Those of us who choose to pick up a fly rod also have our little own niches in which we choose to stick with.
Unfortunately, we tend to put our streamer boxes aside during this time of year and stick to more traditional approaches.
Yes, it’s exhilarating to watch that giant brown trout come to the surface and take your size 18 dry fly as you fish a tail out of a pool or a nice steady run, but what is more heart pumping than watching that same giant fish chase your 4” to 8” streamer from bank to bank and demolish your fly on the strip or the end of your swing?
In recent years, fly fishing has rapidly evolved at an unprecedented rate.
No longer restricted to trout or salmon, fly fishing has become "anything goes if it's on the fly," with fly anglers now able to actively target and land virtually any species of freshwater or saltwater gamefish on a fly rod.
As fly anglers expand their horizons, the hunt for more species in widely varied types of fisheries across the world is rapidly driving the need for innovation in the fly fishing industry with specialized flies and equipment for enticing and landing these fish.
It combines many of the visual pleasures of fly fishing with some of the toughest technical challenges, creating a scenario in which so much needs to come together perfectly to be successful.
Travelling to a beautiful tropical location and searching for an almost invisible, elusive quarry among endless sand flats, palm trees, mangroves and crystal clear water is incredibly relaxing.
Then add the heightened sense of anticipation, the sudden jolt and adrenaline rush as you first sight the fish – heart pounding, panic setting in, and of course the pressure! Pressure from your guide, your buddy, and yourself to put together the perfect cast at the perfect time to deliver your fly to the perfect spot in the hope (or prayer) that you'll be rewarded.
So much fun!
The idea for the Fish-Skull® Shrimp & Cray Tail™ first came to me during one of these trips to the Bahamas in late 2014. Out on a flats boat in the middle of nowhere, but somewhere between my fourth bonefish and third Kalik of the day, the idea formed to create an alternative to the established fly tying method of using bead chain eyes or small dumbbells to weight shrimp or small crayfish patterns. Continue reading
You’ve seen them – you’ve seen the chenille fingers coming off an array of products these days, from dust mops to car washing aids to teddy bears to throw pillows. You can clip these off their backing and have a killer fly if you lash those fingers to a hook.
When I graduated college in May of 2015 and shared with my peers that I was going to be working for a non-profit conservation organization to work with college fly fishing clubs nationwide, I got a variety of responses ranging from, “Whoa, that's sick,” to, “What are you doing with your life?”
Many of my peers in college viewed fly fishing as an old guy sport, with their closest mental image being Brad Pitt “shadow casting” on the banks of the Bitterroot in A River Runs Through It.
Little did they know, fly fishing is actually a growing sport in the millennial generation.
If you aren’t a parent, maybe you have some young relatives or know some local youngsters who have shown an interest in fly tying.
Time spent tying with kids can be fun, productive, and higher quality than most people think.
Before you go down that road, here are a handful of things to keep in mind.
Loads of movement, loads of kick – Kris Keller's 3 Pack Shaker is one killer streamer pattern.
After much trial and error, I eventually started finding success using a mix of techniques from various aspects of fishing, which opened up an exciting and diverse new area to explore using a fly rod.
Hopefully this article will help ease the learning curve into this great and ever-changing fishery!
As a woman, when you gain a little weight you have 3 options:
And your poor fly has to worry about the same thing. Well, not the peeing part.
You have 3 choices when tying your fly:
Here are my favorite techniques to conceal weight in a fly without sacrificing appearance, or running up a Nordstrom card on some fly spanx. Continue reading
I've fished fast Western rivers, Southern tailwaters with variations of speed based on dam flows, and slow Midwestern streams and lakes.
One of the most important factors I have found to maximize fly action is having the correct weight for each situation. Continue reading
To most fly anglers, fishing the hatch means fishing dries, spinners, or maybe emerger patterns to actively feeding trout.
For more years than I can remember, I've spent time sitting on the bank waiting for the “hatch” to happen.
Then about 15 years ago it hit me when a guide client asked me, “what were the bugs doing before they hatched?"
Bam! Light went on.
Why I hadn’t thought of this myself? Continue reading
With all the legs going this way and that in fast water, this fly initiates one strike after another.
One of the best things about it is that when fishing it, you really do often nail only solid fish – but of course you’ll pick up the random optimistic dink. Continue reading
Just as The Sexy Walt’s and The Frenchie are simply tied patterns, so are these quill-bodied bugs.
One of the hallmarks of these simple flies is that there’s not a lot of junk on them to keep the fly from cutting through the water on its descent to the bottom. All that extra junk on flies can also spook fish hooked too many times for their own comfort. Continue reading
This egg style is the single best I’ve encountered.
This fly is especially productive from October through January and March through May – or whenever the fish in your neck of the woods are spawning and eggs make up a substantial portion of the edible biomass in the water. Continue reading
We've all heard it!
"Orange is the new black," or "purple is the new black," or even that olive would be the new black.
Don't get me wrong – I know there are a lot of colors that are really effective in different types of flies. I love throwing white deceivers to snappers and other saltwater species, and big olive flies to pike, not to mention fishing a banana-colored zonker for salmon or a big gray articulated streamer for trout.
There are so many colors that are important when it comes to flies and fly tying, but none more important than black. Continue reading
Here’s the deal with this fly, I think. My dad has this theory – no matter how much you’ve had to eat, when you go to the bar and they pass out the peanuts, you’re going to have a handful of peanuts.
Fish are the same way. Over time, especially after a season (short or long) of pressure, fish start rethinking their meal choices. But give them a peanut, and they’ll eat. There’s no other reason midges work!
This is a peanut fly, and fish eat it up.
There’s nothing to scare fish away – no crazy rubber legs, no funky dubbing… Just simple. Continue reading
by John Zimmerman
I don’t know if the story about this fly is true or not, but this is how I first heard it and have heard it several times since.
A young French kid was kicking butt and taking names at a world championship event a number of years ago.
Not wanting to be "that guy,” no one asked him what was affixed to the end of his tippet during the event, but everyone wanted to see his fly box upon the event’s conclusion.
Expecting immaculately-tied, realistic patterns, most were shocked to see a fly box full of simply-tied bugs that were essentially bare-bones pheasant tails.
by Gary Dubiel
This may seem like an odd way to start off talking about fly fishing, but let’s chat about one of the most popular and easy ways to fish inshore saltwater, the popping cork.
You’re probably thinking, “What does this have to do with anything?!”
Maybe more than you think.
by Brita Fordice
You sat up late last night tying the perfect baitfish pattern in hopes of finally hooking the elusive beast that's been refusing all your fly patterns to date.
You tie your fly on, throw your first cast, and strip, strip...
“What the ^*%}?!”
Your fly is swimming like a belly up version of the goldfish you won at the fair in 5th grade.
What went wrong?
Here are the top 3 reasons why your baitfish pattern is swimming wrong.
by Ryan Kaufman
With fly fishing, as with anything in life, people develop habits and preferences.
There’s the dry fly enthusiast. This person is the true purist. If you’re not enticing a fish to eat on the surface you’re not even really fly fishing. Conversations about shuck materials and wing placement can go on for hours. It’s "dry or die" and bamboo all the way.
There's the Euro-nympher. This person is out to put a hole in the lip of every fish in the stream. They regard the FIPS-Mouche competition rules as the bible and tungsten beads as their savior. They don kneepads and use nets with huge hoops.
And then there are those who stay up till the wee hours of the morning drinking and attaching more feathers, hair, and flash to a size 4 hook or bigger than you can shake a 10 foot 3 weight at.
The visual experience of watching a big fish chase down and crush a big fly is what keeps the blood pumping through their veins.
These are the streamer junkies.
Are you a streamer junkie?
If any of the following 5 signs apply to you... you might be a streamer junkie.
by Brandon Bailes
I often struggle with deciding on which type of water I want to fish, whether it's big water with big flies and sinking lines, or small streams with downsized offerings. Both can be very rewarding but there’s something special about small streams and exploring where smaller predatory fish can live.
My definition of a small stream, warmwater or coldwater, is a watershed that is at the max 25 feet wide and a deep pool from 4 to 5 feet deep. Where I live this even includes a few tailwaters, which when generating are not navigable by boat.
These types of waters contain more than just bugs for fish to feed on. After many years of exploring these little gems and talking with other small stream fanatics, I've come up with my own way to target the meat-eaters in these waters with downsized streamers.
by Andrew Loffredo
Streamer fishing is one of the most visual and exciting ways to fish for trout!
As a former member of the U.S. Youth Fly Fishing Team, I picked up some streamer tricks that are useful for both new and experienced anglers.
Here are 3 tips to consider when you’re “hucking meat” this fall.
by Gunnar Brammer
What if I told you there was 1 style of articulated streamer that could produce fish in any and every possible situation?
Well, I’d be lying.
But what if I told you there were 3 styles of articulated streamers which under any circumstance would move fish and put you on the hunt?
I’m most certainly still stretching the truth, but this is a fisherman you're talking to, so that's to be expected.
