Nearly every fly tyer wants to get better. With focused repetition, patterns become more consistent and come together more quickly. It isn’t in the cards for everyone who sits behind a vise to produce professional-looking bugs. It isn’t necessary, either. Practice makes productive flies that fill boxes and catch fish. Along with guidance, know-how, and …
Author: Matthew
Podcast Ep. 313: Easy Fly Fishing Watercraft
You can spend a lot of money on a boat for your fly fishing endeavors. There’s the cost of the craft itself, then the trailer, then the accessories, then the truck to pull it more efficiently… While I’ve enjoyed the quality drift boats, skiffs, and bass rigs I’ve fished from over the years, the vast …
Rusty Flybox: Election 2024
If you know me, you know I don’t shy away from things like religion and politics. That would be like a doctor shying away from gaping wounds; a real estate developer shying away from a tract adjacent to a new exit on the interstate; you and me shying away from trout rising to big, splashy …
Game of Inches: 4 Areas for Fly Rod Grip
You don’t need to be a physics or geometry expert to be able to use a fly rod well. But there are a few ways that even the most rudimentary grasp of scientific or mathematic principles will help you on the water. For example: manipulations of your rod grip are telegraphed exponentially up to your …
Podcast Ep. 312: 5 Fly Fishing Changes of Mind
None of us should be so set in our ways that we’re unable to be pried out of the groove we’ve worn. In fly fishing, in particular, we should not be so entrenched in opinions that we’re dogmatic. It is good to have an opinion. But opinions can change. Today I share 5 opinions that …
The Mosts of Casting Across Fly Fishing
I write and I talk. That is what Casting Across is. I don’t dive into data, calculate SEO strategies, or find ways to push my content. I write. And I talk. Perhaps that is short-sighted and limits my exposure. Perhaps not. Either way, it is what it is. But once a year I do purposefully …
9 Thoughts for 9 Years
This week marks 9 years of Casting Across. Since October of 2015, three posts a week have been published on the people, places, and things that go into the pursuit of fish. First and foremost, Casting Across is a creative outlet for me. It has been a way for me to flex muscles in a …
Podcast Ep. 311: Voting Fly Fishing… & More
Did you know that is a presidential election year?!? Since I think the “rule” to avoid talking about money, religion, and politics is stupid, I talk about politics today on the podcast. But I think you’d agree that it is more philosophical than partisan. And it has to do with fly fishing. I promise. And …
A Different Kind of Fly Fishing Book
There is a very good chance that the first four or five fishing books you’ll name fall into one of the main literary sub-genres: memoirs, novels, techniques, or guides. And although there are enough quality entries in those categories to keep you going for quite a while, perhaps you’re looking to switch things up. How …
4 Ways to Think About Scouting
The afternoon started in abject failure. Trees blocked the river in both directions. We were covered in cobwebs, decaying bark, and more sweat than is befitting a mid-October day. There would be no ducks or trout in this spot. My oldest son and I were on a two-fold mission: locate a new waterfowl hole while …