I moseyed down to Housatonic Meadows State Park late Saturday morning on Aug. 16 for a Trout Unlimited smallmouth bass event put on by the Mianus chapter.
“Wait a sec,” you say. “If it’s Trout Unlimited, why are they fishing for smallmouth bass?”
The answer is two-fold.
First, the Housatonic River in summer is primarily a smallmouth fishery. The water is too warm for trout but it doesn’t bother the bass much.The trout are hiding out in the thermal refuge areas and are off-limits until mid-September.
Second, the word “unlimited” suggests wiggle room.
When I rolled in there was a small pop-up tent with the words “Trout Unlimited” on it set up by the upper parking lot. Being a trained observer, I spotted this vital clue almost immediately.
There was a folding table under the tent. It was empty, but it seemed likely there would be food on it at some point.
Trained observers are also patient. I tabled the food question and motored down to the lower parking area, where I beheld half a dozen men with fly rods casting into the low, slow river with varying degrees of proficiency and enthusiasm.
The nearest to me turned out to be Eddie Curtis, who hails from southern New Jersey. “About 15 minutes from Philly,” he said.
Curtis was a fortuitous choice of subject. Chatty and easy-going, he embarked on an angling monologue that included adventures on salt and fresh water and an incisive critique of fish and game practices in his home state.
All the while he chucked lazy downstream casts. On about every tenth one, he hooked a smallish smallmouth bass.
I asked him what fly he was using. The answer -- a black Wooly Bugger -- wasn’t surprising. That’s a standard pattern for this kind of fishing. Almost a cliche.
Curtis was using a black Wooly Bugger with an unusual feature — a little propeller or spinner.Patrick L. Sullivan
But this was different in that it had a little propeller attached just below the hook eye.
I last saw something like this in the mid-1990s in New Mexico, where a rustic saloon I just happened to be in had a small display case of standard trout flies with the same kind of propellers attached. The brand name was “Pistol Pete.”
Curtis said they work almost too well. He jerked his thumb behind him and said “He ties them for me.”
I resolved to catch up with “he” when everybody took a break.
I ambled back to the car and exchanged camera and notebook for rod and vest.
I tried four different flies, two surface and two subsurface, and failed to move anything.
Not anxious to perform the Walk of Shame, I tried a black Wooly Bugger, no propeller.
That did the trick.
Back up at the tent my finely honed instincts proved correct.Food had materialized, in the form of two giant submarine sandwiches, a couple of jumbo bags of potato chips, and sodas.
Gerald Berrafati was in charge of this. He is the chapter coordinator for the Mianus Trout Unlimited chapter, and he was talking a mile a minute about various dam removal and stream reclamation projects in his bailiwick.
Since the state of Connecticut east of New Hartford and south of Torrington is a complete mystery to me, I had only a vague idea where these places were.
But it sounded good.
Antoine Bissieux, who does business as “The French Fly Fisherman,” made a cameo appearance. Some years back he was with a couple of sports on the Hous in similar circs — warm, low, late summer -- and I swapped him a handful of mop flies for a sampler of his perdigon nymphs. If he remembered this he didn’t let on.
The six or eight of us at the tent did a number on the chow and talked some guff between bites. The sandwiches were good. So was the guff.
Warren Nesteruk of Southbury (I think) said his wife was giving him a hard time about having so many fly rods.
I asked how many he had.
“Fifteen,” he replied.
When I informed him I had something like 80 rods, he grew thoughtful, as if my awful example might buy him some space.
Then it struck him.
“You’re not married, are you.”
One loose end remained. I hate loose ends, and I wanted to find the fellow who added propellers to his flies.
But they had left.
So if you read this, Eddie Curtis of south Jersey, drop me a line. I’d like to find out if they really do work almost too well.
Protesters gather during a weekly anti-Trump demonstration in Fountain Square in Amenia on Saturday, Jan. 24, holding signs opposing Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Protest organizer Kimberley Travis, who began the regular demonstrations last June with signs bearing the anti-Trump slogan “No Kings,” has remained among the fluctuating number of protesters each week.
Travis said her garage is full of handmade signs – a reflection of the rapidly-changing news cycle and her need to keep up with current events. On Saturday, many of the signs focused on what protesters described as the increasingly extreme actions associated with ICE.
Large, simple signs planted in the snow read, “ICE Out for Good,” a phrase inspired, Travis said, by the recent killing of a Minneapolis mother by a federal agent.
Protesters hold a banner reading “ICE Out for Good” during a weekly demonstration in Fountain Square on Saturday, Jan. 24.By Aly Morrissey
“We're here today – and every Saturday – because we’re tired of what's happening to our democracy,” Travis said, who believes that the Constitution is being “demolished on a daily basis.”
Gesturing toward the other protesters, Travis said, “We, the people, must stand for our democracy, our constitutional freedoms, and we need to stop the murder in the streets and the kidnapping.”
Millerton resident Greg Swinehart said he has attended the Fountain Square protests between eight and 10 times, motivated by what he described as the growing militarization of the country and the violence committed by ICE.
“We need to resist that in a peaceful, nonviolent way,” Swinehart said. “We’re trying to raise awareness in our local community by helping people see messages they might encounter in the national media through the voices of their own friends and neighbors.”
While most passing drivers either honked and waved in support – or simply drove past – a few showed disapproval. One man slowed his vehicle to hurl a string of expletives at the protesters, telling the group to go home.
Still, neither the occasional hostility nor the bitterly cold weather deterred the group, which gathers each Saturday from noon to 1 p.m. “Every car honk feels like another drop of hope,” one demonstrator said.
A small group of demonstrators at Fountain Square on Saturday, Jan. 24.By Aly Morrissey
When asked if they were afraid to protest so publicly after reports of lethal shootings in Minnesota, the residents generally shared the same response.
“I probably should be,” Travis said. “But they will not intimidate me, and they will not stop me.”
Since beginning the protests last summer, Travis said she has experienced threats and intimidation and has, on one occasion, had to call the police. Even so, she said the encouragement she receives far outweighs the hostility.
A longtime activist, Travis said she has been protesting for causes she believes in since she was a young teenager during the Vietnam War and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.
Swinehart said he has not felt threatened and hopes the gatherings will continue to grow.
“I hope that more citizens join us,” he said. “I hope more people will speak out for what they think is right, and to enjoy the camaraderie of standing alongside people who care deeply about America.”
Protesters gather in Fountain Square on Saturday, Jan. 24By Aly Morrissey
