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Farewell New England Video

Over 4 years ago I was tying a fly in my kitchen in Montana when I got a phone call with a job offer in New England. It was a great opportunity but all I could think was “Oh no, the fishing probably won’t be any good”. Well, last week I got a call with a job offer back in Montana and all I can think is “Oh no, the fishing won’t be anywhere as good as Maine”. It is funny how these things work. I decided to take the job and will be leaving New England mid-March. All week I have been reflecting on the last 4 years of fly fishing. I can truly say that the state of Maine has some of the best fishing opportunities in the country. Beautiful mountain streams, large burly rivers, thousands of lakes and ponds, plus miles and miles of Atlantic coast that are loaded with stripers from May through October. This plus the state’s proximity to the Atlantic salmon waters of Canada, the steelhead of the Great Lakes and the saltwater options in Southern New England make Maine an angling dream come true. With the help of some great people from Flies and Fins and some of Maine’s of hardcore fly fishers I was able to take full advantage of what the state has to offer. I hit it hard every chance I got. Often waking up before the sun and driving hundreds of miles a day in search of new waters or to ply the ones I came to know. It is in Maine that I fell in love with the land locked salmon. Before moving here, I had never

even heard of this species. Now I can honestly say it is my favorite freshwater target with the fly rod. Not to mention the fact that Maine holds the best chance in the U.S. for an angler to land a wild trophy brook trout. And the ocean, oh how I will miss the sights, sounds, and smells of the Atlantic. After landing my first striper with Jeremy’s help, I could not get enough. The vastness and endless water had me hooked. Of course the chance of hooking a 40lb fish was attractive to say the least. I had successes and failures in my fishing endeavors while in New England. My greatest success was landing an honest 6lb landlocked salmon that taped out at over 26”. My greatest failure was going 0 for 5 on false albacore from shore one magical fall weekend. All is not lost. I am looking forward to the opportunities Montana has to offer. I will be moving to the Northwest part of the state. And while this area doesn’t have the fertile trout streams that MT is famous for, it does have some great fishing. There are rivers that are loaded with native Westslope cutthroats and small lakes that have rainbows in the 4-5lb class. Plus, this area offers one of the best chances in the U.S. to tangle with a monster bull trout, some pushing the 15lb mark. And although it won’t be in my back yard, I’ll have some of the countries best trout fishing within a few hours drive. So, with Jeremy’s help I have put together some of my favorite images of my time fishing in New England. Thanks to everyone that was gracious enough to share some information with me and so long to all those I have wet a line with. I’ll be checking in to F&F from time to time, and let me know if anyone is headed to Big Sky country. Who knows, in a couple years I may get a phone call to come back East. At least I won’t be worried about the fishing!