Commentary

Do you ever get stuck in a rut? You head to not only the same river, but the same stretch of it, parking at the same spots, hiking the same trails, and fishing the same flies. There's comfort in knowing you're doing something that works, but you can't stave off the feeling that you're missing out on something else. For a lot of us, we're stuck in a rut due...

Situational awareness is one of, if not the most important skills for a fly angler. Regardless of the fish you're chasing, you absolutely have to be aware of what bugs are hatching, what the water is doing, or what food sources are available at a given moment. There's a ton of information to process, and the best anglers are the ones who can take all that...

What's the most important skill a fly angler can posses? If you asked a dozen anglers this question, how many different answers would you get? A lot would probably say casting, followed by fly presentation. And while those skills are vital, I think the most important one is often overlooked: your ability to quickly and safely release trout. With the recent...

Kirk Deeter's most recent column at Angling Trade tackles the new research from Keep Fish Wet, and it's worth your time to read. In case you're not aware, the folks at Keep Fish Wet released new research that says, in part, the long-held belief that 68F is the water temperature at which we should stop fishing for trout. The new research pushes the idea that...

My local small streams finally opened up the past week or so, calming down from the runoff we had this year. They're still high, and a bit tricky to wade, but it's not impossible. And just as these small streams came into shape, I got a nice surprise in the mail. I'd sent in a BIIIx 9' 5-weight to Winston for repair in March, and it turned up just in time...

Kirk Deeter wrote a piece recently over on the Trout Unlimited blog about the eight-fish limit on an English chalk stream he fished. That river required anglers to quit fishing after they'd caught and released eight fish in a day. Not caught and kept, but released. Deeter, in his blog, discusses how that idea would apply to American fisheries, and while...

Last week I reported on a study about a decline in aquatic insect populations across America. This isn't the first I've heard of the decline, although any updates on the matter have been few and far between. Or so I thought, until I did some digging. It turns out the scientific community is aware of this problem. One study has linked insect population...

Unless you live within a stone's throw of a legendary trout river, chances are your home water isn't a major tourist draw. Folks will always make the trek to Ennis or Last Chance, because the fishing there is the stuff trout dreams are made of. Rarely will someone book a hotel in Provo, Utah, to explore the trout streams of the Wasatch Front Range. Those...

I never made the high school basketball team, but I did get to be a "manager." That meant I sat on the bench during games, kept stats, and was a general do-person for the coaching staff. One of the coaches had a saying he repeated to me at least twice a week: "You never get a second chance to make a first impression." I still hear that coach in my head...

As a lifelong resident of the Rocky Mountains, I've taken my access to public land for granted. I have more water to fish at my disposal than I could ever get to in a lifetime, and sometimes I forget that most anglers don't have that opportunity. Dom Swentosky's latest podcast brought that to the forefront. On this episode of the Troutbittenn podcast, Dom...