I started fly fishing at a young age. With a few silver spoon exceptions, teenage anglers generally share a particular trait while on the water: Don’t lose a fly, at any cost. This means that sleeves get rolled up to the shoulder to pry a streamer from a log at the bottom of the stream. …
Category: Review
Ultralight Fly Fishing Gear: No Longer a Novelty
I’ve always enjoyed fishing small streams. Along with so many other anglers, the intimacy of little creeks is enticing for so many reasons: the remote locations they are often found in, the solitude that they afford, and quite frequently, the wild trout that they contain. The trout are, of course, the focus. But unlike larger …
Fly Fishing Books
In the past few weeks, I’ve had at least three interactions regarding fly fishing books. Fly fishing books have been an important part of the sport for hundreds of years, taking different forms and meeting various needs. Even when so much information is available at the tap of a smart phone, tangible media is incredibly …
Tenkara Gadgets: The Ties that Bind
I’m sure I’d trigger the plagiarism-detecting software if I ran an article that began with the sentence: “fly fishermen love their gadgets!” But it is true. Anglers that prefer to pursue fish with fly tackle have a special affinity for specialized apparatuses. (That one cleared.) Even the facet of our sport that is simplest, purest, …
Somerset Fly Fishing Show: The Load-Out
After a couple of fly fishing shows, I feel like the audience that Jackson Browne sings about in “The Load-Out.” For those of you missing out on a quintessential piece of music, I’ll bring you up to speed: Browne sings about the daily grind of the touring musician, while each city’s crowd experiences the spectacle …
Fly Fishing Podcasts Worth Listening To (Updated)
Are you planning on going somewhere this weekend? Somerset, perhaps? There is absolutely no reason why you can’t be entertained while cruising down the freeway or even sitting in traffic. Three months back, I listed my top five fly fishing podcasts. I wanted to add some new episodes to the podcasts that I’ve previously suggested, …
At the Marlborough Fly Fishing Show: Wrap Up
A perennial fixture of the fly fishing scene, the winter shows featuring vendors, tyers, and outfitters are highlights for anglers enduring the winter doldrums. With the premier expo holding events at seven locations across the country, and numerous other shows put on by sportsman’s groups and Trout Unlimited chapters, anglers from virtually anywhere can spend …
The Letort: A Limestone Legacy
Yesterday afternoon, I scampered through four inches of New Hampshire snow to my mailbox. Upon seeing the media mail envelope, I knew that the book had come. Back in August, Mike Klimkos, friend and editor of the Mid Atlantic Fly Fishing Guide, asked if I could share a few thoughts on the Letort Spring Run. …
Fly Fishing & Outdoor Co. Holiday Meetup Recap
Last week, the second Fly Fishing & Outdoor Company Holiday Meetup took place in Boston. In the basement of West End Johnnies, a handful of New England enterprises and around fifty attendees spent the evening talking fishing and fishing products. This was by no means the Somerset Fly Fishing Show. It was something completely different, …
PSA: No Cruddy Shades
This isn’t meant to be a commercial. Think of it more as a public service announcement. Or, if you’re planning on fishing anytime soon and this applies to you, the cacophonous screeching of the emergency broadcast system. Don’t fish with cruddy sunglasses. Are your fishing sunglasses not polarized? Fix it, now. Do your fishing sunglasses …