-
Hanging with the pros
Dave Kielar felt like he had to pinch himself. There he sat, surrounded by what amounted to fly fishing glitterati, at a dinner table at TroutHunter in Island Park, Idaho. Earlier in the week, he got to rub elbows with the venerable Craig Mathews, who for years owned and operated Blue Ribbon Flies in nearby…
-
Everyone needs a tune-up
Most of us who have fly fished for years--decades, even--are likely self-taught casters who have learned the craft over many moons of trial and error. Casting becomes an intuitive activity, with alterations done to meet certain requirements on the water. Over time, it becomes much easier to get that caddis fly to drift right under…
-
Set your fantasy fly lineup
‘Tis the season. Over the weekend, my buddy and fellow TU-er Kirk Deeter and I faced off in fantasy football. We’re both underachieving this year--it seems we both have the bad fortune to play the highest-scoring opponents in the league every week this season, so we both find ourselves in the middle of the standings,…
-
Ode to the Olive
It's a tiny little bug, but it — and its many variants — might be the single-most important fly of fall. The venerable Blue-winged Olive, the vise-borne imitation of the tiny baetis mayfly, is the dry-fly king of autumn, even though it rarely materializes on the water in any form larger than a size 20.…
-
Twist the fly when tightening
As anglers, we naturally spend more time thinking about the big stuff—where the fish might be and what flies they might be after—than we do about what makes the big stuff so rewarding. You know ... like ensuring our equipment is in good shape, our knots are solid and our hooks are sharp. https://youtu.be/GDfzCzWwp8U Above,…
-
Fly fishing contortionist
It’s impressive to think about what our bodies do for us while on the hunt for trout. Clawing our way through thick brush, scooting down steep slopes or lunging to jump from boulder to boulder touches on only some of the contortions we make while fishing. Watching Toner Mitchell, New Mexico’s water and habitat program…
-
The downstream mend
Many of us, particularly those who walk and wade with a fly rod in hand, incorporate the upstream mend in order to get a better, longer drift when we're nymphing or floating a dry fly through fishy water. But for anglers who are swinging streamers or soft-hackles, the downstream mend needs to be a part…
Category