David Siskind | Sunday, 31 August 2025
I’m preparing for some more travel. This one’s a little more complicated. Jackie and I are heading for Vienna from NY. We’re still not sure what we will do besides visiting with my son and daughter-in-law. Originally we had planned to visit an old work associate in Satu Mare, Romania, but I had dropped the ball for a bit as things became hectic on the home front and I’m afraid I may have offended him. He seems to be ghosting me. I’m not sure. It’s happened before - even when we worked closely together. He’s a complex fellow, an old-school-iron-curtain-trained engineer with a wide array of industrial skills, and an admirable fluency in several languages - Romanian, Russian, English and French at a minimum. He prefers reading philosophy in French. His English wasn’t good enough to really explain why. His emotions run deep and can be mercurial.
I still hope to see him and will if he shows himself, even if I have to make a quick side trip to Satu Mare by plane from Vienna. When we started planning he wanted me to take a train up there from Bucharest but it’s a slog - 10 hours - and there’s not much to see in between. So we’re planning instead to visit Benny and Lauren and to travel a little with them. They’re pretty busy so I’m not sure how much time they have. Berlin and Bratislava are on the table.
Jackie and I always pack light but we scheduled a side trip to Block Island to visit my daughter Carrie and her husband Joel ahead of our European adventure. I’m planning to fish from the beach while there. All this complicates packing. I want to bring two rods, my Hot Tortugas - 8 and 10 wt. So I’ll need a carry-on bag to cart through Europe but when flying from LA to NY I would like to carry my rods on the plane and check the roller bag. I’m not sure whether I can fit everything. I’ll figure out something.
My attempt to book a Block Island charter fell through so no plug for Captain Willie this time. I guess I should allow that he was kind enough to name two beaches that I should try and told me to fish sand eels. Maybe I’ll get to fish with him next year. Carrie tells me fly-guys have been catching blues from the beach this week. Otherwise I'll be targeting stripers and albies. I could get lucky.
I’m going to my local flyshop tomorrow to pick up a striper line. They’re trying to sell me on a SA Striper mixed weight sinker which is overweight 2 sizes by the AFFTA standard. Paul will be mad. If I do it I don’t think I’ll tell him.
I reported my corbina troubles to Dave Schaeffer at the shop who told me that everyone is having problems. The fish sometimes don’t show but when they do they don’t seem to be eating sand crabs. Certainly they’re refusing imitations. Last time I went out no sand crabs were grabbing at my flies as they tumbled in the swash. That was different. I dug down a bit and none of the inch-long egg carrying adults were visible. Only juveniles the size of my pinkie nail. Maybe that’s the problem. At. least I'm not alone
My time on the grass has been well spent this week. Almost all target shooting to my 20” hula hoops. I made a few videos. I don’t wait long enough for the loop to roll out. Working on it.
David Siskind