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 …
Today kicks off The Fly Fishing Show’s biggest stop: Edison, New Jersey. Like many fly fishers in this part of the country and far beyond, I’ve made the journey to this event year after year. This year I’m spending two full days, which entails two full nights. With a long-ish drive from New England, that …
Manchester, Vermont isn’t a premier fly fishing destination. That isn’t to say that is a bad place to go if you want to catch trout. In fact, it is home to a solid, historic brown trout fishery in the Battenkill. The smaller streams in the mountains teem with native brookies, and bass or musky can …
Believe it or not, I do other outdoor stuff outside of fly fishing. I run, I (enjoy it when someone else tends to the) garden, I hike. I’m even comfortable enough to spend a whole day doing one of those things, even if it means that I am “giving up” a day fishing. That doesn’t …
The fish pictured above are rainbow trout. Oncorhynchus mykiss isn’t native to the east coast, but there are plenty of clean, cold spring creeks that sustain wild reproducing populations of the fish. The creek I was fishing in Northern Virginia is one such creek. The fish pictured above are not from that creek. I didn’t …
This is the fifth part in this series. Catch up by reading the beginning here , Life gets in the way of even the most obsessed-over pursuits. That is the way it ought to be. Diversions should be just that: a deviation from the major thoroughfare of work, school, etc. Fly fishing, as important as it …
Don’t ever take a stream, a pond, or any other water for granted. Take a minute to consider the closest lake or river. Maybe you’re there every day. Or, maybe you drive past it daily and then again whenever you go fishing. Maybe you have ample reason: it isn’t that great, it’s crowded, it’s too …
I’m aware that my situation is by no means unique: I’m busy and I don’t get to fly fish as much as I’d like. So when the opportunity to get a few hours on the water avails itself, I seize it. Regardless of conditions, I’m going to be fishing for every single minute I can. …
I used to keep track of all the placed that I fished. In a black and white composition book, I’d jot down the name of the stream or pond. When I had the time, the species of fish I caught would also be noted. It never got to the point of writing down conditions or …
