Winter Reading Assignment:Books for the Avid Angler

Along with the reality that winter and its long cold nights have settled in, I am sure there are already thoughts of the first fish of next spring, as our lives are governed by seasons. By now, boats have been winterized and rest quietly beneath a blanket of shrink wrap, and the beaches are devoid of all but the most of intrepid anglers wishing for a miraculous Christmas gift while our most cherished gamefish are sunning themselves in southern climes. Like most avid fishermen, I too am going through withdrawal pains and eagerly counting the days until aquatic life returns once again to our waters. While a trip or two to some tropical climate is in my future, I also enjoy staying in touch with the world of fishing through the printed word. There are a quite a number of terrific books on the market right now that can make for a nice interlude between the fall run and the spring renaissance. The following are some wonderful titles that are sure to whet the angling appetite of the most seasoned anglers as well as the winter armchair fishermen among us. At minimum, these books will certainly help ease the pains of angling withdrawal.

THE GIGANTIC BOOK OF FISHING STORIES
Nothing leads to more holiday boding between family and friends than sharing stories around a fireplace or dinner table. Stories have a way of enriching our lives, and fishing stories especially can add a measure of that to our own outdoor experiences. One of the best books to have come my way recently is The Gigantic Book of Fishing Stories (Skyhorse Publishing, Inc, 2007), edited and introduced by Nick Lyons and with a forward by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, author and historian, David Halberstam. And “gigantic” in this context is an understatement. The book is massive. By my count it contains 117 wonderful, well-written stories and essays by many of angling’s most notable authors and writers – past and present. The stories are well organized into seven parts and cover a very wide array of angling topics, enough to please even the most demanding and insatiable reader of angling literature. You will be busy many a night reading this book. It is surely destined to become a classic.

FLY FISHING FOR STRIPED BASS
Another outstanding volume that will sit nicely under the holiday tree is Fly Fishing for Striped Bass (Wild River Press, 2007), by Rich Murphy. Rich is a very accomplished striped bass angler and a master fly-tier. He has devoted much of his adult life to the pursuit of striped bass with a fly rod. While this book is written primarily for the fly angler its general content and descriptions of striped bass will be of interest and value to all readers, regardless of the methods they employ to catch their bass. The book contains an exquisite collection of photographs that are nothing short of striped bass angler eye candy. Some of the photographers for this book are Barry Beck, whose work appears frequently in many national fishing magazines, Tom Pero, David Skok and Dave Klausmeyer, among others. What impressed me most about the book is the quality of its usable content. The sections on fishing beaches, estuaries, rocks and flats contain information that is valuable to all anglers, not just fly fishermen. You cannot help but pick up a few pointers that will help put the angling odds in your favor. This title should be in the collection of all those who enjoy the pursuit of striped bass.

HOW TO CATCH THE BIGGEST TROUT OF YOUR LIFE
I’ll stick with Wild River Press for one additional recommendation, How to Catch the Biggest Trout of Your Life, by Landon Mayer. This book is a must for anyone who has ever dreamed of catching the trout of a lifetime. Landon has obviously achieved that goal on many occasions not only for himself but also for many of his guiding clients. He shares with the reader his techniques and secrets for catching large trout. Regardless of where you fish for trout, this book will give you the edge you need to catch the biggest trout of your life. The author is a full time fly fishing guide in Colorado who specializes in catching huge trout from hard-fished waters. He accomplishes that with a high degree of regularity as evidenced by the photographs of massive trout that grace the pages of this book. The book is well written and reads easily. I was hooked right from the foreword where the writer stated that he had just hooked a 16-pound brown trout from the same run he had hooked a 14-pound fish an hour earlier, and that he owed all this remarkable success to Landon Mayer. The author holds nothing back in this book and reveals all one needs to know about the habits of large trout and the methods necessary to catch them. I just may take this book to the river with me next time!

TAKE ME FISHING
Another winning title from Skyhorse Publishing (2007) is Take Me Fishing edited by John Bryan with an introduction by Howell Raines and a foreword by former United States President, Jimmy Carter. The book is a compilation of fabulous fishing stories and essays from 50 of the sport’s greatest writers. What is unique about this publication is that all of the writers donated their works to this book so that a portion of the proceeds from sales can be donated to the Fish America Foundation. That organization works to keep fish and waters healthy in all 50 states. Proceeds are also donated to the Future Fisherman Foundation, an enterprise that works to educate hundreds of thousands of new anglers each year. Some of the venerable anglers/writers whose work is contained in this volume are: Joan Salvato Wulff, Lefty Kreh, Lamar Underwood, William Tapply, Mark Sosin, George Reiger, Nick Lyons, Nelson Bryant, John Randolph, Steve Raymond and many more. You will be entertained! And buy purchasing a book you will also contribute to the future well being of the sport we all love.

TOP WATER
This next book is a personal favorite not only because of my love for fly fishing the waters of Alaska but because the authors are two remarkable anglers and writers. The book is, Top Water (The Countryman Press, 2004). The authors, Troy Letherman and Tony Weaver, take the reader on a remarkable fly fishing journey throughout Alaska, our nation’s last frontier. Through their experiences you will gain insight into Alaska steelhead, Chinook, sockeye, coho, chum and pink salmon, rainbow trout, arctic char and dolly varden, grayling and all of Alaska’s saltwater species. The combined fishing experiences of both Troy and Tony are quite impressive. Troy is the founding editor of Fish Alaska magazine, the state’s premier fishing publication. Troy’s writing is nothing short of high quality literature. He would certainly get my vote for Alaska’s poet laureate of fly fishing. Tony has been a guide, manufacturer’s representative, fishing industry consultant and life-long Alaska angler. Both writers demonstrate deep love for Alaska and its sport fish.
The book is a must for anyone who has either fished the Greatland or has ever dreamed of fishing there. It is very well written and reads like angling literature. This is the perfect book to read in front of a fireplace on a cold winter’s night.

LONG ISLAND’S BEST FRESHWATER FISHING
The second local book is Long Island’s Best Freshwater Fishing (OutdoorTom Publications, 2004) by Tom Schlichter. Tom has more than 40 years of fishing experience under his belt, with most of that know-how specific to the freshwaters of Long Island. If your interests include catching trout, largemouth bass and panfish from Long Island, this book is a must have. Tom will guide you to the most productive freshwater hotspots and explain how to catch our most coveted gamefish.

The Teacher
The final recommendation is not really a fishing book but rather a psychological thriller authored by Long Island fisherman and outdoor writer, Robert Banfelder. Bob is not only a very accomplished angler but also a very talented fiction writer, who manages to weave fishing tidbits into his compelling suspense novels. His book, The Teacher (Port Town Publishing, 2006) will have you sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for what comes next. If you enjoy your reading on the scary side, then this is a book you should read on a dark and cold winter’s night. If you like being frightened, you won’t be disappointed. This is really a great read.


Personal Fly Fishing Favorites

Saltwater Flies of the Northeast is being acclaimed as one of the best and most thorough works on the subject. Included are over 400 patterns, many of which have evolved from existing patterns as part of the renaissance that saltwater fly fishing has experienced over the last decade or so. It is published by Frank Amato Publications (www.amatobooks.com).

Fly Fishing Long Island should be required reading for any Long Islander who practices the art, whether in freshwater or salt. It is an amazingly thorough guide that gives up numerous hotspots from Staten Island to Montauk. Another chapter covers baitfish and the best patterns to match the available forage. You’ll find this soft cover book filled with valuable insights into the fly fishing game, in addition to its extensive where-to coverage. It is published by The Countryman Press.

The Fourth Quarter

This week’s local fly-fishing tracked closely to the performance of the financial markets and the economy – it moved south in a hurry, with a few signs of imminent promise. Reports were rather thin this from most sources since the very low temperatures kept many anglers off the water. The early part of the week did see some rather large schools of small bass off the north shore shoals but that action was primarily in very deep water…too deep for even the highest density sinking lines. And that action is now fading. Some large blues were mixed in with the bass. The north side beaches were - for the most part - very quiet, and for the first time this season nothing of note to report from the north shore harbors. Montauk was extremely quiet for the fly crowd but there was some success farther west down the south shore beaches. Yet, it is not all doom and gloom. Most of the general reports indicate there were numerous small bass dispersed throughout areas of the central and western beaches on south side of the Island. Some of those fish were right in the wash offering good shots with the fly rod. The stripers seemed to be traveling with schools of bunker and shad.
The final stages of the Long island season can prove a boon to fly anglers under one very special situation – the presence of herring. When herring make a showing striped bass – usually big ones - home in on this late season dietary preference and feed aggressively. The larger and more widespread the schools of herring, the more the bass will school in an attempt to maximize the consumption of this annual bounty. Some of the largest bass feeding binges of the season will occur at this time.
Fly fishermen eagerly await this potential bounty. When top water feeding blitzes are encountered they can often cover acres and the bass will readily hit flies. The stripers are most receptive to larger fly patterns at this time of year. Big white flies with flash fished on intermediate or sinking lines in and among the feeding bass will often times bring forceful strikes, resulting in some of the largest fish of the season.
The real opportunity of this fishing is that it often goes unnoticed since most fly anglers are not on the water at the time the herring appear. There is still time to give this fishing a try so keep an eye open for diving gannets that also enjoy the tasty herring. While herring will move though the Sound, the best bet for encountering this type fishing is off shore of the south shore beaches.
We have to look slightly to our south to see the week’s most consistent fly-fishing. Now more than ever during the remaining part of the season the most dependable action for the salty fly angler will be along the western reaches of the south shore and down through Staten Island, the New York Bight and all along the New Jersey beaches. It may be time to gather up a few of your fly fishing buddies and take a road trip to the Garden State.

Fundamentals of Fly-Fishing the Surf

Fundamentals of Fly-Fishing the Surf

Join Angelo Peluso for a unique fly-fishing class. Instruction will take place at a beach location where the fundamentals of fly-fishing will be taught in an informal and conversational setting. The basic program is geared for the new or intermediate fly angler with customized sessions available for those anglers with more experience.

Topics covered will include:
*Casting
*Retrieves
*Line Selection
*Leaders/Knots
*Fly Selection
*Essential Gear
*Reading Water
*Elements of Structure
*Tactics for local game fish

Individual and group sessions (up to four participants) are available, and can be structured to meet any specific needs or interests. The full program runs three hours. Specialized hourly classes can also be arranged.

Individual Rates: Full 3-hour program: $195.00/ personalized one student class
$75.00 for customized hourly sessions

Group rates (two to four students): $160.00 per student/3-hour program

Classes can be scheduled throughout the year. Some light beach walking required for the full program.

Contact: SaltyFlyLIF@aol.com or
Apdotcominfo@aol.com

Fly Fishing Around the Island

It’s a bit like singing the same old tune but Montauk again proved music the fly rodder’s ears this week. The fish, mostly bass, pushed anchovies close enough to the beaches and into the wash for great action with flies. The southside was inundated with bass in close and offshore albies, while the northside saw bass mixed in with hordes of ever-present bluefish. While most of the fish have been mid-sized bass there have been some huge stripers coming within range of the fly rod. A friend’s email to me stated, “At times it looked like the breaking waves contained 90% fish and 10% water!” It doesn’t get any better than that so now is the time to cash in on the action before the bulk of the schools move south. Actually, that has already begun to happen, as there have been quite a number of solid fly catches reported in the vicinity of Shinnecock and Moriches beaches. While the east end should continue to stay hot for a while longer - since fish are still being caught to our north - plying the beaches further south could yield impressive results in the coming days and less angling competition.
The flyrodders on the beaches of the Sound are singing an altogether different tune. The west end of north shore has been producing well with bass and bluefish as those fish stage to move further west into the NY Bight and out to the ocean for their annual trip south. The beaches of the east end from Southhold out to Orient have also been very active with fish, some days providing great fishing, others days a bust. Those fish are beginning to move around the horn to the south side and then down the south shore for their migration down the coast. But the central part of the Sound is quite lethargic at the moment. It’s a coin toss as to whether any meaningful run will still occur, with the exception of fish still in the harbors that will soon begin to move out. Some of those bass and blues will move east, while some will move west. The best advice right now is to move around and don’t stick to just one place waiting for the run to materialize. Take your fly rod on the road and go find the fish. As for the false albacore, nothing of any substance to report on the north shore. If anything, the sightings have been few and far between and no reported catches of merit.
I’ve received some emails about fly choices for this time of year and I’d like to pass along my response: “As far as flies go, the keys this time of year are the various baitfish that are moving long the beach: peanut bunker, mullet, spearing, sand eels, bay anchovies, butterfish, etc. Flies that imitate baitfish in size, profile and coloration will serve you well for most situations. In generic terms you can't go wrong with Epxoy Baitfish, Deceivers, Clousers, Half and Halfs, and an assortment of EP Flies. And mix up the fly lines as well from intermediate lines to high-density sink tips.”

Head East Young Man

The temptation to head “east” was building within me since the week before last, reaching a zenith when I spoke with my good friend, Captain Adrian of Alpha Fishing Adventures about getting together to toss some flies around. We decided to head out to Montauk on Thursday, with the primary objective of exploring for hard tails…albies. As it turned out, Montauk didn’t disappoint and the rips delivered. The bluefish were easy, the bass required some coaxing and the false albacore made quite a showing, yet displayed a very high sense of feeding selectivity. At first, Captain Adrian and I cast various flies to busting little tunny and had many follows, swirls and subsequent rejections. We tried big flies and small flies and all of our personal favorites without so much as a touch. At one point I had tied on every one of my productive bonito and albie flies, to no avail - not one solid hook-up. There was plenty of interest in our patterns but no takers. We were getting quite frustrated by these fish. It was then that my angling partner reached into his fly box and pulled out a very diminutive pattern that he had yet to try. As it turned out, that fly reinforced the old adage that when fishing for albies, a fly’s size and color often does matter. While I have caught albies in the past on large silversides patterns and even large plugs, on this day they wanted none of that. They were keyed in on flies that precisely matched the size, profile and coloration of the real bait they were eating – bay anchovies.
The first retrieve of that newfound fly brought a solid strike and following a few superb runs, we tailed the icebreaker, a solid albie of about 7 or 8-pounds. I continued using a mid-sized hair fly until Adrian’s second cast brought another strong take. Several runs later we tailed the second consecutive albie on that fly. It was then that I decided to grub one of those flies from my buddy and give it a try. Adrian handed over his only other remaining fly of that design and I tied it on. Coming upon a fresh pod of fish my first cast with the day’s magic pattern resulted in an instantaneous hook-up. Adrian hooked up again as well. We were now onto something. We caught quite a few more albies using that fly and kept praying some errant bluefish wouldn’t hit it - the 20-pound fluorocarbon certainly would not withstand their teeth. Fortunately, for the balance of the day, we encountered only bass and albies.
The albies were present in very solid numbers. At times, there were so many sizeable pods of fish around us we didn’t know which ones to approach first. That is a nice fly fishing problem to have! I am just going to have to head back out there again soon to try for the ones we missed. The albies are sure to hang around for quite a while longer. If you’d like to know more about the specific pattern we used, just email me and I will respond.
I called Adrian (Alphafishing.com) on Saturday morning since he was back out at Montauk with a charter. As soon as he answered his cell phone, it was, “Hi Ang, Its AMAZING today! We have been surrounded by acres of busting striped bass and albies all morning. Gotta go, call you later. By the way, my arms are killing me!” Now how do you think I felt about that report sitting at home at my PC writing this blog entry? I was wishing I were there instead of typing at the keyboard. But the good news is this is only the beginning of some great fly-fishing at “The End”! Montauk should see a terrific fall run for fly anglers.

Alaska Silver

Late summer and early fall are two of the best times of the year to fly-fish the great state of Alaska. The months of August through October are a splendid season to chase magnificent silver salmon (coho), large rainbow trout and the elusive steelhead. For me, there is no better time to venture north to the Greatland in search of bright, ocean-fresh fish that ride the last tides into their natal streams. These fish are very receptive to an angler’s flies. Large, wild rainbows fatten up on omni-present and protein-rich salmon eggs. Steelhead begin a period of activity that typically peaks on many rivers in October. And if that isn’t enough, big dolly varden, arctic char and grayling all willingly eat most any egg pattern that drifts their way. The fly-fishing can often be non-stop.
Silver salmon are truly one of this planet’s great game fish. Coho are my favorite Alaska species, since they are very fly- fishing friendly and embody all the traits of a first-class game fish. Any number of brightly colored patterns can be effective for fresh silvers but one of the very best ways to catch these aggressive fish is on top water flies. The once odd but now accepted method for accomplishing this is through the use of hair-bug Wogs. These are typically tied in hot colors such as pink, fuchsia, chartreuse or cerise and orange. The Wogs are tied in a fashion similar to deer hair bass bugs and typically include a tail, some flash and a big tapered head and body. To witness the gaping maw of a huge hook-jawed male silver track a topwater fly is enough to test any fly anglers mettle.
My first exposure to this form of fly-rodder occurred many years back in Western Alaska on the the Kanektok River. This body of water is part of the Kuskokwim draingage that flows into the Bering Sea. It is an exquisitely remote location renowned for its unique strain of leopard rainbow trout, but the area is also well known for its prolific runs of silvers. It was here that I got my first taste of topwater silvers and I’ve never looked back. Since that time I’ve caught cohos in similar fashion from a number of other Alaska rivers. When conditions allow, there is no more fun to be had than catching silvers on top.

B&B...Bonito and Blues

Sometimes you just have to thank the fish gods for bluefish, especially when it gets tough chasing after the local inshore pelagics. The only guy who is happy to see the bonito disperse is my local gas station attendant! The ratio of gas dollars to fish spotted was astronomical. I did find some very scattered fish early last week in a most non-typical area well away from the crowds but they were there for only one day and gone the next. That is why it pays to explore every once in a while. You just never know where the concentrations of “bones” will show up. I am of the opinion that is how it will be until we get another strong push of fish through our area, which could be in a matter of hours, days or weeks. Or it just might be the next tide. While they do show marked preferences for certain areas around Long Island, these aquatic sprinters can cover long distances in short amounts of time as they search for optimal conditions and bait. If you like pursuing bonito with the fly rod my advice would be to keep at it, be persistent and embark upon a journey of discovery! I guess I’ve just been spoiled with a few of the remarkable past seasons but I will still keep looking and casting. Each and every bonito on the fly is a worthy accomplishment!
Despite the relative scarcity of bonito there are the bluefish - lots of them, with many big fish in the mix. As is typical for this time of year the blue bruisers hit everything thrown at them. They put a substantial dent in my large-fly wallet as their huge maws sliced through 40, 50 and even 60-pound fluorocarbon leaders as if they were 6/0 tying thread. But the ones that were brought to submission were well worth the price I had to pay. One double-digit fish jumped so close to the boat that it brushed against the top of the gunwale, and I could swear by the look in its eyes, it had designs on some “vital” areas of my anatomy. That put me on instant alert! These big fish seem to be everywhere right now: western north shore harbors, south shore inlets and bays, offshore, the central Sound and at both forks of the east end. Striped bass are still falling to flies fished in and around structure, mostly in the very early morning hours or well into the night. Moderately –sized to larger flies seems to work best on often reluctant bass. During the daytime, varied size, color and retrieves and at night give those darker-colored flies a try.
The offshore fly-fishing crowd is enjoying some fine big-game fly-fishing with SBFT, mahi and bonito. That action remains solid from New Jersey up through New England.
Now that there is a tinge of fall in the early morning temperatures I eagerly await those cooler days and evenings that will motivate the bass to more regularly visit the beaches within casting distance of the fly rod. Still no meaningful reports of Little tunny (albies) but if that is going to happen in a substantive way, we should see some fish soon enough.