I’m very grateful that I’m able to make the time, and have the health, to fly fish.

That may sound premature, but I think it’s prescient. I see many older folks braving the rivers but smartly establish limits. They won’t venture forth when there’s ice on the trails. They won’t wade aggressively into a torrid river.

So, I want to pause and reflect on another fun year, as I enter Year 4 of regular fly fishing. I can fly fish without physical limits right now. I am grateful.

I focused this year on the Farmington and the Millers. The former yielded a new personal best, a 22″ brown buck. (FYI: my net is 17″ across the length-wise gape).

It also yielded quite a few other fish.

Grateful to meet some new friends yesterday. Employing tips from @fishingwithzach. #farmingtonriver #euronymphing #flyfishing

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Oct 9, 2016 at 4:20pm PDT

Glad I stopped during drive to work meeting. Broke in the new @syndicate_ff rod. #farmingtonriver #euronymphing #flyfishing

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Oct 20, 2016 at 10:26am PDT

Thanks for the pointers @fishingwithzach @nutmegeuro. #farmingtonriver #euronymphing #barbless #sageflyfishing #orvis #flyfishing

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Nov 5, 2016 at 4:42pm PDT

The Millers gave me great joy. I found some ideal runs for nymphing.

A day for rainbows. #millersriver

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Oct 15, 2016 at 12:56pm PDT

Fishing in February was just jaw-dropping beautiful. The trout became an afterthought.

Some local waters surprisingly produced big time.

I caught a huge chub.

The highlight of the season was my annual trip to Pittsburg, NH, with one of my children. We landed quite a few browns, ‘bows, brookies and landlocked salmon.

I also went through a “dries or die” period, during which I ditched the tightline nymphing gear and decided I was going to learn how to fish small dries. It was a hoot.

In August, I powered up to try to master the Trico hatch. There was a memorable day during which 21 brown trout entered the net.

Towards year-end, with freestones iced up, I focused on tailwaters. And, they delivered.

Fished while sleeting. Had a blast. #flyfishing #orvis #sageflyfish #nymphing

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Dec 24, 2016 at 10:14am PST

Grateful. A surprisingly high-volume and good day. My favorite ones in the photo. #flyfishing #barbless #indicatornymphing #dryflyfishing #midgeflies #sageflyfish #orvis #nofilter

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Dec 11, 2016 at 1:31pm PST

I also tied a bunch of flies as the winter crept in. Perdigón flies were one of my hot flies of the autumn. I also played a great deal with CDC, adding it as a soft hackle on small flies. It worked really well.

At the bench. Holiday gift for @arkautza. #flytying #flyfishing #euronymphing #orvis #montanamongoose #stonfo #barbless

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Dec 15, 2016 at 1:54am PST

Best dry of the year for me. Size 20 X-Caddis. Love those #Orvis tactical dry fly hooks. #flytying #dryfly #barbless

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Oct 23, 2016 at 5:41am PDT

For the next trip. #farmingtonriver #euronymphing

A post shared by BlogFlyFishMA (@blogflyfishma) on Oct 13, 2016 at 5:23am PDT

In 2017, I’m going to try to master the “float the sighter” technique. More to come.

Happy New Year!