Given its Memorial Day, I though this photo might be of interest. It is a concrete bunker built back in the 1940’s as an observation post to watch for Nazi U-boats or planes entering Massachusetts waters. If my memory serves me right, it once resided up in the cliff under the Gay Head Lighthouse. (Now known as the Aquinnah Lighthouse) But erosion caused its to eventually fall to the water’s edge. When? Not sure, but I think it fell some 30 years ago.
A couple of posts back, I discussed stillwater fly-fishing for trout. While stillwater fly-
fishing can be done with streamers, wet flies and dries, the most common method is nymphing, often with chironomid patterns. Lakes are full of midge larva.
In a stream or river, nymph fishing is typically done under a strike indicator, rarely placed over 3 or 4 feet above the fly. When you go to land a trout, the strike indicator’s position does not interfere with you reaching the fish. In stillwater, however, the fly may be 8 feet or farther down the leader. Now a convention strike indicator becomes an obstacle when landing the trout.
A release indicator solves the problem. For example, if you feel the stillwater fish are likely
ten feet down, you can position a release indictor ten feet up the leader. Now you are fishing at the proper depth. When the strike comes, setting the hook causes the release indicator to side down the leader to the fly. Bingo life is easy. You got to love it!
My friend Phil just told me of a warning sign in Ninigret Pond in Charlestown, Rhode Island. What’s up? Clinging jellyfish have been found in several salt ponds and they pack a wallop. Apparently, this has been a fact for a few years now, although this is the first I have heard of it. If you’re fishing the cinder worm hatch in these ponds be sure to wear waders. And try to keep your hands out of the water as much as possible.
Here is a public service announcements from the state of Rhode Island.
2022 PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Environmental officials in Rhode Island are warning residents about tiny jellyfish that pack a powerful sting.
The state Department of Environmental Management say clinging jellyfish have recently been found in Potter Pond in South Kingstown and Ninigret Pond in Charlestown. The agency said adult clinging jellyfish are about the size of a dime and have an orange-brown cross mark on their transparent bodies. Officials say their sting can be extremely painful and can lead to hospitalization. Symptoms include severe pain, redness from the sting, and possibly respiratory and/or neurological problems. DEM says those symptoms typically last three to five days.
If you have been stung, officials advise to use jellyfish sting sprays or rinse with white vinegar over the site to stop any remaining stinging cells, and to remove any remaining tentacles with tweezers. It is advised to rinse only with hot water. If symptoms do not go away, or the pain strengthens, officials recommend seeking medical attention. In a video posted Friday on the DEM’s Facebook page, officials advise quahoggers and others using shallow, protected waterbodies to wear boots, waders, or wetsuits for protection, and avoid aquatic vegetation like eelgrass where they tend to congregate.
Joe Brooks’ Blonde Bucktail is the earliest fly to gain widespread popularity in saltwater fly-fishing. By early, I mean back when saltwater fly-fishing was still in diapers – in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and even the 80s.
Now it may come as a surprise, but the Blonde was not Joe Brooks’ creation. Joe himself gave that credit to Homer Rhode, Jr., who designed the fly to fish for tarpon back in the 1940s. Homer Rhodes Jr is perhaps the most intriguing and mysterious figure in the entire history of saltwater fly-fishing. If you would like to know more about him, on my site’s magazine page, is an article I wrote on this extremely gifted man. By the way, the Seaducer is his fly as well. Still, there is no doubt that it was Brooks that brought this fly to the public’s attention.
Joe Brooks Original Blonde Bucktail
In the photo is one of Joe Brooks’ original Blonde Bucktails. Joe had his flies tied for him by the famous Bill Upperman of Atlantic City, New Jersey. If you want to see another such fly view this link. This particular Blonde rides a 3/0 hook. The tail and wing are all-white bucktail. The shank is wrapped in silver embossed Mylar, that has corroded over the years. I bet the original thread was white as well, but the head cement has yellowed it. And unlike today’s commercially tied Blondes, it is dressed very full. Overall length is 4.5″.
Joe called the all-white Blonde the Platinum Blonde. He also recommended a Strawberry Blonde (orange tail, red wing), a Honey Blonde (yellow tail, yellow wing), a Black Blonde (black tail, black wing), a Pink Blonde 1# (pink tail, pink wing), a Pink Blonde 2# (white tail, pink wing) and an Argentine Blonde (white tail, medium blue wing).
Today, this fly is rarely seen in any angler’s fly box, having been completely replaced by Lefty’s Deceiver and Bob Clouser’s Deep Minnow. Both of which are excellent flies. Regardless, the Blonde was and still is effective and an important part of our sport’s history.
Have you ever wondered why stillwater fly-fishing for trout never took off in our country?
It’s really a shame. Its been huge in the UK since the planet cooled. Yes, across the pond they lack the abundance of public rivers we have. So stillwater was more of a necessity. But it provides a great deal of exciting fly-fishing, often over very large trout. And with the increasingly over- crowded nature of American rivers, stillwater could provide a whole new fly-fishing frontier for us as well.
Granted out in the Rockies, stillwater fly-fishing for trout does exist. And it is extremely popular and even famous for action in Kamloops, British Columbia, where trout between 10 and even 20 pounds are not unheard of! Imagine that beast on the end of your line? Wowzer!
Why on
earth don’t we have more public trophy trout fly-fishing lakes across America? It’s challenging fishing with all the trimming – hatches, wet flies, streamers and of course nymphs – especially damsel flies and chironomides. Yes, the nymph fishing is often done deep, but the availability of release strike indicators that release on the bite and slide down the line makes things easy.
And no, you wouldn’t need a large boat, a small cartop is fine. Float tubes, canoes and kayaks work as well. Stillwater fly-fishing richly deserves more attention.
