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Fly Fishing

20 Secrets To Help You Catch Fish All Summer Long

These 20 fishing secrets will help you catch trout, bass, bluegills, cats, walleyes, and...
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Fishing and Hunting Tips from the Ultimate "Cast and Blast"

This January Field & Stream editor-at-large Kirk Deeter and photographer Tim Romano...
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  • November 30, 2012

    What's Your Worst "Uh-Oh" Moment While Out Fishing?

    By Tim Romano

    That's my friend Tim Brass, Colorado Coordinator for Backcountry Hunters & Anglers, dragging my raft over some sketchy ice yesterday on the Upper Colorado River. About three-quarters of a mile of it to be precise.

    We decided to play a little hooky yesterday and take advantage of the unseasonably warm weather in the high country of Colorado. We went to swing streamers for brown trout and jump-shoot any errant ducks we might see. The day was going splendidly with many nice fish brought to the boat and a few sneaky shots at ducks when we came upon what looked like the Ross Ice Shelf.  [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 28, 2012

    10 Reasons to Fly Fish Rather than Deer Hunt

    By Kirk Deeter

    I like to hunt deer and elk, just not nearly as much as I like to fly fish. I know that's sacrilege in these environs, especially in this season. But I have my reasons.* In fact, I have ten good ones.

    # 1 - A massive trophy trout will never cross the road directly in front of your house, exactly nine days after your tag expired (as this mule deer did to me).

    # 2 - In fact, your "tag" isn't limited to a few days or weeks, and in many places, a fishing license is good 365 days a year.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 27, 2012

    Two Videos: A Custom Wooden Boat plus Lives of 5 Fly-Fishing Friends

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    By Tim Romano

    How about a little entertainment today? Here are two videos I have to share.

    Whether you've already seen them—they have been floating around around the web for a little bit now—or you're watching them for the first time, take a moment to enjoy these videos.

    The video above is Marc Montocchio's "The Road to A Jericho." It's about a custom wooden boat. A really nice custom boat that's not a fishing boat, but an amazing work of art that I thought you all would love to see.   [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 26, 2012

    Winter Flyfishing: Stretch Your Fly Line to Cast Better and Slow Guide Icing

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    By Kirk Deeter

    I've always said that your fly line has as much to do with casting performance as your fly rod does. Even the most deluxe, high-tech graphite wand in the world won't save you if your fly line is chapped, dry, and especially kinked.

    Trying to cast a kinked line through a fly rod is like trying to push a corkscrew through a straw. Crooked lines cause crooked (and short) casts. And yet many of us don't take the five minutes needed to straighten out our fly lines before we hit the water.

    Stretch your fly line by attaching it to a fixed object and pulling on it, either all at once or a few feet at a time. I also like to rub my fingers (or better yet, a pad treated with line conditioner) along the fly line to generate some friction heat, which will help make the line more malleable. Doing so will also let you know if your line has any abrasions.
    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 21, 2012

    Wanted: Your Best Small-Stream Fly Tips for a Rookie Caster

    A Guest Post by Assistant Editor Kristyn Brady

    Western Maryland may not be known as a trophy trout haven, but if you find yourself on Route-81 coming from Pennsylvania or West Virginia and itching to fish, stop in at Beaver Creek Fly Shop in Hagerstown, MD, and chat with shop owner and guide James Harris (below, showing me the ropes). I happened to be in the area last weekend and saw the opportunity to get some more fly fishing hours under my belt and possibly hook a wild brown or two in Beaver Creek—a limestoner that's known for offering year-round opportunity to flycasters. What I got was my first lesson in the challenges of a small, clear eastern creek.

    Since I first picked up a fly rod last September, the few places I've fished offered plenty of backcast room. That luxury helped me get comfortable casting pretty fast, as did the chance to take a 30-mile float on the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. Covering that much water forced me to cast over and over for days and to choose target spots quickly as we drifted past. But the conditions at Beaver Creek caught me off guard.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 20, 2012

    Switch Rod Week: Three Contest Winners Announced

    By Kirk Deeter

    Let's give away some Cabela's TLr switch rods. Here are the winners of the caption contest that kicked off Switch Rod Week, the "Honey, I Need a New Fly Rod Because…" contest, and the "Why Catch 'Trash Fish' on Switch Rods?" contest.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 20, 2012

    If You Had to Teach Someone to Tie Flies, Which Pattern Would You Start With?

    By Joe Cermele

    There is a really good article posted on the website of the Alaska's Peninsula Clarion about tips for getting young people started in fly tying. In it, author Brian Smith interviews area flyfishermen and fly shop owners to get their pointers, a lot of which make sense. As a few examples, guide Nick Ohlrich suggests starting with flies that don't imitate something too specific, such as a flesh fly instead of stonefly nymph. Guide Lee Kuepper says beginners should start with a kit rather than get overwhelmed by choosing individual materials. It's worth a read, but it made me think of which patterns I'd start with if I had to teach someone to tie.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 16, 2012

    Switch Rod Week Contest: Write Best Caption, Win a Cabela's TLr Rod

    By Tim Romano

    There's one more Cabela's TLr switch rod on the line today, and I thought we'd end Switch Rod Week with a regular old caption contest. Write the funniest caption to the image you see here and you'll win the rod.  [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 16, 2012

    Switch Rod Week Contest: Why Catch "Trash Fish" on Switch Rods?

    By Kirk Deeter

    I've been fortunate enough to have travelled throughout the world to catch many fish in interesting ways. But my pinnacle achievement was the day I took a Spey rod into downtown Denver, and caught a carp by swinging a Babine egg fly through the muck. 

    You can ask my pal Will Rice, or Michael Gracie, or Tim Romano, or any of the others who were there as we rode in a bright pink, Hindu-themed school bus (a short one, for the record) from golf course to drainage ditch, to municipal pond throughout the Mile High City. This really happened, albeit in a seedy slough of the South Platte River behind a cemetery. And it's now an urban legend. It may indeed be the fishing feat I'm ultimately remembered for.

    I want you to aspire to that same pinnacle of angling greatness. I want you to make the two-hand tradionalist/purist types squirm in their skin. And I want to literally give you the tool that makes it happen. [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 15, 2012

    Switch Rod Week Contest: The Best "Honey, I Need a New Fly Rod Because..." Excuse

    By Kirk Deeter



    Win this contest, and you not only get a free Cabela's TLr switch rod valued at $150, you will also have done your fellow anglers a great service.

    Picking out the new rod you want and scratching together the money to buy it is one thing. But if you're like me, the big hurdle to jump is getting the Mrs. to buy into the concept that I actually need a new fly rod in the first place. I tried to tell her that golfers have different clubs for different shots, and the same should be true for fly fishers. But that doesn't work. Then I realized that it was indeed easier to apologize than it is to ask permission. But that's getting old.
    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 15, 2012

    Vintage Tackle Contest: Dragon Bamboo Fly Kit (Plus, New Prizes from Berkley!)

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    By Joe Cermele

    We've had bamboo fly rods in the vintage tackle contest before, but this is the first complete kit with line, rod, and flies I've seen yet. It was entered by Chuck Rogers, who writes that he found it in an old farm house his son-in-law purchased. On a side note, I've never found anything cool in any places I've moved in to. Let's see if Dr. Todd Larson of The Whitefish Press and "Fishing For History" blog says you've stumbled on some gold.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 14, 2012

    Catchbook: iPhone 5 Photo Contest Winner Announced!

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    By The Editors

    Congratulations to Eric Sturos, who wins an unlocked iPhone 5 and an Otterbox phone case for posting the best photo to our Catchbook fishing app in October! And congrats to our runners up, James Carpenter, Chad Aldridge, and Kevin McDonough, who each won an Otterbox case. Check out their winning photos and see the rest of our picks for the 50 best shots posted in October by clicking through this gallery. [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 13, 2012

    Switch Rod Week - Day 2: Name These 3 Locations

    By Tim Romano

    In the spirit of continuing Switch Rod Week, which Captain Deeter kicked off yesterday, I'm going to "switch" it up a bit and deviate from the caption contest format we're so fond of.  

    The first person to correctly guess the approximate location of the three fishing images seen here will win a Cabela's TLr Switch Rod. When I say approximate I want the name of the state and the river. And if you can't name the river, then name the location closest to the body of water.

    Good luck and start guessing.

    [ Read Full Post ]

  • November 13, 2012

    Arctic Silver Fly Rods: Revolutionary or Gimmick?

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    By Joe Cermele

    You can thank Scandanvians for IKEA furniture, excellent chocolate, and now (at least it's believed by designer Robert Selfors), the most innovative fly rod ever. In the video below you'll hear Selfors' story and get the skinny on Arctic Silver rods, which are supposed to be much less strenuous to cast than traditional rods because the butt end of the blank free-floats in the handle, allowing it to pivot. Selfors says this reduces the amount of energy needed to cast, thus reducing that jelly-arm feeling you get after a day of chucking streamers on a 10-mile float. Seeing as I haven't tried one, I can't say whether it does or doesn't work, but I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Do we need a better mousetrap? Gimmick or wave of the future? By the way, Selfors put this video together to entice potential investors, in case you've got some money burning hole in your pocket.

    [ Read Full Post ]