Stories & Essays

For every game-fish species, there's a benchmark size that fly fishers dream of. These can change from location to location—for instance, a "monster" rainbow in my home state of Vermont might be an average fish in Alaska—but the angler's satisfaction is the same. Writing in the Anna Maria Sun, Rusty Chinnis describes catching the fish that had long...

Whereas trout fishing is often elegant and serene, pike fishing can be the exact opposite, and this is exactly why, Chris Hunt argues, fly fishers should not pass up the chance to chase these aggressive, toothy predators: Because, for every trout that “takes your breath away,” I offer you a visual tincture that will both salve and infuriate, satisfy and...

Monte Burke has made a name for himself as the preeminent chronicler of modern fly fishing for tarpon. If you haven't yet read his Lords of the Fly: Madness, Obsession, and the Hunt for the World-Record Tarpon, you're missing out. In the latest issue of Garden&Gun magazine, Burke writes about a trip in the Everglades with legendary guide Steve Huff: I...

Winter is a hard time of year for a lot of anglers. Between the holidays, bad weather, less daylight, and a lack of hatches, chasing fish is exponentially more difficult now than at other times of the year. However, winter fly fishing is completely worth it for those who brave the cold and can figure out where the trout are holding. Some of my biggest trout...

Tim Schulz has a great story over in Hatch Magazine about a fish he named Dave. Yes, he named a fish. It's named after Dave Delisi, the man who sold Tim a few rods at Sweetgrass years ago. Tim named the fish because he caught the same on on multiple occasions. It's a fun, lighthearted story that we've all probably experienced ourselves at times. I've...

I've always found the world of two-handed rods, and steelhead fishing in general, fascinating. I've never done it, but I've dabbled in trout spey a bit here in the Rockies. What I've been able to do, however, is read up on and learn as much as I can (without actually doing it) about two-handed casting. This recent story in Fly Fisherman Magazine by John...

How often do you find yourself on the water, throwing the same rigs in the same runs, probably for the same fish you caught last time? It's easy to get in a rut in fly fishing, especially if you don't live in an area with tons of public access and good fisheries. And what happens when that rut takes you to a familiar place, but the fish don't cooperate...

A few weeks ago, Alex Stulce and I were out fishing early one morning, hoping to find fish rising to a trico hatch. We parked the trucks and hiked a ways down the river, looking for a safe way down the sheer, rocky bank. This particular river flows at the bottom of a narrow canyon, and there's only a handful of spots with easy access to the water. To get to...

Since John Gierach's passing about a week ago, we've had plenty of wonderful stories shared about the impact he made on so many lives. Tim Schulz's story, over at Hatch Magazine, is worth the read. It's about a time when he got to fish with John Gierach on John Voelker's Frenchman's Pond. You might better recognize John Voelker by his pen name, Robert...

Dom Swentosky is back at it with a fantastic story over at Troutbitten, and it asks a simple question about your own fly fishing: who knows better than you? Specifically, Dom wants you to learn to rely on your own skills and experience, because that's where you grow the most as an angler. "And instead of looking elsewhere for the answers, I looked...