Here id the little book I learned a lot from..... Brickyard

Hey there... I’m not a big fan of the Battenkill drag system. Having used a Battenkill V on bonefish, permit and salmon, I find it to be sticky and jumpy if that makes sense. I have a couple of Clearwater reels and find the drag to be smoother. Then you struggle with what looks cooler... all machined reels look cooler... in the picture with the fish. But having a superior drag system, to me, is more important and will produce more moments of pictures with fish in hand! What a conundrum !!!

Nice stringer! Congrats!!!

Just want everyone to know that i appreciate all the kind words. My father got me started at a young age and I have been passionate about chasing the piscatorial species ever since! From 6” Brookies to 150 lb. Tarpon. I couldn’t attach a picture of my long passed father with an Alligator Gar caught in Chocolate Bay just north of Galveston, Texas. The fish was so heavy he could barely muster a smile. The fish actually picked up two of our finger mullet and we played it on both reels. May peace be upon us all and live life one fish at a time!

Thank y’all for the kind words...

Ok... how embarrassing...
I go down to the river decked out in a $1,000 worth of flies, fly rod, reel, line, backing, Simms slicker, Compass 360 waders, Orvis wading boots, etc. I catch a fish.....
If you notice , she is spilling roe as I’m holding her... bless her heart, she was ready to spawn.
Standing next to me is a friend I made, we'll call him Lucas, from Massachusetts. He came to the Salmon River with his grandpa, and his dad for a one day trip so that pops could get a couple of fish to put in the freezer. So..... I invited him and his rigged up Zebco 202 to come stand downstream on a big rock and fish with me. I had seen a few fish moving upriver and thought what the hey... I tied on a wooly bugger for him , clamped on a couple of #7 lead sinkers to his, what appeared to be about, 8 lb test line that came on the $14.99 Walmart special. Three drifts later, he hooked this 22 lb male King Salmon. With a little help from his dad and several bystanders to include myself, Lucas landed this fish after about a 20 minute fight.
All I could do is sit there and softly tear up, beaming with pride for the 11 year old kid. He was so humble after catching what may arguably be a record fish on a $6.99 reel. The grandpa got the whole thing on video and I tried to persuade him to send a snippet to Zebco for marketing purposes, to no avail. They were far to humble.
This reinforces the fact that the thousands of dollars I have spent over the years may not have improved my level of expertise or success.
This experience is indelibly burned into his mind, his heart, his soul...
Never to be forgotten.
BTW... I caught my 1st fish on a Zebco 202 in 1965 fishing from the banks of the Neches River in Noonday, Texas.

Attached file:
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This was not far from there. Pineville hole!

I know it appears I’m about to pull the trigger on this fish but she was so big I had to get one arm under her or she would have lost a ton of eggs! A mere 28 lbs of serious fly rod action took place this morning. This Chinook Salmon took a chartreuse estaz egg about 8:30 and 15 minutes later, came to hand! I released her none the worse for wear. As you can see, the river was beautiful and I had this stretch mostly to myself! One of the best things about Upstate New York is the fishing.

1st lure from the left is an old Heddon Hellbender...

I’ve been skunked as well in the fall...
Ever happen to you?

I smoke the LMB in fall at daybreak, work a Zoom Horny Toad rigged weedless. The vegetation has started to die back and the fish are loading up on calories for the winter... from Upstate New York...

If you want a mess of creek chubs come morning... half open can of soft cat food will load you up overnight!!! Just stake it off on the bank and drop it in a slow moving pool in your favorite little stream!

Yes they are... some are NY State Land Trust properties other are county property ...

Well.... the inevitable happened! I recently lost my position as Sales Director for a family owned business catering to the petroleum industry here in the northeast. With no cruise ships burning massive amounts of fuel, the airline industry cut by 85% and most people out of work or working from home the petroleum market tanked! So now I am in a situation where I have created an impressive presence on all the job boards yet the job market for people with my skill set is very slim. Long story short.... I'm fishing as much as I can. I have located a number of small ponds in central New York as indicated by the screen shot from my phone app. Every little red dot is a fishing hole I have visited.

If anyone in my area wants a fishing partner for the fall or is interested in fishing some little visited ponds in the CNY area and fishing out of a kayak, please feel free to reach out. I consider myself one of the 10% of the fishermen who catch 90% of the fish!

Thanks for taking the time to read this excerpt from my disappointing last few weeks and I hope to hear from a few interested parties who would like an adventure or two! Going to start hitting the Salmon river pretty soon as well!

Tight loops and tight lines!

Sincerely,

Brickyard

From a former Marine
.... Thank your son for his service!!! Looks like you guys got some serious quality time together which you shall cherish forever! Semper fi !!!