The Fish Wrap Writer Blog
For more than 20 years, we have been learning from and writing about outdoorsmen and women who fish, hunt, hike, pause, and sometimes just look around. Fish Wrap has been published over 480 times. Here you will find articles, interviews, reports, laughs, a few stretched truths (that’s true), and an unfortunate number of obituaries from good folks we have lost.
Please search, enjoy, and let me know if you know someone who we should meet.
Crafty One Customs, circle hooks and icy February coolers
On February 21, my good friend Peter Jenkins at The Saltwater Edge hosted another excellent Surf Night. Peter brought in Dave Anderson and Gerry Audet to walk us through finding fish on a make-believe spot they’re calling Mystery Island. The deal was, based on all...
Fishermen playing Whack-A-Mole, Alberto Knie's wisdom & another Block Island soul passed on too soon
There’s a lot happening on a frigid February day so in the words of my friend Dan Ferguson, “Let’s get to it!” George Pomerovo brought his Seminar Series to Rhode Island College’s Roberts Hall and he packed in more than 200 eager fishermen and women. There was a...
Dan Kenney is bringing the outdoors right to you
Dan Kenney is making a serious name for himself. Dan’s an outdoors promoter and fish guy who is bringing his next big deal, the Connecticut Outdoors Show, to Mohegan Sun for the first time, which opens up all sorts of possibilities when you consider the location....
Six dates to get you through winter
The Fly Fishing Film Tour This is an annual celebration of life on the water. The editors compile film from all over the globe then travel the globe showing fishing-starved people like us just how beautiful fly fishing can be. The only Rhode Island showing is on...
It’s open season on indoors outdoors shows
January is tough. Snows show as rain, what should be frozen seems is just muddy. There isn’t even much ice to scratch the winter fishing itch. With a solid three months until Spring’s greatest day, the opening of trout season, we can, however, be comforted by those...
2018 goes out with a splash
This week we turn the boat around for a second look at some characters and their greatest hits from 2018. What fun. One of the founders of RI Kayak Bassin’, RJ Alves is a force, to say the least. And it’s all positive. His highlight was the, “First RIKB tourney:...
OMG, we're Fish Wrapping up 2018
This week we’re turning the ship around to face a few of you, to hear what made 2018 special or maybe fantastic. Some folks landed the trout they dreamed of, some couldn’t get their math straight, some were just happy to get out and fish with their friends. In no...
It serves us right to suffer if we don’t comment now
RI DEM held a very informative Marine Fisheries Informational Workshop this past Tuesday. I had the John Lee Hooker song, “Serves Me Right To Suffer” stuck in my head. Workshops are designed to offer us information about particular sectors, seasons, rules or...
The ritual of a new year's warm water baptism
It’s a cold weather, warm water baptism. Cleaning rods and reels, replacing hooks and snaps, swivels and rings is a ritual indeed but there’s more to it than trebles and pliers. Cleaning takes time, something some have more of when it’s cold. It takes patience to...
In with the old then out with the new old at the Surf Day Used Tackle Sale
Well, we're big fans of the Narragansett Surfcasters fishing club so here's a little more notice of their Surf Day Used Tackle Sale on February 9, 2019 You can rent a table to sell off some gear or just walk the isles to pick out some new stuff on a very cool...
Bob Buscher & a few largemouth
Bob-Buscher-takes-winter-in-stride-with-a-few-nice-largemouth
Volunteering is fine, a saddlebag full of bluegills is confusing
This week we deal with the recent past, the near future and the oddly confusing. TU volunteers giving up a Saturday to clean a road to preserve a river Members of Trout Unlimited’s Narragansett 225 chapter donated a recent Saturday to the State’s Adopt-A-Roadway...
Notes from the couch with thanks for all you sportsmen and characters
Since getting off the couch was tricky on a recent holiday celebrating thankfulness and stuffing, it afforded me time to think. And thank. First of all, I’m thankful that I’m still here. Given my propensity for the occasional hoppy beverage and checking the...
A Jerry Garcia Vice
A Jerry Garcia Vice is a curse, a blessing, a laugh, a shrug, a patient exercise in testing other people's patience at a fly tying class.
Tie up your fly, order a striper plate and set your winter table
With my arrival delayed by an AWOL windshield wiper in a hard southwesterly rain storm, I was the last to enter a room full of fly tyers. Nobody looked up, save for Kimberly Sullivan, the always smiling Principal Biologist for RIDEM and their Aquatic Resource...
Poaching Needs a Judge Who Respects Fish and Fishermen
How long will greed, disrespect for our environment, and blatant, planned ignorance of not just our laws but of the respect they require, meet with just a small fine and two-line notice in a small town paper?
This most recent arrest is a daily news reminder that our system isn’t operating to its potential. So here are my suggested solutions for what to do with poachers in Rhode Island.
It’s officially an unofficial win for the Narrow River
This story was somehow lost in the mix and should have been posted a few weeks ago. It happens... The First Annual Narrow River Kayak Multi-Species Fishing Tournament went off without a hitch last weekend and when all the numbers were tallied, the river came in...
Largemouth, ducks, a Go-Devil & chicken soup. Hell yeah, that’s Fall in RI
The Rhode Island Kayak Bassin’ tournament season has wrapped up for 2018. Administrators Matt Tetreault and RJ Alves successfully created a few months of fun for freshwater fishermen, taking anglers to some of this state’s most beautiful water bodies and reminding...
Fall surfcasting is discovering the way before finding the fish
Surfcasters have space now. Space to cast, to walk, even to park. Mornings have been airbrushed with woodstove smoke, still sweet for its newness. Spots have become secret again as we rediscover what we knew was there all along. Surfcasters know nothing is lost...
Brian Hall gets sidelined so read the Fish Wrap Five
This just in. The Ocean State Kayak Anglers Association has placed administrator Brian Hall on injured reserve. Brian’s a pretty tough guy, a veteran and firefighter, kayak fisherman, freestyle eel wrestler and house party comedian. The last part is a work in...