Words of Water

In terms of a first cause, anglers are drawn to water because of the fish. The lure of hooking and landing trout or bass reels people into the outside. Once there, the enchantment of nature works its way quickly through the sporting pursuit and deep into the psyche. The result is an affinity for the wild places.

A narrative without a defined setting is abstract and bland. Catching fish can’t be separated from the places fish are caught from. The water walked and plumbed by fly fishers is, in many ways, more important than the fish. Both the quarry and the angler need water, and even when the two don’t have contact the water is essential. A fishless day can be frustrating, but the water is always therapeutic in its own manner.

It is no surprise then that water elicits a visceral response for fly fishers. Tracing blue lines on maps, passing over bridges, or hearing the names of familiar waterways triggers memories and emotions. When the angler is away from these places, words draw more than the pull of a fish.

read more

Where to Go When Everyone is Fly Fishing

Certain times of the year, everyone wants to go fishing. The beginning of the season, nice weather, and hatches get people of all angling stripes into their waders. Although there is a lot of fishable water out there, the most popular spots fill up quickly during these times. Then, you find yourself “competing” while fly fishing. The solitude and tranquility so many seek is stripped away. You’re left with crowds, noise, and even the notorious combat angling scene.

Again, the most popular spots fill up quickly. Often these well-known holes have gained their reputation for their productivity. However, the prime times on the fabled stretches aren’t your only option.

If fishing is good in spot 1a, there is a good chance that you’ll do just fine in spot 1b. And if that first choice has been hammered for days or weeks, the backup option may very well yield much more than just tranquility.

Here are four strategies that can help. They don’t have anything to do with fly selection or trout prospecting. Some of the best fly fishing advice you can receive has more to do with how you approach a day, rather than how you approach a fish. Rethinking the questions of “where” and “when” can allow you to  get out, even on the most popular spots, and get into fish.

read more

Last Cast of the Week, 3/2/2018

Most Fridays on Casting Across are  devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more will be featured on The Last Cast of the Week.

Today, I’m sharing items from Cheeky, Rep Your Water, and The Fly Fishing Show.

If you’d like to be featured in the Last Cast of the Week, or have seen something that others might be interested in, use my  contact form  or shoot me an email (matthew[at]castingacross[dot]com). Also, be sure to  subscribe to Casting Across to never miss a post.

Check out the links, along with my thoughts, below:

read more

Respect the Natives: Mana Fly Fishing

In art, music, or even culinary pursuits, individuals draw inspiration from the places in which they create. A region, a culture, or a landmark can provide the stimulus that instigates or propels the creative process. For Mana Fly Fishing, everything that is wrapped up in a sense of place matters.

Mana is a relatively new player in the fly fishing industry. Established in Rhode Island, but bearing a Hawaiian name, the company was founded to offer something slightly different in a crowded field. “Mana (pronounced mah-na) is this great Hawaiian word that communicates that there is this energy in everything,” says founder Joe Ware. “It really speaks to appreciating nature and seeking adventure, which are absolutely how I see fly fishing.”

More than the pursuit, this philosophy extends to the power of being in a certain place. This impacted Ware when he initially spent time in Hawaii, far away from his native Northeast. The bonefish of the panhandle flats exuded a similar, but different, energy than the steelhead and stripers of home. This, among other things, lead to him founding Mana and synthesizing the influences of two seemingly disparate parts of the same country. Even the logo, three waves symbolizing the Pacific, Atlantic, and inland waters, incorporates the diversity found within the United States.

read more

Alone Together: Relationships Through Fly Fishing

For most anglers, fly fishing means being alone together.

If that sounds more than a little confusing, it is because it is an oxymoron when written or said… but it is certainly something that anyone who fishes understands. Fly fishing is all about solitude, but we love to share that experience with others.

Recently, I’ve written about and discussed how fly fishing is my preferred conduit for forming and building relationships. Whether it be father-son (or mother-daughter, etc.) time, getting together with the people from the TU chapter, or just bumping into someone on the water, it works. I’ve used it quite a bit personally, and I’ve resolved to use it more in a professional capacity.

Why does this matter? To put it bluntly, because relationships matter. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that people matter a whole lot more than fly fishing. At the same time, fly fishing can be an excellent point of contact for people. Sharing the pursuit of fish with friends and acquaintances gives the pursuit much more meaning than it possesses on its own.

The next big question is this – How? How do you fish and talk. How do you pay attention to someone else and pay attention to your drift? Most importantly, how do you cast next to someone else who is casting?

Here are four things to think about if you want to be deliberate in your approach to getting more out of your time alone together:

read more

Rusty Flybox: Overlooked

You know how every parent thinks that their baby is the most beautiful thing in the world? I feel that way about my children, too. But I certainly don’t feel that way about everything I write.

Sometimes posts go up and I think to myself, “there it is – the post that will remove all doubt that I am even worse at writing than I am at fly fishing.” Then it gets lots of hits, shares, likes, and other e-accolades. On one hand it is good for my confidence. On the other, it makes me question my own taste.

However, there are some things that I write that I get really jazzed about. I plan, write, edit, and then send them off to their first day on the internet. For whatever reason, they end up alone at lunchtime. Maybe I’m delusional, and think my ogre of a child is baby-on-the-commercial cute. Or maybe it just got overlooked.

So today I’m offering up three pieces that I believe were overlooked. One is about retracing your angling footsteps. Another is the musings of a serious fly fisher who knows he really should be a better fly tyer. The last of the three is a cross between technique and angling psychology.

Give them a read by clicking on the titles or pictures below, and let me know if you think they are pageant winners or faces only an author could love.

read more

Consulting on Brook Trout & More with Rob Snowhite

“Snowhite? That’s like, a nickname, right?”

Knowing an 18-year-old me, that was probably how my first interaction with Rob  Snowhite went. I had just started working at the Orvis store in Tysons Corner, Virginia. Rob and a handful of guys in their twenties had been there for a while already. I learned a lot about fly fishing from them, and I learned a lot from being in the shop. Those were good days. Days when a paycheck often turned into a rod, a reel, or some waders immediately upon receipt – but good days, nonetheless.

After I started Casting Across and began to make my rounds in the fly fishing culture following a five-year hiatus, I was pleasantly surprised to see so many familiar faces. Both in person at events like The Fly Fishing Show and through the internet magic of social media, I was able to reconnect with Rob.

We share an appreciation for the craziness of Northern Virginia, an affinity for Sheetz, and a love for fly fishing.

At the Edison Fly Fishing Show this past year we made plans to record a podcast. Shortly thereafter, we scheduled a Valentine’s Day Skype session and put the thing together.

You can listen to it below!

read more

Fly Fishing Lessons from a Twenty-Inch Trout

There is a very distinct sound that accompanies the rise of a big trout. Most seasoned fly fishers know that big fish don’t splash a lot when feeding. One might think that big fish make big noises, but that isn’t always the case. The movement that produces surface splashing requires energy. Furthermore, it requires an amount of energy that can’t easily be recouped by consuming tiny insects. Big trout will splash for a mouse or a baitfish, usually not a mayfly.

When an abundance of mayfly spinners are present, a lot of fish take advantage of the situation. Helpless and spent, the lifeless bugs are an easy meal. Consequently, there are splashes and sips: the sounds of small and medium-sized trout.

However, big trout gulp. The feeding sound of a 20-inch plus fish eating mayflies is unique. There isn’t a lot of urgency in the noise. Silently finning in the current, just inches below the surface, a trout like this doesn’t have to worry about other fish butting in to claim their lane. With the slightest tilt of their head, they drift upwards in the water column and open their mouths. A pocket of displaced water is created. The surface tension, carrying the bug, is broken across a plane the size of a playing card. All that mass gulps down into the mouth of the trout. The water goes through the gills, the bug gets eaten, and the fish repeats the relatively effortless process.

Fishing a particular spinner fall for the better part of a week, I’d heard a gulp a few times over the previous nights. This stream, a Pennsylvania freestone with significant spring influences, gets fished hard under normal circumstances. During a “hatch” that you could set a watch to, it was crowded to the point of deterrence. I would have been deterred, except for the fact that the fishing was phenomenal.

read more

Last Cast of the Week, 2/16/2018

Most Fridays on Casting Across are  devoted to other people’s contributions in the fly fishing community. Articles, pictures, social media accounts, videos, podcasts, products, and more will be featured on The Last Cast of the Week.

Today, I’m sharing items from Orvis News / George Daniel, Chuck Marshall, and @holdfruitandveggies.

If you’d like to be featured in the Last Cast of the Week, or have seen something that others might be interested in, use my  contact form  or shoot me an email (matthew[at]castingacross[dot]com). Also, be sure to  subscribe to Casting Across to never miss a post.

Check out the links, along with my thoughts, below:

read more

Fifty Ways to Lose Your Lure

Authors note: I am well aware that flies are not lures. But Paul Simon, for all his contributions to our  American music heritage, didn’t write a popular song that allowed for such wordplay.

As a young angler, everything had a dollar sign attached to it. Each foot of tippet. Every strike indicator or reusable split shot. And, of course, flies. As a young angler, dollars were hard to come by. Seven bucks for a leader was big money. A new bottle of flotant required a little bit of saving. The necessary flies needed to fish a unique hatch did not come cheap.

So when I would get hung up in the bushes across the creek, I’d wade over and spend twenty minutes untangling and salvaging everything. As a young angler, time did not seem to be more valuable than money. I’ve matured a little bit, but the penny-pinching propensity persists to the present. Like someone who survived the depression, keeping bent nails with the frugal hope of straightening them one day for use, I  chase flies.

read more