Fly

The pale light of dawn had just begun to shine off the surface of the river as we slid down the bank towards the water. It was one of those mornings that just felt good. My buddy Nate and I were anxious to get out on the water to start casting our spey rods for steelhead. We got to the head of a...

The first time I fished a Hexagenia mayfly hatch was entirely by accident. My brother Sam and I had pushed our boat up a small tributary stream that dumped into a large lake in northern New York State searching for post-spawn smallmouth bass. We’d figured that we could run up the creek for a few...

It’s hard to be a fly angler in the winter. The weather is bitterly cold, the rivers are clogged with ice, and the days of casting to rising trout seem farther and farther away. During early winter with the distractions of the holidays, you hardly notice not being on the water. But as time marches...

Ever since the days of split-bamboo fly rods, anglers have been tinkering with rod tapers, rod actions, flex patterns, materials, components, grips, styles, and more. Experimentation lies at the heart of angling, and anglers have created an impressive array of tools for their enjoyment. Over the...

The beauty of fly fishing lies in personal style. No, I’m not talking about felt hats and plaid shirts. I’m talking about the style with which you tie and select flies, cast, target fish, and generally approach the sport. On one side of the aisle, you’ll have fly anglers who only run nymphs in swift...

Warm blood oozes from the eye sockets of a mouse clenched in the hook jaws of a big brown trout. Have you bought that T-shirt yet? There are plenty of similar rodent-themed wearables and stickers and Buffs out there now, because over the last five years or so, fly anglers have become obsessed with...

It was the first time Alex Dietz got out on the water after the birth of his first child, a daughter named Willow, a month prior—certainly an auspicious moment for any angler. Dec. 19 brought a chill over Oregon’s hallowed Deschutes River, where he and friends were nymphing for the river’s native...

The Drunk & Disorderly is one of my all-time favorite trout streamers. It’s also one of the most complex patterns ever created. The placement of every feather, the order of each type of body material, isn’t simply cosmetic nor accidental. It has a reason. The mallard flank tied in flat over the tail...

The first day of school in a fly fishing education invariably involves discussion of the “dead drift.” This concept of allowing your flies to float unencumbered at the exact pace of the current is central to the art and crucial for early success. It also leaves out a lot of information in regard to...

When we go out fly fishing, we go dreaming about those iconic moments—when you cast a fly, drift it slowly over a feeding trout, and watch it rise to sip the bug gently off the surface. Yet, as often as we fantasize about these situations, they’re about as rare as seeing a shooting star or hearing a...

One of the most commonly frustrating elements of dry fly fishing is matching the hatch. While you will sometimes see dozens of trout rising to hatches so thick you get bugs in your mouth as you scramble down to the river, those moments are rare. Most of the time you’re faced with a pod of rising...

The dichotomy between fly fishing and conventional fishing has always felt a little silly to me. If you truly love fish and the glorious pursuit of them, you’ll do it by whatever means necessary. Sometimes fly tackle is far more effective for a given situation. Oftentimes spin or baitcast tackle...