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It looks like the weather is finally giving us a taste of winter this weekend. Certainly not a Snowmageddon by any means, but enough to remind us that we are in January after last weekend's unseasonably mild temperatures. Whatever snow we do receive tomorrow shouldn't hamper our Sunday Morning Fly tying session with Matt Grobert.
I caught my first trout on a dry, a little #20 Adams on January 2nd. There has been some sporadic surface feeding on midges since then although most of the better fishing has been on midges, egg patterns and heavier bead-head flies. On days when the water has been trending up in temperature, streamers fished slowly have also been effective. Neither Bubba have been officially caught and there are still plenty of their friends in the water along with plenty of holdover fish for anglers to target. The Pequest and Point Mountain TCA's on the Musky have been producing fish lately as well.
Next week on Wednesday January 22nd at 6:30pm, Bob Mallard will be presenting on his latest book "Squaretail" at the Raritan Inn. We include a catered hot dinner along with the presentation. The cost is $25.00 and there are still a few spaces left so contact us for more information and Bob will be signing his book. Next weekend is also the annual Fly Fishing Show in Edison and I'm sure many of you will attend. We usually take a break from fly tying classes that weekend and Sunday classes will resume February 9th. Sunday February 23rd is our annual Sparse Grey Matter Fly Tying Fest at the Califon Firehouse from 10am until 3pm.
New items in the shop include the Cortland Nymph rods specifically designed for euro-nymphing. The rods are affordably priced at $299.00 and come in three sizes all 10' 6" 2,3 or 4 weight. Reviews from our customers have been very positive. We should receive our latest shipment from Winston next week including the new fast action Alpha + rod. I'm also looking forward to seeing the new St Croix Saltwater series of fly rods again they are affordable ($350.00) and incorporate advanced resin and graphite technology and are made in the USA. I'm also expecting the new saltwater rod from Scott, the Sector as well as the new GLoomis NRX plus as we move into February. On the reel front, Winston has been boosting production of the RX2 trout reel from Bauer due to demand. Full disclosure here, I love this reel. It's not cheap but the drag is butter and I've always been a fan of the zero startup inertia with the Bauer drag. I've never lost a fish to a sticky drag with any of my Bauers that I've owned over the years. I'm looking forward to seeing some more San Miguel reels from Ross. It is a reissue of a classic but tuned up for 2020. We had one in the shop and it lasted a week. I spoke to Bart from Ross this week and the Trout Unlimited Animas reels were available but only 50 were made in the first run. There will be more of the reels available in the summer. In the meantime, Abel is coming out with its new Vaya reel. I ordered a couple for the shop and I'm looking forward to seeing those. I'll continue the gear and materials talk in my next post, look for some new colors in the Galvan reels, you've shown an interest and these reels have been best sellers for the shop for the last several years. There are new boots from Korkers and Chota and new waders from Redington.
Here's a great updated midge from Tim Flagler this week and his commentary on Pine Squirrel Zonkers one of his favorite materials along with a suggested pattern for the Pine Squirrel Zonker: