Worms sold Here
I’m located in a small New England town; just the kind of place I really love. Church bells ring on Sunday morn. A steam train calls in the distance. Out on the town green, folks are pitching horseshoes. And get this, the hardware store sells worms and nightcrawlers. Amen brother.
Finally made it permanently back to Connecticut, known far-and-wide as the land of unlimited taxes and chronic government over spending.
Back in Connecticut
But it’s also my old stomping rounds, home to many friends including my son, and good fly fishing in both fresh and sat waters. Let the games begin.
A month back I was in New Hartford, Connecticut, knee deep in the Farmington River watching a master at work. His name is Pat Torrey and he has been fishing this fabulous river for over 40 years.
Pat Torrey’ s Class on the Farmington
At that moment the Pat was teaching a class on the art of the soft hackle. And I’m glued to his every word. Tall lanky and armed with a wry sense of humor, Pat delivered the gospel from a midstream, showing us the dos and don’t of these fine flies. Its was both informative and entertaining. Just what I had hoped for.
Soft hackles are nothing new, of course. Along with their generic cousin the wet fly, soft hackles are as old as the sport itself perhaps first rising to notoriety in the 1600’s on the lochs and rivers of England and Scotland where they were often referred to as “spiders”. Their popularity steadily expanded, eventually leaping across the pond to our shores, where by the beginning of last century wet flies ruled American trout streams. If you have any doubt open a copy of Ray Bergman’s seminal book Trout, and flip through the wonderful color plates. Hundreds and hundreds of wet flies reside there, beautiful flies with long forgotten names.
By the late 1970’s, however, things were changing. Our interest in subsurface flies swung to nymphs, fueled by books such as Ernie Schwiebert’s Nymphs, in 1973, and then in 1976 by Charles Brook’s Nymph Fishing for Larger Trout. During the next decade our fascination with nymphs grew exponentially with the advent of strike indicators in the 1980’s. They became standard equipment in nearly every vest and still are today. Strike indicators were a game changer. Then by the late 90’s, a new angling tactic bridged the Atlantic – euro-nymphing. It crept in slowly and has now taken nymph fishing to a whole new level.
None of this is to say that during these years, wet flies, or soft hackles for that matter, completely vanished. Ask any serious angler that fishes for steelhead. They undoubtedly have fly boxes full of wets. Along with those folks, there has long been a diehard band of serious trout bums that clung to soft hackles. Quietly keeping the faith, these anglers marched to the drum beat of Sylvester Nemes, whose books on the subject, beginning with The Soft Hackle Fly, helped carried the flame forward.
Pat Torrey’s Class
In recent years, interest in soft hackles has reemerged, for several good reasons. Trout love them for one thing. You can’t argue with that. And if you’re not sure which pattern to pick, add droppers to your leader, and give the trout a choice. Fish two soft hackles at once or even three at a time. Soft hackles are also extreme versatile. You can fish them from top to bottom and everywhere in between. Most anglers use a floating fly line and present soft hackles just under the surface. By dressing the fly with a touch of floatant, however, you can make them ride in the film like a dry fly or emerger. It is an excellent tactic. If the trout seem to be hanging deep, a sink tip takes your soft hackle down to them. Don’t have a sink tip with you? Try tying a heavy fly at the end of your tippet and then attach your soft hackle off the bend of that fly with a short piece of mono. This rig does the trick. To fish soft hackles at mid-depth, pinch a lead shot on the leader or consider using an intermediate fly line. Both do the job.
Right at the opening bell, Pat gave the class a wonderful reason to fish soft hackles. Leaning over as to offer a secret, he whispered in muted terms that soft hackles were a more relaxed way to fly-fish; “less competitive” he added, especially when compared to hard driving catch-every-fish-in-the-river attitude fostered by euro-nymphing. In our stress filled world, dialing back is a healthy thing. And where better to do than on the stream. I totally agree with Pat. Soft hackles are fun.
Pat Torrey past away in on October 26, 2022
I’ve decided to end my time in sunny Florida. There are a lot of reasons mixed in here; I’ll go into some of them in a bit. But the bottom line is this: I sold my condo and I’m loading a Pod. The closing date is fast approaching.
Heading Back North
Unfortunately there is no perfect place on earth. Get used to it. No matter how wonderful spots may look from a distance, they all have pros and cons. Florida has its winter warmth, year-round diverse fishery, beautiful beaches, Tiki bars, and a laid back, Jimmy Buffett, what-me -worry lifestyle. And it’s dirt cheap to live here too. Really.
On the other hand the summers are an inferno, a combination of relentless high temperature, record humidity, intense daily thunderstorms, loads of lightning and torrential rains. Did I mention hurricane and flesh-eating bacteria? And there is a more recent issue that is very troubling, widespread red tide and blue-green algae along the Gulf coast. How long will it take to fix that freaking mess? God only knows.
Now I know what you’re thinking. Connecticut has its pros and cons too, right? Right you are; they should call it Connect-a-tax instead. Still I’m done with Florida.
In the previous post, I told you about my wet journey to the Church of St. Kilcatherine. In a much earlier post, I also offered you pictures of the many cross designs there are to be found here. Visit this post when time allows, I think you’ll find these crosses of great interest. Lastly allow me to mention something else that is tremendously fascinating and perhaps a bit eerie. This ancient graveyard has an underground entrance. You heard me right – an underground passage. Yes, I did descend into this small hole to investigate. My discoveries are detailed in a four post series back 8 years ago.
This time around, we look a little closer at the Church of St. Kilcatherine’s features and see a few more crosses including ones from this century. They show a quite different approach to honoring the deceased. Also be aware that my original pictures were done on a rainy day. A second visit occurred on a sunny day and hence the difference in the images.
A large Window at the Church of St. Kilcatherine
As to be expected during a thousand year of rain and wind the church roof is gone. I think it was once built of wood, as Ireland in those years had expansive forests of large oak and elm. Yes, expansive forests. Granted that is very hard to imagine today, as Ireland only has 10 percent of its forest remaining.
The church’s stone walls show a good deal of skill. Look at how tightly the stones are fitted around this large window. I bet there was an altar at its base, and in my mind I can see a priest standing there backlit by the morning light, tending his congregation. If only we could see that moment!
A Pagan Gargoyle?
This doorway to the Church of St. Kilcatherine’s interior is another example of the workmanship shown by these builders. Its height indicates to me that early churchgoers were short in stature, perhaps around five feet tall. Now look up at the gargoyle over the doorway. It has been speculated this is a pagan sculpture, likely of a Cat Goddess. It is also speculated that christians appropriated this goddess, renaming her Cat- herine. Clever.
More old crosses at the Church of St. Kilcatherine.
The final picture show grave markers from this century. They are elaborate and ornate compared to the ancient markers, and found mainly in the front graveyard, by the gate.
Modern Grave Markers
