I’m sure there are plenty of summer camps that feature a sunrise wake-up call. But I can’t imagine many of them are attended joyfully by teenagers. Instead of grueling runs or study sessions in the a.m., students at the Pennsylvania Rivers Conservation & Fly Fishing Youth Camp are up, dressed, and waist-deep in the water. …
Like many fly fishers, I started chasing trout with a 5-weight. This versatile size worked well enough for most circumstances. As I fished more, and found myself spending a lot of my time on smaller streams, I learned how shorter and lighter rods could be more efficient and effective. And, most importantly, more fun. Back …
In my experience, some fly fishers either care way too much about leaders. Most don’t care enough. Fussing over the exact number of centimeters of 4X you need for a certain taper might be overkill. But simply looping on a knotless, tapered leader and using it until it won’t fit through your fly’s eye isn’t …
Two years ago I wrote a two part series on how you can help your kids get into fly fishing. Although I don’t have a degree in early childhood education and am not a perfect parent, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that the ideas I presented back then work. How do …
This is the second installment of a two part post – check out last week’s Fly Shop Lost. “Do you know what happened to the sporting goods store downtown on Main Street? It must have closed down about 15 years ago.” She kept pouring my coffee, but the waitress gave me a look. It was …
You speak, I listen. And then I speak about it. In this episode, I respond to some feedback that I’ve received from Casting Across articles and podcasts. There is a comment on keeping spots secret, a question on how I prioritize fly fishing, and an angry mob. Well, kind of. I enjoy sharing a little …
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 …
