Looking away from your target is the surest way to miss it. Think about that. Whether you’re shooting a bullet, an Adams dry fly or a basketball, staring down your mark is the first order of business. An intense focus on one point, one objective, gives your brain the...
Nothing turns a good fishing day into a great one like efficient casting. Consistent accuracy puts the fly, leader and line just where we plan. Over and over, great presentations start with a cast full of intention, a cast with purpose, that leads to an effective...
Casting matters most. Accuracy of delivery, of where the fly lands and how the leader finishes, is the key to effective presentations and efficiency on the water. Hitting targets means we confidently cover the river. Less false casting means more drifting, more...
For underwater presentations, I cast so my flies land first, always. I cannot think of a circumstance where this is not true. The weighted fly or added split shot hits the water first, and the tippet follows. The leader, maybe an indy, and then the fly line lay on the...
What do you do when the fly line to leader connection comes back through your rod guides? How do you get to fly line back out there? And if you’re using a long leader system or a tight line nymphing system, and the butt section of your leader wraps around your rod tip, how do you get it unwrapped?
The fly rod dip and swish. That’s the answer you do. It’s a really useful tool that solves a lot of problems . . .
The fundamental kernel of fly fishing lies in the angler’s ability to cast and manipulate line, leader and tippet, to send not just a fly to the target, but to also control what that fly is attached to, both in the cast and throughout the drift. This is what separates fly fishing from conventional tackle. And nothing teaches or trains an angler better in this concept, revealing the options inherent, better than fishing dry flies . . .
Casting around structure is one of the toughest things for any fly angler to learn, but what comes before the cast is most important. Don’t walk past the toughest spots. Get close and go get ‘em. Crowd the hazard . . .
All fly types — all rigs — need speed to reach their potential. Cast with acceleration and good crisp loops. Do it with dry flies, nymphs, indicator rigs and streamers. And don’t let anyone tell you differently . . .
With three good solutions for creating tag droppers, there’s a method for every moment. And by getting each of these under your fingers, by practicing them and being comfortable, you’ll find uses for all of these methods as you work up a river.
Part of what distinguishes fly fishing from other styles of fishing is retrieving line by hand. But then we need to get the line back out there. When should we shoot the line back through the rod guides? No one ever seems to talk about these options. But there are four of them.
We can shoot line on the pickup, on the backcast, on the forward cast and on the forward cast following the power stroke . . .