Happy New Year!

Out of the Cellar

Just got a bottle of this year's Vintage Ale by Trader Joe's. Even though guys at Unibroue do a splendid job every year with this brew, I am little disappointed with this year's vintage. Too much spice and not enough beer taste, I must say...

On the bright note, this beer ages really well, and we just finished the last bottle of 2007 a month ago. The current favorite is 2008. The 2009 was unusually spicy, but definitely not as much as the 2010. We'll see if little aging will improve the taste of this year's vintage.

Full Dress Clousers (30 Degree Jig Hook)

Hula wrap and 30 degree jig hooks for extra pizzazz!

Blue & Green

Peppers & Soft Hackle Flatwing

Fall Triptych

L/R: Window View, Wild Brown from Iowa, Last Week's Working Flies

Gizzard Shad

Gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepidianum) is a common forage fish. I captured this specimen in Lake Pepin while fishing for white bass. The first photo shows the natural and the Clouser Minnow, which works well enough, but doesn't imitate the silvery, compressed body quite well. Below is the picture of the anatomically correct floating gizzard shad imitation.

Fall

T-shirt Design

A couple of T-shirt ideas...

Striperfest 2010 Flies

Just sent a bunch of flies to the Striperfest 2010 Raffle, hosted by Dan Blanton. Please check out Dan Blanton's website for more information on the event.

Iowa Wild Browns and Steam Engines

I spent the past three days in NE Iowa, fishing some of my favorite locations with Vladimir Vujic, a friend from Chicago. We found plenty of willing fish, and water conditions varied from fairly murky to crystal clear, depending on the stream. Vladimir and myself took trout on small streamers, nymphs and dries, and witnessed several sporadic BWO and midge hatches, caddis and terrestrial activity.

On the second day, while fishing an open pasture section, I was lucky to hook a nice male brown on a size 12 Klink, in riffles under the bridge. Vladimir had his camera ready, and was able to document the fight.

During the last day, the fishing was slower due to the bright skies, but we managed to hook and land some pretty wild fish.

On our way back, we stopped and met Amy's Dad at the steam engine show, which featured steam engines, cars and tractors from a bygone era!

Nervous Water

Nervous Water from Vladan Milenkovic on Vimeo.

Amy took this short video clip while I was fishing in Winthrop in the dusk... The quality is not that great, but you can see the baitfish and striper activity.

Great Expectations

I found my old haunts around Boston Harbor and further north just as enchanting as ever. The distance can sometimes do things like that to a fisherman. You anticipate every moment of the trip, reliving old memories about early Fall blitzes, spraying bait and brave pulls of a big striper. Old memories die hard!

My expectations turned into something else, perhaps more profound and somewhat disturbing. As expected, I did fish some fine looking water. I spent wonderful moments on and off the water with both old and new friends. However, stripers were not around, ready to play... at least not in any sizable numbers. I fished hard for three days, from Plum Island down to the Harbor, hitting many well known shore locations. The result was a single hookup. While fishing together, my old friend Eric Evans and Boston Harbor guide Dave Skok confirmed something I was reading about-that striper stocks are down. If something doesn't change, this great American gamefish might disappear again...

It is hard to predict the future and we don't know what it will bring. Even though I don't know what the solution is, I certainly hope for the brightest outcome!

Photo credits, top to bottom/left to right: Twilight in Boston Harbor (Vlad), Casting (Dave Skok), Sandy Point surf (Amy), Silversides in the Anisquam (Vlad), Estuary glow (Amy), Ron DiRito and his ceviche (Amy)

Packing for the Long Weekend

The Best Solution

...for measuring shooting heads and custom tips, readily available on Ebay. This particular model measures down to 0.01 gram or 0.15 grains. That's more precision than you'll ever need for flyfishing!

The Lost World of Mr Hardy

Evening on the Estuary - The Lost World of Mr Hardy extra from Trufflepig Films on Vimeo.

Extra footage from a great movie... http://www.thelostworldofmrhardy.com/

Another 5wt...

Built for a friend in Montenegro...