By Kirk Deeter

I often get asked the following hypothetical question: "If you had one day to fish anywhere in the world, where would it be?"

My answer is always the same: Alaska.

Granted, I still have much that I want to explore. And I have been fortunate enough to experience and write about some amazing places, from the virgin jungles of Guyana and Bolivia, to the austral settings in Tierra del Fuego, to the tradition-laden rivers of Ireland, to the sun-drenched flats in the Bahamas and Central America. But Alaska remains my top choice, and here are my 10 reasons why: [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Growing up, I pretty much threw nothing but spinners during the spring trout season. My dad, my grandfather, and I were Panther Martin men. It wasn’t until later that I realized everyone on my local rivers was throwing in-line spinners, so I started experimenting. These days, I catch more and bigger trout on stickbaits. The trick to being successful with these lures is making sure you match the style of stick to the water you’re fishing. These three have come through for me in all kinds of rivers. Choose your weapon wisely—and you’ll outfish the spinner crowd. [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Though I get all fuzzy inside when a trout sips a dry fly or slurps a nymph on the swing, I will take the crushing blow of a big brownie slamming a streamer over the more dainty stuff any day. And the bigger and uglier the streamer, the more pumped I am to throw it. That's why I'm really digging Thomas Harvey's Trophy Wife...which just so happens to be tied in this video by Brian Weiss with help from his real trophy wife. Granted, there's about $40 worth of material in this bug, but it's dead sexy and there will be some Trophy Wives in my flybox before my next visit to the river. I particularly like this tying video because of the clear, concise portrayal of each material and step. Yeah, that's it. Let's go with that. Have a great weekend.

[ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

The other day I got a phone call from my credit card company asking for feedback on customer service. Thing is, it was an automated call, as in "press 1 if you are happy with our customer service." I'm not kidding, although at the time I thought, "you must be joking," and simply hung up. I don't think it takes an MBA to figure out that having customers talk to a recording is probably not the best way to assess customer service satisfaction, but I may be wrong.

I don't think I'm wrong, however, when I say that customer service is the key to a successful fly shop.  I've been covering the business of fly fishing for many years now, and during that time I've seen a number of fly shops close their doors throughout the country. [ Read Full Post ]

By David Draper

We’ve got a couple of great reader submissions this week, including frequent Food Fighter Koldkut’s gravlax redux, this time with fresh caught trout. His competitor is Upland_Canuck, a Wild Chef reader who’s getting in the Friday Food Fight for the first time. Good luck to both! [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano

This photo taken during the Argentina Cast and Blast trip should make for some easy writing for a caption contest. Write the best caption to this image and win a pair of Cabela's Guidewear BOA Wading Boots.

We'll announce a winner next Monday, April 15.

Good luck and get to writing. [ Read Full Post ]