En route to a college reunion, I decided to stop at the Natchaug and fish. Glad I did. I landed quite a few brown and tiger trout. All stockies, but I didn’t care. It was a great deal of fun.

Honestly, credit should go to these folks, Frank and Max. They’ve been friends since childhood.

I passed by them going upstream and said hello. We started to talk. Well, it turns out that they are two incredible fish hawks. Between them, in just a few hours, they landed about 50 fish. I watched them do it.

And, they were really and truly incredibly nice about letting me a fish a run with them and sharing their techniques. They suggested that I “swim” a weighted nymph. I’ve heard of anglers pulsing a fly to imitate the swimming motion of a nymph about to surface, but I’ve never tried it.

It worked, in spades. For me, the browns wanted a Hare’s Ear, gently pulsed up and down.

And, it was fun to hang with Frank and Max and chat. We talked about fish, politics, family, work, you name it. They were so incredibly friendly and genuine. I really feel privileged to meet them.

And, how did I do? ;I landed about 40 trout. Nearly all browns, with a few tiger trout in the mix.

Thank you Frank and Max for your generosity and friendship today. It was really fun to fish and chat with you both!