Currently browsing… Fly fishing
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The Woolly Worm
The Woolly Bugger's less-sophisticated cousin, the Woolly Worm, is an excellent searching pattern for subsurface trout, and it has the added benefit of being an excellent pattern for panfish, like crappy and bluegill. https://youtu.be/0T8CBIE5-Lc Above, Tim Flagler ties a really durable version of this venerable pattern. If it's meant for non-stop action on bluegill, it…
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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…
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At home on the Tongass
My father once told me that “home is where you hang your hat.” I believed it, for a time, at least. I mean, as a young boy, who was I to argue with the wisdom of a grownup? I’ve come to realize, though, that “home” is where everything seems to fall into place just right.…
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Off Season
We all have a passion in life, even if, like my kids, we haven't really figured out what it is yet. For fly fishers—real, die-hard, rather-fish-than-eat anglers—our passion is simple. A rod, a line, a fly and some water are all it takes to ignite the lamp in our souls and put our passion to…
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The lowly whitefish
The mountain whitefish native to the northwest U.S. There’s trout water, and then there’s trout water that also holds mountain whitefish. The latter is likely healthier. Whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) are often greeted by anglers with the same enthusiasm they might afford a creek chub or a sucker. The slightly downturned snout may not be as…
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Dry fly floatation
It's dry-fly season. Well, it's what I like to call "hopper season," especially here in the West, where big trout will look up for terrestrial bugs that will occasionally end up in the water, thanks to a timely wind gust or just dumb luck. But fishing hoppers and other terrestrial flies isn't about dumb luck.…
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Sage Trout LL fly rod
When you find a fly rod that's essentially made for the kind of fly fishing you like to do—and makes that fishing markedly better—you hang onto it. That's why I'll likely never part with the new Sage Trout LL rod. I'm a walk-and-wade stream-fishing junkie. I like the intimate feel of water running around my…