Bob Mallard

Fly fishing and coffee go hand in hand. Go to any trout town in America and you’ll see trucks with rod carriers and towing boats lined up at the local coffee-to-go shop long before most are even awake. Legions of guides and clients show up at fly shops and boat launches every morning carrying a cup of hot coffee. And many shops have a pot of coffee going...

Editor’s Note: This is the twelfth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. Branding is a huge part of our daily lives.  It’s everywhere you look, even though you don’t always notice it.  Branding can be blatant or subliminal, absolute or suggestive, visual or audible, and words or...

While not all fly fishers are non-fishing gear savvy, they should be. There are products out there that while not specific to fly fishing can be really useful to the fly fisher.  The best product overlap comes from other sectors of the outdoor product’s industry and specifically hiking and camping.  Unless you hike or camp, and many fly fishers do not...

Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. When a unique life history strategy, strain, subspecies, or species is at risk of extirpation or extinction within its native range, and regardless of why, it may become necessary to move them somewhere else to...

Living in New England, I fish a wide variety of water. From large rocky rivers to small sandy coastal streams and boulder-strewn freestone streams to muddy flows, New England has some of the most diverse and challenging wading in the nation. Add to this float tubing, drift boat, and raft fishing and one would need a wading boot inventory that rivaled a fly...

As a dedicated small stream angler, I’m always on the lookout for the “next best thing” in regard to compact chest packs. Finding the ideal product for small stream use has admittedly been a challenge. Many of today’s chest packs are too big and a few are too small. While the chest pack I am currently using, an old William Joseph Mag-Series, has...

Editor’s Note: This is the tenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. As the temperature rises and the masses head to their favorite streams for some relief from the heat, they leave behind a trail of disturbance including litter, rock cairns, and small rock dams. Sometimes they're...

Having fly fished for roughly forty-five years, and run a fly shop for fifteen years, I’ve answered a lot of questions and given a lot of advice to anglers in regard to tackle. One of the more commonly asked questions has been: "What length leader should I use?” The type of fly line (floating or sinking), size, and weight of fly, size and type of water...

Editor’s Note: This is the ninth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. Native fish conservation is a challenge at best. We are trying to undo generations of misguided attempts to outthink Mother Nature while dealing with a long-standing acceptance of, and even preference for, nonnative...

Editor’s Note: This is the eighth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Swift Fly Fishing, makers of Epic Fly Rods. Catch-and-release is not overrated. In fact, short of stopping fishing, something very few of us are willing to do, catch-and-release is the best tool we have for maintaining natural...