Flymen Blog
As a woman, when you gain a little weight you have 3 options:
- You can lose it.
- You can just deal with it and not do a thing.
- 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:
- It can lose the weight and sacrifice action.
- It can stay big and bulky and sacrifice appearance.
- 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
Over the last 20 years of streamer fishing I've encountered many different situations.
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
I swear to fish the hatch and the whole hatch.
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
This bug is especially useful for fish that haven’t had a lot of pressure in slow water, or for all fish large enough to get their mouths around it in fast water.
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
Catching big trophy fish is often the goal we hope to reach.
It can sometimes happen by surprise or by luck.
But catching bigger fish regularly is what makes the difference between the men and the boys and between the women and the girls.
Big fish are at the top of the food chain, and they didn’t get there by chance.
Usually they're clever, wary, and opportunistic.
How can a fly angler put this to good use? Continue reading