The last piece of my stillwater arsenal has to be the dry flies. All are custom patterns I keep tinkering with as shortcomings and frailties become pronounced. The Calibaetis mayfly doesn’t help much as it’s seems to be a different color on every lake it inhabits. I like to position myself on the side of [...]

It was a bit of an imposition, watching the steady upward march of a horde of damselfly nymphs – and realizing I’d never considered my camouflaged legs part of any textbook underwater migration. Science held me in it’s grip until the first slimy little sucker made it past the neckline of my shirt and insisted [...]

I’ve flung them, swung them, and twitched them back. I’ve labored over exotic materials, rare colors, and exacting detail – and for all that labor I’ve got squat. Now I’ve abandoned any pretense of tradition – any thoughts of skill or science, instead I’ll fin myself around the Pristine on a soft inflatable recliner and [...]

While the balance of nature might be perfection, most of its inhabitants are less so. Us fishermen are often knotted up in our notions of behavior and only underwater footage or other form of proof is needed to get us thinking outside the conventional. Utah Fly Guides posted a video of Green Drake nymphs struggling [...]

It wasn’t so much the Perfect Storm as it was the perfect sunshine – robbing me of any pretense that I could vanish fishing. The American was running nearly double last year’s flows, which gave momentary pause, but the accumulated chores and yard work was running nearly triple normal. While I blistered those soft pasty fingers [...]

There was no genius on my part, Gary Warren presses a handful of aesthetically horrid flies into my hand – and while I’m recoiling in abject terror and mock offense, he’s cackling madly “trust me Bubba, you gonna want those..” I’ve got a handful of bulky and garish panfish flies and we’re supposed to assaulting [...]

I’m minding my own business and Reed Curry plants an idea in my head that’s been gnawing at me for months: “What elements of a natural fly are absolutely essential for the trout brain to use…” … to recognize food. Better yet, what elements of a natural (or successful imitation) are essential when it’s moving [...]

There’s little doubt I prefer the technical references to the feel-good fly fishing memoir, both have their proper place, but when I reach for text I want a question answered, skills increased, or broader knowledge of an unfamiliar yet burgeoning subject. Czech nymphing has  fascinated me for a variety of reasons. It’s the “Cinderella” story mostly; [...]

Some aspiring beginner announces on a forum that he’s invented a new fly, asking for comments on the quality of construction and the style used. … which brings the Wrath of The Horribly Offended onto his narrow shoulders. The first half dozen comments point out someone else’s fly his resembles, albeit minus the red tail, [...]

In last Monday’s post we described the distribution wrap, a method to make feathers that were oversized act as hackle on smaller hooks. That post described how a single segment of even flank feather could be spun around the shank as hackle. One of the more popular flies that Cal originated was the Bird’s Nest, [...]