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Stop apologizing and start asking questions
I wouldn’t call myself an expert boater. I don't row the biggest lines or guide anglers on famous stretches of fabled trout water. What I can do is get my family and friends safely down most stretches without significant issues. Surprisingly, I’ve rowed for very few anglers in my seven years behind the oars. Our…
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Nissan blasts through a trout stream in its new truck ad
A screen grab from Nissan's ad featuring its new Frontier. We're not impressed. Several years ago, Jeep ran a dumb ad on Super Bowl Sunday showing a truck running up the middle of a creek. My then 8-year-old son asked, “Isn’t that bad for the stream?” Earlier this year, Ford pulled the same stunt. And…
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Support your local fly shop this holiday season
As we enter the holiday gift shopping season, this is just a friendly reminder to support your favorite independent fly shop. Sure, you might find cheaper deals here and there, but there’s nothing more valuable than local knowledge, and nobody serves that better than the fly shop. I’ve always felt like the classic fly shop,…
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How to fish streamers from a boat
This past week I was lucky enough to play hooky for a day and float a glorious 10-mile stretch of my favorite river with a good friend. We went with the intention of fishing dry flies. Specifically Blue Winged Olives. While there was sporadic activity with those dainty little mayflies the real star of the…
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Fly Fishers International plans first-ever Virtual Expo
Photo courtesy of Fly Fishers International. TU members can attend the Nov. 5-7 event at a big discount Fly Fishers International is hosting its first-ever Virtual Expo Nov. 5-7, and Trout Unlimited members can attend the event at a special discount. The event will feature fly-tying demonstrations, fly casting lessons from expert instructors, presentations from…
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Texas fly fisher lands giant blue catfish … on a 4-weight
Ben Christensen with his record blue catfish from Texas' Pedernales River. Photo courtesy of Instagram. From the "holy smokes!" department, here you go... Texas fly fisher Ben Christensen convinced a 31.55-pound blue catfish in the Pedernales River to eat an olive damselfly nymph, and after 40 minutes and a couple of backing runs, the fish…
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What’s the best polarized lens for fishing?
I get asked this question all the time. If you let the sunglasses companies answer, they’ll say there is no answer—they want to sell you one lens for low-light, one for saltwater fishing, one for cloudy days on a river, and on and on. Can’t say I blame them for wanting to make money, and…