Last weekend I took part in the Farmington River cleanup organized in large part by the Farmington River Anglers Association. It was a fantastic event with a big turnout and some serious effort put in by all involved, and something I hope to see continue for years to come! Rich Strolis and others ran the event very smoothly and an impressive amount of trash was removed from the river. I took part as a team member from Native Fish Coalition along with board members Michael Day, Josh Parsons and John Wadsworth. We felt pretty good about our four bags of garbage and a few larger items, but some teams brought out such impressive treasures as a recliner, baby doll, bubble gum machine, and entire rear axle! 

Sometimes I have a pretty strong dislike for the "fishing community" in general, and all the in-fighting, controversy, and what not that takes place. But sometimes there are indeed good things that come out of it. 

Speaking of, one of my favorite people recently sent me a wonderful gift out of the blue. Since Covid has prevented me from seeing a lot of my friends, this lovely painting and wet fly from Alan Petrucci (Small Stream Reflections) was a wonderful surprise. 

Happy Holidays everybody! Christmas is just days away and the year is almost over, man did it just fly by... I went on fewer long trips this year than I did last, only Florida, which barely counts as Noah and I had already been there a week before the 1st, Central PA for a few days to see Live The Stream the day before Joe's birthday, and Maine, which was just insanity. What happened on those trips and at home between those trips this year though really stands out. I'm proud of what I accomplished, and ready to renew my goals and bear down on those I didn't see through this year in 2020. I'm pleased that I've managed to drag this blog along through what really was a year of declining growth in viewership and make up for it with a few people actually financially supporting this endeavor. It is not a lot but it helps, and I can't thank my patrons enough. Nor any of you that have stuck with me.

If I could I'd send each and every one of you something to show my appreciation, but as small as my audience is that still might put me under... so I'll just have to pick one of you. To enter, comment on this post or, for those that can't comment on blogger, on the Facebook post at the Connecticut Fly Angler page that links to this post. All my patrons, regardless of tier, are each getting one entry whether or not you comment, or two if you do comment. On either the 1st or 2nd of January I'll announce the winner in my year rap-up post which will be titled "2019: The Places, The People, The Fish", so check there and get back to me by email and I will send you your gift. Whoever gets randomly selected will get a Connecticut Fly Angler sticker, 6 sz. 14 Royal Stimulators, and an original water color of an as-of-yet to be decided species of fish. Again, thank you all for helping keep this blog going. I wish you all happy holidays.

Not this one.... a different one.

We are in for some snow here in Connecticut, so it looks like I will have to be away from the streams and the trout for a while. During time such as this I tie flies, watch youtube videos, eat hardily, and occasionally do some sketching. Bellow are some I did during the blizzard last winter:

Rising Trout

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