Game one of the spring 2019 season

There was an air of trepidation before kick off because we were missing multiple players who were either travelling the globe or were injured or were having boils lanced. We kicked off with 11 and fifteen minutes after the start the Gilf showed up after fighting off a bout of food poisoning that would have hobbled a horse. Captain Flicky set us up 4-5-1 with instructions to keep our shape at all costs. Crapoli had a ton of quality players but we started OK and this Limey bastard slotted one through for Caino who spotted the keeper off his line, leaving the near post open. Cain quickly assessed the situation and put the ball right in the sweet spot from a very tight angle. Unexpectedly we found ourselves ahead. Crapoli did draw even with a penalty from a dodgy call and we were all square at the half. Doug Vee settled things from a direct free kick just outside the box in the second half. The ball took a slight deflection off Daryl's shoulder but the goals committee is giving the goal to Mr Viggliolottalinguinewidplennyasauce.

Everyone worked their socks off and played their positions almost perfectly. Crapoli created chances but we kept our shape so well that they could not take them. Tom was magnificent in goal and proved that the massive transfer fee (one light beer and a slice of pizza) was money well spent. When we got our foot on the ball we kept it with some nice passing that looked very much like Barcelona in mid season form.

We retired to the parking lot and feasted on Captain Flicky Chile which we washed down with some fine suds supplied by JB. Captain Flicky passed around eclairs for dessert and Caino ate fifteen and vomited all the way back to Salem.

The name of this blog should really be changed because Ethan now lives in Colorado. Here is his latest report from a world famous ribbon of water that runs through an enormous, expansive and beautiful part of the state.

The Dream Stream

3/1/19

As I drive over Wilkerson Pass the snowfall gets more intense. I arrive in the lower parking lot of the Dream Stream with a half a dozen cars already parked. Fisherman are milling about, rigging rods, and a sliding into their waders. Snow continues to fall as I put my waders on but even with the steady snowfall the air is still. I set up 2 rods, my 3wt 11ft with a tight line/euro setup, the other my 5wt 10ft a heavy nymph rig with midges as my attractor and point flies.

                I begin my day on river just below the bridge. This is a large pool with a zillion micro currents created by man made structure. I start quick and pick up a 8” rainbow on the swing. The bow took a size 22 mercury zebra midge. The snow is slowing letting up and the clouds are starting to break opening my view of this awe-inspiring landscape. In the pool I notice some big boils but executing a great drift is near impossible, so I head just upstream of the bridge.

                Two riffles converge just before the bridge where I decide to fish. I fish from river right targeting a promising seam on river left. I connect after a few casts with a beautiful 13” bow and soon pick up a few more trout. At this point the snow has ceased and the sun is poking in and out of the clouds. The wind is almost non-existent which is unheard of for the Dream. I keep trekking upstream with little result. I am hoping to spot a monster Rainbow on its annual jaunt upstream from 11 mile Reservoir. I eventually come to a deep bend in the river. A couple casts with my tight line setup I connect with a 12” brown. After a debacle of landing the trout and releasing the hook, I set him free and see him swim back into the deep pool. He slammed a dead drifted leech pattern.

                A day earlier I had fished an upper section of the Dream with little result and had to deal with brutal winds all day. It was impossible to get a good drift. Today with little to no wind it was a different story. Eventually I worked downstream and stumbled upon my honey hole for the day. For the most part it was a pretty nondescript riffle, fast water pushing up towards the bend on river right and slower part of the riffle pushing right to left. (towards river right). The main difference here was that I could see the fish and trust me there were some tanks. I will not summarize every take, every fight, and every fish at this spot but overall, there were some successes and some missed opportunities. I had about a 30-40% catch rate. This culminated with my best fish of the day ... a 18” Cutbow as strong as an ox.  Soon after I released the Cutbow, I cast, put a good mend in.. and Wham! Indicator down. CONNECTION! I see a huge flash of silver, the surface Explodes! A monster rainbow trashes its head in anger. I maintain a connection and try to walk him upstream to keep it in the pool. But soon… Slack. He’s off.

                Its about 4pm now and the wind is beginning to pick up. I feel the temperature dip and start walking toward the car. I see a storm rolling over the mountains in the distance. Each time I lose a large trout I end up on my back looking to the sky for answers. Maybe I will get another chance one day. In this life or the next. Today was a blessing. Well until the next time I am stream side with a fly rod.

ES

This just in ...

So the last blog post was from April of 2011 so I have a bit of a gap ... 7 years or so. Ethan has graduated from college and is now a professional fly fishing guide in Colorado. We just went on a trip to the Pacific Northwest and had a chance to fish the Baker River in the Cascades. Ethan caught this magnificent Bull Trout on the eve of his 28th birthday. The young man fought the brute down the river on a six weight rod and somehow managed to keep it out of a massive log jam. 

Saturday April 27th 2011. We fished a body of water under the broken nose of an old man and we caught an awful lot of very large brookies. It was our first trip since Oscar died. Oscar was our dog of 12 years. We think he had a word with the fish gods because they threw us a really big bone this time. Everything was down deep on bead head nymphs and streamers. It was cold and at times it was wet but it was great early season fishing. A couple of these fish looked to be around 5 pounds.

Ice out was about a week ago so we froze our ... it was jolly cold in the water.


This is one of the 5 pounders I caught. One was a big male with a deep belly and the other was a longer female.

You can just about see the fly ... a smallish bead head nymph with a little red on it. Ethan tied it the night before. The fish were all stockers probably put in right after ice out.

One of the smaller males.

I (Ethan) spent the fall of 2010 as a conservation intern out west ... and I don't mean around Worcester. Of course, when I was not working like a slave I did a little fishing. Here is a sampling. The first picture is a Saturday morning on the San Juan river near Navajo Dam in New Mexico ... a magnificent and world famous tail water that is choc full of trout that get carpet bombed on the weekends.

Here is a picture of Profile Lake in Franconia, NH ... I'm kidding, this is Colorado.

Here is a clip of me catching a 15 inch brown on the San Juan. I caught this fish on a double nymph rig. The fish went for a small zebra nymph on the bottom. Next time I go I plan to take a camera crew with me because I nearly released the camera instead of the fish.

It is January of 2011 and the lakes of New Hampshire are frozen over and ice out isn't for months. I took the dog hiking along the Pemi and found some really nice looking water. A couple of years ago I pulled a sleepy brookie out of the river in February who took my woolly bugger on the first look.

Upper Connecticut Trophy Section October 11th and 12th 2008

We made it to the Upper Connecticut for the last weekend of the 2008 season. We drove up from our place in Lincoln, stopped in Colebrook for breakfast and then continued north until the cell phones could not pick up a signal. We drove northwards in our quest for trout and eventually sound ourselves at River Road. We admired the Lopstick sign and the 4 legged butcher shop sign. The weekend was dry which was a pleasant surprise for us because every other trip was a soaker. The water level was a little lower than our last trip but the fishing was good nonetheless. The mornings were cold so we got a late start on both days. On Sunday morning we ate breakfast at Tall Timbers and the pancakes and french toast were delicious. Back Lake was as flat as a mill pond and the tourists were having a great time strolling around the shore.

After a wild ride Ethan landed this nice salmon on the Sunday. He caught two on the day. This one was around 18 inches long.

Ethan out-fished me on both days and completed the Trophy section grand slam (rainbow, brookie, brown and salmon) on the Sunday when he landed this brown trout. This was the first brown we ever caught up here. The lad is a master with a double nymph below a strike indicator. I am far from a master of this technique.

Here is one of three nice Rainbows that I caught on Saturday. I caught all of them on dry flies. I had a lot of hits on a hares ear nymph and have to admit that I missed way more than I should have. The fishing at the Upper Connecticut is great but the best thing is that you really can get away from it all.



Here is a clip of Ethan fighting a salmon. Oscar our crazy hound, decided to swim over and check out the action. I had to cut the action short because I had to scamper down stream and net the bugger.


The banks of the Upper Ct are pretty steep and you have to be prepared to bushwhack your way to the good spots.