I’m man enough to admit that I watch The Waltons, from time to time. The wholesome life of the Depression-era mountain family is the TV version of a palate cleanser. People on The Waltons aren’t perfect, but love and community and family almost always win the day. That, and they go fishing a lot. The …
I’ve never lived in the Shenandoah region. But at various points over the years I have been located close enough to become familiar with this spectacular part of the country. And I’ve spent this past week at the foot of the mountains, just outside the park. In and around Shenandoah National Park there are a …
The “what” and “why” of using a dry/dropper rig are explained a few weeks into Fly Fishing 101. You cover more water, present to more fish, and maximize your catching potential. But there have always been many more ways to tap into 2 fly systems than a Chernobyl Ant with a Copper John underneath it. …
I consider myself an avid reader of fly fishing content. The scope of my interests ranges from literary classics to random posts on social media. For whatever reason, fly fishing writing has a unique penchant to transcend “I caught a fish” or “this is how I caught a fish” and wade deeply into “catching a …
I’m going to keep a good thing going! Last week was all about fly shops on Casting Across. It started with two companion pieces, each listing 25 of the top rated fly shop in each state. That was followed with a podcast episode where I asked, and answered, what makes the good fly shops good? …
He said he owned a stream. A stream with big trout in it. His plan was to charge a daily rod fee for the opportunity to fish in his stream with big trout in it. That was why he was in the fly shop. To see if we would advertise his stream and the trout. …
Fly fishing for trout in still water – lakes and ponds – is a different game than pursuing fish in moving water. Most of us have caught trout from a pond by just casting to rising fish or stripping a woolly bugger. That works. But there is much more to this type of fly fishing. …
What are you good at in fly fishing? Any sampling of fly fishing media will inevitably yield a majority of articles, videos, and posts telling you “how to.” (Casting Across is certainly not above that, to be fair.) And it makes sense. We all want to get better. We want to cast better. We want …
It feels like I was laying on that rock for hours. Like I got there in broad daylight and left as night approached. However long it really was, it was a long time. I wasn’t hurt. I wasn’t catching fish after fish. I wasn’t exactly having fun laying on the rock. I was trying to …
Waders and wading boots are often afterthoughts in fly fishing gear discussions. But if you fish a lot, would you rather have a great fly rod and mediocre boots or a mediocre fly rod and great boots? I don’t think I’m overstating things when I say that another few feet of “castability” isn’t going to …
