Kubie Brown

There’s an old saying that “old ways won’t open new doors,” but I couldn’t disagree more. While I risk sounding like a grumpy old man—I just turned 40—it seems like the more we try to modernize and update things with all this newfangled technology and innovation, the more we complicate what used to be simple. This is especially true with fly...

Fall steelhead are special creatures. After spending the majority of their lives in the ocean, they return to the rivers whence they came, offering anglers a short but brilliant window to try and catch them. Chasing steelhead can become a complete and utter addiction, especially when you’re trying to catch these elusive fish on the swing. Swinging for...

If I had to choose a favorite season for trout fishing, it would be the fall. Hot, bright days of summer are winding down and cold, crisp mornings are cooling water temperatures, making fall trout very willing to feed on everything from nymphs, to dries, to streamers. This makes autumn a season where you have a fantastic chance to catch big trout throughout...

Two is better than one. Whether you’re talking about scoops of ice cream, glasses of wine, or adopting puppies, doubling up always seems to make things better, especially when you’re fly fishing. Using two flies is a standard practice for many anglers. From dropping a nymph beneath a large dry fly to dead-drifting a pair of streamers under an indicator...

When you think of sight fishing for trout, you probably think of dry-fly fishing. Images of making a perfect drift to the rising ring of a rainbow or dropping a big terrestrial in front of a cruising brown are some of the most iconic in fly fishing and the reason many of us take up the sport. However, if you strictly sight fish with dry flies, you’re...

I’ve always hated the term “gin clear.” Not only is the expression both incredibly cliché and a reference to my least favorite liquor—it tastes like bug spray to me—but anytime you describe a river or stream as being gin clear, you’re facing some extremely tough fishing conditions. Trout in low, clear water become spooky, selective, and harder...

When I first heard that big trout would come to the surface to explode on mouse flies, I plunged headfirst into madness. After work, I would rush to the river, tie on a mouse pattern at sunset and then fish through the night. I’d smack, strip, and skate my mouse patterns for hours in the moonlight with no success. Then a few hours before dawn, I’d reel...

One of the things that’s always frustrated me about fly fishing are all the doohickies available. From hook removers to leader straighteners, to line clippers, it feels like being prepared for the river means having an entire toolbox of fly-fishing thingamajigs and gadgets. Anglers attach all these tools to their person with multiple zingers on their...

Yellowstone National Park may be the top summer vacation destination in the country. From watching the iconic eruptions of Old Faithful, to standing on the edge of the Yellowstone Grand Canyon, to viewing wildlife like bison, wolves, and bears, Yellowstone offers something for everyone—and that includes fly anglers. With more than 2,500 miles of running...

Everything in the dry-fly fishing world seems to revolve around the dead drift. It’s drilled into our minds from the very first time we pick up a fly rod that dry flies must drift at the exact pace of the current and that it’s crucial for the bug to remain still. We’re taught that if a dry fly makes even the slightest movement as it drifts—the...