[juro]

A bunch of us have been talking about a Spey gathering on the Upper Merrimac in NH or Connecticut River MA this spring. I know there is already a group calling their flatlander coordinates "east" but we're accomodating to that notion and will call ours the Nor'eastern Spey clave.

Both of these rivers have a brood stock fishery with salmon up to 20 pounds and are good banks for Spey casting.

We have four to six who are very interested already, and I suppose we could tempt Adrian to break out the big sticks for a little spey casting as well. Greg, this is a good chance to meet the gang and try a large variety of spey rods.

If you're interested, this is going to be sometime in April. Just reply here to be counted in the group.

Not sure who we can get for keynote caster, but we should be able to share a lot of information and have a lot of fun in the process.

If the potential of hooking up with a salmon is not important we can meet somewhere more convenient for all, open to suggestions.

 

[Domenic]

interested

 

[Topher Browne]

Nor'Eastern Spey Clave

Juro,

Great idea! Date depending, count me in.

Besides the opportunity to cast rods, the Clave could focus on:

-Spey tackle unique to Great Lakes steelhead fisheries

-Spey and Underhand casting for Atlantic salmon in Canada

-Two-handed rods for shooting heads and overhead casting
in the surf for stripers, blues, and albies.

All these fisheries are within a day's drive of the proposed Clave.

Tight loops,

TB

 

[Salar-1]

I'd be interested
Cheers
Brian

 

[juro]

Great stuff!

Topher, I will add west coast steelheading coverage to complement your list, unless we can get Dana and/or Tyler to come back out this way.

Hopefully one of our sponsors will be ready to introduce a new rod design specifically tuned for atlantic surf flyfishing if all goes well in mandrel design / production by that time.

 

[Topher Browne]

Nor'Eastern Spey Clave

Hi Juro!

As April is filling up for me, do you have a date in mind for the Nor'Eastern Spey Clave so that I may block it off?

Have fun in Seattle.

TB

 

[macspey]

Sounds Great!

Excellent plan, please count me in as well. Would think the Merrimac would be a great venue. I'll probably round up at least two more blokes with spey rods. Any April dates would work for me.
John

 

[juro]

Topher -

Well, it would have to be either before taxes or after :devil:

Which is better for you?

 

[Topher Browne]

Date for Nor'Eastern Clave

Hi Juro!

I cast my vote for:

1st choice: weekend of April 12-13

2nd choice: weekend of April 5-6

I agree with John (MacSpey), the Sewall Falls area of the Merrimack is a great place to cast. I have spent a lot of time there with Speybro', who also filmed part of a video there.

Big bellies and a little stick,

TB

 

[doogue]

Juro,

If we are talking NH then I am game. I may even be able to line up some free accomodations (for 8 or 9) in the Laconia (near Franklin) area. I tried to fish the Mack with my 9 weight single hander last spring and the backcast area was limited in some of the key spots. The spey guys were kicking my butt!

I would love to learn how to spey cast.

-Mike

 

[Adrian]

Sounds like fun!

Depending on dates - arriving back from Kauaii on 4/12 so for me would need to be later. CT river is a day trip - Merrimak would be an over-nighter but it would be cool to get back up there!

 

[Topher Browne]

Nor'Eastern Spey Clave

Juro,

Do you have any update on possible weekend dates for the Nor'Eastern Spey Clave? I will be working the last two weekends in April, but can get someone to cover with enough advance notice.

How do I send you a personal e-mail? Tried via this site, but no go.

Best regards,

TB

 

[juro]

Topher -

Sorry, I have been running around the country lately and missed this somehow.

I think we should do early April; it sounds like it works better for you and it works better for me as well since I start my pre-season scout trips in late April.


How about tentatively Saturday April 5th?

thanks,
Juro

[email protected]

 

[Greg Pavlov]

Topher -

Well, it would have to be either before taxes or after :devil:

Which is better for you?

*Mine* are done, nyah nyah, nyah nyah.

This looks good, but I'll be out of the country
the week before, at a long meeting in L.A.,
so it might be politically difficult to go galivanting
off that soon after. But I'd try to make it.

 

[Topher Browne]

Nor'Eastern Spey Clave

Hi Juro!

April 5 works for me; count me in!

Also sent you a p.m. Hope you got it.

Best regards,

TB

 

[juro]

Reading thru this it's clear the upper Mac' is the best choice. Mike, talk to me about accomodations Sounds great and you can bet you'll get a solid introduction with the folks in attendance.

I should be able to bring a sizeable assortment of Spey rods.

One thing to watch is river level - if it's running in the trees we should consider post-poning. That's one good aspect of doing the upper Merrimack; some flexibility for most of us if the date changes.

LOOKING FORWARD TO IT!

 

[Topher Browne]

Juro,

It was a pleasure to meet and speak with you today at the Wilmington, MA Fly Fishing Show.

Your "slides" (I still call c.d's "albums," so I date myself) of the Spey Days on the Sky make me want to move to the Pacific North West!

Hopefully, we can get some excitement going for all things Spey here on the East Coast. Let's tap into that vein of PNW enthusiasm for Spey casting on April 5th at the Nor'eastern Spey Clave!

Best regards,

TB

 

[wrke]

OK guys, you all seem to know where this is going to take place, but let those of us who don't know where it is. And where can we find accomodations. I'd like to make it if I can break away.
Bill

 

[macspey]

Greetings NE-sters- April 5 works for me and a few compadres from NH and VT- we'll be there. From the looks of things now, I don't think LOW water will be a problem, that's for sure. We'll have a few extra rods to share. I'm not that familiar with the water on the Merrimac, perhaps someone could mark up a StreetMap or Mapquest map, jpeg it and post on the forum. As Topher expressed, let's not let the PNW-ers have ALL the fun! Really looking forward to the 5th!
John
Meriden, NH

 

[juro]

Topher -

Good to meet a true Spey bro on Northeast turf! I agree, we can't let our lucky freinds west of the divide have all the two-handed fun. This should be a real kick and the level of interest was very high at the show over the weekend.

Macspey, et. al. -

Topher and I had a good chat, and I also spoke with Jon Greenwood who is the director of the Merrimac Anadromous program. The locations we will select from are Sewells Falls area (where Simon filmed part of his video, right bank), Franklin along River Rd. (left bank), and also options along a newly opened expanse above the dams in Bristol where there are miles of roadside river bank to choose from in totally uninhabited pristine river frontage with brood stockers up to 20# lurking in the currents. After talking to Jon, I got very excited about the upper stretch.

It appears the best lodging option is the Super 8 motel in Tilton, 3 miles from Franklin (spot #2) and 13 miles from Bristol, according to Orbitz. Sewalls Falls is quite a bit further south and would change the choice of lodging to Concord hotels which are more available and cheaper particularly if you split a room (e.g. Fairfield Inn, 2 doubles $59/night in Concord).

The most important thing IMHO is the quality of the location with respect to potential high water flows. Topher noted that Simon filmed in high water at Sewalls Falls, which is a good point. I have a suspicion that it would be worth scouting that stretch in Bristol though, Jon knows the river and it's not combined with the Winnepesaukee River at that point (officially the Pemmigewasset up there), higher up the river, and less prone to bloating. In fact higher water might make that stretch even better judging by my experiences on the Pemmi in summer.

In any case, it will require a scouting trip closer to the date to determine which of these places, all within a 15-20 mile circle, will be the actual scene of the clave. I will gladly take that trip, Topher if you are available maybe we could sneak a little pre-clave warm-up on the river as we scope the spots

I am really looking forward to it!