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Trout Tips: De-boning a trout
While most trout anglers these days practice catch-and-release, there are instances where keeping a trout or two for dinner is perfectly acceptable, and, in some cases, good for the river or stream (a non-native rainbow trout in a cutthroat trout stream, for instance). But even when we keep trout for the occasional meal, it's incumbent…
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Trout Tips: The ‘worm’
We've all grown out of fishing with worms, right? Well, maybe we shouldn't have, especially when this time of year rolls around and runoff strikes, sending a winter's worth of snow down our rivers in a murky torrent. When high water hits and scours riverbanks, worms that dwell in the earth often find themselves waterborne,…
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Fly tying: McKenna’s Rumble Bug
Sometimes, flies just work, and there's no real explanation as to why. Take the Royal Coachman, for instance. It doesn't imitate any one hatching insect, yet with its peacock herl body broken by red floss, it seems to work often enough that trout recognize it as food. I think the same thing can be said…
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Fly tying: The pinch wrap
Sometimes, we take the little things for granted. As a long-time (but hardly accomplished) fly tier, I've incorporated a few of the basic tying tactics into just about every fly I produce at the vise. Video of How to do a Pinch WrapAs you'll see above in this great little Orvis video, Tim Flagler demonstrates…
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Trout Tips: Skate the fly
This little small-stream rainbow gobbled up a skated caddis. Ah, the dry fly, cast upstream over the perfect current seam. Is there a better sight in all of fly fishing?And when it works out ... Damn, it 's awesome. It's inspiring, effective and, well, it's proper. But things don't always line up just right, do…
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Trout Tips: Choosing a rod
When you can, cast a rod, or even take it fishing, before you spend hundreds of dollars on it. These days, when even a modestly priced rod will set you back $350, it's more important than ever to choose wisely. Whenever I rod shop, I'm reminded of that scene in Indiana Jones and the Last…
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Fly tying: The Parachute Hendrickson
The venerable Hendrickson, the fly tied to imitate the famous hatch that's well under way on rivers in the East, is more than just a match-the-hatch pattern. Here in the West, we use the Hendrickson as an attractor mayfly pattern starting in spring and early summer, because it does a serviceable job imitating one of…
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