Best memory of 2015

[mudbug201]

Alright, this may be almost as dumb as MacFly's halloween candy thread, but here goes:

This time of year, unless you're a steelheader, fly fishing in the northeast is all about mentally revisiting times gone by and anticipating times to come.

Personally, by late January / February, I start experiencing recurrent daydreams at work about the best fishing day of last spring or summer. This year, for the first time, I keep thinking about not catching a fish.

In late June or early July, a pod of brown trout that was cruising and sipping sulphur spinners in a totally relaxed way in full sunlight on the EB - it was maybe about 10am. I spent a good half hour working five or six fish but they were being super picky - they would lazily approach my fly when it came into the zone, swim within maybe a few inches of it, and then abruptly turn tail, spooked by my leader or my presentation or the pattern itself.

Went from 4.5x to 6x to 7x. Rowed a couple of strokes back upstream to get a better drift. Crippled my smallest sulphur comparadun with my hemostats. When it was about time to head home and make pancakes for the mongol hordes, I finally stuck one. It weirdly dove straight down instead of running, snapped my tippet in half, and put all the other fish down. I got skunked for the morning. But these days, I keep seeing those big brown trout cruising in my head, and that, apparently, is enough to have me chomping at the bit for 2016.

I know there's only 6 dudes on here right now, but among those, what's your best moment of last year?

 

[richardliszewski]

Best time last year was FF w my son on Big Pine in Pa. just after completing a great morning turkey hunting. Early May & the stream was clear & the fish were on the bite!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[lightenup]

Probably New Years day last year, seeing my buddy, who has the prettiest cast but doesn't know shit about bugs or flies to use and when, was fishing a caddis emerger and I said, peering into his fly box, put on that ugly olive wooly bugger...he did, two cast later he landed a 5 pound rainbow(he doesn't catch many fish)......his excitement made my day.....

P.S. Macfly's Halloween thread was way dummer.....I know that's not a word

 

[Future Fanatic]

P.S. Macfly's Halloween thread was way dummer.....I know that's not a word

You had the most posts in that thread...

so...

 

[lightenup]

Did you just call me dumb?......

 

[Future Fanatic]

Did you just call me dumb?......

WHAT!?!
I'd NEVER do that!

dumm, maybe....

 

[lightenup]

WHAT!?!
I'd NEVER do that!

dumm, maybe....

Now I have my bestest memory from 2016

I don't speak German!

 

[moosekid]

I'd say my best fishing memory of 2015 occurred when I was fishing on an island in the Neversink Gorge. I was moving from the channel on the far side of the island to fish the pocket water where eden brook dumps in (usually holds above average brookies...). All the sudden, a fairly large animal barrels out of the brush 10 yards in front of me and is headed straight for me. For a split second, I was scared shitless -- then I realized that it was a fawn. My dog was chasing it which I found hilarious. Initially the deer was scared to death and my dog was clearly having a blast -- but after a few laps around the Island, the deer and the dog had kind of a playful standoff in which both of them were doing that kinda playful dog crouching thing. The dynamic changed and they literally began playing like you might see at a dog park. It was pretty cool.

Overall it was a good day because I woke up in the tipi, and fished all day. There were beavers swimming in the frog water, my dog made friends with a deer, and on the hike back to the tipi he cornered a HUGE porcupine but did not try to fight it -- just stood there barking until I approached and got him by the collar. Felt good to know that my dog who lives in Brooklyn gets do some of the same stuff my dogs in Minnesota got to do. Except my weiner dog in Minnesota fought the same porcupine literally every summer for like 8 years straight...he was a tough bastard.

 

[tomfly]

I can’t say that that I had a best monument ever fishing. They are all special in their own unique way. I go through a lot of flies every season. I lose a good amount to snags, trees, dropping them while tying them on and cutting the wrong tag end of the tippet. The latter is that probably due to my poor eyesight. I give just as many away. When a stranger asks me, what are you using? More often the not I will cut the fly off and hand it to them. For me that is an essential part of the sport. If I can give someone an opportunity to share in the success that I am having on that day, that makes the experience that much more fulfilling.

 

[Thursthouse]

Lots of good memories of 2015.

My favorite memory was on the Savage River in MD. I've been trying to coach my buddy about fly fishing and while he gets little time on the water, he seems to pick up pretty well and is overly enthusiastic. This would be our second annual camp and fly fishing trip. Found one pool that had risers and you could watch the trout below the surface where it wasn't at it's deepest. They were SO picky. Frustratingly so for me, but for a very new fly fisherman, it must have made him go nuts. I sat on a rock near him and watched. He'd get a great drift every 10 casts and we could both see the trout rise, follow, nose and spook. Instead of jumping in and suggesting things, I decided this was his time to learn. I sat silent. He would curse and turn to me asking "what the F" and I just sat there smiling. Watching his progression through trying different flies, then trying lighter tippet and finally taking the time to watch the fish feed (on midges) and select the correct fly and size really made my day. Sun beating down , feet in the cold river watching my buddy unlock the code to that pool on that particular day was amazing (and watching his inability to net his own fish was down right hilarious).


Same buddy, took him to the SBR and he while we were wading through some pretty crap water we both saw a small rise. While he was untangling yet another wind knot he said catch that one. I would never have taken the cast (thinking it was either a really small trout or more likely a sucker in this type of water). Since he was f'in around with his line I made a half ass cast and surprisingly dropped it perfectly about 2 ft above the rise circle. Fish hits fly and while it was a very small trout, it was my second ever tiger trout - Awesome to catch and awesome that he pushed me to make a cast I normally would have skipped over.

 

[MACFLY]

L

Alright, this may be almost as dumb as MacFly's halloween candy thread, but here goes:

This time of year, unless you're a steelheader, fly fishing in the northeast is all about mentally revisiting times gone by and anticipating times to come.

Personally, by late January / February, I start experiencing recurrent daydreams at work about the best fishing day of last spring or summer. This year, for the first time, I keep thinking about not catching a fish.

In late June or early July, a pod of brown trout that was cruising and sipping sulphur spinners in a totally relaxed way in full sunlight on the EB - it was maybe about 10am. I spent a good half hour working five or six fish but they were being super picky - they would lazily approach my fly when it came into the zone, swim within maybe a few inches of it, and then abruptly turn tail, spooked by my leader or my presentation or the pattern itself.

Went from 4.5x to 6x to 7x. Rowed a couple of strokes back upstream to get a better drift. Crippled my smallest sulphur comparadun with my hemostats. When it was about time to head home and make pancakes for the mongol hordes, I finally stuck one. It weirdly dove straight down instead of running, snapped my tippet in half, and put all the other fish down. I got skunked for the morning. But these days, I keep seeing those big brown trout cruising in my head, and that, apparently, is enough to have me chomping at the bit for 2016.

I know there's only 6 dudes on here right now, but among those, what's your best moment of last year?[/QUOTE

You fished for 2 hours. You changed flies and Tippet. You lost a fish. I think my candy bar thread was more intersting

 

[lightenup]

Best time last year was FF w my son on Big Pine in Pa. just after completing a great morning turkey hunting. Early May & the stream was clear & the fish were on the bite!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

HEY LOOK EVERYONE...Now there are 7!!!

If I may,
Welcome to NEFF Richard....

 

[mudbug201]

L

You fished for 2 hours. You changed flies and Tippet. You lost a fish. I think my candy bar thread was more intersting

I didn't say it was intersting. Just slightly less dumm than your most notably lame attempt to resuscitate signs of life on this rotting corpse of a website.

Now either pipe down or, better yet, walk the walk and post your favorite fishing memory of 2015. If you think we can all take the excitement, that is.

 

[MACFLY]

Yet you come back to this rotting corpse don't you. To tell us all about how you fished for 2 hours and caught nothing and that was your best memory of 2015. What's next you gonna regale us with tales of the time you put new line on your reel.

 

[mudbug201]

Yet you come back to this rotting corpse don't you. To tell us all about how you fished for 2 hours and caught nothing and that was your best memory of 2015. What's next you gonna regale us with tales of the time you put new line on your reel.

apparently mac's best memory of 2015 was starting a thread about halloween candy on a fly fishing site. A sum total of three people responded to that thread with sincerity. And now I've ruined it.

I've been working on the story of how I put new line on my reel, but I think it's a little bit too controversial and provocative for this crowd. I don't want to cause any spontaneous bouts of indigestion or rheumatism among you god fearing mom and apple pie types.

Now are you going to post a fishing story or just sit around and complain about mine?

 

[MACFLY]

apparently mac's best memory of 2015 was starting a thread about halloween candy on a fly fishing site. A sum total of three people responded to that thread with sincerity. And now I've ruined it.

I've been working on the story of how I put new line on my reel, but I think it's a little bit too controversial and provocative for this crowd. I don't want to cause any spontaneous bouts of indigestion or rheumatism among you god fearing mom and apple pie types.

Now are you going to post a fishing story or just sit around and complain about mine?

Don't get your weight forward fly Line in a knot. It was just an observation that your story was boring. If that's your best memory All I can say is I feel sorry for you. Now go ahead and post that fly line story. Let me guess you paid for the line with your food stamps

 

[flyI4]

I went permit fishing for the first time last fall and got a real nice fish that I saw peel off a flat and pin my fly in a shallow reef. Very cool to see. I had blown a bunch of shot before that, and knowing how elusive permit are it was exciting to hook and land my first one. I got the take on video. Quality kind of sucks but here it is.

 

[GARYB]

I finally hit a nice hatch of Hendricksons on the EB. I landed 3 nice browns 12" to 16" and lost a couple more. I also started summer evenings
fishing midges #22, 24s with 6x/7x and I got pretty good with it. Hooking them is hard enough, but landing them is another story.