Tie Today, Float Tomorrow: 3 Quick Tying Tips

It is easy to judge your skill as a fly tyer by how a fly looks. While pretty flies are indeed fun to look at, the real goal ought to be flies that fish well. (It can’t be ignored that often the flies that fish well do look good.)

So what are you doing to improve how your flies fish? Are you cutting down the wind resistance of your streamers? Are you making sure your nymphs sink at a  uniform rate from fly to fly? Are your dry flies staying dry without much fuss?

This last question is an important one. Pretty dry flies can be a real difficult task for new fly tyers. Moreover, the ideal dry fly aesthetic is tightly linked with precision proportions that lead to the proper presentation. Basically, they need to look good to fish good. While improving your skills is important, there are some easier things you can do to help keep your flies up while you learn.

Here are three things you can do at the vise to keep your dry flies floating:

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Rock Bass & RC Cola

Can we fish in your creek?

“Sure. Um… what’s in there?”

I don’t know. But there has to be something.

***

We had passed by the creek countless times. It was always just scenery. It was never the destination. If anything, as a small tributary, it was an afterthought. The Potomac is a big river. It is intimidatingly big. There are bass and musky and who knows what in that waving grass and off those rock ledges. But there are a lot of those spots and a lot of water. That is why we usually just drove over the Potomac. That  is why we usually drove past the creek.

To be fair, we didn’t know about the creek for a few years. The mouth of the little creek is obscured by dense foliage. You can’t see it from the highway. It was a wrong turn that took us west and over the little culvert-bridge. Even then we didn’t have any desire to fish there. The NO TRESPASSING signs were the first deterrent. The real reason is more embarrassing now. The creek didn’t have a name or a reputation. Why fish there?

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Podcast Ep. 52: 3 Areas of Angling Confidence

Fly fishing is ninety percent mental, the other half is physical… or something like that.

Truly, having the right mindset when approaching the stream and presenting your fly matters. You have got to be reasonable in what you’re doing and how you’re doing it, but having confidence counts for a whole lot.

I quickly cover three things you can have confidence in as a fly fisher, and how this can be helpful as you fish for the second time or the thousandth time. But I also talk about how confidence can be a bad thing that keeps you away from fish.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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The Trout that Should Not Be

There are no brown trout here.

Fish aren’t going to rise unless bugs are hatching.

Nothing in this pond is over a few pounds.

You can’t use flies – they’ll only take bait.

Oh yeah?

For an unpredictable pursuit like fly fishing, those statements sound awfully concrete. Add in a little bit of competitiveness and a dash of skepticism and you’re basically issuing a challenge. How can anyone really know those things? Is it that those statements are empirical facts, or are the majority of people content with the boring bulk of the bell curve?

Could a little bit of exploration and effort (and some remarkable happenstance) yield some interesting results?

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NEW: Fly Fishing Conversations & Reviews

I do a fair amount or research for work. Most of the information I search for is still found in physical books. One of the most frustrating things is when a book doesn’t have an index. I know the information is in there somewhere; I’ll just have to work to find it.

Obviously, Casting Across isn’t a book. It isn’t purely a fly fishing resource, either. However there are plenty of gear reviews and fly fishing interviews interspersed within the hundreds of articles.  Up until now, unless you knew what you were looking for you would have had to work to find it.

Starting today, you can access a revamped “People, Places, & Things” page on Casting Across. All you have to do is scroll down and you’ll see dozens and dozens of articles from four years of content. Things are divided into four categories:

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Podcast Ep. 51: You Make Fly Fishing What It Is

This week marks four years of Casting Across; four years’ worth of articles about the people, places, and things that go into the pursuit of fish.

What have I learned? Even though the fly fishing community includes an incredibly diverse array of experiences, there are two common denominators that make  fly fishing what it is.

And “fish” is only one of them.

Twenty minutes doesn’t do four years justice, but in this episode I talk about some things I’ve gleaned through countless hours behind the keyboard… and a few on the water.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Thank You for Fly Fishing Things

Four years ago I set out to write about fly fishing. I did want to write about fish. You can’t really write about fly fishing without giving your two cents  on how to hook a trout every now and again. It establishes credibility. It is also pretty simple. Even more than the fish themselves, I wanted to write about the culture of fly fishing. It was more interesting, and maybe more of a challenge, to try to explain how the whole of the fly fishing experience is absolutely greater than the sum of its parts.

When I started, the focal point of the culture was things. Rods, reels, and flies – the tangible stuff that any fly fisher can relate to.   As I sought to do real research and get unique information for my articles, I discovered that the real story was people.

Because even though a fly rod might resonate with you, a person is literally relatable.

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Not Quite on the First Cast

Zebco hat, Bill Dance glasses, and a satin Chicago Bears jacket. Classic.

I had never casted my fly rod before. I felt like the right thing to do was to wait until I was on a trout stream. All or nothing; all for a $25, boxed rod, reel, and line from a department store.

But wouldn’t you know it, I caught a fish on my second cast ever.

For months I had been reading about fly fishing. I had been watching different Saturday morning outdoor programs, focusing on different pages in Cabela’s catalogs, and day dreaming about different fish. Teenage me had developed a one-track trout mind. I still loved bass fishing. While I was preparing for my big inaugural fly fishing trip I continued to go to local ponds every other day. My big Plano tackle box went where I went, and I employed each lure with the knowledge gleaned from Bassmaster tournament coverage. As time went on, I didn’t love bass fishing less. I just began to love fly fishing for trout more.

What really captivated me was the people, places, and things that came with fly fishing.

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Podcast Ep. 50: Golden Fly Fishing Accusations

50 episodes! But really, the milestone for a weekly podcast is 52…

This week I respond to four  listeners/readers.  I discuss the quality of my podcast, keeping your eyeballs safe, a few pieces of gear an angling “noob” might want to pick up, and a fly rod that I am embarrassed I don’t own.

Even though 50 isn’t really an anniversary, thanks for listening and for the comments, emails, and reviews.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Writing a Classic Fly Fishing Story

If you were to write a classic fly fishing story you’d start with an existential statement. Maybe something about water or wind  or the challenge of catching a fish. You’d develop it a bit. Then, you’d launch into the metaphor.

Because this is real fly fishing writing, and everything is a metaphor for something else.

Once the metaphor was out of the way, the story would pick up with the main character: you. You’re doing something mundane. Driving, drinking coffee, watching the water. Whatever it is, you tie it ironically to the aforementioned metaphor.  Whatever you’re doing, it is nothing like that existential truth wrapped up in said metaphor (but really, it is exactly that… but you have to save that big reveal for the closing paragraph).

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