Do you love guessing games? I’ll admit I do. My love of guessing games might have been renewed because of my kids addiction to them recently. Our bookshelves are haphazardly lined with all sorts of guessing games and books. I’ve gone so far as to try to guess rivers while flipping through pages in a…
Most of the land around Texas’ great fishing rivers is owned by individuals. Public lands are few and far between. But, in West Texas north of the town of Del Rio, there flows a river that’s part of a state natural area and accessible to everyone. And it’s an amazing smallmouth and largemouth bass destination.…
With a good 80 percent of the country feeling like a deep freeze these days, it’s a good time to be talking about winter fly fishing. And winter flies, of course. Video of JC's Electric Caddis Larva Above, Tim Flagler walks through the process of tying John Collins’ Electric Caddis Larva, a great wintertime searching…
For anglers who like to use double-nymph rigs, particularly in winter and spring, a good “anchor” nymph is vital to ensure the rig rides deep enough in the water. Below, Tim Flagler ties a good anchor nymph that’s a lot of fun to tie. Video of DPD Nymph Notice a couple of more complex “moves”…
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…
Fly fishing lends itself to great images. And, as Orvis Ambassador and photographer Becca Skinner points out in the short film below, only a portion of those images have to do with actually fishing. Many, if not most, of the images collected from a fly fishing adventure have to do with the journey and the…
Here’s a good one from the Catch Magazine vault—Todd Moen dusted it off recently for us all to enjoy. It depicts my favorite kind of fly fishing—waking up somewhere new in the confines of the camper and taking the fly rod down to the creek to see what’s hitting. Video of Bass, Carp & Trout…
I’ve never been a big fan of super glue in my fly tying, and not because it doesn’t work—it most definitely does. I don’t like it because, after a few uses, the bottle seizes up and I invariably end up wasting much of the product inside because it simply becomes too much of a pain…
When finishing tied flies to get rid of any stray materials or to simply make the fly look better, it’s important that you don’t just “free hand” it. Not all of us are Cool Hand Luke—we need a little help to be precise when we go after small fibers with a pair of tying scissors…
Perdigon-style nymphs are great for anglers who need to get deep, and get deep quickly. Tied with lead-free wire and finished with a hard-finish UV resin, these flies drop like stones and don’t push too much water, which minimizes drag. Above, Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions ties his Sulphur Perdigon Nymph, just in time for…
Most of us have lived this scenario: We’re rigged up at the foot of a classic riffle that gives way to a nice run that features a deep trough that very likely holds fish. But the fish are also likely deep—we’ll need a heavy nymph, and a lot of us fish nymphs under an indicator.…
Fly tying is so sophisticated these days, that sometimes it pays to take a step back and really examine the materials we use as we conjure up the next great pattern at the vise. Take dubbing, for instance. This is the material used in both dry flies and nymphs, generally to craft fly bodies for…
It’s starting to look a lot like winter up here in Northern Michigan. We’ve got snow, we’ve occasionally got rain and we haven’t seen the sun in weeks. The neighborhoods are lit up, the shop windows are beautifully displaying the latest and greatest and the steelhead are starting to get lazy. The folks at The…
Tim Flagler ties up his version of a ‘better ‘bugger’ using weighted wire and a tougher construction
Located in the Bitterroot Valley of southwest Montana, our experienced guide staff is prepared to share with you their passion of fly fishing Montana’s epic rivers. Local guides specialize in fishing the Bitterroot, Blackfoot River, Clark Fork, and Missouri Rivers. With some of the best Dry Fly fishing in the state, we spend most…
36 Years Of Outfitting Experience With this many years of guiding/fishing experience. Locally crafted fly fishing patterns. Top of the line equipment and a professional, seasoned guide staff make this possible. Inherently, guiding is much more than just catching fish. A guide is a person who takes an individual’s raw ability and molds it into…
By the Seedskadee Chapter Board of Directors Trout Unlimited does many great things across our country, but also faces many challenges moving into the future. One brought up often at state council meetings in Wyoming—and likely across the country—is the age and diversity of the board of the local chapters. Let’s face it, many of…
We had a great winter here in Idaho. Lots of high snow. And then spring arrived with buckets of rain in the valleys and more snow up high. We’re closing in on the first day of summer, and our backcountry trout streams are still surging with runoff. High water is a blessing and a curse…
I’m in Little Rock, Ark., this week for the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference. Our hotel is situated right on the banks of what looks to be an angry Arkansas River. Years ago, I worked as an editor and reporter for a couple of small newspapers about 1,000 miles away, near the headwaters of…
Calling all campfire pyros: It’s almost Memorial Day! It’s not that there’s any bad time or way to break out the grill, but if you’re one of the lucky millions out around the campfire this weekend, might we suggest this as the perfect time to upgrade to your steak and veggies? And as far as upgrades go, there’s not much easier than adding a classic sauce — made in advance —…
