How To

I've never caught a 24-inch brown trout on a fly. I've put a few 23-inch fish in the net, and more than a handful of 20-inchers. But I have yet to cross the 2-foot mark with salmo trutta, even though I'm surrounded by tailwaters supposedly full of fish near 25 inches. I reckon a lot of anglers fall into that same situation, which is why this recent story...

I was speaking with some beginner fly anglers recently, and one of the questions I heard was about how to retrieve a streamer. "There's not really a right or wrong way," I replied. "You just have to figure out what the fish want." In my experience, that's been largely true. Dom Swentosky, over at Troutbitten, has a slightly different take, however. I think...

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...

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...

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...

George Daniel recently put together a great piece on getting started chasing bowfin on the fly rod. Bowfin are a unique, prehistoric fish that are on my personal bucket list, mostly because they're so different from any of the trout I have to play with here in the Rockies. Daniel's story details a trip he took with guide Drew Price, of Masterclass Angling...

Brown trout are mercurial, reclusive, and to many anglers, still mysterious. We're not sure exactly what makes these critters tick, but we are sure we enjoy catching them. To catch more browns - or to understand how to catch the really large ones - it will help to have a baseline knowledge of their habitat, feeding habits, and biology. That's where this...

I've become interested in trout spey in recent months, because it seems like such an effective method to cover a lot of the bigger rivers near me. So, this story from Rick Kustich in Fly Fisherman Magazine immediately caught my eye. It's an in-depth, detailed explanation of some killer trout spey tactics, and Kustich answered many of the questions I've...

In this recent episode of the Orvis podcast, Tom Rosenbauer sits down with Rowan Lytle to talk about the secrets of carp fishing during their spring spawn. Lytle is a guide with extensive experience, and he dishes on some interesting tactics for targeting a fish that many folks really enjoy. You can listen to the show here.

In this recent story from Dom Swentosky over at Troutbitten, he shares a tip that I first heard from a Boy Scout leader in my early teens. Dom talks about the importance of planning for your hook set, especially when fishing on smaller water. On big, wide-open rivers, you don't necessarily need to plan for the hook set as thoroughly. On water that's...