I hit the salt with Shore Catch Guide Service on Saturday.  Despite the best efforts of our guide, Capt. Kevin Halek, we only managed 4 runts for 3 anglers.  The fall bass season is going to be another late one this year.  I hear tales of fish the past couple of days now that the winds have switched steadily to the north and northwest.  I hope some of you salty dogs can get out the next few days, I cannot.  I’m headed to the hollers of Pensyltucky to hunt Bambi’s father and shoot many, many, many high powered firearms!  Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!

In case you Louts haven’t checked it out yet, you should know that Float King has been on a do-gooder kick recently as the catalyst for an important new Trout Unlimited initiative to teach conservation education to New Jersey middle- and high school students.

Trout in the Classroom is a nationwide TU program where local chapters sponsor teachers who agree to install fish tanks in their classrooms. New Jersey’s Fish & Wildlife authorities supply each class with brook trout eggs in the fall, and the kids get to watch them mature into regular little aquatic predators. During their academic interval, these fish will inspire participating teachers to create lesson plans involving stream habitat, fish biology, various modes of scientific inquiry, art, literacy, and more. Fish that graduate will be released into the wild in the spring, so you big eaters among us shouldn’t get too many ideas unless you plan to fish for these hatchery babies!

Aside from leading the charge in making New Jersey’s program one of the largest in the country, Brian’s vision as NJ State TU Trout-in-the-Classroom Coordinator was to create a common web “lab notebook” where teachers and students will compare notes and observations throughout the 2006-7 school year. I was fortunate enough to get the gig for web design and development.

Check out the site when you get a moment and be sure to pass along an attaboy or two for Brian’s initiative.

After 9/11, Kenton packed up his family and moved to Oregon and hasn’t been heard from since. Maybe one day he’ll Google himself and this picture will turn up and inspire him to drop us a line.

I stopped by my local post office and was shocked at what I saw. There, in black and white on the wall for the world to see, was a picture of four of my fishing buddies. I’m just glad the authorities haven’t caught up with me yet! Hmmm, wonder if there’s a reward???

As you can see, Bob has been busy at work on the new site. Please ignore the rings on the page, he keeps leaving his singlemalt on top of it whilst he edits. Welcome to the online world of the Louts! Tell lies, tell the truth, but at any cost, tell something to enhance our fishing lives for this sport and these friends we all love so much. As you’ll see, the site is in its infancy so bear with Bob as he builds away. What better place to take a shot at a buddy, share a story about a trip, post pictures of the big one that didn’t get away or to generally keep in touch with this crazy group of men we share a cabin with every year. If you can’t be with us on the water often enough, at least live vicariously through those of us that do get together from time to time and, of course, always check here first for our annual West Branch trip plans. By the by, that date for 2007 is June 6-9. Prepare ahead - NO excuses will be allowed or you’ll be lambasted here for all the world to see.

Float King

Welcome to the internet home of the Trout Louts, a peripatetic band of raconteurs and fishermen who ask no quarter and offer less. This website will be Under Construction for a brief spell, so pour yourself another whisky and piss-off, mate. We’ll call you when we have something more to say.

Not sure if I’ve shared this with all of the Louts. On the Saturday of last year’s trip, Linden and I headed up to the no-kill on the West Branch for some wade fishing. No hatches were coming off so we were forced to nymph the faster water, knowing that the Hendricksons would eventually come off in the afternoon. I waded across the river to the far side while Lindy was up stream in the riffs. He hooked a good fish and it took off downstream. By good fish, I don’t mean one of those beautiful 18″ -20″ browns, I’m talking about the biggest damn fish I ever saw in that river! Read the rest of this entry »

It was bound to have happened eventually - a relative newbie gets the honor of high hook. While he imagines himself an accomplished fisherman, it was actually due to guide extraordinaire, Darren Rist, who was putting Bob Simpson on the fish all day. This year will be different my friends! Good ‘ole Float King will not allow lightning to strike twice. My plan is to poke holes in his waders, smash his hooks flat, get him more drunk the night before than is usual and pay his guide to keep him catching nothing but fallfish in ‘07. Here is our hero squeezing an extra inch or two (that’s not the only thing he’s squeezing out) of his big fish of the day.