Fishing News: Talented People Edition

The internets are reporting that angling legend Pete McDonald and Uber-talented photog Tosh Brown have completed the yeoman's work on their new book about fly fishing the saltwater off the East coast. Judging by the latest post over at FishingJones.com this is one launch party we want to crash. Check out the photos here.

Tosh & Pete's Big Adventure

Photo: ToshBrown.com

Many of you may or may not know that famous and talented writer / angling type, Pete McDonald of Fishing Jones, and equally famous and talented fishing photographer / publisher, Tosh Brown are collaborating on a book. The topic is the cult like salt water fly fishing scene in the Northeast. If the work in progress is any indication this will be one for both the coffee table and the tying bench. Check it out via Tosh Brown's Photoblog

Fly fishing show NJ Edition

I met up with angler, author, and fly fishing blogger Pete McDonald of FishingJones.com at the Somerset, NJ fly fishing show. In this picture he is holding a House of Hardy fly reel worth about 8K. I can't spill the beans but let's just say that Pete has some "splainin'" to do when he gets back home to Mrs. FishingJones..

Does being homeless make me a trout bum?

Skytop Lodge in the Poconos - one of many places we cannot afford to buy in the Northeast

Many of you may already know that the FlyfishMagazine.com world HQ is in the process of moving from North Carolina to the frozen Northlands of Pennsylvania or perhaps New Jersey. Lately in addition to 10 hour days at the office we have been dealing with selling a house in order to become homeless, trying to find a house to buy so as not to be homeless for too long, and all the while finding out from persons in the home inspection field that every little thing that might have been wrong with our house probably is (meaning we may have already been homeless and just didn't realize it) and must be fixed before we can vacate.

Meanwhile our brains remained addled from seeing what had to be no less than 100 homes inside of what amounted to three days of a holiday weekend, all the while coming to a realization that I really don't like spending large sums of money on things other than fishing gear. The exchange rate North of the Mason Dixon line isn't exactly favorable to our confederate money. We did find a cool house with river frontage but I can't help but think that it's on stilts for a reason. The owner's response that you could simply pressure wash the garage out after a flood gave me just almost as much comfort as the fact that he had lived in a FEMA trailer for two years before rebuilding. The I-95 bridge next door was a bonus.

The upside of all this is that our new homeland comes with ready made fishing buddies who are intent on showing a North Carolina boy a few choice spots for getting into some fish in both salt and fresh water (Thanks Jason, Pete, and Steve). It almost makes the thought of leaving sweet tea behind palatable. Southern anglers should not fear as our pals Capt. Gordon Churchill, Jay Moore, and Captain Paul Rose have consented to continue keeping you informed on the status of fly fishing the Carolina's and beyond. In the interim, somebody send me some fish pictures or something....

Here are a couple of fishing headlines from the our new corner of the world:

Thanks to a document from 1686 NY Saltwater anglers don't need a license just yet...
Art Weiler builds bamboo fly rods is a guy we need to get to know in the Poconos
Ice Fishing events that the Trophy Wife won't be letting us attend.

Fishing Jones: Sign, Save Redfish, Get Gear

Pete McDonald over at Fishing Jones is giving away an extremely sweet Redington Titanium CDL Reel for 7/8 Wt line. It only takes two simple steps to get your name in the running for this primo item of fly fishing gear.

First take a moment and sign our pal Captain Gordon Churchill's Petition to stop unattended gill net practices in North Carolina.

Second, once you've signed the petition, slide over to the Fishing Jones website and leave a comment on his Help Redfish and Get a Reel post using your name and typing the word "Signed" in the body. A commenter will be picked at random and get this great fly reel.

The completed petition is going to be presented to the Governor of North Carolina as a way to protect the state saltwater fish. Unattended gill nets are taking a major toll on Redfish stocks on Carolina inshore waters. Guys like Captain Gordon Churchill, Pete McDonald and others are doing this to make a real difference for both anglers and fish populations.

McDonald Interviews Carp Master John Montana

You may or may not know that Pete McDonald of Fishing Jones infamy is probably the one person we would point to as the inspiration for our penchant to fling flies for odd targets living in odd places. Pete put us on Peacock Bass in Florida ditches and enticed us to attempt a bowfin on the fly on our latest striper trip.

In what can only go a long way towards proving an unseen collective fly fishing consciousness driving the efforts of anglers across the world, while we were hopelessly trying for carp on the fly, Pete was interviewing John Montana from the Carp on the Fly blog (sidebar links added) about tips and techniques for catching carp on the long rod. Read Pete's excellent interview via this link.

photo: Fishing Jones

Fishzilla!

A particularly nasty head cold and the complete meltdown of the housing industry as we know it, have had a real negative impact on the amount of time we have been able to devote to our beloved blog. To top it all off we found this article in the Windsor Star telling us that the Northern Snakehead continues to gain ground.


These things are just vicious," said Becky Cudmore, manager of the Centre of Expertise for Aquatic Risk Assessment in Burlington.
The snakehead has become a popular YouTube subject, with a National Geographic YouTube video added within the last month.

One look at that video shows why it would make a mess of the Great Lakes. One man on the video warns they can bite your entire hand off. A U.S. official warns they can decimate the aquatic food chain. And they could settle comfortably into Lake Erie and Lake St. Clair, which Cudmore says would be ideal habitats for the northern snakehead.

This is bad news for most anglers ....maybe not so bad for others.

Fly Fishing People: Pete - Going ugly early

Pete McDonald of the Fishing Jones Blog is giving us lots of ideas for our next business trip to Florida (hopefully later this month). He keeps hooking up with Snakehead and Peacock Bass.

The fishporn above makes for a great picture, but it is another photo that gets Pete our award for the best photo on a fishing blog thus far in 2007. Click to view this great shot in his post about fishing his home water. We hope he has this one framed over his desk at Boating Magazine.