Tangled Lines

There was one very good thing that happened in 2020: It was the year I finally got the hang of fishing with specks.

I define “specks” as flies size 20 and smaller.

Itty bitty bugs are present on all trout waters, usually year-round. Trout eat them, and anglers using the right imitations catch the trout.

Except me.

As the cooler weather arrives the idea of standing around in water becomes less and less attractive. Sensible anglers call it a season. They put their gear in the closet, and leave it there until April.

It is a sad but undeniable truth that many if not most of our trout streams in the Northeastern U.S. require stocking of trout. 

That means trucks from state hatcheries occasionally appear and put large numbers of hatchery-raised trout in the rivers.

A few years back I received a strange birthday present from a friend. It was some kind of fishing rod that collapsed. I took the cap off the butt and the sections started sliding out. I pushed them back in, screwed the cap back on, and stuck it in the fish closet.

The gist of fishing right now is: There are three brook trout streams, the Blackberry and the Furnace Brook in North Canaan and the Housatonic, all within 20 miles of Lakeville (staying in-state). 

I can avoid other people quite easily on any of these bodies of water. I’ve been doing it for decades, never mind pandemics.

The gist of fishing right now is: There are three brook trout streams in nearby Conneciticut, the Blackberry and the Furnace Brook in North Canaan and the Housatonic, all within 20 miles of Lakeville (staying in-state).