Search Month: December 2017

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #23 — Don’t be a hero — Get closer

On rare days, we find good fishing with very little work, and trout come to hand easily. Most days, it’s a challenge out there, and we have to think about what’s going wrong or what we might do better. What can we change or adjust? In tough times, we can give up and walk home, or we can observe and ask questions. One of the best questions to ask is . . .  Am I as close as I can be? . . .

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What to Trust

Of the good fishermen I know, one thing I see in all of them is how easily they can reach conclusions about fish habits. They have a knack for knowing what to trust and when to trust it.

The damned thing about a river is that it changes every day, and the habits of trout follow. If you’re observant enough to see the dynamics of a river, you can predict how the fish will respond, just by correlating their behavior patterns with the changes in water level, clarity, food availability, etc. Often, though, that’s a big leap to take. And it requires trusting in your observations enough to act decisively on them . . .

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Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #22 — Find Feeding Fish

Trout have a strange way of all doing the same things at once. Although they rarely pod up like a school of suckers, they tend to function as a collective order, especially during feeding periods. Trout fishing is unpredictable, and sometimes it can be maddening, but...
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Mid-Season Form

Sawyer isn’t afraid of the cold. He’s like a polar bear in waders — doesn’t even wear gloves on his paws. And I don’t get guys like this. I don’t understand where their warmth comes from. Is it a higher tolerance for pain or a motor that just runs hotter than most? Who knows, but Sawyer’s always up for anything, and he’s fun to fish with.

The first batch of winter roads had people a little skittish on Tuesday morning. Even the plows and salt trucks showed some unusual caution. Later in the season, they’ll be cutting close lines and motoring at top speed, plows laid flat, shooting sparks with bare steel on rock. Before long, they’ll be in a mid-season rhythm. But at 7:30 am on Tuesday morning, the highway traffic formed a line behind the yellow diesel beasts, and everyone unanimously and silently agreed to be a little extra careful. So I was late.

When I finally stepped out of line and steered left onto the winding creek side road, I was eager to accelerate. So I took my new freedom with some aggression, pushing snow with my 4-wheel drive and generally driving the way a ten-year-old boy rides a sled. You gotta love fresh snow . . .

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What to Trust

What to Trust

Dec 27, 2017 | , , ,

Of the good fishermen I know, one thing I see in all of them is how easily they can reach conclusions about fish habits. They have a knack for knowing what to trust and when to trust it.

The damned thing about a river is that it changes every day, and the habits of trout follow. If you’re observant enough to see the dynamics of a river, you can predict how the fish will respond, just by correlating their behavior patterns with the changes in water level, clarity, food availability, etc. Often, though, that’s a big leap to take. And it requires trusting in your observations enough to act decisively on them . . .

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #22 — Find Feeding Fish

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #22 — Find Feeding Fish

Dec 25, 2017 | ,

Trout have a strange way of all doing the same things at once. Although they rarely pod up like a school of suckers, they tend to function as a collective order, especially during feeding periods. Trout fishing is unpredictable, and sometimes it can be maddening, but...

Mid-Season Form

Mid-Season Form

Dec 21, 2017 |

Sawyer isn’t afraid of the cold. He’s like a polar bear in waders — doesn’t even wear gloves on his paws. And I don’t get guys like this. I don’t understand where their warmth comes from. Is it a higher tolerance for pain or a motor that just runs hotter than most? Who knows, but Sawyer’s always up for anything, and he’s fun to fish with.

The first batch of winter roads had people a little skittish on Tuesday morning. Even the plows and salt trucks showed some unusual caution. Later in the season, they’ll be cutting close lines and motoring at top speed, plows laid flat, shooting sparks with bare steel on rock. Before long, they’ll be in a mid-season rhythm. But at 7:30 am on Tuesday morning, the highway traffic formed a line behind the yellow diesel beasts, and everyone unanimously and silently agreed to be a little extra careful. So I was late.

When I finally stepped out of line and steered left onto the winding creek side road, I was eager to accelerate. So I took my new freedom with some aggression, pushing snow with my 4-wheel drive and generally driving the way a ten-year-old boy rides a sled. You gotta love fresh snow . . .

Tips for Nymphing with Tiny Flies

Tips for Nymphing with Tiny Flies

Dec 19, 2017 |

Sometimes, delivering tiny nymphs to the trout is the only way they’ll eat. And you can fish those nymphs with confidence by making a few adjustments in your rig and presentation. Hatch Magazine published my article, "Tips for Nymphing with Tiny Flies."  Why, when,...

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #21 — Fear No Snag

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #21 — Fear No Snag

Dec 17, 2017 | ,

Playing it safe saves flies. It even saves time. But it catches fewer trout. And whether drifting nymphs across a rock garden, punching hairwing dries into hazardous hidey-holes or slinging streamers into bankside slots, it pays to take risks because the rewards follow . . .

From Pennsylvania to Montana and Back

From Pennsylvania to Montana and Back

Dec 13, 2017 | , , | 27 Comments

Early August in Montana, 2007. The afternoons burned hot, but the mornings were bitter and covered in frost. Our days swam together until neither the time nor the day of the week mattered at all. Dad and I had two weeks and more, long enough that the internal nagging and questioning about how long before all this had to end were sent away. We watched no television and kept the radio off. We visited no restaurants and no bars. With two coolers and a camper-freezer full of food, we restocked at a grocery store only once.  It’s as far away from everything and anything as I’ve ever been, for as long of a time as I’ve ever known. There were timeless, surreal moments, and they were fantastically long . . .

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Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #20 — Find the Best Light Angles, and See What You’re Fishing

Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #20 — Find the Best Light Angles, and See What You’re Fishing

Dec 10, 2017 | , | 0 Comments

Finding these angles becomes intuitive. Without thinking much about it, I usually set myself up with the sun behind or to my side, avoiding the surface glare of direct light. As I fish upstream I might work left bank to right, moving perpendicular across the stream flow until I reach the right bank. Then I quickly wade left again, back to the left bank, to start over on the next line — like a classic Underwood typewriter printing out one sentence at a time, just to see into the water, see my fly or watch my sighter . . .

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Your Indicator Might Be Too Big

Your Indicator Might Be Too Big

Dec 5, 2017 | | 2 Comments

Anyone who thinks indicators are just for indicating is missing the point. And yes, it's a bobber. Hatch Magazine published my article, "Your Indicator is too big." It's about the importance of balancing the size of the suspender with the weight underneath. -- -- --...

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