Jack Gartside's blog: a place for tales, tips, and other random musings.
Each December going back a number of years, we always republished a Christmas story Jack had written long ago. I can’t think of a reason not to again this year. In fact, perhaps this year there’s all the more reason to. So here it is, A Christmas Present from the Queen, a gift from Jack to his friends.
To you and your loved ones, a merry little Christmas and a happy New Year. 
Catching up on my blog-writing tonight. Somehow the time just goes by so quickly!
I spent the Fourth of July weekend rather quietly, catching up on my tying for the most part and workingon Striper Strategies (which I hope to have ready fairly soon) until my fingers and eyes got tired. On the Fourthitself–after finishing several tying orders–I thought I’d reward myself with a little fishing–and exploring.
The ocean was rather roiled up after all the rain we’d been having so I headed up Route 1 in the late afternoon to check out two ponds in Saugus (a nearby town) that I had never fished. In fact, I didn’t even know where they were but Mapquest helped me out there and in about half an hour I reached the first pond, Pranker’s Pond, whichI walked into from the road. Pranker’s is a lovely little pond and according to a man I met there quite a good bass pond; what he didn’t tell me was that it was for Saugus residents only (in fact there was a sign on the path that I hadn’t noticed on the way in). Well, so much for Pranker’s Pond. The other pond was Hawkes Pond, justa few miles away. This too turned out to be a really beautiful but much larger pond, very fishy looking. Only trouble was it was part of a reservoir system; No Fishing/No Trespassing signs were everywhere.
It was now closing in on seven o’clock and I still hadn’t wet a line. What to do? I remembered a pond in the town of Lynnfield, only a few miles away, Pillings Pond. I had never fished this before but I had heard good reports and it seemed as good a bet as any in the little time I had left before dark.
I found my way to the pond and parked at a small parking area on Summer Street and launched my belly boat around 7.30 pm. The air temperature was now about 70 degrees, quite a drop from earlier in the day and there was no wind, the surface as calm as could be. The pond had recently been treated with weed-killer and there were lots of dead and dying weed in close to shore but I managed to kick my way through most of it and get out where the water was clearer and where it would be easier to fish a surface fly. Continue reading “Fireworks on the Fourth”
Let’s make 2008 the best year yet, a year to remember. And to start it all off it’s hard to beat this “Thought for the Day”:
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”
Mark Twain
Wise words, very wise. I know that I’m going to do my best to turn my dreams into a reality; how about you?
Just taking a much-needed break from flytying. Although I’ve been tying mostly simple (and larger) flies this afternoon– Soft Hackle Streamers and bonefish flies–my back and eyes need a bit of a rest.
Since I sent out my last newsletter a week or so ago I’ve been getting lots of orders, mostly for selections, which people are often giving for Christmas or as gifts to themselves, but also for relatively large orders of individual flies (i.e. one of this, one of that, one of another). While sets are easy to prepare and to a certain extent anticipate, the orders for individual flies are not.
I’d like to point out here that I keep relatively few flies “in stock”–usually just the most popular patterns and sizes– and when I get an order requesting one of this, one of that, etc., I often cannot fill the order as quickly as I can an order for a selection of flies. As you may guess, it’s very time-consuming to go from one material to another, one style to another, one pattern to another. I often put these orders on the “back burner” until I have time to work on them. So I’d like to suggest here that if your order is for multiple “single” flies that you be a bit patient with me, especially at this busy time of year.
As most of you know, I personally tie all the flies offered on my website; they’re not mass-produced somewhere over in Asia or Africa (as so many commercially available flies are these days). There’s only one of me to do all the tying. I’m very meticulous and don’t cut corners and, as a result, I’m really not a very fast tyer. On a good day I can tie maybe only four dozen flies; most days it’s just two or three dozen. I wish it were otherwise but time is beginning to take its toll, it seems, and I’m slowing down a bit.
I do my best to fill all orders as quickly as I can but, again, I ask you to be a bit patient if you’re ordering multiple “singles.”
Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I’m thankful for many things–good friends, good fishing, good times, etc.– I’m extremely thankful that Mike Lowell has re-signed with the Red Sox–but most of all, I’m thankful for all of the support you–my customers–have given me over the past year.
I hope that your Thanksgiving will be as full of things to be thankful for as mine will be.