Kubie Brown

There’s something magical about tarpon. From the way that they roll in the waves, to the way they stare knowingly at you when you’re getting ready to release them, everything about a tarpon is enchanting and even inspiring. Tens of thousands of words have been written about these majestic fish, and Megalops atlanticus has been a muse for writers like...

To quote the A-Team’s Col. Hannibal Smith, “I love it when a plan comes together.” It’s a beautiful thing to have the stars align so that everything you’ve been preparing for and dreaming of happens exactly how you want it to happen—mostly because it’s a rare occurrence. The fact is that life is unpredictable, and most of the time no matter...

Coolers are a problem. Whether you’re packing them with beverages for a quick few hours of fishing or for a week-long float, finding a cooler that can do everything is a flat-out pain in the butt. Most large coolers are heavy and cumbersome to load and carry, while smaller ones just don’t have enough storage space. On top of that, most basic coolers...

Many fly fishers plan their entire year around particular insect hatches. They’ll mark their calendars, plan vacations, and duck-out on birthdays and anniversaries at the slightest hint that the long-awaited bugs have arrived. However, there is another type of “hatch” that is often overlooked, though under the right conditions, it can produce as much...

I’ve always been sort of cursed when it comes to sunglasses. No matter how nice a pair I buy or how hard I try to take care of them, they always seem to break or disappear. My buddies joke about this strange phenomenon, saying things like, “You’d better buy two pairs just to be on the safe side,” or “I’d keep a back-up pair in my truck if I were...

Carrying your fly-fishing gear on the water has always been a problem. Back in the day, it was all about the vest, with companies frequently coming out with different models and styles, which basically just featured more or fewer pockets. Eventually, to get away from the pocket-digging chaos, fly-fishing manufacturers introduced a veritable menagerie of...

Winter is the most frustrating time to be a fly angler. The weather is cold, the rivers are frozen, and warm sunny days of casting dry flies to rising trout seem so far away. Most of us just deal with it or find another hobby to keep them occupied during the cold months. Perhaps you’ll do a bit of winter nymphing here and there just to stay in shape, and...

Protection from the elements isn’t always high on a fly fisher’s priorities list, even when it should be. We may patch the holes in our waders in winter, and maybe we’ll carry some sunblock and bug spray because our mothers told us to. This lack of concern for our own well-being isn’t because we consider ourselves to be tough or because we have some...

Since the dawn of humankind, the sea has been a source of fascination and inspiration. The shadowy blue depths call to us, and gentle waves breaking upon sandy shores beckon us to adventure. Ancient cultures used the sea as a highway, sailing into the unknown to discover new lands. The sea provided food and offered safe harbors for civilization to grow. The...

Whether we want to admit it or not, every fly fisher out there is a sort of clothes horse, with a closet full of light-as-air sun shirts, blanket-heavy flannels, and a collection of shorts, sandals, hats, gloves, and more. We fish in the sun and the rain, in cold winds and warm breezes, and even in the snow, so having the right gear to stay comfortable on...