Recently I took my oldest son fishing on one of my favorite streams. It has taken me this long to take him, an accomplished angler for a pre-teen, because it is an incredibly small creek with remarkably spooky fish. But those fish happen to be native brook trout. I warned him of the challenges while …
Tag: Small Streams
He Needs to Know
“He needs to know what kind of fishing it is going to be.” My wife was all for the 11 year old joining me on a trip to a tiny, tight, brook trout creek. Being a mom, she also had the intuition to identify some vital qualifiers of which he needed to be apprised. Casting …
Podcast Ep. 238: Approaching Mountain Trout
They’re not the biggest or most technically-challenging fish, but there is something special about a wild trout caught high up in the mountains. And while those who spend a lot of time walking trails with fly rod in hand know that it is possible to catch dozens of feisty trout in these secluded creeks, this …
Podcast Ep. 176: Fish Where Rivers Meet
Every one of us has our favorite kind of spot to fish. Riffles, runs, pools; banks, boulders, ledges. There is a reason why you’ll gravitate to such spots regardless of which river you’re on. One of my favorites is creek mouths; where smaller rivers run into larger rivers. These are intersections for fish and bodies …
Podcast Ep. 167: Current Affairs
Water moves. We all get that. But do we appreciate how and why it moves? Doing so has a significant impact on finding fish, making a proper presentation, and staying safe in the water. These three reasons alone should give you pause when you ask yourself if you can read water. In this podcast episode, …
3 Steps for Careful Fly Fishing
Recently I had a very unproductive morning on the water. Fish were not where they were supposed to be. In this particular river system there are a few sure-fire spots. Nothing rose and nothing spooked. If I had to guess, the brook trout dropped down into the main stem of the river to seek out …
Podcast Ep. 151: Fly Fishing Accusations, XV
In this episode, I admit that I made a mistake. Seriously: For years I’ve failed to do one of the things that I emphasize in my writing and speaking. I’ve neglected to define a term. A listener/reader pointed this out, and today I take a stab at correcting it. I also talk a little about …
Fly Fishing towards the Illogical
This time I wasn’t simply fishing. I found myself explaining why I was doing what I was doing. Not how to cast. Not why a dry fly. Why. The reason why I was fishing. For someone who writes and talks about that very subject three times a week, and who has been doing so for …
Explore by Fishing the Other Bank
Which bank do you fish on? It isn’t a trick question or some sort of sneaky form of angling psychoanalysis. In my experience, asking this question reveals one of three common answers: I have to fish this bank, because the other side is inaccessible. I have to fish this bank, because all of the likely …
5 Minutes More & One Last Cast, part I
“Of course it would be on my last cast.” He muttered this primarily to himself. He was also aware that he was muttering those and other, more colorful, sentiments to any startled woodland creatures in the immediate vicinity. That is if they all hadn’t vacated the entire valley from the noise he had quickly stirred …