Kubie Brown

One of the most crucial skills in fly fishing is the ability to achieve a drag-free drift—especially at a distance. Whether you’ve got a rising trout in front of you or a juicy-looking lie to run your nymphs through, your first drift is always your best shot, and you want it to look as natural as possible. You can try to get as close to the fish or the...

There’s nothing worse than grabbing your fly rod and heading to the river only to see that it’s blown out. All your hopes and plans for the day are seemingly swept away by the dark and muddy water raging and churning its way along the banks. It’s an all too common occurrence this time of year, when snowmelt and spring rains have flooded your favorite...

For many fly fishers, bonefish are an addiction. Whether it’s your first time or your fiftieth, every time you see bonefish tails fluttering tantalizingly above the water or a school of gray shadows gliding across shallow sand, it triggers something deep in the recesses of your mind. It’s a fishy itch that just needs to be scratched. Yet, actually...

One of the things that has always troubled me about fly reels is a lack of versatility. It just seems that you need a different reel for every type of water and every species you’re fishing for. Even when you have multiple spools rigged with different lines, using the same reel to go from trout fishing, to bass fishing, to saltwater, to Spey casting is...

When you think about swinging flies for steelhead, you might imagine standing in icy cold rivers with long, smooth-flowing runs, casting gaudy flies on heavy sink-tips and swinging them through deep troughs and holes, waiting and hoping for a tug. This methodical and disciplined style of steelheading is the epitome of the sport. But if you’re swinging...

Spring is a time of change: The snow has begun to melt, flowers are starting to bloom, and everything from the trees, to the animals, to the very air itself seems touched with a gossamer of anticipation. For fly fishers, spring is the time to put away all our winter nymphing gear and start searching the surface of the water for the first ripples of feeding...

“Dammit!” My brother bellowed, throwing his wading boots into the brush and plunking down in a chair by the campfire. We had just ended our fifteenth salmon-less day in a row on a cold, rainy Nova Scotia river. We were tired, hungry, and soaked through from hiking and swinging flies through miles of seemingly empty water, and as we got back to camp, he...

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...