Scrolling through Google Maps in the Appalachians can be a little overstimulating for a fly fisher. Every valley, hollow, and mountain pass has a blue line of varying width running through it. Generally, every blue line will contain trout. The problem is that not every line contains enough trout to warrant a trip. Especially on …
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 …
Reading maps is a lost art. What began with plugging an address into MapQuest a decade ago evolved into simple smartphone GPS navigation that we are used to today. A DeLorme Atlas would be about as foreign to your average elementary school student as a book written in cuneiform. Many millennials wouldn’t fare much better. …
Maybe grandpa told you not to talk or you’ll scare away the fish. Perhaps you watched a super artsy video on YouTube where the anglers moved in slow motion. Whatever the reason, you’re convinced that trout are the smartest creatures on this planet. And not just smart: paranoid. They do nothing but wait and watch …
As the springtime temperatures climb, anglers also begin to move up to the hollows and highlands in pursuit of mountain trout. Whether it be brook trout in the east or wild cutthroats in the west, the species that occupy high gradient small streams are a favorite quarry of fly fishers. The nature of mountain creek …
I’m not in the business of looking a gift trout in the mouth. I’ve learned my lesson. There was a time when I lived within a few minutes’ drive of some of the best spring creek and mountain trout fishing in the mid-Atlantic. And I pined for more solitude. A hundred yards to myself wasn’t …
I’ve always enjoyed fishing small streams. Along with so many other anglers, the intimacy of little creeks is enticing for so many reasons: the remote locations they are often found in, the solitude that they afford, and quite frequently, the wild trout that they contain. The trout are, of course, the focus. But unlike larger …
I’m always amazed by the places that trout live. With conservation being part and parcel with fly fishing for the past few generations, there is almost a subconscious assumption that salmonids are fragile. This isn’t to downplay the reality of the situation. Deforestation, pollution, and overfishing have ravaged rivers and lakes to the point that …
Like most teenagers, I had a number of posters up in my room. Along with Michael Jordan soaring towards a slam dunk and the Nirvana smiley-face, I had one from Sage fly rods. In lighting conditions that emulated sepia tones, an angler stood on the banks of a winding river. The water wove through a …
