|
TROUT FISHING IN AMERICA: "My Best Day"
In the 30 years that Trout Fishing in America has been making children's music, bassist Keith Grimwood says one question always comes up: "What is the stupidest song you guys have ever written?" Turns out it's "Sailing," a clever little sea chanty that's big on wordplay. From a "dumb-floundered" pirate to "marooned" sailors aboard colliding cargo ships hauling red and brown paint, "Sailing" is just one of 15 songs featured on the thunderous concert CD from the smart, musically sophisticated duo of Grimwood and guitarist Ezra Idlet. Their collaboration on "My Best Day" is not to be missed. Recorded before a live audience in Arkansas earlier this year, the album is steeped in the acoustic folk tradition. At the same time, it expands into .
Native brook trout are in hot water
My first brook trout arrived on a frosty late-spring morning in mountain water so cold it made my fingers tingle before going completely numb. No bigger than my hand, the brookie was a work of art to rival New Hampshire's Chocorua Lake, its home just before I enticed it to swallow my fly and to which I would return it moments later. Its olive skin peppered with blue-ringed red dots and a rakish orange belly is a vivid image that has stayed with me for more than 25 years. If I had a lick of artistic ability, I could draw that fish from memory. Since arriving here 18 years ago, my encounters with brookies have been fewer and farther between. Some of that has to do with the other fish that occupy my time: white perch, croaker and, of course, striped bass. (Let's not even mention menhaden, OK?) But even when I've carved out the time, it's been hard to do a meet-and-greet with Maryland's only native trout.
Area lake/fishing report
New Melones Lake is currently holding 2.16 million acre-feet of water, at 89 percent capacity, at 1,067 feet above sea level and 21 feet from capacity. Surface water temperature is approximately 78-84 degrees. Water is stained, with mud lines forming on main lake points, with high-water ramps.
Trout is excellent for both trollers and for those fishing at night under lights. New Melones is kicking out plenty of big, fat, healthy trout. Most trout have been picked up at around 40 to 80 feet deep, in the main lake near the spillway/dam/Rose Island area, or in the mouths of major creek arms, such as Angels or Carson Creek. John Darroch trolled a shad-patterned Excel spoon 40 feet deep to catch a pretty 2.4-pound brown trout near Glory Hole Point. Michi Marshall landed a 4.6-pound rainbow while trolling a silver Apex.
|
|
|
|
|
Bookmark
(Ctrl + D) |
|
