I'll be honest, this last day of 2023 has really snuck up on me. Where did the year go? I certainly didn't get every in that I had planned to but even still made a few strides and memories along the way. I'm looking forward to what is coming in the new year, can't believe that T.F.M. will turn the page on 16 years and I'll be fifty in September. How can any of this be?
This also got me wondering what everyone else's fiberglass fly fishing reflections are from this year and what are your angling resolutions are for the year to come? I'd like to hear your "
Glass Reflections" and "
Glass Resolutions" and I'll cut and paste the responses in a T.F.M. post later this week. Send your responses by email to
[email protected] and include a photograph too. If you share your Instagram profile name then I'll link it in the post too. I'm thinking this would be fun to post over the coming weekend and look forward to your messages.
I'll share my reflection in this post and then a few fly fishing and T.F.M. related resolutions in a follow-up post.
I haven't talked much about the annual trip to Beaver Island, Michigan, but we ended up being one angler short (at the very last minute) with a few weather days mixed in which slowed down the carp from coming up on the flats on most days. This is due to cold water replacing the warm water that had stayed consistent during a string of sunny days. We still found fish each day but the overall consensus was that it was tough.
On the last day of the trip, I ended up solo in the boat with Captain Kevin Morlock and we headed to the outer islands to poke around a bit. The lake was calm and it allowed us to find two shipwrecks that were in deep water from the early 1900's. These ships laid on their sides looked like old bones on the bottom of the lake.
As we were approaching a large lagoon, Kevin said that he could see a
few carp in the shallows and if we hooked up with one, the rest would
likely leave the flat. As we approached the first group of three carp, I
laid out a long cast and one moved forward to scarf up the fly. I
worked him off the flat and into deeper water way from the other groups
of carp dotting the lagoon. Kevin slid the carp into the net and tossed
the fly from his mouth. He went back up on the poling platform and we
could see another large group of carp nosing around. There were a dozen
carp circling around together tilting down looking for something to
eat. I laid a long cast out splitting a three or four carp whose noses
were all within twelves inches or so apart and another large carp ate
the fly. When this fish was hooked, it scattered the group and we
thought maybe we were done on this flat but after it was released, we
could still see carp milling around farther out. We approached a third
group of carp and two casts later one chased the fly down eating it.
Five
or six casts. Three carp. That was enough. We high-fived and Kevin moved the boat slowly down the edge of the island back into open water. What a way to end the trip and I can't wait to get back in early June. https://thefiberglassmanifesto.blogspot.com/2024/01/glass-reflections-glass-resolutions.html
CampingSurvivalistHuntingFishingExploringHikingPrivacy PolicyTerms And Conditions
