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Day by day and sometimes only slowly, I am seeing signs of spring. The robins are back and I looked to see snowdrops poking their way out of the ground, their delicate blue flowers promising better days ahead. Shannon's Guide and Tyer Extraordinaire, John Collins posted the first photos of Baetis tricaudatus, Early Iron Blue Quills on his Garage Visitors page which can be found on Facebook and Instagram. It is March and March is a fickle month here in New Jersey. Early Black and Early Brown Stoneflies continue to hatch sporadically but in good numbers on area streams. I will post the first hatch list next week. Trout Conservation Areas such as Point Mountain and Ken Lockwood were stocked this week with some of the first new spring Rainbow Trout. As is typical, if you find a pod of fish, the action can be very fast. Fly selection shouldn't be much of a problem but a little flash can go a long way with these new arrivals. We just started carrying some Holo Fusion Prince Nymphs from Redington along with more standard patterns and we're really pleased to announce that we've partnered with Dave McKenna, formerly of Douglas Outdoors and now he's started a new project called Guide Flies. We just received our first order of Competition Jig flies and midges. Most are barbless and all are tied by his staff of tyers he has trained down in Honduras. This week's fly tying video from Tim Flagler is called the Tungsten Rainbow Dart. I'm pretty sure this fly will slay the new stockies!
Opening Day of Trout season is Saturday, April 6th. Please visit the NJ Fish and Wildlife website for more information regarding stocking locations and numbers. https://www.state.nj.us/dep/fgw/ . Our Fly Fishing School is filling up. The event is held from 8am until 4pm at the Raritan Inn. Morning is dedicated to learning about casting and tackle and the entire group will enjoy guided fly fishing on our club waters for the afternoon. The cost per person is $200.00 or $375.00 for couples or parent-child pairs.