u/tomtakespictures

Any ideas what this might be and what I may use to catch one? They didn’t seem bothered by me. 3-4 would pass by gulping at the surface of the water and seem to pass more frequently the more I moved around. I switched from a kebari to a parachute adams since they seemed to be feeding on the surface so much.

Bonus pick of the Kaida and the fishing spot.

It was a delightful mess at the dinner table.

I posted here a bit ago asking for advice. The main piece of advice that most of you offered was to find a guide or group to learn in person. There’s a group that meets that’s not too far away, so I gave it a shot. It was great - dinner with a bunch of fly fishing folks, a stocked pond to practice casting on, and an experienced instructor to give advice while practicing in a field if desired.

Very welcoming folks. First cast in the pond with a wooly bugger got a bluegill. It was a crap cast (before I got some time with the instructor) and was quick to try recasting before realizing there was a fish on the other end. The instructor stayed with me well after they were packing up, giving instruction on different circumstances and reliving some good times.

Today after work, I went to a spot where a damn spills out. Tried a streamer for a bit, and quickly realized my hook size was too large for the fish in the water. I had been watching some videos on casting parachute adams, as well as detecting and hooking strikes, and I had one that seemed to fit the situation. I was pulling in bluegill nonstop until some rain hit. It was a good way to get a feel for the line and when I had a bite.

Anyway, thought I’d share since I asked for help before. Thank you for everyone who chimed in. I’ve got a dragontail tenkara rod on the way, which should be fun on some of the smaller streams here in Ohio, too.

Some notes from being there and snapping pics:

Whitelaw and Mannisto are smaller guys who play big. They both like bodying guys in the corners and on the boards, even during drills. Whitelaw impressed me a lot — lots of speed, and the game seemed to follow him around the ice. Seemed solid positionally.

Lindstrom looked pretty awesome to me. I know he should look good against prospects at this point, but it was clear that he, Smith, and Henning were on another level.

Lindstrom likes to play the body a lot and uses change of speed to create space when he has the puck. He likes to make plays — passes that didn't look like legit chances, saucers through crowds that landed on tape.

Andreyanov and Lindstrom have a social gravitational pull. They seem to be buddies with everyone — crowds form around them wherever they end up on the ice.

Smith likes pushing others to their limits. Those of you who've watched Smith in his college games - does he fight much? He really seems to like pushing buttons - not nasty, just finds something that bugs a guy or a weakness and leans into it. A bit of a pest. He also liked drawing forecheckers, toe-dragging them out of position, then making a long stretch pass. Smith is pretty clearly ahead of the guys he skated with, especially with his skating.

Smith and Lindstrom were giving it to each other quite a bit. Maybe they know each other from college hockey, but it looked like they had dibs on each other whenever one had possession during the prospect game.

Elick and Vass both have surprisingly good, hard shots and caught goalies off guard a couple of times.

Holy smokes, Hemming is a big dude. He looks even bigger next to Proverov. The kid can skate, too, and was working with trainers more than most to improve his skating even further. Smith did this too.

DW definitely has a type: big guys who skate well, and smaller, skilled guys who are greasy in the corners and in front of the net.

That's all I got. Keep in mind I'm just a beer leaguer who enjoys photographing events. It was nice seeing professional athletes get annoyed by the same rough patches of ice that I've fallen on myself.

I've got around 315 photos total from the event. If there's interest, I'll post an album link, but I don't want to blow up the sub with a bunch of posts about the same event.

Only had it 3 years, still under 100k miles. I was hoping to put at least 300k miles on it.