We are expecting a heat wave this week with temperatures reaching to 99 ºF, so I took advantage of this perfect spring day to fish the Assabet in Concord, MA. Last time I fished this spot, another fly fisherman recommended I pick up the roll cast to help in rivers with more foliage. So my primary goal for this tip was to learn and practice the roll cast, otherwise I was there to enjoy a nice day out of the city....
Earlier in the week, I protected this Sunday morning for practicing my fly casting. Lately, I have been putting in some hours on the grass along the Charles, but today I chose to bike to Jamaica Pond and get some practice casting on the water. I tied on an elk hair caddis and got to flailing my stick at the water. I got better with time, but was clearly struggling. Every now and then, a cast would feel and look good, but most often, the line would drop in a pile....
My day’s journey started with a bike ride along the Esplanade to North Station to catch the Fitchburg 1403 at 10:20 AM. It was a beautiful spring day, and I was looking forward to spending it unconcerned. I spent the forty-minute train ride to West Concord reading Anthony Doerr’s Four Seasons in Rome, a memoir about a year he spent living in the Eternal City with his wife and newborn twin boys....
Boston got a warm day in the upper 50’s (Fahrenheit), so I took the opportunity to get some quality casting practice in over at Jamaica Pond. The warmer weather not only made standing by the water more tolerable, it also reduced the memory1 stuck in the line and I no longer had to worry about frost building on my on line if it sat still for half a minute. I was far more successful this time around....
I returned this morning to Jamaica Pond with the primary goal of finding the Wooly Bugger I lost yesterday. Took a few minutes of shuffling in the freezing cold, but I eventually found my fly. With the primary objective accomplished, I decided it was worth trying my hand at casting practice again since the wind was relatively calm. So I strung up the rod, tied in my Bugger, and gave it another go....