I want to pay some respect to the willow tree and how their presence can really benefit the health of trout streams. While there are 400 species of willows, for the most part, I will be referring to the common crack willow. An invasive hybridize species, native to Europe and Asia but which has been … Read more
If you look at any suggested fly list, or best fly list the bee pattern will never be on them. But they are a surprisingly common pattern. Often found fulling the fly boxes of fishermen new to the sport. Their coloration also makes them very eye catching, I suspect they do a good job at … Read more
Mouse flies are fun, and fishing them is fun. Watching a trout smash a large dry for the surface is exhilarating. This is why I do it. But are mice flies really that effective of a pattern? Time and time again, I read articles that suggest the secret to catching big trout at night is … Read more
When fly fishing, indicators get lost all of the time. On some popular trout streams, the banks seem to be littered with little round balls of foam and especially the stick on foam pads. There is already enough plastic waste littering our rivers and lakes, and I always prefer a more environmentally friendly product than … Read more
There is no need to purchase expensive or dedicated saltwater flies for saltwater fishing. For occasional use traitional freshwater trout streamers are just as effective in fooling saltwater pelgaics and reef fish as they are in catching that wary brown trout. I have been saltwater fly fishing nearly as long as I have been a … Read more
Simple question, but a difficult answer. The number one variable which determines the number of trout caught is not the lure or gear used but the skill of the angler. A novice with a spinning rod, will nearly always outfish a novice with a fly rod. The learning curve required to fish with spinning gear … Read more
The Hopper Dropper might just be my favorite summer time fly fishing rig. Simply because it catches more trout. The Hopper Dropper Rig is a variation of the standard dry fly dropper rig. It uses a large terrestrial fly that resembles a Grasshopper, cicada, crickets, locus or adult stonefly, or any large terrestrial insect. One … Read more
Today, Sage has announced their new R8, their first flagship fly rod for quite a few years The launch hype is generating quite a bit of conversation. Much of which is concerning its $1050 price tag. So I decided this would be a good topic for a blog, do expensive rods catch more fish? Is … Read more
If you are reading this article, I guess you have just dropped a fly box overboard and watched helplessly as it sunk to the deep. Don,t feel too bad, I am sure most fly fishermen have lost more than a few fly boxes over the years. In this article, I will share what I consider … Read more
Struggling to catch trout while fly fishing, this article provides a few hints to how better select and present flies to hopefully catch more trout. How to present a dry to rising trout How to read a rise to pick the perfect fly The patterns a trout makes when feeding near the surface are a … Read more