Stories & Essays

Spring has sprung in my corner of the Rockies, which means the mayflies are out in ever-increasing numbers, no longer confined to tailwaters. I fished my local creek this past Friday, too late in the day to catch the hatch, but I saw the remnants of mayflies in backeddies and foam lines. The early-season mayflies in my neck of the woods are a darker, almost...

Dom Swentosky recently took a trip down to Patagonia, fishing with his buddy and longtime Troutbitten collaborator Austin Dando. The two had a wonderful time, and one of the best things to come out of the trip was this great story from Dom about nymphing for brown trout. The insights are typical of Dom, and as you probably suspect, there are more...

In this recent story from The River Reporter, Tony Bonvasit talks about a hatch that he thinks most anglers have forgotten. Back East, the Hendrickson hatches get a lot of attention, but in Bonavist's opinion, many anglers overlook the Quill Gordons (which refers to the actual fly pattern, not the fly itself). It's a fun story, and a reminder that we need...

Fly fishing means something different to all of us, but it certainly means something to us. Over at Casting Across, Matthew Lourdeau spends some time discussing why fly fishing means something to him. This is a great read, which you can find here.

In this recent story over at Troubitten, Dom Swentosky dives into why he loves fly fishing in the winter so much. Along the way, he describes what he calls "forgiving flies." These are flies that seem to work year-round, that are forgiving of a less-than-perfect presentation. Your go-to flies when you need to put a fish in the net. It's a wonderfully...

I have a few fly rods. And by a few, I mean almost four dozen. Part of that comes with the territory - I've reviewed fly rods for the better part of a decade now. But when I read Tim Schulz's piece in Hatch Magazine, I felt more like the hoarder than the well-prepared angler. Schulz's story is all about cutting back on your gear, and the fine line between...

In this sweeping feature for Fly Fisherman Magazine, Dennis Pastucha takes readers on a journey through the Yampa River in Colorado. The Yampa is Colorado's last free-flowing river with a natural hydrograph, despite the dam at Stagecoach Reservoir on its headwaters. It flows, unimpeded, for 250 miles before it meets the Green River in Dinosaur National...

If you're in the mood for a story that cuts to the heart of the reason we fly fish, then this recent post from Kyle Wilkinson over at Gink & Gasoline should be on your reading list. Kyle doesn't try to wax poetic or draw some hidden meaning from fishing. Instead, he offers up a few of his own observations, then pushes us to remember to stop and look...

In this fun story from Justin Pickett over at Gink & Gasoline, we get to read about Pickett's first time seeing a balloon used as an indicator. It took him by surprise, the same way it did me when I first saw it on the Green River below Flaming Gorge Dam. I actually have a friend here in Wyoming who uses them, too. This story is a fun way to learn...

If you're interested in putting a trophy-sized striped bass in the net, then you should read this story from Ken Baldwin over at Men's Journal. Ken goes into all the details on how to find these big fish, and more importantly, how to hook and land them. It starts, like so many big fish tales do, with finding the right location to chase these trophy...