top left: photo by Al Q, top right: photo courtesy of joe blades. bottom right: one of the original crease flies given to me by Capt. Joe.
original artwork by Joe Blados
a schoolie on the fly with Nick Curcione.
I was very fortunate to meet and fish with Capt. Joe Blados in Montauk, back in the mid nineties when Paul Dixon had invited all the saltwater fly fishing gurus and writers on the east coast to experience the newly discovered flats fishing off the north shore of Montauk during mid June. My buddy at the time, Nick Curcione introduced me to Joe, they were very close friends. Joe had just completed some really cool illustrations for one of Nick’s books that I got to see before it was published. Joe was a very creative dude. Me, Nick and Joe were fishing one afternoon and Joe handed me this crazy looking fly he called a crease fly. I had never seen anything quite like it. It looked like a cut piece of bait. When I casted and stripped the fly, I was blown away how it moved through the surface leaving a nice bubble trail. It was pretty innovative the way Joe folded the craft foam to make a popper/slider. He tied them on long shank hooks and they were around five inches long. A great imitation of a fleeing bait fish when the bass and bluefish would be blitzing and boiling baits on the surface. If you ever find yourself on the east coast and would like to fish with the originator of the crease fly, give Joe a call, he is a very good guide. You will have a great time fly fishing with him. Click Maverick Fly!
flies, sand & surf 