Last week I had a wonderful exchange with a gentleman in my Facebook group named Mark McKenna. Mark is a masterful flyrod builder with a talent and eye for the classic elegance that I myself ascribe to in my build philosophy. Unbeknownst to me, Mark is also a former musician, and as I soon found out, a HUGE Frank Zappa fan.....needless to say we have a lot in common.
Shortly after our discussion about what a beautiful eccentric genius Mr. Zappa was, I ran off to have a listen to one of my favorite Zappa tunes, St. Alphonso's Pancake Breakfast, when I was reminded that almost three years ago, I wrote a Front Page dedicated to the genius of Frank Zappa. For this week's FP, I chose to re-run that piece, as it brings back some great memories....hope you enjoy!

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The Wet Season hasn’t really come in yet. It’s raining most days now, but not the continuous torrential downpours that we used to expect at this time of year; indeed the very wet and highly predictable Wet Seasons are now predictably unpredictable, and for the past 4-5 years have become considerably less intense – at least in this part of the tropics where I float my boat.

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When a fishing club decides to cease stocking Trout after 60 years, voting to become a wild trout fishery, it can be a little tense and emotional to say the least.!
‘Hearts and minds’ become some of the trickier obstacles. Many skirmishes of will, campaigns prepared, allies sought, defensive strategies and counter actions rehearsed in the battle of attrition ahead.  

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I'm back on the crayfish this week. The ayu are pretty close to being gone, the smallies are starting to get hungry and are turning their attention to the slow moving bottom forage. This means we can look forward to some good fishing as we take advantage of the milder weather that's on the long range forecast.

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I like palmer flies. The are the perfect representation of nothing, yet something that looks alive and edible. They are simple and easy to tie, they are durable, they can be weighted or not and they work equally well small and large. Very small, black palmers are excellent as dries. What is a palmer? Is it any fly with a palmer hackle?

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Before Tracy and I headed out for our holiday I decided to tie some flies specifically for garfish. Anyone who has been fishing in the Caribbean will know how common garfish are, they will also know how hard they are to catch. Not hard in a 'getting them to attack a fly point of view', in fact they are quite easy in this respect. However, getting the hook to hold in their boney beaks, with rows of tiny needle-like teeth is very much a hit and miss affair, with a lot more misses than hits.

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