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The True Cast – Does Angler Pressure Affect What Trout Eat?
I absolutely love fishing with streamer flies. After all, streamers elicit a predatory response, particularly when trout fishing. Streamers are what turn a trout’s instinct dial from meek and mild dun sippers and nymph inhalers to full-on carnivorous beasts. And mouse flies! It’s one thing to hear a trout crash on a fly at night,…
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The True Cast – Secret Spots
The best “secret spot” story I can share involves a place (I still can’t say where, other than somewhere in southwestern Colorado) a good friend (D.)
As a writer of fishing stories, one thing I wrestle with most is whether to divulge the places where the stories take place. That’s not a new dilemma. Legend has it that when Ernest Hemingway wrote about the “Big Two-Hearted River,” he wasn’t really writing about the actual Big Two-Hearted River. I admit to doing…
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The True Cast – That bug thing… how do I pick the right fly?
If you told me I could only pick six patterns to fish for trout anywhere in America, these are the patterns I’d pick.
Fly fishing for trout encompasses many challenges, which I think is much of the appeal of the sport in the first place. It is, as my friend Monte Burke so eloquently explained, all about puzzle solving; How do I make this cast? How do I know where a trout will be in the river? How…
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True Cast – How to choose a fly rod for trout.
Hint: it isn’t just about the fish.
Hint: it isn’t just about the fish. It’s a question I get asked all the time, so I’ll try to tackle it now for those of you who might be thinking about a new rod for spring. First and foremost, people often make the mistake of assuming that certain rods are meant for certain fish……
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The True Cast – 3 things
The three things that intimidate would-be fly fishers (and why they’re no big deals) Companies that sell fly-fishing gear obviously do a lot of research to help them understand their customers, and when it comes to turning the curious into dedicated aficionados, they’ve learned that there are three main barriers that stand in the way:…
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The True Cast – Make 2024 a year to “Accentuate the Positive”
Fishing can and should be a haven of good in a turbulent world. Fishing can and should bring out the best in people.
We live in a cynical world. Probably more cynical, these days, than when Tom Cruise first uttered that line in the motion picture “Jerry Maguire” nearly 30 years ago. I’m not going to talk about politics, because that disgusts me too much. I wonder, however, where the tipping point was that turned everything from honoring…
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The True Cast – Let’s Do More to Empower the Do-It-Yourself Angler
I don’t ask for much, but if I could make one wish for next year, it would be that more companies and organizations in fishing do more to empower do-it-yourself anglers. I actually think the future of the sport might depend on that. I’m not picking on guides. Goodness knows I like guides, was a…
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