By Kirk Deeter

I spent the past week in a cabin in the woods of northern Michigan, and I feel comfortable claiming that I have more insect bites and bumps and plant-caused rashes and welts now than I did after 17 days in the jungle of Guyana. Granted, I was afraid of stepping on the wrong thing every second of every day when I was in South America, and I bathed in DEET without the slightest care that what hair I have left would turn orange or fall out altogether. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

Trout fishing as we know it in the U.S. would simply not exist if there were no "non-native" fish or unnatural environments like beneath hydroelectric dams. There would be no fabled Madison or Missouri River rainbows, and no world record brown trout in Milwaukee harbor. In fact, there wouldn't be any brown trout anywhere in America. Native to Europe, they were introduced to this country in the 1870s. Just like carp. So why do we not use the word "invasive" in the context of trout? [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano

OK, I have to gloat, just a little…

I spent a good chunk of the day yesterday on Spinney Mountain Reservoir with my friend John Perizzolo. John guides for Breckenridge Outfitters and is the inventor of a tungsten putty product called Mojo Mud.

While I'm not much of a big lake angler — as it intimidates me to some extent — I do believe the action yesterday might have changed my mind. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

I know I've told you to "ditch the bobber." I've been hard on strike indicators, calling them "crutches," "training wheels" and other nasty things. I still think the professional guide who does nothing but drag nymphs through trout runs all day, every day, without endeavoring to teach beyond the indicator is lazy. I stand by what I've written in the past.

But I also am a realist. I know that success breeds interest. And in some places, at certain times, nothing works on a fly river as well as the high-stick nymph rig, period. [ Read Full Post ]

By Colin Kearns

The cuts left a mark. Twelve years now and the memories of that trout have remained strong and bright. I remember how the fish rose to my Elk Hair Caddis in the shallow Arkansas riffle. I remember how my guide, Don, knowing what kind of trout it was before I did and knowing how badly I wanted to catch that kind, said something like, “Well, look what you got there.” I remember how I cradled the small fish, gently turning it over to stare at its throat. Identical and orange as fire, the slashes measured about an inch. The fish burst from my hand on the release, leaving me both thrilled by the catch and obsessed with getting my second cutthroat trout.

A year passed before that next fish was caught. My third hammered a Woolly Bugger three months later. Then nine years escaped before I again cast into water with these memorable fish.
[ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano

Just when you thought you'd seen and heard it all…

Apparently you can now take fly casting lessons via your computer through a site called Flystiles.com.

So how does it work? You create a brief video of yourself making your best fly cast — the video "needs to show your whole range of motion, plus the fall of your line." Then you upload the video to YouTube and email the link to FFF certified casting instructor Andrew Stiles.

[ Read Full Post ]