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Video spotlight: How to fish riffles for trout
One of the best days I ever had on my local river—the South Fork of the Snake—was spent almost exclusively fishing riffles with big stonefly nymphs, maybe a week or so before the river's fabled salmonfly hatch that generally happens sometime around the Fourth of July. The upper South Fork is a braided, fishy wonderland…
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Trout Tips: For streamers, sometimes bigger isn’t better
Smaller streamers have their place when chasing aggressive fall trout. There was a definitive nip in the air as we drove up into the central Idaho backcountry last week in search of migrating bull trout. Irrigated hay fields sported fresh "snow" from the sprinklers, and the cottonwoods along the river were definitely shifting from deep…
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Voices from the River: Field day
About 800 miles from the ocean, high on the western slope of Lolo Pass, king salmon cling to life. By Warren Colyer You never know quite what to expect at a project site. And that’s one of the things I love most about my job. Granted, I don’t get too many field days anymore. It…
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Fly tying: Freestyle Fall Favorite
It's a little tough this year to get excited about steelhead season here in Idaho—if there's a season at all, thanks to what could be the smallest return of ocean-going rainbow trout to the Clearwater and Salmon rivers in 40 years. Nevertheless, steelhead flies are some of the most enjoyable to tie, and there are…
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Voices from the River: Fisherman’s Nightmare
By Scott Willoughby They call it Fisherman’s Nightmare. And as scare tactics go, it’s as accurate as it is effective. Floating into the chaotic jumble of rocks and water that serves as sentinel to the Colorado River’s daunting Gore Canyon, it’s easy to imag ine how the rapids earned their name. Dropping precipitously from the…
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Fly tying: Splayed Micro Fibbet Tails
Working with micro-fibbets can be a real pain, particularly for tiers who sport fat fingers (like I do!). But they can really add appeal to a fly, particularly mayflies that depend on that realistic look to attract trout. Video of Splayed Micro Fibbet TailsThe video above offers up an amazingly simple way to properly splay…
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New gear: O’Pros gear lineup
I've become a fly-fishing minimalist. I think, save for maybe a couple trips north this summer to chase pike, I foresook all external gear holders and simply took to stuffing my pockets with necessary items, like nippers, hemostats, a bottle of fly floatant, a spool of tippet and maybe a box of flies in each…
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