The first time I stuck my arm under a submerged boulder was a maneuver of fiscal efficiency. You see, as a teenager every fly mattered. Two dollars here and there added up quickly on a budget of what was essentially zero. Hooking a fly in a tree meant climbing up the trunk and leaning out …
Everyone was always talking about how the pressures of the week would be pulled away by the river’s currents. But that morning, it just felt like the water was one more thing pressing against him. He hadn’t been fly fishing for long. In the past half dozen months he had accumulated all the essential gear. …
Whether you are a dogmatic Opening Day devotee or simply someone who appreciates the subtle changes in the weather, the shift from March to April is significant for trout anglers. I’m a nostalgic aficionado of certain fly fishing rituals. Like cheap bamboo rods, there is no practical reason to pick up what many anglers did …
With small stream fly fishing getting a lot of attention on Casting Across, it makes complete sense that I get a lot of questions about the kinds of rods used in these applications. Below are five questions that are pertinent to small streams and the rods commonly used to fish them. It is not an …
“Ain’t no fish in there.” I’m confident that by fish he meant trout. Because there was, without a doubt, fish in this creek. Suckers finned in the clear pools. Dace chased little olives and midges. Suckers and dace are certainly fish. But few people with full vests and fancy fly rods are actively looking for …
Casting Across went the online equivalent of belly up on Sunday morning. I came home from church to a handful of emails alerting me to the fact that my website was on the bank, drying in the sun and gasping. And sitting in front of a keyboard and screen completely detached from any physical switches …
So you’ve made plans to go fly fishing. Not just a few hours at the local pond; not just the better part of a day at the river. You’re going on a fly fishing trip. How do you prepare? Do you buy any and every fly that might be hatching? Do you do your best …
I only come across a few things in fly fishing that captivate me right off the bat. In my opinion, the short films that Frequent Flyers Fishing have been putting out in such a short period of time fall squarely into that category. These guys tell simple, straightforward, and meaningful stories. Most importantly, their work …
While I am surprised from time to time with something novel in fly fishing, I think it is safe to say that the industry is squarely in the business of building better mouse traps. Tweaks and variations on themes are fine. If anything, any gear that makes for a noticeable improvement of on-steam quality of …
At a recent presentation I gave on backcountry fly fishing, I was discussing the benefits of maps. I talked about tracing the topography to determine gradient. I shared how certain features indicated where the smallest of tributaries or springs might be located. I spoke on how the usefulness of maps was in that they were …
