Compleat Angler is back in business
Scott Bennett, center, has re-opened his store, The Compleat Angler in Darien after it had been devastated by flooding last year.

The store is in a new location, 555 Boston Post Road, but can be reached at the same phone number, 655-9400. Scott offers a complete line of fly-fishing gear and clothing, including rods from Winston, Thomas & Thomas, Sage, G Loomis and Temple Fork. He also has reels from Abel, Islander, Ross and Lampson and clothing from Simms and Ex Officio.

Swing by when you can to welcome Scott back and make a purchase or two. Scott has always been there when the Mianus Chapter needed him, this year donating a Winston rod to our banquet despite all the troubles he faced.

Congratulations to Scott. Pictured with Scott working the counter are Bob Reichart, left, and Captain Lou Fitzner.

Letter from your president
Spring’s arrival signals fishing season, banquet and more
With the return of daylight savings time and warmer afternoon temperatures, spring is indeed upon us. We found out that the DEP stocked the Mianus River this past week and sunny afternoons are bringing out the stoneflies which are sure to tempt the newly stocked trout as well as the holdovers. If you have the opportunity, get out to the Mianus and shake off the lingering effects of cabin fever.

If you haven’t already gotten your reservation in for our March 25 trip to Connetquot, it is too late as the day is booked to capacity. If you are going to Connetquot, don’t forget your New York State fishing license and, if you plan to wade, all rubber hip boots with rubber soles. No chest waders are allowed and no felt soles are permitted.

Your Banquet Committee has been working overtime to make the evening a special one on Saturday, April 5. We have put together a collection of raffle prizes and auction items worth more than $20,000, including a number of great trips and fishing opportunities. Take a good look at the trips mentioned on Page 3 of this newsletter, which offer some very affordable outings for small groups. Talk these up with your fishing companions and get a group together to bid on these wonderful outings at the banquet.

Prizes aside, the banquet is a fun evening and affords the opportunity for great camaraderie with friends and fellow chapter members as well as a wonderful dinner. The staff at the Riverside Yacht Club is first rate and they always put on a terrific event. Please attend the banquet if it is at all possible. We need your support for this, our only fund-raiser each year.

Our next membership meeting will be held on Tuesday evening, April 8 at the Orvis store on Route 1 in Darien. Our speaker will be Rob Nicholas who will make a presentation on fly-fishing in Argentina and Chile. I have been fortunate enough to have fly-fished in Patagonia and can personally attest to the quality of the fishing experience as well as the hospitality of my South American hosts. So, if you have the opportunity to fish in Chile or Argentina, do it! It is an experience that you will treasure for the rest of your life. I would also like to express the thanks of the Mianus Chapter to Orvis for hosting our April meeting.

Our May meeting will be back on the grounds at Waveny and will feature the annual fly casting clinic. If you have a spouse, a child, or a friend who would like to learn how to fly fish, this clinic is a good place to start. They will be in the capable hands of people who really care about the future of our sport.

Tight Lines!
Dick O’Neill

Annual fundraising banquet is Saturday, April 5
Great prizes and camaraderie all for a good cause
The Mianus Chapter’s annual fundraising banquet will begin at 6 p.m. at the Riverside Yacht Club at the end of Club Road in Riverside. More than 100 members and guests will join the chapter for an evening of good times, great food and amazing prizes.

There will be more than 70 items in the Raffle Room, with the Grand Prize a $1,000 gift certificate to Westport Outfitters in Norwalk, owned by Eric Johnson, and the outside raffle featuring an Orvis T3 8-foot, 6-inch, 5-weight rod matched with Orvis’ Battenkill Mid Arbor reel, line and a travel case.

The highlight of the banquet, however, is the variety of unique and exciting auction items. This year is particularly exciting, as along with the annual offerings of trips on local waters and to Vermont and the Catskills, we will also have a trip to Alaska with McDougall Lodge (www.mcdougalllodge.com) for members to bid on. A single angler will win a five-day, six-night trip to one of five lodges run by McDougall’s, or a group can buy the trip for one on the cheap, and split the savings on a group outing to McDougall’s.

For all of the chapter’s trip options, members might want to plan ahead as bidding can become fast paced once the action starts. Most of these trips go for a steal at the auction, and planning ahead can lead to a real bargain. Guests attending the banquet may want to coordinate with friends and fellow members, agreeing beforehand on a trip they hope to win. By splitting the cost among three or four friends, these trips are quite affordable, often going well below the fair market value.

After watching Rick Miller’s presentation on fishing the Catskills at the last chapter meeting, many members were ready to grab their waders, get in their cars and head off to the birthplace of American fly-fishing then and there. In our auction this year, chapter member Erf Porter will once again offer his home in Roscoe, New York, dead-center in the prime location for fishing the Delaware and Beaverkill rivers. The trip is for two nights, three days with lodging for up to four anglers and has produced some very hefty trout and great times for past winners.

Another popular trip is the Four Days, Four Rivers outing with Jack Smola for two anglers. Jack has offered this trip at our banquet for many years, and leads the winners on four great days of fishing on the Farmington, Westfield, Deerfield and Housatonic rivers. Jack is gracious enough to allow anglers to break up the trip over several weeks to hit the peak conditions on each river so it is more flexible than a single, four-day outing.

Chapter member Paul Fleming has once again offered his house on Montauk for one week. The house, which sleeps up to six people, makes the perfect base for when the big stripers, albies and bonito are crashing the shore, stirring up enormous pods of bait. Planned properly, with six friends willing to split the cost, the trip puts anglers in the right place at the right time, often cheaper than it would be to rent motel rooms further from the shore.

Chapter vice president Jim Glowienka makes a cast on one of the picturesque “secret” pools in Un-named Stream #12 in southern Vermont. Jeff Yates, chapter secretary, provides guiding for up to three anglers on this trip, with lodging and meals included. Former chapter member Ed Vallerie has graciously offered his riverside lodge on the Mettowee River for the late May, early June trip.

Along with his guided trip for three to Vermont (see above), chapter secretary Jeff Yates will once again be offering four half days of fishing on local waters. From the Norwalk River to the Long Island Sound, the trip for up to two anglers may not be to the most exotic locations, but its real value is in opening up members’ eyes to the possibilities closer to home. The goal of the outings is to have each angler able to find and fish a variety of locations on their own once they have used up all of their time with the guide.

Chapter vice president Jim Glowienka is again offering his personalized casting tune up lessons. Each of the four sessions will last for two hours, and Jim will provide hands-on instruction in the basics of casting, the roll cast, double hauling and much more.

Also in the auction will be a Payne bamboo fly road, generously donated by chapter member Alan McClain. The 8-foot, 6-inch, 6-weight rod comes in its original tube and is in pristine condition. It’s a must-have gem for any collector, and perfectly suitable for a special occasion fishing rod when an angler wants to enjoy a day out on the water with a finely crafted, perfectly tuned bamboo rod.

Other auction items include a 9-weight saltwater rod outfit, several limited edition prints and other artwork, a day trip on the Farmington River with Marla Blair and much more.

They’re back:
Early black stoneflies return to the Mianus

	An early black stonefly perches on a leaf at the Mianus River.

After the doldrums of winter, many of us have been itching to get back on the water, and the past two weeks have not been a letdown.

The arrivial of the early black stonefly on the Mianus River is awaited with great anticipation by many members of the Mianus Chapter.

This early-hatching insect begins appearing in mid-to-late March, skittering about the river on warm, bright days.

This year the beginning of the stonefly hatch coincided perfectly with the state’s stocking of the Mianus River. The freshly stocked trout, members reported, were more than willing to slash at stonefly imitations.

The best method for imitating the insect on the surface of the water is to use a dark or black caddis imitation, a black stimulator pattern or tie up the early black stone itself, using black hackle and a dark gray goose wing feather. If you prefer using nymphs, try a black hare’s ear nymph, perhaps with a bead head and flash back, and drift it through the riffles at the heads of the deeper pools.

These insect, unlike the later hatching Mayflies, do not drift slowly downstream while drying their wings, so a dead drift float through a pool may not work best. Stoneflies actually swim to the river’s edge and crawl out on the rocks and banks when ready to hatch, so trout have to either feed on the swimming nymph stage of the insect, or wait for the mature adults to return to the water to lay their eggs.

To imitate the adult dry fly, the best approach is to twitch the fly across the water’s surface, imitating the fly’s erratic flight pattern of dipping down to lay eggs, fluttering up into the air and dipping down again to lay more eggs.

Of course, these fresh-stocked fish are also fools for woolly buggers, large nymphs and pretty much anything else you want to throw at them.

The best part about this early fishing, of course, is that the dog walkers are sometimes a bit lighter in the park, and the river is reserved for fly-fishing only, so you don’t have to share the stream with worm fishermen or spin casters.

Please remember to pinch down all your barbs, as it is required that you release all fish unharmed into the river during this extended season.

The Trout Management Area on the Mianus runs upstream of the Merriebrook Road bridge, so even if you see a few monsters hovering below the bridge, keep your flies out of the water until you head upstream.

Members signed up for e-mail alerts from the chapter received an e-mail when the state stocked the river, giving them an early advantage to get out on the water. To sign up, e-mail jeffyates31@aol.com.