Shad fishing with a fly rod can be many things, but you hope for the day when you have the hole to yourself and many thousands of hungry and desperate fish to entertain. The “Meat Bucket” met the “Peppermint Kestrel” and the pink and opalescent Kestrel fooled a lot of American River Shad.

I made a hike of the Little Stinking with my “cameraman” in tow. It’s a brownliner’s dream, unknown brightly colored fish, low water, and complete solitude – just what a fellow wants who doesn’t want to reflect on his 50th birthday.

License plates are for showmen – especially now that the good ones are gone. It’s a devotion thing, and sporting a “Trout4lif” plate is Parking Lot Hardcore, serving notice the owner has suffered broken marriages, fishless fishing, failed careers, and squandered inheritance – for the love of the game.. .. just like the rest of [...]

The Oakley Farmhouse is the ancestral home of dry fly fishing. F.M. Halford wrote and fished this property while compiling the material for many of his scholarly works on the subject. Available for 5.1 million US dollars.

Variations of popular flies is mired in controversy. Is a minor change a new fly or must it acknowledge the old name in some way? Fly fishermen are an opionated lot – and the fly fishing forums are full of hand wringing and sharp words on the subject.

Shad fishing on the American River. I go fishless while watching the Goose Whisperer summon waterfowl. It’s part of the fun of urban fishing, unseen rituals performed on the bank with only the river as witness.

It could be the most sinister fishing excursion ever – what with the kids screaming in delight and your spouse forking over the Bonus Points by the shovel full … With proper marketing and your ability to deliver with a straight face, it’s instant hero – “Poppa finally sees the light” – and rather than [...]

A tongue-in-cheek piece featuring Wayne Newton as the ficticious poster boy for a multistate government program designed to revitalize sagging fishing license sales.

Where’s them damn bargains you hinted at? The Orvis resellers on eBay are Adam’s Outlet, a fly shop in Austin Texas, and Redwoodloft, a wholesaler in Virginia. Both companies have essentially the same Orvis inventory, but Adam’s Outlet is a fly shop, with a broad range of tackle and resells Hardy, Cortland, and Scientific Anglers rods. Redwoodloft [...]

Why is it that the cover angler always has hands bigger than his head? Is this the sign of the superior angler – and the rest of us not so blessed toil in mediocrity, never to catch the large fish? Then again, a fish eyed lense might be cause … but only Madison Ave types know for sure.