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Making a double spey cast
Spey casting is a growing discipline among fly fishers, even though the method has been employed for centuries. For many of us, though, spey casting is foreign and simply looks incredibly difficult. The long, two-handed rods appear unwieldy and complex. The graceful, yet foreign, motions of the spey cast don't feel at all intuitive. Yet,…
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Fasten, buckle and clear
As fly fishers, most of us are gear junkies. We like the latest gadgets and we like to use things like sling packs, hip packs, chest packs ... whatever it takes to bring everything we need (or think we need) to the water. But all that gear can get in the way. It can get…
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Casting into the wind
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] The wind is considered by many to be among the biggest challenges fly fishers face on a consistent basis. And, to some extent, that's entirely accurate. A strong headwind can turn an otherwise perfect day on the water into something significantly less enjoyable. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OsHkGduGeqk Simon Gawesworth of RIO…
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Hanging with the pros
Dave Kielar felt like he had to pinch himself. There he sat, surrounded by what amounted to fly fishing glitterati, at a dinner table at TroutHunter in Island Park, Idaho. Earlier in the week, he got to rub elbows with the venerable Craig Mathews, who for years owned and operated Blue Ribbon Flies in nearby…
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Everyone needs a tune-up
Most of us who have fly fished for years--decades, even--are likely self-taught casters who have learned the craft over many moons of trial and error. Casting becomes an intuitive activity, with alterations done to meet certain requirements on the water. Over time, it becomes much easier to get that caddis fly to drift right under…
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Set your fantasy fly lineup
‘Tis the season. Over the weekend, my buddy and fellow TU-er Kirk Deeter and I faced off in fantasy football. We’re both underachieving this year--it seems we both have the bad fortune to play the highest-scoring opponents in the league every week this season, so we both find ourselves in the middle of the standings,…
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Ode to the Olive
It's a tiny little bug, but it — and its many variants — might be the single-most important fly of fall. The venerable Blue-winged Olive, the vise-borne imitation of the tiny baetis mayfly, is the dry-fly king of autumn, even though it rarely materializes on the water in any form larger than a size 20.…
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