream and has practically no public access. It is like talking about the Willow above the village of Willowemoc or the Beaverkill above the club water. Below the...

I've had decent luck in August with ants and beetles as well, especially when strong NE winds are blowing bugs from fields. Never hit the flying ant hatch, but hear that can be good. Never did well with hoppers, but one day saw three guys fishing live hoppers using center pin outfits below the...

East to West it seems anecdotal evidence is that hatches aren't what they used to be. Locally the Muskie and upper South Branch had great sulphurs from esrly or mid May on and then the Pequest sulphurs hit full stride right after Memorial Day. So it was more than a month of guaranteed sulphur...

Sounds like a good plan. For Black Hills info, I like the Al Campbell "Home Waters" articles from 2003 on http://flyanglersonline.com/ I always like the Black Hills streams, but the trout and streams aren't always that big. It's out of your way, but maybe a stop at the Bighorn is called for?

For largemouth, I like deer hair mice, deer hair frogs, and size 2 gurglers in white, yellow, or black. Generally fish on top in ponds for largemouth. June is a good month - fish are still shallow, are hungry post spawn, and the weeds aren't too bad. For smallies, buggers, smaller gurglers...

Amen on the silt situation. Down in NJ we haven't had bank full flows in a few years and some sections of my favorite streams were getting silted up. Hope this helps to flush em out.

Start up inertia? How heavy is the spool? I'm not buying it. Start friction can be an issue, but inertia? Now that I have that engineering rant out of the way, I think almost anything will suit you fine. What about the Ross Gunnison? Maybe a little heavy (but is it too heavy?), however...

Joe, My son married a woman from Massachusetts and now my grandchildren are being raised as Red Sox, and even worse Patriot fans. But that's her worst fault so life is still good.

Thanks for the photos - it's great to see pictures of kids without any electronic devices enjoying the outdoors.

I think it is ice fishing for you. I have some tip ups and an auger you can use. Actually, the Lake Placid area has plenty of good streams ( West Branch Ausable for example) and trout ponds, but I expect them to be iced over. Lakes Placid and Mirror are closed to ice fishing, but there are...

Actually, Furnace Lake is stocked with pure bred muskies, not tiger muskies. NJ has had poor results with tigers and only a few lakes are stocked with them. Hackettstown is fortunately a VHS free hatchery so they can export fish to other states. Most tiger muskies raised at Hackettstown are...

It would take a lot of work, but it is doable. Mercer Lake has the highest success rate, but I am more familiar with the Delaware. The strategy there is spend a lot of time casting all over and locate muskies. When you know where a number are, fish every day just hitting the hot spots and...

Kings need to be real fresh to strike so I second the DSR and fast rising water. Another suggestion might be to try one of the Sandies. They don't have estuaries and the kings come in quicker. On the down side, they are smaller and can be mobbed with locals.

Until 10 years I never paid more than $100 for a rod and caught a fair amount of fish. Love to fish an old blue Conolon with an auto reel among the snooty crowd. I will also say that I like softer rods, so that helps. Then my kids moved out West and I built a Z Axis for $350 in parts (it was...

Fall is when trout and salmon start getting ready to spawn, so they are congregating near the tribs or starting to head in. Runs pick up about mid September and depend on flows/temps. A good rain that raises stream levels can get a push of fish going; if it is low and clear they may stay in...

I've had misc landlocked salmon binges starting in the 70's with the last one in the 2005 to 2010 time frame when LLS populations went through the roof in NYS and I pulled a 28" male from Fall Ck and a 30" female from the Salmon R. LLS are generally a pelagic top predator in low fertility...

I agree - use it if you like. It's appeal is personal for you to remember someone, they don't fetch that much. That also feeds into the old question of whether or not to clean the grime off the grip (or the rod). The answer depends largely on whether that grime is the sweat of a lost...

I say 60's. Those rods were some of the first 4 piece fiberglass pack rods and the 6 wt was the light weight version. Times have changed since a 6 wt rod was considered light weight. BTW, yours has the better nickel silver hardware, including the classic Goodwin Granger reel seat (Wright and...