Slow Your Retrieve

Slow catches fish.

Fast is glamorous. Fast is easy. Fast doesn’t require as much nuance or patience. Fast catches fish as well, but fast is like the sports highlight: it happened and it was memorable. However the majority of the game was much more reasonably paced.

For every strike that follows a wake-inducing, double-fisted retrieve, there are dozens more that follow a slow hand punctuated with subtle taps and pauses. Fast has its’ time and place. Quickly turning to a blazing retrieve can be a sign of impatience. Perhaps it is a way of attempting to leverage effort into a fish biting. This, of course, is illogical. It is a classic example of working harder and not smarter.

There are plenty of reasons why you should slow down your retrieve under most circumstances. You know you should. Sometimes, though, it helps to have the why behind the what. Here are three things that might help you keep slow in mind when popping that popper or stripping that streamer.

read more

Podcast Ep. 129: Fly Fishing (with Kids)

I’ve written a lot about fly fishing with kids over the years. However, this is my first podcast on the topic.

In just under 20 minutes, I go over three ideas that will probably be helpful as you fish with your own children or the kids in your life. I’m not an expert, but I am a dad who is trying to get my boys to love and take care of the outdoors.

Also, if you don’t have kinds in your life: You can translate 90% of what I say into how to fish with a new angler. Including getting them good books!

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

read more

The Fly Fishing Syllabus

“Hi Matthew. Ashleigh gave me your number. I’m not a fly fisherman, but I’m interested in getting into it. Anyways, we’re thinking about offering a class and wondered if you would have any interest in teaching it. Think about it and give me a call back.”

It was hardly a big break. However, after trying repeatedly to secure a job anywhere near the only fly rods in town for over two years it felt like a serendipitous possibility. I had a taste of working at a fly shop, guiding, and teaching casting in Northern Virginia. In South Carolina I didn’t have the array of opportunities. It wasn’t that I was looking to make fishing my career: I just wanted to be in and around it… and to make a few bucks.

A friend of a friend had left the message. He worked for a big church in an urban center, and had been tasked with creating some engagement programs for the congregation and the community. He had quickly lined up things like scrapbooking, stamp collecting,  and canning. What caught his attention was the chance to offer something he was looking for himself. He wanted to see it happen, and I was quick to oblige.

So, what do you teach if you are going to teach fly fishing? If you were given six hour-long sessions, what would you cover?

read more

Waders With Zippers: Worth It?

Upon  zippered waders for the first time, I’m sure that I’m not the only person who had the following thought:

“Are these just to make going to the bathroom easier?”

I had other thoughts that accompanied this mature observation. First of all, premium waders come with a premium price tag. Any upgrade adds to that total. Practically speaking, there was skepticism over putting my dryness in the hands (teeth?) of a zipper.  Plus, more parts and seams add risk to something failing. Failing is not something I want my waders to do.

Years later, and here I am fishing in a pair of zippered waders.

So what of my concerns? The more I got thinking about it, every pair of waders I’ve ever owned has failed from a puncture or at a seam around the knee. Above the waist isn’t ever an issue. As it relates to staying dry, I’ve used enough “waterproof zippers” in other applications to have confidence in a good product.

The final hurdle is the cost. For added cost to be justifiable, there must be added value. That is an equation which is subjective for any of  us. However, for the reasons I’ve already mentioned and the four I’ll outline below, zippered waders are worth it in my opinion.

read more

Podcast Ep. 128: Buying Rods, Bug Spray, & Bag Choice

This week’s episode is a hodge-podge of topics in and around fly fishing.

I talk about choosing between two rod weights, which bug sprays you shouldn’t use while fly fishing, and how we should think about conservation in light of COVID.

The only thing that ties any of these things together is that they’ve been on my mind recently. But chances are, at least one of these brief conversations will get you thinking about your fishing this week.

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

read more

A Favorite Fly Box Reimagined

I think that you should find the best fly box that you possibly can.

Why?

First, the difference between any random fly box and the best fly box is probably less than $20. That seems like a pretty reasonable cost for convenience.

Second, fit and organization matter. If a box is always falling out of a pocket or keeping you from zipping up your vest, it just isn’t worth it. If you can’t keep and locate your flies efficiently and effectively, it just isn’t worth it.

I’m sure there are other reasons to be shared, but those ought to put a pretty fine point on it. Practically speaking, the application of those points can play out in a variety of different ways. Your preferred packing technique and styles of flies will determine what the best fly box is for you. For me, it means a drawer full of dozens of them that I’ll turn to based on any given day’s variables.

One style I’ve been coming back to for decades is the foam box. They consistently meet my needs across numerous angling scenarios. Recently, I’ve been carrying a better foam box.

read more

Those Days

In those days it was the fastest, unhealthiest, loudest way out of suburbia. McDonald’s double cheeseburgers and the biggest Gatorade money could buy. Gas station cigars and The Allman Brothers or The Scorpions or The Police at 9 miles over the speed limit on winding state highways. The same jokes about the same road signs, the same familiar rivers, the same things we’ve said or thought for years.

School, part time jobs, and subdivisions in the rearview. The woods, the water, and the time chasing fish were always just past the headlights.

Camping gave way to sleeping in a tent, which turned into sleeping in reclined seats. Speedier, cheaper, and more streamlined made getting on the water quicker. What mattered, mattered. Fish were at the core, but a galaxy of other priorities swirled around the river and the bulk of the days. These satellites gave the fish meaning; and vice versa. So disposable cameras captured dispensable trout. Each overexposed fish like a bridge piling, the real memories running across and over them.

read more

Podcast Ep. 127: 3 Tips for Mousing

Fly fishing for trout with a mouse fly is a really exciting way to revisit your favorite water. It also may very well yield some of the biggest fish… fish you didn’t even know swam in your well-known holes.

Using mice is also a pretty straightforward and easy way to fish. Cast, retrieve, repeat. Hear a big splash, wait, set the hook.

Still, there are a few things worth knowing before you give mousing a shot this season. I talk through three simple things that will help orient or reorient you for chasing big, hungry, carnivorous trout.

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

read more

Trout & Feather: April

These fish are more than substitutes or fall-backs.

Yes, time on the pond will give you a chance to improve your casting. You will have other fishing opportunities in the warmest months when it would otherwise be unwise to pursue trout. You will learn new things about fishing streamers and topwater patterns that you can bring with you on your next float trip. But bass are not the junior varsity team.

There is more in that smallmouth river or that farm pond than practice and alternatives.

Take the time to relax. Catching the biggest bluegill in the lake isn’t easy. Carp can be more finicky than spring creek browns. But there is something inherently chill about casting a popper or bouncing a crayfish. Chill, at least, in comparison to the approach many people take to the trout stream. Allow yourself to unwind. Grab your slowest rod and allow a pumpkinseed to give it a bend that rivals any trout under fourteen inches.

There is a link to the rest of the post, entitled How Cool is Warmwater Fly Fishing? after the jump.

But before you do that, be sure to check out the two videos I’ve included in today’s post. They’re both tying patterns, but they also include Tim Cammisa’s  excellent “how to fish” commentary. One is a great stonefly, and the other is a contemporary (some might also add infamous) fly.

Watch the videos, and find a link to the article, below:

read more

Rusty Flybox: Little Things

For those who fly fish, enjoyment comes from the little things.

That is very true in the existential and metaphorical senses. For me, and for a lot of you, it is also applicable when it comes to literal little things.

In the following three articles, I explore fly fishing items that fit in the palm of your hand. They’re little, but they do a lot. They’re inexpensive, simple, and often ignored, but they play a vital part in your time on the water. Although they should blend into the background when you’re out chasing fish, taking a moment to think about them brings a little newfound appreciation.

To read the full articles, click on the images or titles below:

read more