Everyone likes to remember that fish. The big fish. The first fish. The fish you caught on a dry fly after the perfect cast. The way it used to be done meant killing that fish. If you caught an impressive trout, killing and mounting it was the way you remembered your feat and your trip. …
Growing up fly fishing the east, the trout and waters of the west always felt mythical. In this episode I talk about my first trip to Colorado, which is probably not unlike a lot of people’s first trip out west. There is so much that is different. At the same time, most of the important …
What a time to be alive and to fly fish: Some people take pictures so they can brag. Some people don’t take pictures of fish, and then brag about that. It’s a real topsy-turvy world of pride, prejudice, and virtue signaling. And a bunch of poor trout are caught in the middle. Just to catch …
5,000 feet in an hour by car, two miles uphill by foot, and a canyon full of cutthroats all to myself:
“I know protecting them is important,” I said, “but what is fishing for greenbacks like?” “They’re beautiful, special fish that live in amazing places,” he said, smiling. “They aren’t the only cutthroats that need to be protected, but their story is special.” I had a lot of questions for the late Dr. Robert Behnke in …
You’d think that it would be easy to write about fly fishing in a new place, for a new fish, for the first time. There is a lot to say about the particularities of the species – how it looks, how it acts, how it is the same or different than other fish like it. …
I’m currently in the middle of a family vacation / cutthroat expedition. (Note: the backslash above represents an immense chasm.) But I have an amazing wife, and she’s humored me as I’ve driven, run, and climbed about the Rocky Mountains in search of native fish. More content from the trip will be coming in the …
Dear Steve & Dave, I hope that this letter finds you well and enjoying your first days of the new year. Congratulations on some of the milestones that you hit with 2 Guys and a River last year! Publishing The Fly Fisher’s Book of Lists was quite the accomplishment. Your podcasts continue to be accessible, …
I can clearly remember my first cast fly fishing out west. It came shortly after I pulled off the side of the road on Colorado’s route 34 along the Big Thompson River. Coming from the plains and foothills outside of Loveland, I also began my first ascent into the Rocky Mountains. Ever mile I drove, …
Bright and shiny sells. Often, bright and shiny is only indicative of the external: a façade and nothing more. The fly fishing industry is not immune to this marketing malady. Reels, apparel, and flies that look really good or capture the eye might not help you one bit when it comes to catching fish. In …
