Upperman Joe Brooks Popping Bug

Posted on May 13, 2025 by Ed Mitchell

Upperman Joe Brooks Popping Bug.

The popper in the photograph below is part of the earliest series of saltwater flies ever created in our country. It was tied by Bill Upperman of Atlantic City, New Jersey to Joe Brooks’ specifications and appeared in Joe’s Salt Water Fly Fishing published in 1950. Joe would use a white version of this same fly to catch his world record 29 pound 6 ounce striped bass out in Coos Bay, Oregon.

The Upperman Joe Brooks Popping Bug rode a 3/0 Z nickel hook, the finest of its time, and is through wired. The painted body is a 1.5″ piece of round balsa wood. The face is flat, and the tail is 3″ of bucktail. The eye is painted on. And check this out! I think there is  a tooth hole from a bluefish under the eye! You got to love it.

 

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Short Casts are Successful in the Salt

Posted on May 9, 2025 by Ed Mitchell

Short Casts are Successful in the Salt

There is a tendency to think that saltwater fly fishing is all about booming out long casts. Thousand dollar fast action performance rods, special taper lines, and double hauling.  Right? And this is especially the case went fishing from shore. Aren’t the fish out yonder? Sometimes.

Generally speaking, when fishing from the beach casts of 65/70 feet are adequate for covering the water. And that may be casting too far! Really. Short casts are successful in the salt too – even very short casts. In fact you may have to back away from the water’s edge to properly deliver a fly.

How is this possible? Waves and longshore currents tend to dig a drop-off along the water’s edge. See it in the photo above? Note where the tan colored band at the bottom of the image joins the aqua colored band. This color change marks the edge of we call the trough. This drop-off may only be a foot or two deeper, but it is a fishy spot. Why? It is constantly being stirred up by the coming and going of the waves. Which in turn attracts silversides, sand eels, and crabs to feed right here. Which draws striped bass – particularly in low light. And you if you fish long enough, the day will come when you hook a bluefish, fluke, bonito or false albacore on this edge. Yeah short casts are successful in the salt.

(Did you see the dark blue band at the top of the photo? Its a deep hole out about 60 feet. You can reach it.)

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The UFO Fly

Posted on May 5, 2025 by Ed Mitchell

The UFO Fly

Recently a friend of mine, who lives on the Farmington River perhaps the best trout stream in the northeast, sent me a text message containing a blurry photo of a fly, claiming it was the best fly he had ever used.  Fish on every cast, he extolled. Really? Every cast? Sure sounded worth investigating. But get this. He didn’t know the name of the fly or even what it was made of it? It was a complete mystery. All he knew was that he found it in a box of stuff given to him by fly tying impresario -Mark Lewchik.

The UFO Fly

With precious little to go on, I drove over to speak with Mark about the best fly in the world. He got a laugh out of that. He told me he had made the fly, but it had no name and he wasn’t even sure he had ever fished it? The mystery depended. Figuring it was up to someone to name the best fly in the world, I called it the UFO – an unidentified fly-fishing object. Now as far as the material used to create this killer fly, Mark pulled out a special type of dubbing comprising of rabbit fur and tiny pieces of rubber legs. What was it called? Hareline’s Wiggle Dub Dispenser. In short order, Mark whipped me up a squadron of UFOs and I left itching to launch one. Thanks Mark.

 

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How Many Flies Does a Trout Angler Need?

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Ed Mitchell

How Many Flies Does a Trout Angler Need?

Umm, interesting question. In my first fly-fishing days, I often fished with one fly. In fact, I only had one or two flies to my name. Truth. Many times, I simply stopped in a fly shop near the stream and buy my fly du jour. How did I chose? On one wall in the shop there was a board filled with streamers in little cellophane bags. I’d look up and grab one. Often it was the name of a fly caught my fancy. For example, I liked “green ghost”.

With time, I started carrying two or three flies in a small cough drop tin box stuffed in my shirt pocket. Then as my years in the stream accumulated, I got a vest. Hey it made me look like I knew what I was doing. But I couldn’t wade around with all those empty pockets, could I?  So I got a few fly boxes, began tying flies and slowly filled the pockets up. Man I looked pro, or so I thought, until I joined a fly-fishing club and saw how many flies serious anglers were hauling on the stream. Made me felt inadequate.

Rex Richardson Chest Box

Eventually my fly vest began to bulge. Weighted around 8 pounds to be exact, and it was a shorty vest! Then things got mega serious. One day I walked into a fly shop on the upper Willowemoc, and there in a glass case was a device I had never seen. The Rex Richardson Chest Box. Man oh man I fell in love. It had a large deep tray for dries and two for nymphs and wets. Each tray easily held a hundred flies. But wait. I sent the chest box back to the maker – Rex Richardson – and had him add two more trays. Yikes. Between my vest and that chest box I was hauling over a thousand flies to the river. Crazy.

OMG! Vest and Chest Pack

Nowadays, near 60 years later, I’m coming full circle. My vest and chest box rest in the closet. And I often fish with only a lumbar pack and two fly boxes. Yeah, it’s been a long and winding road. But how many flies does a trout angler need?

 

 

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Fly Fishing is a Waiting Game.

Posted on April 27, 2025 by Ed Mitchell

Fly Fishing is a Waiting Game

Yes, fly fishing is a waiting game. We wait for the fish to bite, the tide to turn, the hatch to start, the wind to stop, a thunderstorm to move, a big moon to rise, a migration to begin, the sun to drop, a warm front to push in, a cold front to pass. Waiting, waiting.

The Waiting Game

In his book The Long Silences, Tom McGuane, one of America’s most respected authors,  speaks to these intervals of waiting. He suggests that these quiet times, when no fish are biting, are a crucial and essential part of our sport. A time to easy the mind, mediate, to reflect on the natural world, a chance to understand ourselves, a time of insights.  

But some of us hate to wait. Makes us antsy, makes us restless, perhaps even angry. When on the water, we still march to the incessant drum beats of the modern world. We’re amped for action, can’t dial it out, can’t shut it off. We check our watch, check our cell phone. Armed with unrealistic expectations, we complaint about the fish, the fly, the guide, the captain, the river, the lake, the ocean. We deserve better. Don’t we?

Chill out! Never let life grab you by the short hairs.

Posted in Environment, Fly Fishing in Freshwater, Fly Fishing in Salt Water, Looking Downward, Looking Upward | Leave a comment