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This past weekend, the clocks jumped forward giving us extra daylight in the evening. It is possible to fish after work once again! Normally weather in winter offers us some windows to fish with enough snow and ice to want to head south. This year, the mild weather has persisted more or less since December. Rivers and streams are experiencing near optimal flows and temperatures have averaged around forty degrees. Recent stream seining has revealed good numbers of stone flies mostly of the Early Black and Early Brown variety, Baetis nymphs, Scuds and a decent number of forage fish such as darters and dace. I missed two trout this evening on a small #18 Adams Parachute a favorite pattern nearly any time of year. The warmer weather over the last few days has really brought out the Early Black Stoneflies and fish are feeding on the surface on the egg laying females in the afternoon. Midges have been active and the trout are sipping the spent adults at dark. Down in the Ken Lockwood Gorge, small (#18-22) WD40's, RS2's, Zebra & Disco Midges along with Pheasant Tails seem to be the most consistent patterns. Shannon's guide, Tyrone McQueen landed some nice 15-18" Rainbows in the KLG yesterday and Tom Nice said that the fish were active at Point Mountain TCA on the Musky. The key he said was to get the flies down toward the bottom.
We are looking forward to some upcoming events starting with our Hotstove presentation series at the Raritan Inn. Following a hot catered dinner we present a program on local fly fishing led by some of our best experts. I'm allowed to present for some strange reason...It's because I work with fly tyer and expert angler, John Collins! We present our program on local hatches in two parts March 11th and March 25th. Matt Grobert, author of Fly Fishing New Jersey Trout Streams is set to present on March 18th. He is both entertaining and extremely informative. On April 1st, Bart Lombardo, President of Central Jersey TU, Shannon's Guide and head of the online group Panfish on the Fly will be making his warm water presentation. The cost is $40.00 for members and $65.00 for non-members. The program begins at 6:30 pm on Wednesday nights.
Our weekend fly tying programs continues through March and then will end until the fall. Len Ruggia will continue to lead the Beginner's Class on Saturdays and on the following Sundays we have Tim Flagler this Sunday March 15th, Matt Grobert March 22nd and Bill Ninke on March 29th.
On Saturday April 4th, Catskill Guide, Anita Coulton will hold a class here in Califon on Euro-nymphing. The class consists of two parts. The first will be a classroom session held in the newly renovated log cabin on River Road here in town. Class should begin at 9am. Following the presentation, students will go with Anita down to the Ken Lockwood Gorge to apply what they've learned in some water made for this technique. The course costs $100.00 per person and I will take a sandwich and drink order from Rambo's Country store in Califon. Just call the shop to reserve a spot.
On Saturday April 25, we will hold our annual Fly Fishing School at the Raritan Inn on our club water. The morning session will familiarize anglers with tackle, stream conditions and casting. Following a grilled lunch, anglers will pair off and fish with one of our excellent guides who conduct the school. The cost for the day is $200.00 per person. We discount a family or couple by $25.00 per pair so $375.00 instead of $400.00.
Here are a couple of relevant videos from Tim Flagler, a Stonefly and a Baetis: