
A steelhead, one could argue, is a rainbow trout on steroids.
Gary Dodson
A steelhead, one could argue, is a rainbow trout on steroids.
Let us open the Tangled Lines mailbag and see what the populi is voxing about.
Agnes Day of Spore City, Ohio writes:
You keep talking about wet flies. Aren’t all flies wet once you cast them into the water?
I could go into a detailed explanation of how the wet fly imitates a transitional stage in an aquatic insects life cycle but I won’t, because this is a family newspaper.
I will offer this anecdote:
I was about 14 and fishing Woodland Valley Creek, a tributary of the Esopus in the Catskills. Dries only. I was having some success but occasionally my fly got waterlogged and provoked strikes, especially when I was trying to retrieve it when it was submerged downstream.
I was working a pool right by a cabin. The building was so close to the stream you could fish from the porch. As I puzzled over how to get that fish that was hanging out by the lower part of the pool, the old-timer on the porch was watching me. I didn’t realize it.
He scared me out of a year’s growth when he spoke up. He asked what fly I was using. “Royal Coachman,” I said. He asked if I had a wet version. I replied, Agnes-like, “A what?”
He came off the porch and made his way to where I was perched at the top of the pool. He borrowed my fingernail clippers and cut off most of the hackle on the Royal and left the white wing.
Then he advised adding a couple of feet of finer tippet, waiting 10 minutes for things to settle down, and flopping the thing into the current, allowing it to swing through the tail out.
I did this and after a couple of false starts caught the fish that had been tormenting me.
Afterwards the old-timer said I should try fishing wet flies upstream just like dries. When I objected that I wouldn’t be able to see the fly he said “Yeah but they’ll see it, and if they see it they’ll let you know soon enough.”
Fester Karbunkle of Potzrebie, New Jersey wants to know:
Do you ice fish?
No I do not. Ice fishing involves walking gingerly out on a frozen pond or lake, cutting a hole in the ice, and staring at it for indefinite periods of time.
I want no part of it. Especially the cutting the ice part. The ice is all that is between me and a cold, watery grave AND WOULD YOU PLEASE STOP CUTTING THE %$@# ICE!
Linus J. Scrimshaw of West Cornwall inquires:
What was your best trout in 2024?
This was a difficult year, with way too much rain at some points and none to speak of at others.
So the most satisfying catch was on the East Branch of the Delaware around Margaretville, New York. The stream was very low and I had to hoof it a couple hundred yards through inhospitable terrain until I found a pool deep enough to justify the term.
I could see the trout, and they could see me. So it just turned into a grim battle. Who would give up first?
After considerable time, and several “look but don’t eat” moments, I finally got a fat brown on a Bread and Butter nymph fished naked and alone. (The fly, that is. Not me.)
Then I had to go a couple hundred yards through inhospitable terrain back to where I started. My buddy Gary had wisely stayed put and was yanking a fish in when I fetched up. His fish was better than mine.
Honolulu Jones of East Drizzle, Wyoming objects:
Wait a minute. Didn’t you catch a steelhead back in April?
Yes, and you could argue that a steelhead is a rainbow trout on steroids.
But that trip to Pulaski and the Salmon River was so completely out of the usual run of events that I think of it the way other people think of significant milestones, like marriage, or the first arrest.
I forgot half my gear, sprained my wrist turning the knob in the shower, and almost lost an earlobe when a gust of wind blew a size 4 black Wooly Bugger (with rubber legs) back into my personal face.
And after fruitlessly flogging the water for two days, I absently flipped the Bugger into a deep hole, just trying to get some line out, when the steelie loomed up and chowed down.
So no, my first and only steelhead wasn’t the best fish of 2024. It was a happy accident and nothing else.
Lime Rock Park is slated to host the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Friday and Saturday, June 27 to 28 in Lime Rock, Connecticut.
SALISBURY — At a special meeting Thursday, May 15, the Board of Selectmen tabled the issue of approving a permit for traffic rerouting on Route 112 Friday and Saturday, June 27 to 28.
Lime Rock Park is hosting a weekend of NASCAR events. In anticipation of a large crowd, estimated between 12,000 at 15,000 in attendance, LRP has asked to have one-way traffic on Route 112 (Lime Rock Road) from Route 7 to White Hollow Road and the main track entrance between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. and again between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. on both days.
Tom Burke, Director of Facility Safety at Lime Rock Park, told the selectmen that this option was chosen because it does not involve detours on local roads. At their regular monthly meeting Monday, May 5, the selectmen had expressed dismay and concern at an earlier proposal to route traffic over narrow and windy Brinton Hill Road.
Burke said there will be at least two electronic variable message boards used and traditional “hard” signs.
And there will be state troopers deployed to assist motorists.
Public comment was negative. Victor Jermack said the entire idea seemed unreasonable to him, and Michael Klemens, who chairs the Planning and Zoning Commission, voiced concern about what he called “programmatic creep” at the track.
Sarah Wolf, who lives on White Hollow Road, wanted to know how people in the neighborhood were supposed to go about their usual business during the periods of one-way traffic on Route 112.
First Selectman Curtis Rand asked if the track’s representatives had been in touch with the neighbors. Burke said no, because they are waiting on final approval before informing the neighbors.
“That’s a lot of pressure on me,” Rand replied, adding he is wary of signing off on the plan without much input from the public.
He also asked why he has to sign off on the plan at all, since the traffic disruptions take place on a state highway. He said he was going to call the state Department of Transportation and ask the same question.
Selectman Kitty Kiefer pointed out that there is another event Thursday, June 26, that the selectmen could not discuss because it was not on the special meeting agenda. By state law special meeting agendas cannot be modified, whereas regularly scheduled meeting agendas may be amended at the start of a meeting.
The Lime Rock Park website lists the Thursday event as a “Pit Stop Party and Hauler Parade” at the White Hart Inn in Salisbury, with details to come.
Selectman Chris Williams said that while it doesn’t help the immediate situation, the town and track need to consider the town’s infrastructure, or lack thereof, when planning events that draw large crowds.
Ultimately the selectmen agreed to table the matter and resume at another special meeting. Rand said he was going to consult the town attorney in the interim.
The selectmen will have another special meeting Wednesday, May 21, at 2 p.m.
FALLS VILLAGE — The Board of Finance will hold a public hearing on the proposed spending plans for 2025-26 Wednesday May 21, 6:30 p.m. at the Emergency Services Center and on Zoom.
First Selectman Dave Barger will present the municipal plan and Board of Education Chair Pat Mechare will handle the plan for the Lee H. Kellogg School.
SALISBURY — The spending plans for the town and Salisbury Central School were approved unanimously at a town meeting Wednesday, May 14. The vote was 26-0 on both budget items.
The Board of Finance will set the 2025-26 mill rate after a special meeting Wednesday, May 21, at noon.
The municipal budget for 2025-26 has a bottom line of $9,205,102, an increase of $575,530 or 6.7%.
The budget for Salisbury Central School is for $6,897,148, an increase of $361,209 or 5.53%.
The Region One budget passed at a referendum vote May 6. The town’s Region One assessment is $4,781,093, an increase of $373,080 or 8.46%.
Total town education spending is therefore $11,678,241, an increase of $734,289 or 6.71%.
At the public hearing April 30, Finance chair Pari Farood said it is likely that there will be no mill rate change if the budget proposals were approved. The Salisbury mill rate is currently 11.0.
NORTH CANAAN — The Board of Finance accepted spending proposals for the town and school at its regular meeting May 14.
The meeting was held immediately after a three-minute public hearing on the budgets. One resident spoke to ask about the selectmen’s salary line. This matter was also discussed by the finance board members in their meeting.
In the original 2025-26 municipal spending proposal, the first selectman’s salary was reduced to $6,500, matching the salary of the second and third selectmen.
The Board of Finance requested that line of the budget be reinstated to its 2024-25 amount, which totaled $37,000: $30,500 for First Selectman Brian Ohler and $6,500 for Selectman Craig Whiting. Selectman Jesse Bunce turned down his salary last year, but this year he requested to be paid the same as Whiting.
When the 2025-26 budget was modified after the finance board’s request, the first selectmen’s salary was set at $24,000 and the three selectmen’s salaries totaled $37,000 to match 2024-25.
At the May 14 meeting, Board of Finance Member Christian Allyn made a motion to add $4,000 more to the first selectman’s salary.
There was no second to the motion, “So therefore the motion is dead,” said Chairman Doug Humes.
Allyn voted against the motion to accept the municipal budget, but the motion carried 4-1.
The town spending plan shows a bottom line of $3,239,732, a reduction of $3,204, or -0.1% from last year’s budget.
The NCES spending plan totals $4,767,136.46, an increase of $231,023.76, or 5.09%, compared to last year.
A Town Meeting to vote on the budgets will be held Wednesday, May 21, at 7 p.m. in Town Hall.
Residents will also vote on a two-year $TK contract for the resident trooper.