I’ve been a reader of (and rare contributor to) Flies and Fins ever since one of my buddies directed me to the site about two years ago. I’ve always admired the video footage Jeremy shoots to accompany the Fish Tales, so I’ve contacted him a few times about collaborating on some stuff for my day job as a magazine editor. But we’d never actually met or fished together. That is until a perfect confluence of events came together that resulted in this epic trip.I’ve had a 20′ center console and tow vehicle at my disposal this summer for a magazine article and accompanying web video. One thing I really wanted to do was trailer the boat to a prime location for targeting bluefin tuna on the fly. From reading Flies and Fins, I knew Jeremy was dialed into a lot of New England waters, so I shot him an email asking him if he wanted go in on it with me. He immediately sprang into action and worked his network to help set up this whole trip. The weekend before the trip, I got about five voicemails from Jeremy, all saying, “Dude, you won’t believe what’s happening here. ACRES OF FISH. ACRES!” So I trailered the boat from New York City up to northern Connecticut with my brother. We met Jeremy at the boat ramp, and he was already going 100 miles per hour. Bear in mind, this is the first time we’d met in person. He had with him a gallon of coffee, which he drank in about five minutes, and managed to somehow smoke four or five unfiltered Pall Malls at the same time. (He also drank three or four Cokes on the boat.) My brother and I are both pretty laid back and mellow, so when we got on the water and Jeremy started getting fired up, we were like, “What have we gotten ourselves into?” Turns out we were getting into fish like you wouldn’t believe. We started scouting and found some small busts that we wanted to fish but Jeremy kept saying, “I know there are fish here, but trust me guys, if you let me find them, we’ll be into bluefish like you’ve never seen.” So we trusted him and left those fish to hit some other spots. I was amazed when he said, “HUGE pod , fish under them” pointing to working birds about five miles away. So we found this hot rip between two small islands, where we had about a half mile stretch of busting bluefish all to ourselves. And I mean it was HOT. “See, this is what I was talking about,” Jeremy told us. We started targeting the bluefish on crease flies with explosive results. Bluefish, in my mind, are one of the most underrated fly rod gamefish. They put up one of the best fights for their size of any fish, they hammer topwater flies, and they leap like largemouth bass. What’s not to like? We set up a drift over, just as Jeremy had said, ACRES OF FISH. (With all the anglers on the east coast, getting such an epic bust all to yourself is extremely rare.)We had a phenomenal day on the blues, and as Jeremy will surely tell you in his Fishtale, the fishing over the next few days would only get better. Better like you wouldn’t believe. (Hint: think hardtails.) Turns out Jeremy is an extremely generous angler, often forgoing his turn on the bow to scout fish and shoot video. And with those fishspotting eyes, he’s welcome on my boat any time. I’ll pay for the coffee and smokes.
Book
- Alaska
- Guide & Fisherman
- Guiding: Choosing Your Guide And Choosing Your Customer
- Guiding: Do It Yourself With A Guide
- Guiding: Evolution Of A Guide
- Guiding: Freshwater, More Than Meets The Eye
- Guiding: Friends For Life
- Guiding: Know Where You Are
- Guiding: More Than Just A Fisherman
- Guiding: Mystery Of The Fisherman
- Guiding: Payment
- Guiding: Saltwater, A Different World
- Rough Fish
- Fly Fishing For Rough Fish: Why Do It?
- Introduced Rough Fish: The Carps & Other Invasive Species
- Methodology: Gear & Tactics For Pursuing Roughfish On A Fly
- More Roughfish: Bullheads, Whitefish, Goldeye, Burbot & Drum
- Rough Fish Environments: Where To Look For Rough Fish?
- Rough Fish Species: The Suckers
- Rough fish: A Lifetime Of Learning
- Rough Fish: Fishing For Dinosaurs (Gars & Bowfin)
- Rough Fish: What Are They?
- The Hook: Some Common Rough Fish Fly Patterns
- Spey
- Spey: Applications, Where Can You Do It?
- Spey: Atlantic Salmon, A Significant Fish
- Spey: Defined And Demystified
- Spey: Gear, The Nuts And Bolts
- Spey: Lines, They Are That Important
- Spey: Steelhead, New Traditions & A Modern Movement
- Spey: The Energy
- Spey: The Flies
- Spey: The Swing
- Spey: Two Critical Casts
- Striped Bass
- Striped Bass: Fishing Rocky Shorelines
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Beaches
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Flats
- Striped Bass: Fishing The Reefs
- Striped Bass: Fishing Tidal Rivers
- Striped Bass: Flatwing Swing
- Striped Bass: Fly Line Options & Choices
- Striped Bass: Gear, The Nuts & Bolts
- Striped Bass: Migration Patterns
- Striped Bass: What They Eat
- The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: A Natural Drug
- Fly Fishing: A Validation Of Freedom
- Fly Fishing: Don’t Fight The Current
- Fly Fishing: It Is What It Is
- Fly Fishing: Socialization For Asocial Individuals
- Fly Fishing: The Allure Of The Fish
- Fly Fishing: The Art Of Escape
- Fly Fishing: The Simplicity Of It All
- Fly Fishing: Time Flies
- Fly Fishing: Times You Remember & Try To Forget
Guys…great read and video. I’m sitting here right now tying and trying to put together my trip for this weekend. Stuff like this gets me all excited…. I get tingly. LOL…Pete…your description of Jeremy is dead on. He’s one of the most intense fly fisherman you’ll ever meet and that’s what it is all about.
I absolutely loved your decription of Jeremy and cofee, Pall Malls and finding the best spot to fish as opposed to a spot to fish. Many times I have fished with him and his eyes see fish where I only see rocks!
Your trip has motivated me to go next week and give it a try. Great video and story.
p.s. I have been known to drink cofee from time to time just to keep up.
When we got into tuna over the following days, Jeremy proved his fish finding eyes even more. Such a great skill to have…I should have drank coffee. We fished four days straight of 12-14 hour days subsisting on just breakfast bars and soda. But the funny thing is, I didn’t feel tired until the day after, when I got home.
hey,
thanks all for the compliments .. although, not so sure if drinking cofee by the gallon and chain smoking is something to be proud of ….
seriously though —- i would like to say .. “oh yah, all of this is a result of my experience and being such a good fly fisherman .. blah.. blah .. blah..”
BUT – the truth of the matter is … i honestly think it has less to do with any skill as a fly fisherman .. and more of a matter of my lifelong almost obsessive compulsive desire to find and catch fish … something comes over me on the water .. like a gambler on the black jack table … i can’t just sit there and i go to EXTREMES to find the fish … drive hundreds of miles, wade miles of river, scale rock ledges, convince peopel it is a wise idea to drive the boat another 30 or 40 miles east, etc… so, based on my own personal history … and knowing myself .. i think my success is MUCH less a result of being good at anything and MUCH more related such a strong obsession that i almost WILL things to happen .. and my cast may be bad, i can’t tie flies to save my life, i only use 2 knots for everything, i take horrible care of my equipment and my car and even myself …. but my WILL POWER is my strength ….
and that helped when i used to commercial fish … see i used to longline for tuna, swordfish, mako shark … 30 days out at sea each trip .. way out in the gulf stream … and catching fish was not really fun .. and every fish had a price tag on its head … so, good or bad .. that’s the way it was … and i wasn’t gonna put my life on the line drifting around the gulf stream in a tiny 70 foot fiberglass longlining boat and GO BROKE.. we fished .. and we fished hard .. 24/7 round the clock .. big seas, high wind, 1,200 hooks per night .. and FINDING the fish was directly proportional to how much money I made .. so needless to say .. need is the mother of everything … and i became pretty good at Finding Fish … not so much because i wanted to .. more so because i NEED TO.
thanks everyone…
ps… for what its worth … i much more prefer fly fishing on pleasure/sport boats for a day inshore … and i REALLY enjoy fly fishing from foot …as opposed to living out in the gulf stream for 30 days at a time and sharing the boat with some pretty rough characters, some very rough seas and thousands of very rough fish that wer measured in the hundreds and 10’s of thousands of pounds rather than inches …
ok … so, either way … i am grateful for having met all you guys … and for pete inviting me along on his exciting trips …. can’t wait for the next one ……
“i take horrible care of my equipment and my car and even myself …. but my WILL POWER is my strength ….”
Now that is a quote
There is little doubt that Jeremy is a bloodhound when it comes to sniffing out fish. The sheer volume of water covered on an average outing, whether from boat or on foot is astounding. Pair this with a good set of eyes and you are going to hear screaming drags.