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Editor's Notes

Weather-wise, it’s been a cruel summer here in northern New England. This year, parts of Maine have measured their most precipitation ever. Back-to-back clear, sunny days have been few and far between; with the rain, river flows have been unfriendly to fly fishers. I can’t remember a summer when the phrase “Make hay while the sun shines” was more true. The striped bass still haven’t migrated up to Maine as I write this in late August, so I’ve had to amble down to Cape Cod for coastal fishing. And I’m counting on the local fall fishing to save the trout season. (Bring on those early running browns!)

Recently, to seize a fishing opportunity in this summer of slim pickings, to make hay etc., I trained my angling attention on…Cephalopoda. I’m talking Loligo pealeii, the longfin inshore squid. An office mate has been jigging ’em up in a local harbor the past few weeks, and I decided to give it a whirl with a fly rod. Fresh calamari? Seasoned, breaded and fried, served with lemon wedges and red-pepper aioli? Count me in. I tied a few squid flies, figuring the fierce-looking L. pealeii must have cannibalistic tendencies, and headed down to the docks—squid row, as it were.

Sure enough, a heavy downpour earlier in the day mucked up the water and put the squid down or drove them out to sea. I had a nice evening casting under a full moon in the quiet harbor, taking in stride the good-natured ribbing from the bucket-sitting bait-dunkers, who were reeling in mackerel. But no calamari. All is not lost. Just this morning I heard about a good Italian place in Rockland that serves a spicy marinara sauce. I bet they have fresh calamari. 

A note on our Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award section in this issue—the watercolor illustrations that accompany this year’s first- and second-place stories are by Mark Yuhina, whose work has a soulful quality. I was tipped off to Mark’s art by Michael Doherty, our 2008 Traver Award winner; Mark and Mike are angling friends. For more about Mark, go to yuhinaillustration.blogspot.com.