At riverside pull-offs, in fly shop parking lots, and online, we’ve all seen fly rod tubes affixed to vehicle roof racks. Guides use them out of necessity. Hardcore anglers have them for convenience. But are they something that the common, weekend warrior fly fisher needs? Recently, I asked someone who knows a lot about them. …
Arkansas might not seem like a premier angling destination. But if you’ve heard of the enormous browns, the beautiful rivers, and… the delicious Southern cooking, you know that the Ozarks is one of the most unique fly fishing spots in the USA. I caught my first trout in Arkansas. That experience, and a whole lot …
“Running silent, running deep, we are your final prayer…” That is a line from Iron Maiden’s Run Silent, Run Deep off of the 1990 release No Prayer for the Dying. Decent song, decent album. It is nothing near as good as 1988’s Seventh Son of a Seventh Son. But I digress. The song, and the …
Today I’m introducing the Casting Across Fly Fishing Podcast. Fly fishing podcasts are something I’ve written about frequently. I have learned a lot from listening to them. More importantly, I enjoy them. Through the ten articles that have appeared thus far, I have sent hundreds and hundreds of Casting Across readers to the following podcasts. …
Shiny and new, eh? After three years, Casting Across has received a little makeover. I didn’t sink dozens of hours into focus groups and hundreds of dollars into design consulting. I knew the direction I wanted to go in, and with a few tweaks I got there relatively quickly. The new font is bolder, the …
What a time to be alive and to fly fish: Some people take pictures so they can brag. Some people don’t take pictures of fish, and then brag about that. It’s a real topsy-turvy world of pride, prejudice, and virtue signaling. And a bunch of poor trout are caught in the middle. Just to catch …
You don’t have to fly fish in December, January, and February. If you choose not to get out, you don’t loose your angler credentials. There might even be some benefits in taking a few months’ sabbatical. And let’s face it – it is cold and the fish aren’t terribly cooperative. But if you want to …
If I had to only write about fly fishing I’d lose my mind. I love trout and fly rods and debating the merits of synthetics vs. naturals in fly tying as much as anyone. However, there is only so much cast and catch writing in me. Thankfully, fly fishing is interwoven into a veritable tapestry …
If you fly fish, and you’ve ever come anywhere near the internet, you’ve seen gear giveaways. But there are two kinds of people in this world: Those who assume all giveaways are scams and rackets. Those who try to win any and every free thing that could possibly be given away. I’m here to tell …
We rounded the corner at the exact same time. The dense streamside foliage kept the other person obscured until we were only about ten feet apart. Happening upon someone relatively unexpectedly, deep in the woods, wasn’t the startling facet of our interaction. That was this: “So, have you caught anything?” he asked. “Yeah,” I replied, …
