What if I told you that, for $34.95, you could have a top of the line piece of fly fishing gear? It isn’t a fly box. It isn’t a small tool. It certainly isn’t a rod or reel. It is something that is significantly less prestigious, but absolutely necessary. It is a good pair of …
Years ago, it went out of business. It was one of the first fly shops I stepped foot in. Like many other storefronts on an old main street, some combination of modern economic factors caused it to shutter its doors after decades of service to locals and out-of-towners. It had the reputation for catering to …
Larger fish will certainly eat dry flies and nymphs. But how do you go about catching the largest fish in any river? Big, meaty, streamers. There are differences between chucking articulated flies against the bank of a roaring tailwater and fishing a streamer in a small creek. There are also differences between dapping tiny attractor …
Naturally, fly fishers focus on fish. We learn to cast so we can catch trout. We hone our tying skills so we can catch musky. We learn to cast further so we can catch bonefish. We adorn our offices with pictures of fish, we look at photos of fish online, and we doodle fish in …
Last week I wrote an incredibly unhelpful (but pointedly accurate) post about preparing for another fly fishing season. For whatever reason, when I write something that isn’t advertised as humor but is certainly meant for such purposes I feel the smallest bit of guilt for any potential sense of disappointment that a reader might have. …
You will find some real interesting characters in fly shops. After nearly two decades of formal, empirical anthropological research, I’ve developed an efficient classification system and taxonomy for the types of individuals one encounters in fly shops. As a former fly shop employee, an occasional customer, and a curious observer of awkward situations, I believe …
Having your rod separate into two pieces is never a good way to catch a fish. But that is precisely what happened. With a sudden sensation of weightlessness followed by an awkward plop, I realized that the top two sections of my rod were in the pond. Injury had been added to insult, as my …
Winter provides fly fishers with plenty of opportunities. For some, it is one more season to chase anything that swims. For others, it is a brief and anxious respite. Regardless of your intensity, winter is a great time to take stock of your gear and get it all ready to roll for the coming spring. …
While fly fishing on wide, expansive trout rivers might be totally normal for you, it is a far cry from the creeks and streams that many anglers call home. This can lead to apprehension or even avoidance. It is understandable. I’ve been there. But there are some simple ways to get out in the water …
Can there be too many fly fishing podcasts? Probably. But I’d put that threshold right around the same place as “too many riverside conversations” or “too many fly shop shooting the breeze sessions.” For that reason I’ve been recording and publishing the Casting Across Fly Fishing Podcast for the past few months. At the same …
