Recently, I was invited into the office of an executive where I work to assist him in deciding which new fly rod to buy. Since he has a spacious office befitting his senior rank in the organization he has decorated it with memorabilia of his fishing exploits. On his credenza sits a photo of the exec himself taken on a recent fishing trip to Montana. Now this is not the usual "trophy" picture of the intrepid angler holding aloft his vanquished trophy. It’s simply a close up of the angler with the Big Horn River in the background. Perched with a crooked slant atop his cranium was one of the uglier hats I have witnessed on an angler. It is a well worn brown fedora that could have come from the costume director for "Deliverance." The hat was complete with a cracked leather band punctured by several gaudy flies and the look of a thousand days outdoors and numerous dunkings. The photo is proof that a fishing hat is the only headgear that a full grown man will voluntarily wear that makes him look like either a clown or a serial killer.

Out west, cowboy hats are popular with native anglers and visiting western wanna be’s. The most prized have the "broken" look, so they seem to appear as they have been trampled by a herd of steer. Although the cowboy hat has a good broad brim to keep off the sun, it is likely to take off like a kite in a moderate breeze. A cowboy hat also says things about one’s fantasy life or delusion. Why a CPA from Boston thrashing around hip deep in a running stream would want to wear something on his head that makes him look like an itinerant 19th century equestrian farmer defies explanation.

Then there are the fishermen who wear "Irish walking hats," the kind seen once a year in the St. Patrick’s Day parade. Some fanciers of this species of headgear put a number of streamers around the crown so you’d think they were going to reach up and tie the entire hat to a leader and troll with the dammed thing. When wet, these covers emit the distinct aroma of a drowned sheep.

Each season opening day brings out the not so avid anglers that wear the caps with the molded fish head sticking out above the bill and the tail protruding from the back. There should be a law allowing these attempts at hat art to be worn only on April Fool’s Day or Halloween.

A close second are the nylon baseball caps usually of the most obnoxious colors modern chemistry can devise. Above the brim is rented billboard space advertising various purveyors of seed, fertilizer, heavy equipment and fishing tackle. Do fish snicker?

The next hat that is worth mentioning is the pork pie hat. I have to say that I am guilty of wearing one that was made of canvas and festooned with a madras band during the seventies. The hat soon developed the bleached look with the exception of the smears of various organic matter. That hat made it through several angling seasons until it met it’s fate at the hands of a girl friend who is now my wife. The pork pie hat dates from the middle 18th century, much the same as a fedora, but with a flattened top. It gets its name from its resemblance to a pork pie. The brim on a pork pie hat is generally on the smaller side and is worn up, though it can be worn down in the front. Anglers that tend to wear the brim completely down with a pair of dark sunglasses are generally in the witness protection program, or so they appear. The duffus look is defined when the brim is worn up.

More and more anglers have taken to wearing khaki billfish caps made famous by master fly angler Lefty Kreh. These hats tend to make the average fishermen look like a duck due to the oversize brim. A friend of mine picked one up on a recent bonefishing trip to the Bahamas. It has a second smaller bill in the back, which from a distance makes it difficult to tell whether he’s coming or going and twice as ridiculous as the single bill variety.

Of course fishing hats aren’t just fashion statements. They also have a practical purpose. In addition to shielding the anglers head from sun, rain and snow, a hat can keep an errant backcast from impaling the head with a fly or lure.

One of the most ingenious applications of the fishing hat is found in a book by Al Kyte, "Fly Fishing, Simple to Sophisticated." Al suggests to put your hat on the ground and set your reel in it when setting up to protect the reel from dirt and grit. Then of course your reel will look silly too.

Fishing Report: This week we start with the saltwater report. Bluefish is the name of the game from Greenwich to Newport, R.I. Massive schools moved in on the recent full moon tides and are feeding on almost anything that swims. Fish ranging in size from 3 to over 15 pounds are being taken at most of the reefs, rips and river mouths along the coast.

Striper fishing remains fair to good for schoolies in the tidal rivers. A mix of keeper bass can be found in the Race. Other striper spots include the reefs off Watch Hill to the eastern tip of Fishers Island, Ram Island Reef, Plum Gut, Bartlett Reef, Hatchett Reef, Long Sand Shoal, Southwest Reef, Sixmile Reef, the reefs off Branford, New Haven Harbor, Charles Island area, Penfield Reef, and around the Norwalk Islands.

Summer Flounder fishing is rated good off Mystic, Niantic, Long Sand Shoal. Other doormat spots include Fishers Island Sound, Niantic Bay, Sound View Beach, Westbrook area, and New Haven Harbor.

Anglers are reporting very good trout fishing from a number of rivers including the Farmington, Housatonic, Mill, Scantic,Pomperaug, Wepawaug, Pequabuck, Naugatuck, Shetucket, Salmon, Quinebaug and Willimantic Rivers. Bait fisherman are finding the corn/mealworm combination the most productive. There are a number of major insect hatches, but the recent cool evenings make ‘matching the hatch’ a challenge. The timing of the major hatches is also uncertain at best. Trout fishing also continues to be good in at Candlewood, Amos, East Twin, Highland, West Hill, Wonoscopomuc and Crystal Lakes.

West Hill, Hatch Pond, Lakes McDonough, Lillinonah , Kenosia, and Candlewood are best this week for largemouth.Some nice smallmouth bass action was reported at Lake Lillinonah, Candlewood Lake, Gardner Lake, Highland Lake, and in the Shetucket, Quinebaug and Housatonic Rivers.

Bob Salerno is a United States Coast Guard licensed captain and a member of the New England Outdoor Writers Association. Readers can write to him at 1 Herald Square, New Britain, CT 06050 or e-mail Captbob317@cs.com.