Capt Anthony Grassi-Tonight!

Captain Grassi is a Charter Captain with Fin Chaser Charters with over 30 years experience. Fin Chaser is a first class operation and is also known as the "Charter to the Stars". Specializing in Fly-fishing & Light Tackle, opportunities range from back bay for Striped Bass, Blues, & Weakfish to offshore fishing in the canyons for Tuna, Marlin, & Sharks. Since expanding to the "Jersey Shore", Fin Chaser is the only saltwater, Orvis Endorsed, operation in all of New Jersey. Clients include well known celebrities like Wade Boggs, Author & IGFA Vice Chairman-Robert Rich, Jr., Actors Ed Burns and Ethan Hawke, the late Clarence Clemons, and "Top Chef" Tom Colicchio.

Will we see you in Whippany?  Tonight at 7:30 baby.

a great night on the South Branch

I was able to steal away a few hours this past Saturday night to fish my favorite spot on the South Branch.  If you want to know my spot, tough.  Youll have to join me and Ill show you, but that stuff doesnt get printed for mass consumption.

I got to the river about 6:30pm, after making a pit stop on the side of the road to pick up a passenger in Tewksbury, a poor snapping turtle who was going to get his ass run over.  He seemed to think that the middle of the road was a good spot to sun himself.  So I threw him in the passenger seat and drove off to the river, where my new friend found his new home. Hopefully he'll remember my kindness and bite a spin fisherman like the guy that kept jumping in the river above me and spooking the risers, but thats another story.

I managed a tri-fecta which was great.  Catching a wild brookie is always a wonderful thing.  It reminds you how clean the river really is.  The brookie fell to a spinner.  Then came a nice wild bow on a sulpher comparadun and last, a brown, again on a rusty spinner.  

I need to tie some high vis spinners, as I was having trouble seeing things towards the end.

Quite a few fish were lost along the way for whatever reason.  I must have horsed them.

At dark, there was a spinner fall of what looked like olives.  They were coming off big time.

The river just came alive.  It was literally like there was a popcorn maker working, as the fish were just exploding on the surface.  It was a real treat for the senses.

You just dont think that there could be that many fish in such a short stretch.

Hopefully I can get permission to try again this coming weekend.  What fun!  Thats the way to spend a summer night! 

 

Support Erich Frie

For those of you who know Erich, he joined Hacklebarneyin January 2016, and was recently elected to be a board member.   At 16, he also started his own business selling handmade flies. 

 What you may not yet know about Erich is that he applied for a spot in Trout Unlimited's Teen Summit National Leadership Conference in Montana this June and was one of only 15 selected out of all of the applicants nationwide to attend the conference ( http://www.tu.org/teensummit)!  It is a 5-day conference where he will meet other teens (8th - 12th grade) who share his love of fly fishing but also his love for conserving the very streams and rivers that we love to fish! 

 While there Erich will take conservation and hatchery tours of the area; attend leadership skills workshops to bring new TU activities into the community; participate in conservation science and fly tying and fly fishing workshops; meet and hear fly fishing and conservation biology guest speakers; perform a service project at a local stream and have lots of time for hanging out by the campfire, tying flies, and fishing! 

While Erich knows that his mom and dad would pay for him to go, he wants to do this on my own.   It's going to cost about $1,200 to cover airfare and attend the conference.  He is hoping to cover at least some of the costs through this fundraising.  Any funds that he raises in excess of my costs to attend the conference will be donated to Trout Unlimited!

To donate to Erich's quest go to (https://www.gofundme.com/montanaorbust2K16)