Fly

It was the first time Alex Dietz got out on the water after the birth of his first child, a daughter named Willow, a month prior—certainly an auspicious moment for any angler. Dec. 19 brought a chill over Oregon’s hallowed Deschutes River, where he and friends were nymphing for the river’s native...

The Drunk & Disorderly is one of my all-time favorite trout streamers. It’s also one of the most complex patterns ever created. The placement of every feather, the order of each type of body material, isn’t simply cosmetic nor accidental. It has a reason. The mallard flank tied in flat over the tail...

The first day of school in a fly fishing education invariably involves discussion of the “dead drift.” This concept of allowing your flies to float unencumbered at the exact pace of the current is central to the art and crucial for early success. It also leaves out a lot of information in regard to...

When we go out fly fishing, we go dreaming about those iconic moments—when you cast a fly, drift it slowly over a feeding trout, and watch it rise to sip the bug gently off the surface. Yet, as often as we fantasize about these situations, they’re about as rare as seeing a shooting star or hearing a...

One of the most commonly frustrating elements of dry fly fishing is matching the hatch. While you will sometimes see dozens of trout rising to hatches so thick you get bugs in your mouth as you scramble down to the river, those moments are rare. Most of the time you’re faced with a pod of rising...

The dichotomy between fly fishing and conventional fishing has always felt a little silly to me. If you truly love fish and the glorious pursuit of them, you’ll do it by whatever means necessary. Sometimes fly tackle is far more effective for a given situation. Oftentimes spin or baitcast tackle...

Summer is around the corner, and the last memory of winter will be the ice melting off lakes high in the mountains. When the water is finally exposed, anglers can return to these high places from our inferior dwellings to hunt for gorgeous, delicious alpine trout. For the last five years I’ve...

Hogs. Toads. Donkeys. Pigs. Whatever name you prefer, these are the fish you really want to catch. Quantity fills the freezer, but trophies earn the bragging rights. This series is dedicated to the pursuit of the true heavyweights across all species. The meat eaters. So, pull out the sink tips,...

Wind is one of fly fishing’s biggest challenges. Whether fishing fresh or saltwater, the breeze make casting difficult and at times impossible. With spring on its way in many parts of the country, fly anglers are eager to get outside, but howling spring winds cause many of them to compulsively check...

I’ve been date-less on the last two Valentine’s days. Now, before you go feeling sorry for me, you should know that both years I found lovely dance partners in the form of big, banana-yellow brown trout. A dozen girdlebugs cost a lot less and last a lot longer than a dozen roses anyway, so I always...

This really is a fishing essay, but it comes wrapped in layers. Let’s begin during the course of a do-it-yourself Dall sheep hunt on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range. It’s hard to go wrong in a setting like that. Friends and I had hunted the same location for years, a challenging spot even...