Want to know a good problem to have? Catching so many fish that you’re struggling to keep your fly afloat. While that might sound a little bit like humble bragging, it is something that happens to all anglers from time to time. The reality is that it can be problematic. If you’re catching a lot …
“KER-SPLOOSH!” Before the last of the water from the aquatic eruption had fallen, one of my fishing companions let out a string of expletives. The punctuation on the end of the profanity-laden, run-on sentence was “…big fish.” It was a big fish. A big trout, to be exact. “No way. It was just a beaver,” …
This is one of my favorite trout pictures. I caught this brown trout in the highest reaches of a Pennsylvania limestone stream. This fish was remarkable for its color. This fish was exciting due to its relatively large size. But this fish was most special because it was caught in a place where most trout …
I’ve known fish, personally. Now, before you call the nice people with the straitjackets and happy pills, let me explain. Over the years, I’ve fished in certain places with such regularity that particular fish are identifiable. Sometimes it is by where they are stationed, other times it is by their feeding activity. There have even …
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 …
A San Juan Worm on the San Juan River. An Ausable Wulff on the Ausable (not the Au Sable… but that might work, too). An RS-2 on the South Platte. A Letort Hopper on the Letort… during hopper season. It all seems too neat and tidy, too conventional and stereotypical. At this point, haven’t these …
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To the average person, the idea of catching small fish probably doesn’t hold much appeal. There is a cultural meme, for what has surely been centuries, that involves the besmirching of anglers that can only catch little fish. Not to demean conventional anglers, but even most fly fishers don’t get excited over the prospect of …
I was trespassing. Well, sort of. The company that owned the land that the stream flowed through hadn’t actively used it for years. And word on the street was that their concern was more about teenagers and their drunken revelry than fly fishers, duck hunters, and trappers. So, I’ll go ahead and file it in …
“This is the best hamburger you’ll ever eat.” I’ve said that a handful of times to family and friends as we headed into downtown Portland, Maine. The restaurant in question is Nosh, and the meal that I’ve put at the top of the meat pyramid is the Apocalypse Now burger. (Google it…) Now, I don’t …
