Experts

Catching Lake Trout on the Fly

Lake trout are an underrated fish to target on the fly rod. It makes sense, though, since they live so deep for most of the year. Unless you're fishing in Canada, catching them on a fly rod outside of a few weeks in spring and fall is just about impossible. If you want in on the action, though, you need to listen to this podcast from Joe Cermele. Joe sat...

Is Fall Fishing Really That Good?

In a recent episode of the Quick Strike podcast over at Outdoor Life, Joe Cermele sat down with Miles Nolte to talk about the "fall feedbag myth" they say permeates fly fishing. Now, Joe and Miles are two very accomplished anglers, and both know what they're doing. According to them, the modern belief that fall is the best time to target big trout is just a...

Fish Floating Nymphs for Selective Trout

Louis Cahill has a great tip for fooling picky trout that don't seem to want anything else—try fishing a floating nymph instead. "Big educated fish who have seen a lot of flies don’t come to hand easily," Cahill writes. "Kent and I were in exactly this scenario just the other day and were able to turn it around using a simple but often overlooked...

Tips for Reading Water

Dom Swentosky has a recent post over at Troutbitten that will prove valuable to anyone looking to hone their skills at reading water. Specifically, Dom looks at how your tactics for reading water change as the seasons do, especially from summer to fall. What worked all summer long likely won't once the mornings become crisp again, and it takes a keen eye...

Tips For Fighting Big Fish

Fighting and landing big fish on a fly rod is a skill many anglers hone over time, but they often learn it the hard way. There are a few things you can do to make landing big fish more effective, which is especially important now that we know so much more about how fish recover from catch-and-release. That's why it's important to read this story from Kent...

Troutbitten's Favorite Small Stream Leader

If you've followed Dom Swentosky over at Troutbitten, you know how fond he is of his leader setups. His take on the mono rig has a ton of devotees, and it's hard to argue with the results. And if you've ever had questions about how to utilize a lot of those techniques when fishing smaller water, then you need to read this recent story Dom published. He...

Situational Awareness and Flats Fishing

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...

Opinion: Expensive Fly Rods

In this recent post over at Troubitten, Domenick Swentosky dives into the never-ending debate about whether an expensive fly rod will catch you more trout. As with most everything Dom writes, I appreciate the way he looks at this question, and he does a wonderful job explaining his position. I particularly like that he spends time talking about the period...

Orvis Podcast: All About Polarized Sunglasses

I was on a fishing trip a few years ago (is there any other kind of trip?) and realized, after rigging up, that I'd forgotten my sunglasses at home. I told my buddies to hit the water, while I headed back to the nearest gas station. I refused to fish without polarized sunglasses. Without them, I can't see my flies, and I can't see the structure of the river...

Spring Runoff Fishing Roundup

All my local creeks are blown, and even my tailwaters are high right now. For a lot of anglers, that means it's time to head out to local ponds and lakes while the rivers get back into shape. If you're like me, though, you either aren't all that great at fishing stillwater (I'm awful, unless it's a high-country pond, because anyone can fish those) or...