This is the quiet spell on my local water. At this time of year you can cover great expanses of water looking to find only one or two shots at parenting Snakehead in a day. And sometimes you won’t find any. Gourami and Jungle Perch are rarely, if at all, seen at the surface. And free-rising Snakehead are either simply not surfacing at all, or if they do, they surface once and not again.

This is also the hottest time of year. We came out of the Wet Season approximately one month ago and it hasn’t rained since, daytime temperatures can be as high as 38C. The water temperature is still below 30C however (28.9C this afternoon). Free-risers are mostly seen by me when the lake water temperature approaches 32C.

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I guess it is probably impolite to complain about nice weather? While the rest of the US braces for another cold front, where hundreds of millions will face a second life-threatening temperature drop, South Florida is experiencing almost summerlike conditions. I had to mow the freaking lawn today! I just looked ahead and the entire next week is predicted to have daily high temperatures in the 80s. Come on down and get a sunburn!

But seriously, for most of my life, this time of year (mid-February) was always the coldest period. This may seem very petty, but the patterns I have spent years, actually decades, deciphering now appear to have been a total waste of my time. I miss the predictable lull in fishing. Well, not the lull actually, but the orgy-like feasting with abandon that followed that low and celebrates the coming of spring is what I will miss. That did not happen last year, and it sure does not look like it will happen this year either.

So, on another note, have you ever tried to explain to the uninitiated why you find fly fishing so interesting?

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Tracy and I revisited Millom in Cumbria at the weekend to take part in the open challenge casting competition organised by Lee of UK fly casting sport. The weather was forecast to be windy, even by Millom standards, as the tail end of a weakened hurricane Eric was passing through. It turned out that the wind was perfect for the casting order, not enough to hamper the backcast with the salmon overhead outfits that we started with, and then dropping throughout the day so not as to interfere with the ST27 and trout distance events. As such there were some super impressive distances cast, unfortunately not by me though.

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You are planning fishing trip, exploring internet and maps. Maybe reading forums and asking tips about certain waters in your coming destination. Maybe thinking about having guide for few days and then fishing by your own. You find guide and contact him/her and you tell what you like to have, but can you trust that it will be worth of money. You have had bad experience earlier when having guide and you are not sure if it will happen again. You want to have transparency and honesty with your guide even before your trip.

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There is one standard in the manufacture of fly fishing gear - and that’s the AFFTA (AFTM) standard for the rating of flylines. There is no standard for anything else. Maybe one - the sizing of reel feet and reel seats. I remember even when I began flyfishing over 25 years ago, some reels had an odd sized reel foot and it wouldn’t properly fit your rod. I’m not even sure if it was the reel or the reel seat.

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Drive for show and putt for dough.
---Bobby Locke

It's true...just like in fly casting, maximizing power and speed to send the fly line off into the deep horizon is not only an impressive display of skill, and strength, its a ton of fun as well. But as we all know, under most angling situations, precision, accuracy, and touch are what puts hooks in the mouths of fish.

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