Gear

Moving from the beach to a boat during the fall run changes three things in your fly kit: the fly line, the tool that catches your loose line between casts, and how you carry your gear. The 9-weight rod, the strong-drag reel, and the box of Clousers and Deceivers stay the same. A clear intermediate line and a waist-worn stripping basket run the beach; an...

Fly line that coils in cold weather is fixed with a firm stretch and a coldwater-rated line; icing rod guides are managed by dipping the rod tip in the water, slowing the buildup with paste, and moving less line through the guides. The coils and the ice both peak in the first hour of a below-freezing morning and ease as the day warms. Why Fly Lines Coil in...

Screenshot from How To Fly Fish In The Winter: Everything You Need To Know All fly lines have memory, as Bruce Richards, the longtime Scientific Anglers line designer, laid out for MidCurrent years ago. A fly line's core and its plastic coating both hold the shape they're stored in, and the colder the line gets, the stiffer it gets and the harder it holds...

To choose a Skagit head for fall steelhead, match the head weight to the sinking tip you plan to fish and keep it inside your rod's grain window, the range of head weights the rod is built to cast. A Skagit head is a short, heavy fly line that turns a sinking tip over on the front. For most 7- and 8-weight spey rods, a 500- to 580-grain head with a 10-foot...

For fall fly fishing, a three-layer wading jacket with sealed cuffs and a fully waterproof main zip is the right call for most anglers, and the 2026 standouts are the Simms G3 Guide (about $599), Patagonia Swiftcurrent (about $499), and Skwala RS (about $569). All three shed driven rain and articulate for the casting stroke. The bigger factor in staying...

The best night surf fly fishing gear is the gear that lets you keep the light off: a red-first headlamp rated IPX7 or higher, a stripping basket you can run by feel, and pre-rigged leaders you can swap in the dark. During the fall striped bass run, when bass feed shallow after dark, those three pieces matter far more than headline lumens, because your own...

To get a bass fly down without switching to a sinking line, add weight at the fly or the leader: a denser or larger bead, dumbbell eyes, or split shot and tungsten putty pinched about a foot above the fly. Sink rate depends far more on a bead's diameter and density than its raw weight, so a same-size tungsten bead can nearly triple the sink of a brass one...

For Great Lakes kings and staging steelhead, you need two leaders: an indicator (float) leader of seven-and-a-half to nine feet of 8–12 lb tapered nylon down to a fluorocarbon tippet, and a short swing leader of two to six feet of stout mono off a sink tip. Kings take 12–20 lb tippet, steelhead 8–12 lb, and the most common beginner mistake isn't fly...

Before streamer season, most fall fly fishing gear is cheaper to fix than to replace, and the new waders in the September sale email are usually the last thing you need. Re-treat the water-repellent coating that's making your legs feel clammy, patch pinholes with a $10 tube of Aquaseal, and pull-test your heavy tippet instead of buying new. The one upgrade...

Images by Rick Mikesell Ombraz builds sunglasses with no arms. A woven cord, braided in Japan from recycled fishing nets, runs from each side of the frame around the back of your head, and two sliders set the tension. Snug the sliders and the frame sits flat against your face. Loosen them and the glasses drop to your chest and hang there. No hinges, no...