I’m part of the last generation to learn things without the aid of the internet. When I taught myself to fly fish in the nineties, the web was in its infancy, so my tutelage happened through a few books, some magazine articles and a lot of trial and error — emphasis...
Articles With the Tag . . . fishing tips
Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #7 — Choose lots of fish, or choose big fish — You can’t have both
I’ve often said that my best strategy for catching a big brown trout is to fool a bunch of trout, and one of them will be big. But I don’t believe that so completely anymore. Let me say, right up front, that I have some friends who seem to accomplish high numbers and...
Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #6 — Learn by using visible flies
Watching a trout take your fly — it’s one of the most exciting aspects of this game. All fly anglers talk about it. Streamer guys love watching the transient swirl just before a hulking brown crushes the fly. Dry fly guys patiently tie strands of visible flash into...
Fifty Fly Fishing Tips: #4 — Fish Familiar Waters
When I was a boy, I dreamed of having a trout stream close enough to walk to. It was my greatest wish. I now have a world-class wild trout fishery just a short hike out the back door. It’s a remarkably consistent river, the kind you should never be skunked on — and...
Relocation as a Productive Fishing Strategy
** This post is from contributing author, Pat Burke. ** Twenty minutes after I posted the Take Five article, last week, I received this message from my friend, Pat Burke: “Just so you know, I strongly disagree with your post today.” He followed that with a smiley...
Backcast | Take Five
Here's one from the Troutbitten archives, an on-the-water story with one of my favorite tips stuck in the middle. Take Five ... The lack of production today is killing me. I’ve looked forward to this trip for weeks: tying flies, scanning maps, reviewing old photos and...
The Downstream Fisher Yields to the Upstream Fisher
Most sports have a set of unwritten rules, generally agreed upon by those in the know. But the trouble with the unwritten rules of fly fishing is that many newcomers aren’t aware of them, and it might take seasons of error before realizing that you were pissing everyone else off while wading downstream into the upstream guys.
Finding bite windows, fishing through them and fishing around them
Predicting when a trout will eat is about as difficult as predicting the weather. You get it right sometimes, but just as often you’re dead wrong. Even experts with all the tools of observation and experience can’t really crack the code. But we look at the weather...
The Dorsey Yarn Indicator — Everything you need to know and a little more
The dark truth is that upgrading your fly fishing gear rarely catches you more fish. Rods, reels, fly lines, expensive tippet and overpriced hooks hardly improve your catch rate. And the marginal improvement you might see is probably a result of confidence and concentration rather than the performance of new gear.
The Dorsey yarn indy will catch you more fish.
Here are the details . . .
“Get me back to my fly line” — Connecting and disconnecting the Mono Rig
Change or die. Take what the river gives you and adapt. See the signals, make the changes, and catch fish. That’s the way she goes. That’s trout fishing. I like winter because it’s simple. In the coldest months I carry a small set of nymphs and streamers that do the...