American Museum of Fly Fishing's Annual Napa Dinner and Auction
Where else can you blend your own bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon and browse an exhibit of Zane Grey fishing paraphernalia? The American Museum of Fly Fishing (www.amff.com) is hosting a dinner and auction at the Louis M. Martini Winery in St. Helena, California on June 2. "This event will feature an exciting sporting auction with fabulous fly fishing trips, fly fishing equipment, original artwork and premium wine lots available to raise funds for our collections work. The evening will conclude in our historic underground cellar with the season's first cherries flamed with Cabernet Sauvignon, Scharffen Berger chocolate desserts, and, of course, some Martini Moscato wine." Honey, call the babysitter.
For more information, call the Museum at (802) 362-3300 or email them at amff3@amff.com.
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A recent Andy Mill interview mentioned something about fly fishing for tarpon that most anglers consider a black art: keeping the fish on the line. To paraphrase, Mill said that he's come to the conclusion that the best thing to do when a tarpon takes your fly is nothing. That's a over-simplification of his advice and the process, of course, but it does reinforce something we've believed for many years -- that the most important thing in keeping a tarpon hooked up is not slamming home the hook at every opportunity, but keeping the fly in the fish's mouth. Keeping tension on the line until the fish turns his head prevents the fly from slipping out, and when the fish does turn and run, the hook is more likely to stick in the corner of the fish's mouth. The other key ingredients to making this strategy work are very sharp hooks and big drag settings -- 3-5 pounds is ideal if you are fishing with 16-20-pound tippet. By the way, the tarpon photo is from last Friday morning in a basin in southwest Florida, where the fish were thick before the latest front came through.