By Kirk Deeter

I figure if we can get a brown bear into fishing with a switch rod, we can get anyone into it. So it only seems fitting that we kick off Fly Talk's Switch Rod Week--we'll be offering a chance to win a Cabela's TLr valued at $150 every day this week--with a caption contest. You know the drill: Submit your captions in the comment thread below, and we'll announce the winner one week from today.

And be sure to tune in tomorrow for another contest.
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By Tim Romano

We're going to keep the gear train rolling over here on the Fly Talk blog. We recently gave a few rods and a pair of Redington waders. This week we're giving away a few pieces of apparel from Free Fly, a new clothing company to emerge on the fishing scene that makes their products out of bamboo. I personally have been rocking some of their long sleeve shirts, and I absolutely love them.  [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

I hear the following all the time: "Oh, that's a great place to fish, but most of the fish are stocked." Or, "I caught a 20-inch rainbow the other day, but I'm pretty sure it was a stocker."

Of course it was a stocker! Most of the rivers and lakes in this country wouldn't have rainbow trout at all if they weren't stocked in the first place. There would be no brown trout anywhere in North America were it not for stocking (at least not stocking that happened years ago). Some anglers have landed on a kinder rationalization for certain trout, calling those that were presumably born in a river "wild," just not "native."

Since when did a "stocked" trout become a second-class river citizen? [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

I'll admit to being a prankster. I can't help myself. My best April Fools' trick ever was calling my brother's college house and asking one of his roommates if my mother had arrived for her visit yet. Of course, nobody expected her—least of all my brother, who was in class at the time. So his buddies ran to get him, and they spent several hours cleaning their house before I rang back and admitted she wasn't really coming.

River pranks are great fun, especially when the fishing is slow. And they're pretty fun when the fishing is good too. My favorite happened in Alaska, when Trent Kososki put on a brown bear costume and hid in the tall grass until our buddy Conway Bowman hooked into a nice steelhead. You know the rest... Trent came bounding out of the bushes, Conway almost literally ran across the river surface, and I'm pretty sure he tested the leak-proof seams of his waders from the inside. You have to make sure your buddies don't have any heart conditions before doing that one. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

So much of fly rod marketing revolves around "how far," "how fast," and "how light" that I think one of the more important performance factors—the feel—gets lost in the shuffle.

When it comes to selecting a rod, sensitivity is priority number one for a lot of the bass and walleye fishermen I know. And yes, some of the newer-generation fly rods (especially those meant for Euro-style nymphing) are designed to optimize feel, but I sometimes think the market has out-engineered itself.  Some of the rod models from 15 or 20 years ago (or longer)—rods we'd call graphite classics now—do a pretty fine job of offering the whole performance package of distance, versatility, and feel.  I'm talking about rods like the Winston IM6, the original G Series from Scott, the Loomis GLX, and the Sage 590 RPL. If you have one, keep it. If you can grab one on eBay, do it. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

My friends Tom Whitley and John Hagen guide on the super-sweet ranch waters where the rainbows and browns often top 20 inches in length, and 50-fish days are common. It's a guide's paradise, except for the fact that when people tie into trout like that, they tend to break off easily—especially when the current is heavy. A guide could go broke buying and tying flies just to keep up with demand. So these guys figured out a way to teach anyone how to land a big trout, and here it is:

1. When you hook a big one, yes indeed, you want to let the fish run, maintaining a good steady arc in the rod.  Too much arc and you'll break off, too little and the trout will spit the fly. Keep the arc.

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