3 Tips for Fly Fishing Suburbia

September 7, 2016

The majestic evening flight of the sunfish.

Do you live at the epicenter of some huge developer’s cul-de-sac dream? Are your hopes and aspirations of living like Thoreau flourishing amidst townhouses stretching as far as the eye can see? Is a pond built for the retention of rainwater/sprinkler water/flash flooding as the result of massive grading and paving projects the River Dove to your Izaak Walton?

Fishing in suburbia can be an enriching a rewarding experience. With some creativity, a little self-loathing, and a penchant for sophomoric hijinks, you too can catch fish out of someone’s backyard.

Here are three helpful tips to increase the number of fish you catch, decrease the run-ins with local authorities, and all but eliminate hooking joggers with your backcast.

Fish at Night

Why do you fish? Is it to be in a crowd? I doubt it. Most normal folk enjoy getting into the great out of doors to escape the not-so-great everywhere else.

The Fish of Your Labors

September 5, 2016

Ah, Labor Day. A time to eat meat, stop wearing white, and generally avoid contemplating the checkered past of our country when it comes to industry.

For fly fishers, it is the real and present reminder that fall is around the corner. So long, hot days. Adios, leaving the trout (mostly) alone.

For fly fishing writers, it is a chance to not spend too much time in front of the keyboard and put the better parts of the three major food groups (pork, beef, and pork/beef sausage) on the smoker.

Have a great day, fish if you must, and remember not to spell labor with a “u.”

Last Cast of the Week, 9/2/2016

September 2, 2016

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 The Missoulian, The Fly Shack, & In The Riffle.

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).

Thanks again for reading, and please take a moment to subscribe by plugging your email address in the field on the right sidebar.

Going for the Bronze: Smallmouth Bass at Dusk

August 31, 2016

This summer, I haven’t even started fishing for smallmouth until after 7:00pm. There are some fish-focused reasons for this. As is common across cold and warm water ecosystems, there is an uptick in insect and baitfish activity at dusk. Diminished shadows and light provides a sense of security for aquatic creatures, including bass. Additionally, there are some logistical factors. Where I am in Virginia, rivers can be pretty busy with kayakers and tubers until around dinnertime. Plus, I have to contend with all of that work-stuff during the day.

But just because you may be forced into waiting until later doesn’t mean that you are missing out on good opportunities for chasing smallmouth bass with a fly rod. In fact, there are many reasons why waiting until later is a good idea for any kind of fly fishing you’ll be doing in the summer. And summer smallie fly fishing can very well be one of the most accessible and most rewarding ways to fish late.

Here are three things to keep in mind as you wade out into the river looking for hungry bronzebacks:

See the trees:

Trees overhanging the river are some of the best places to catch river bass of any size. There are a number of reasons for this. Smaller fish will hang out under the branches waiting for a meal. All fish appreciate the cover that limbs provide. Often, overhanging trees extend out to where there is a drop-off or bottom substrate change; both of which also attract the bass’ food sources.

Casting up under trees can be tricky and/or risky, but it is a necessary chance you should take. Use heavier leaders (I like 8-pound fluorocarbon at the lightest) that can take some abuse and jerking. Make casts that stay low, such as a sidearm cast or a tight roll cast. Don’t worry about your cast making some noise, as the fish would be okay with a small critter making a “plop” as its falling out of the tree.

Trout Quixote. three.

August 29, 2016

This is the fourth part in this series. Read the first here , the second here, and the third here. Subscribe by entering your email address in the right sidebar to receive a notification of new content on Casting Across.

So I obviously didn’t catch a trout.

That, as you are very well aware, is a Lepomis cyanellus. The green sunfish. Common across the eastern half of the United States, it is a fine panfish in its own right.

I caught these little guys, one after another. They were more than eager to eat dry flies and streamers. They even put a little bit of a bend in my three-weight.

The ability of sunfish to live in even the smallest, swampy trickles is pretty remarkable.

But sunfish are most definitely not trout.

I’d be lying if I said that I wasn’t disappointed. After all of that anticipation, all of that build up, to catch something other than a brook trout was a letdown. A five pound bass wouldn’t have given me a reason to cry, but it still wouldn’t have been that little trout that my imagination had conjured up.

Last Cast of the Week, 8/26/2016

August 26, 2016

Today, I’m sharing items from The National Park Service, Vedavoo, and Rouse Fly Fishing.

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).

Thanks again for reading, and please take a moment to subscribe by plugging your email address in the field on the right sidebar.

Gone Fishing: Birthday

August 24, 2016

–

Trout Quixote. two.

August 22, 2016

This is the third part in this series. Read the first here and the second here. Subscribe by entering your email address in the right sidebar to receive a notification of new content on Casting Across.

I sat in my car out in front of my house. I had three hours, and I intended to fish. But where?

Even in suburbia, there are plenty of options. There are some ponds nearby that are filthy with carp, and I’ve had these big goldfish on the brain lately. I’m only a few minutes away from medium and large rivers. There are smallmouth, catfish, and anything else that decides it wants to live in Northern Virginia. I can literally drive five miles in any direction and be on good water.

But I couldn’t get that little pool, off the side of a busy trail, out of my mind.

All my warm water gear was in the car, so I had to hop out and run to quickly get my three weight. I plucked a half dozen puffy dry flies from a trout box and dropped them in an empty Altoid tin. Then I was off.

It was a quick drive from my house to the trailhead. To get to a legal parking space I had to pass by “the spot.” This took me to what is essentially the backyard of one of my former homes. Pulling in there was somewhat nostalgic, but in a “fishing context.” Perhaps I was a little focused / obsessed, but I wasn’t thinking about memories of family or school at that place. I was thinking about all the places I fished when I lived there. How I could have very well gone to this particular place to fish if I had known about it. How I could have figured it out, gotten to know it well, and determined if there were indeed trout in my town.

Last Cast of the Week, 8/19/2016

August 19, 2016

Today, I’m sharing items from Fly Fishing Museum of the Southern Appalachians, Catch Magazine, & Fly Fishing Girls of the Mid Atlantic.

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).

Thanks again for reading, and please take a moment to subscribe by plugging your email address in the field on the right sidebar.