Fly Line Care Items A fly rod is a crucial piece of equipment for fly fishing. A poor quality or wrong type of fly rod is a wonderful way to potentially ruin an otherwise fine day spent fly fishing. Having the right fly rod can make all the difference between putting fish in the net and coming away skunked. Now days the art of making fly rods has become so good that if you buy any rod for $100.00 or more will cast better than most anglers can with it..keep in mind that buying a more expensive rod will not make you a better caster, only learning to cast will do that. [Read More]

Trout Fishing The Tricos are prevalent in a majority of great trout fly fishing streams from Pennsylvania to the west coast. They primarily hatch in the morning, and primarily in the summer. Although the streams of Arizona and New Mexico can have hatches in February. The Trico is tiny, this adds to the frustration of many fly fisher's, it can be as small as size 26 hook, although they primarily are in the 18-22 range. Besides their diminutive size, they can be recognized by their lack of hind wing. On many rivers the Trico hatch is multigenerational lasting several months into late summer or early fall. So trout see a lot of them, and a few fish get caught, making them even more selective. By far the easiest Trico fishing is the actual spinner fall. After the laying of the eggs, the females die in swarms and fall into the river, and then the males closely follow. Hatching usually takes place early in the morning or late at night. With the spinner falls shortly after daybreak to mid-morning. [Read More]

Confidence in Fly Fishing Three quick stories come to mind illustrate this. First off let me say there have been plenty of times when I have been on both sides of the confidence equation. A few years ago, I was steelheading with a couple of fly fishing buddies. Unlike me, though there guys weren't purists. And we were using terminal gear. Although were just dead-drifting jigs, very similar to fly fishing, I felt about as coordinated as a monkey performing brain surgery. As the day wore on more and more steelies were caught. Huge steelies, the biggest I had ever seen! None by me. I could feel my confidence shrinking. And I mean my confidence in all kinds of things, like being able to read the river, being able to detect a strike. Things that had no connection to me using unfamiliar gear. The pressure inside my head built, until I HAD to catch a fish. I didn't catch one fish that day, although I finally had a strike, and set the hook so hard I jerked it right out of the fish's mouth. And I fished longer and harder than anyone else on the trip. [Read More]

Deep Jigging
One of my favorite ways to fish is with a jig - a big jig - in deep water. We call it deep jigging. In water from 100 to 200....