Saturday morning we were up at 6...showered and shaved. A few snacks were packed for the road. A fast cup of coffee, and my list of what I need, and off to the Bears Den fly show. But there were a few things that needed to accomplished first, and one of them was to stop for breakfast at Leo's in Buzzards Bay. Leo's has probably the best grilled blueberry muffins in Massachusetts. Please if you are ever in Buzzards Bay stop and enjoy one. Also Leo's is bottomless cup of coffee establishments. After leaving Leo's we took a short drive to Red Brook. As we pulled into the driveway to Lyman Reserve we noticed several vehicles and a young man standing by the a large sign. As I parked my car I said I know that man. As I stepped out the man came towards us and sure enough he was familiar. Geoff Klane came to us and gave us a big hug. We exchanged happenings since we last saw each other. A few seconds later another young man came over and Geoff introduced us to Ashu Rao. The two of them had plans of fishing Red Brook. As they geared up Jeanette and I took a walk along Red Brook.
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| Ashu, Geoff, and Jeanette |
One of my favorite places at Red Brook. It is here where the fresh spring fed waters of Red Brook meet the salt water of Buttermilk bay. At this time of day and this time of year the quietness can be deafening. Although I did not cast a fly on Red Brook I still came away with a catch.
We left Red Brook and headed to Bears Den. It was a great show as usual. I met some old friends and made a few new ones. I scored on some awesome material, and was gifted some old streamer hooks from a follower of SSR's...a great day all around.
A little tip. How many of you find that after use your hackles get crushed. I know that I find this problem for instead of putting the flies back where they should be, dries with dries and wets with wets etc. So what I have done to revitalize those crushed hackles is this. Get your self a wire tea strainer from a dollar store. Boil up some water and place the crushed flies into the basket. Hold the basket over the steam and shake for a few seconds. Place the flies on a paper towel and let cool. The flies will be just as stiff and straight as the day they were tied.
Great tip on using steam to rejuvenate hackles, Alan! I've read about that technique before, but I've never tried it. I'm glad to know it actually works!
ReplyDeleteTom Davis
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Tom the technique has been kicking around for some time. So I had some really messed up flies and giving them the steam really brought them back to life.
Great idea Alan on bringing some old friends back to life and
ReplyDeleteusefulness! Skues mentions this procedure in his writings somewhere many years ago and it is still just as useful today as it was then! It seems particularly helpful to dries!
It is also good to renew old friendships such as you did at Red Brook! How happy this must have made your hearts!
Doug (The muffin looks scrumptious!)
Dougsden
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Skues, that does cover some years. Doug it worked pretty good on a few streamers I had left in a fly wallet.
It's to bad we wait a year to say hello. Good folks.
What a great trip, Alan. Hard to beat a grilled blueberry muffin and good coffee. I am glad you ran into those fine fellows at Red Brook. Red Brook is flowing in fine fashion.
ReplyDeleteNo fishing for myself a few weeks now, I miss it plenty.
Best, Sam
Parachute Adams
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Sam it was a surprise and a pleasure. Geoff has a great site on Facebook called Brackish Flies. The brook was in fantastic shape. They even found salters just of the redds.
Each day gets you closer to fishing in better weather, keep the faith.
Grilled blueberry muffins and a good cup of coffee make life that much better. Thankfully I have a freezer full of blueberries; it's the open water and willing trout I lack at this point. It sounds like you had a great day! Thanks for sharing that.
ReplyDeletemike
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Mike it's hard to not have a smile and a bright morning when you start like that. The blueberries we picked and froze are but a memory, but you enjoy. Water is open here and the trout pretty much willing to play....Feb. is almost in the books.
Enjoy your posts so much. I think it's for the food as much as the fishing. I'll have to try that steaming trick the next time I take stock of some of the flies in my box that have seen better days.
ReplyDeleteTotal side note, there's some gentlemen up your way who named their tenkara company after Red Brook. If you weren't aware of them, thought you may find that novel.
https://redbrooktenkara.com/
Michael Agneta
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Mike the steaming really brings life back to the flies in only a few seconds.
I checked out that site, pretty cool. Red Brook is a great stream for tenkara.
great post again Alan & I hope you enjoyed the show. good tip on the hackles . kind regards George
ReplyDeleteGeorge
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George the show was awesome. Spent a little money but I scored some good stuff.