Way back in the 1900's I vaguely remember spending way too much of my formative years scrambling around on slippery jetty rocks on the beaches of southern Long Island WHILE MY PALS WERE "GETTING SOME"...Stripers were plentiful, willing, and the passion of an unconventional childhood. I did Palomines, Mustangs, chunks, and rigged eels and was very successful...until the species got fished out and things came to a screeching hault (I can relate to Frank D's "20 Years On The Cape")... After college I taught at Islip HS, NY, for a year and, after a spledid accounting for myself at a pre-induction Army draft physical, I beat-feet to the nearest Air Force recruiter and entered the pilot program...I've hung under many wings and travelled the world...except for occassional line wettings in Thailand, Cambodia, and Panama, somehow the fishing got put on hold. Almost four years in the high mountain Yemen/Arabian desert made for a poor place to chase rainbows'...an AK-47 instead of a 9 wt...and I wondered if I would get out in one piece. I did, but suffered a little warpage and induced soul searching. The 90's came and so too did certain military adventures... Desert Storm, Somalia, Grenada, Panama, Chad, Ruwanda, Perversion-Diversion, Free Willie, Free Willie II, blahblahblah...OUGH!!! Late in '95 I revived an old fly fishing outfit and, after hours on the lawn trying to kill a tailing loop, the rediscovery was on it's now unstoppable way. PASSION REVIVED! I still have an array of spin/conventional/surf/boat gear in a closet (there will one day be a great yard sale!!!) but mostly the "flyfever" has got me BAAAD. I mostly fish the WatchHill reefs and Fishers Island area. I live near Westover AFB (South Hadley MA) and dance with Stripers on the CT River under the Holyoke dam...or put in my boat on the Thames River just below the 2A bridge...but SOON I hope cut and run and to have a place on the Cape and will forever alter my life and priorities to include fur n feathers n synthetics n waders n polarized sunglasses n friends from the Forum BigDogPack sleeping on the living room floor with alarm clocks set way too early for conventional endeavors...Duncan fatpills 'n coffee on the way to Chatham etc etc etc. No wife or kids to say..."You spent HOW MUCH for that fly rod???!!! JURO, PLEASE SHOW ME THE WAY to the beach AND YOU CAN HAVE THE COUCH! 8, 9, 10 wts...trips to AK, FL. Dinner with Jose. Let's go!
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!
That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!