Author Topic: Greetings from West Hartford (Read 366 times)

Bryant Piccioli · « **on:** July 06, 2011, 03:13:23 PM »

I've been following this forum for a better part of a year now without an intro or any posts, so I figured it's time to officially get "on-record" as a member. I picked up fly fishing about 7 years ago, after suffering a second torn ACL while playing rugby. I figured that after 14 seasons of battering my body, I needed to take up more of a 'lifestyle' sport - something that I could do with the wife and kids (which came a few years later) throughout the rest of my years on earth. I liked to golf, but I wanted something that would provide some peace and tranquility, while communing with nature. Understand, this was before I understood the sheer joy of wind knots, getting one of your precious, too-few flies stuck in a tree and not locking down the spool of your reel while on the water. Fortunately, my inability to ask for help when trying something new (out of fear of appearing incompetent) actually worked in my favor back then, as I would go to a location where I knew there wouldn't be anyone else fishing. Only Mother Nature and the trees around me got to hear me mutter a constant stream of f-bomb laden tirades as I cut piece after piece of tippet to clean up the mess that was my leader.

Now, 3 kids later, my time on the water truly is a relaxing - even if I do get my nymphing rig snagged or my dropper winds itself around my coiled indicator. Last spring, I was informed that my employer no longer needed my services, so I got to take the entire summer off and fish at least 3 days a week on my home waters of the Farmington River. During this time, I made a commitment to become a better nympher, especially in the Czech/Polish or longer line european techniques, which brought me to this site.

What I find unique about this board is the amount of knowledge being shared, without any holier than thou attitude - especially considering that many of the posters compete against each other regularly! Although my recent attempts at long line French nymphing are reminiscent of my early days of dry fly fishing - lots of tangles and frustration, without any "catching" - the advice/recommendations offered up to folks experiencing similar problems has been invaluable in correcting some of my technique problems. If anyone out there is local to the Farmington, and would be interested in sharing some advice in the field, I would be happy to provide a post-excursion meal (Sunday gravy, paesano?) washed down with some quality beer. Next batch of homebrew going into the secondary should be ready in about 4 weeks.

Sorry for the long introduction. For some odd reason, I just felt the need to keep typing.....

-Bryant

Dejon Hamann · « **Reply #1 on:** July 06, 2011, 08:07:01 PM »

Welcome Bryant. Guess you really did you're "homework" before posting. Makes me wonder how many other purely readers we have.

Finally had the chance to test out the farm/housy for the first time a bit ago - you got some fine waters in your area. Unmatched scenery... and the fishing was pretty decent too.

Frank Muscente · « **Reply #2 on:** July 06, 2011, 10:27:59 PM »

Bryant welcome! I fish the Farmington and the Houssy also. If ever you want to hook up at the Farmy just send me a PM.

Mark Hanes · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2011, 08:59:37 AM »

Welcome to the board.

Todd Oishi · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2011, 04:18:50 PM »

Welcome on board Bryant!

Bryant Piccioli · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2011, 04:56:20 PM »

Thanks for the warm welcome, everyone! The Farmington (and the Housy) has some amazing scenery and some great holdover fish. I still haven't topped my personal best - a buttery gold, 21" male on my 2 WT during a trico hatch 4 years ago - but there are plenty of folks who regularly net even larger fish. Someday, I keep telling myself......

Frank - I'm always interested in meeting up with other locals, so maybe we can get something together in the next couple of weeks?