Fishing

Being from the Northeast, I’m a stereotype as one of the many Catskill anglers that heads west every year to the Missouri River to dry fly fish as the river enters its prime season in or around July 4th on a normal year, while the Eastern rivers begin to slow down and hit the summer doldrums.  … Read more about THE MISSOURI RIVER DRY FLY PLAY BOOK:

Many seeing this headline from the get go, and rightfully so given my sharp tongue, assume this is about to be an all out blog rant filled with hate. Surprise, for once its not. The reality is this year has exposed what we knew was already coming on the West Branch of the Delaware- a capacity issue. … Read more about THE DELICATE QUESTION OF WHETHER TO GOVERN BOAT TRAFFIC: THE WEST BRANCH OF THE DELAWARE

In the context of dry fly fishing, you often hear certain flies or patterns thrown around by guys as their go to’s when nothing is working. Rusty Spinners and Blue Winged Olives being the most common in my experience. And while you hear quite a few flies thrown around as common confidence patterns, … Read more about FISH DON’T EAT CADDIS: THE UNDERAPPRECIATED LAFONTAINE CADDIS PUPA

I’m one sentence in and I can already feel the tension from bringing up the taboo topic everyone in Pulaski NY knows not to talk about- the collapse of the Salmon River’s steelhead fishery.  That’s fine. Its time that a real conversation ensue regarding what has happened to the Salmon River’s … Read more about WHAT A RIVER BECOMES WITHOUT AN ADVOCATE: THE COLLAPSE OF THE SALMON RIVER STEELHEAD FISHERY

Everyone remembers the first fish they caught on a dry fly. They remember the pool, surrounding circumstances, and of course the fly. And for me, that fly was a size 16 black ant. For the next few seasons that followed, I turned to the ant more than any angler should. Cold weather Hendrickson hatch … Read more about THE EASTERN ANGLER’s WEAKNESS: TERRESTRIALS

As I’ve written about before, when heading west I typically start at base camp on the Missouri River. It’s a great and steady dry fly river, that gives you a nice option to jump right in after getting off a plane and getting into some big fish on dries. And this year you could say real big thanks to … Read more about WESTERN TAILWATERS VS. FREESTONES: TWO VERY DIFFERENT BEASTS

Fly-fishing is fly-fishing. We use a rod that uses a heavy line to propel our imitation, rather than rely on the weight of the lure to accomplish same.  You would think that learning how to fly cast, and fly fish generally would be a skill that translates amongst most species, but that is … Read more about A FRESHWATER ANGLER’s ATTEMPT TO BECOME SALTY: AN ENJOYABLE STRUGGLE

The social norms and characters of fly-fishing have always been interesting. That’s one thing that has never changed. There was always a social pecking order, and process one had to go through in order to get veteran anglers from a given river or region to talk to, let alone respect them. Today that … Read more about Characters in Fly-Fishing