New Friend, Old Friend, and Best Friend

Last weekend was about as good as it gets. I got to spend four days fishing with my best friend (dad), spend time with an old friend (Mel), and got to fish with a new friend (Ken). Life cannot get any better than that. Drank some great scotch, lots of rum, smoked a good cigar, and even had a pomegranate beer. Not crazy about the beer. While it may seem a bit boring, our trip to Montauk turned out to be pretty great. Again, like at Bennett Spring in June the crowds were not there. We fished in relative peace and this time it included the weekend. Over the course of four day I caught over 100 fish with the largest one about 19 inches. While “roughing it” in Pops camper, complete with microwave oven, full size bed, and satellite TV to watch the Cardinals sure helps the comfort level. In the end what was the most enjoyable was sitting around the picnic table with Ken, Mel and Dad telling fishing stories, tying flies and planning our next excursion. Did I mention we drank some rum? There was also rumor of a cocoanut cream pie, but it didn't last long.

Ken tying up some woolly buggers.

Here is Mel...Talk about a complex person ...Tattoos, dreads, but the guy fishes dry flies on a custom made bamboo with silk line. He is the best fly tier I have ever known and a wonderful friend. On top of that he loves to strike up a conversation with the ORVIS clad snobs. Go figure!

The greatest thing about trout fishing is that no matter how much you know there is always something new that will stump you. Who the heck would have thought that the key to success was a sparkly hackled #10 crackleback? I know it is a great fly and I have over one quarter of my dry fly box filled with them, but no gold ones, no blue ones, none above a #12 and most tied as a dry. I had never seen a blue crackleback until a few weeks ago down at Bennett Spring. For a day, down at Montauk they seemed to be the fly of choice for the trout. The next day my buddy Mel gave me a C.R. Gold (Current River Gold from Mr. Story up at Feathercraft). Basically it was a # 10 golden crackleback with rubber legs. The trout destroyed them.

Pops stripping a CR Gold

 I even got a little time to play with my underwater camera. I was going to give a product review about this camera, but the photos below really speak for themselves.

Sculpin. This camera ROCKS!

I call this one..."Whatchyadoing in my stream"

With the economy being what it is I ended up with two "staycations" this year. One to Bennett Spring the other to Montauk. While the west is beautiful, you cannot beat a relaxing few days close to home, in the company of great friends and a stream full of really hungry fish.