Something about pulling a fish out of a big body of water makes you feel heroic.

Walking up to a big body of water, so big that your cast doesn’t even cover a fraction of the water, can be daunting and even downright discouraging.

You almost feel nervous to make your first cast. Where do I start? How do I tackle this water without a boat?

But when everything comes together and you hook into that fish, you feel like you won the lottery!

Here are a few things to help make swinging your fly rod feel a little more like fishing and a little less like… flailing.

Most of us will not get the chance to chase bonefish on the flats of Belize, but with a little preparation we can still get the same rush a little closer to home.

As a staunch streamer junkie, there's nothing greater to me than having a big brown trout absolutely hammer a streamer.

But after fishing Gulf Shores, Alabama, I realized I've been missing out – the salt is a streamer junkie’s dream. 

Saltwater fish hit a fly like they have had a lifelong vendetta against that poor little Clouser (seriously, I had a ladyfish almost take the fly rod out of my hand).

Bahamas Bonefishing on a Budget

My first trip to the Bahamas helped me realize how attainable it was, even though I had put it off for many years because I thought it was out of my price range.

Lesson learned.

We returned the following year and now the Bahamas has made it to the top of my list for DIY fishing vacations.

I’m learning more each time I visit, but I’d like to share a few thoughts with anyone who has considered scratching it off their bucket list.

It's getting to be tailing redfish season.

The tides will be getting right to cast to fish looking for crunchy snacks in the spartina flats.

You want to catch one, don't you?

Well guess what? You're going to screw it up and it's going to make you go nuts.

Here are 5 things you're going to mess up on and some ways to be prepared in advance so you won't chuck your rod in the water out of frustration.

Sight fishing for bonefish, permit, or redfish is one of my favorite things in life.

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

When I started fly fishing tide pools along the West Coast, there wasn’t any information about how to go about fly fishing these areas.

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:

1. You can lose it.
2. You can just deal with it and not do a thing.
3. You can buy one of those horrific sucker-inner-things that make you look 10,000 times thinner but make you cry trying to imagine how to pee out of it.

And your poor fly has to worry about the same thing. Well, not the peeing part.

You have 3 choices when tying your fly:

1. It can lose the weight and sacrifice action.
2. It can stay big and bulky and sacrifice appearance.
3. You as a fly tyer can conceal the weight.

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

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.

Continue reading

by Gordon Churchill
You're fly fishing for false albacore and the fish are coming in fast and furious. People all around you are hooking up. You are not. 

Why?

It's frustrating as being the last guy in the line to get cake and they run out as soon as it's your turn.

Don't despair – here are 4 things to pay attention to that you may not be.

Click to read more