Recently in Fly Fishing Techniques Category

Some fly fishers look forward to fall and early winter -- in many places the spawning season for big brown trout -- simply for the chance to throw streamers. You can call it "banging the banks" or "bouncing streamers" or "slinging lead" (sometimes heavy flies and lead-core lines make a lot of sense), but it boils down to a nice change of pace from the technical fishing of summer.

This week on MidCurrent Gary LaFontaine discusses the best strategies for Fishing Streamers and Undercut Banks. As in all of LaFontaine's instructional videos, he shows how best to approach, analyze and adjust to unique stream conditions. "One or two bangs in a spot and move on," LaFontaine suggests. "You're not going to run out of good spots" when streamer fishing.

New West's Bill Schneider takes a sojourn to Oregon's Grande Ronde and finds steelhead doing the thing that makes fly fishers' hearts pound: taking skated dry flies. "This means using a huge fly, extensively doped with floatant, cast roughly at a 45 degree angle downstream and then skated back toward shore until directly downstream. Instead of trying to leave no wake, you want the largest wake possible, which is why they call it either waking or skating your fly."

"A red ball of bait -- tens of thousands of bay anchovies -- pulsed like a giant beating heart as bluefish, their sides flashing like metal, ate their way through the frenzied bait." In this morning's New York Times, Peter Kaminsky takes his daughter fly fishing for bluefish and stripers, a fall activity that often requires a keen eye for birds and an understanding of how predators trap prey.

Shallow Water Angler editor Mike Connor offers some excellent thoughts on how to connect with the next saltwater fish that tries to eat your fly. Beyond keeping the rod tip down and pointed at the fish, Connor says, experience proves that certain techniques have advantages over others: "There is little debating that the strip-strike is far and away the best way to set the hook with a fly rod in salt water. There is debate, however, to what degree, and just when to add a rod sweep to the equation. Most fly fishers agree that adding a slight rod strike (low and to the side) just after a good solid strip-strike is the way to go. "

There isn't a fly fishing columnist alive, I think, who hasn't suggested a solution to the angling etiquette problem. My own advice is that if you think you might be crowding someone, you probably are. It's a big world, go find another spot. (The corollary to that argument is that if someone is less capable for physical reasons to get to their own stretch of water -- even if you were there first -- invite them in and move on.) After countless incidents on the water as a guide and angler, I can honestly say that three times out of four it's sheer ignorance that leads someone to interfere with someone else's fishing. But the number of people who get incensed at the behavior of other anglers is growing, not shrinking (witness the book Rod Rage
by Rhea Topping in 2004).

This morning in the Albany, New York Times Union, Robert Streeter weighs in with a balanced perspective: "Many people who exhibit various forms of rude behavior on the water do so out of ignorance. Their mind is locked on catching that big fish to such an extent that they block out many other things, like courtesy."

In saltwater, presentation -- placing the fly in just the right spot based on the movement and behavior of fish -- is ninety percent of the game. Mudding and actively feeding fish react entirely differently than "laid-up" fish. Fish that are in six inches of gin-clear current require more careful presentations than those blinded by silt or wind. This week on MidCurrent Chico Fernandez offers some great pointers on deciding where and when to cast your fly in saltwater. As he says in "Advanced Placement," it's all about anticipation and not being afraid to commit to your cast.

In my own case, becoming a fishing guide was almost accidental. I was taking a year off from a publishing career and was asked to cover his "overflow" by a veteran Key West guide. The only advice I got? Read 92 In the Shade and go fishing. But thanks to Colorado Mountain College's Timberline campus in Leadville, you can learn the ins and outs of guiding with a bit more structure, at least if you want to be a trout guide.

The latest podcast by Orvis's Tom Rosenbauer offers tips on setting the hook on trout. "Take heart. If you are missing strikes, it's often not your technique that's to blame. It could be one of two things. One is if your fly is not quite right, what happens is that a trout sees your fly on the surface or underneath the water and at the last minute sees that something isn't quite right -- it just doesn't look like food. And what they do is they don't inhale the fly, but their momentum carries them forward, so what you see is a splash or what looks like a rise, but the fish has gone past your fly and never opened its mouth."

"The biggest cutthroat of the year come to my egg flies when the chinook salmon do their dance of death and life in South Sound rivers. The Nisqually, the Skokomish and the rivers that flow into Hood Canal also offer great cutthroat trout fishing during the salmon spawn. I usually lose these big cutts to the snags or my own excitement." Chester Allen writes about fishing egg flies for big cutthroat in the many Washington rivers where salmon spawn in the fall. In the Olympian.

Nearing the end of trico season in Wyoming, guide John Schwalbe gives Wes Smalling some advice about how to end the nightmare. "You need to present your fly each time in a motionless drift right to the trout's snout, timing the arrival of the fly to the fish only when the trout is ready to come up for another bite." In the Caspar Star-Tribune.

"You can't say enough about fishing. Though the sport of kings, it's just what the deadbeat ordered." --- Thomas McGuane

Talking with a Wall Street Journal reporter yesterday, I was presented with an innocent question: "Fly fishing is a rapidly growing sport, isn't it?" "Well, no, not really," I said. Before the words were out of my mouth I remembered that one of MidCurrent's purposes is to help grow the sport, that this was national media, and that my suggestion that participation in fly fishing had stagnated wasn't helping our cause. "It's an age issue, I think.... More reflective of overall trends towards kids staying indoors and our not giving them reasons to be excited about the sport."

Maybe I've been watching too much politics.

The fact is, fly fishing is and will remain a niche sport, and that many times when we attempt to draw some picture of universal appeal we dilute the message. I sometimes wonder if by telling folks that fly fishing is easy, that it is sexy, that it has all the excitement of snowboarding and the stimulation of a good video game, we aren't getting the message out at all. In reality, our sport is one of the most complex activities you can engage in while out of doors. And that is exactly how it should be. The effort to become a better fly fisher inevitably makes us more aware of our intricate connection to the natural world. If you don't understand that, or don't know its value, you might as well be fishing with dynamite.

So when fashion moguls film someone "fly fishing in black tie and waders on a grand country estate," we should snicker at the Brideshead Moment, but only because it looks elitist. If we want to preserve what's valuable in fly fishing, let's make more of an effort to make the sport accessible to those who want to learn (kids, for example) and worry less about making it simple. We won't preserve anything of our sport by dumbing it down and allowing it to slide into irrelevance. Designers don't sell clothes by making them look all the same, and kids see through our suggestion that fly fishing is a great sport for deadbeats too. The king doesn't need new clothes, he just needs some good old-fashioned advice -- and a good, quiet place to fish.

Dan Carpenter fashions a fly rod out of a willow branch, paper clips and duct tape, and learns that while catching fish is possible with the lowest of tech, it's not quite as fun as graphite. "I was actually able to get the 7-weight line out there," he said. "The line slipped the guides pretty well. I could even mend with it. "There was a hatch, and I tied on a Quill Gordon, ginger, No. 12. "I got it laid down and the fly was floating nice when a big body came right up and scooped it." Rich Landers in The Olympian.

In a short video, fly fishing guide Karl Weixlmann discusses essential gear and flies for catching steelhead from the Lake Erie shoreline.

The accompanying article also gives lots of advice on technique: "After making the cast, I like to tuck the cork handle of the fly rod under my arm pit and use both hands to strip in the fly line and dump it into a stripping basket. You simply cannot outstrip a steelhead that's bent on eating your fly in open water. Another retrieve that works on the lakeshore is to strip the line in erratic spurts from 1 foot to 3 feet long with your line hand while keeping the line tucked under the cork handle with your rod hand."

On NWPAOutdoors.com.

As Eric Sharp points out, fishing for St. Marys River pink salmon with indicators is about as easy as salmon fishing gets. The best part is that catching pinks will give you all the experience you need in determining when any type of salmon has taken a fly. "Sometimes the bright green, acorn-size foam indicator jiggled a little without going completely underwater. Other times it suddenly slowed down. Either occurrence was a signal to raise the rod tip and feel the sudden, hard headshake of a hooked fish." In the Detroit Free Press.

This week Joan Wulff demonstrates several advanced fly casting techniques, including changing directions, curve casts, and casts for weighted nymphs. While the techniques are described as "advanced," fly casters of all levels will appreciate her tips on dealing with the challenges of positioning and presentation on a trout stream.

Excerpt: "Right now I have deep water ahead of me, so a straight line cast would go over the rock, not in front of it. I'll do a curve cast, starting with a horizontal stroke to the target area. Then, as the line is unrolling I'll quickly move the rod sideward and pull it back in close to me in a curve, at the same time slipping line."

"The pervasive stillness on the Teton River makes the fishing all the more intense. Slow currents slide and twist along the hay-lined banks, pulling tricos, the product of a light hatch earlier this morning, around in the river's relaxed spin cycle." Samuel S. Bacon writes a lyrical entry on trico fishing on the Teton in the Denver Post.

"The strategy was simple: Cast flies to the bank or to nearby log structure. Hit the dark water and fishy places under overhanging trees. Then impart a realistic action to the fly by stripping and pausing so the fly suspends in the current imitating a distressed minnow." One of the best parts of this article by Howard Meyerson is the photo of the smallmouth flies he and guide Leo Wright were fishing with: Dahlberg Divers, Clousers, and sharp-looking microfiber CK Minnows. On MLive.com.

Lefty Kreh once said, "You haven't lived until you've caught a catfish on a cane pole." Well, if you have caught a catfish or two on a cane pole, what you might consider next is catching a 50-inch northern pike, or even a monster muskie, on a fly rod. And do it with a topwater fly.

This week Robert Tomes shares an article on the techniques for doing just that from his upcoming book Muskie on the Fly. "The Muskie Top-Water Retrieve" will tell you everything you need to know about the sweep-and-strip retrieves that work magic on big muskies (and other big freshwater fish).

New on MidCurrent, Gary LaFontaine talks about strategies for fishing big freestone rivers, reminding us that it's not always obvious where the fish or how to catch them. "The middle of the river will hold fish, but you should never ignore the current flows along the edges and the associated pocket water. The side channels, with slower flows, sometimes provide fish with easier meals and a place to rest. They're always worth at least a quick exploration. There are times when large fish actually congregate in places like this, so always be ready."

What techniques contribute to better timing and higher line speed? As Joan Wulff shows us this week in "Distance Casting," modifying shoulder and elbow position, shooting line on the backcast, and adding single hauls can easily help further your reach. At the end of the video she also demonstrates a handy trick for creating loops that will not tangle when shooting line while wading.

Excerpt: "There are two stances that will solve all of the problems you encounter between distance and accuracy. Accuracy is a little bit like throwing a dart. It doesn't matter how you stand, but your shoulders are square to the target, the rod is vertical, and your hand comes in close to your face. As that line lengthens, drop back your right foot and shift your weight, and that makes your stroke a little bit longer. And as we get more line, it gets to be more like a baseball throw: we change our stance from square to the target to sideways to the target by rotating at the hips, opening the shoulders backward, and angling the rod off vertical to about 1:30."

Gordon Wickstrom is clearly a picker. As he correctly asserts, with patience most knots can have their diabolical innards exorcised. "There's a metaphor somewhere in this matter of tangles. Life itself might be thought of as a hopeless tangle, the ultimate tangle, the tangle of all tangles, of which, in the end, there is no undoing whatever. Still, it may be well to have the savvy of the angler to keep looking down into the center of the mess, as down into the center of Dante's Inferno, to find a way out. Even though there is none." In the Boulder Daily Camera.

I happen to be a puller, as a lot of guides I know are. Does it have to something to do with the speed at which I can re-tie leaders? Probably. Or maybe I just don't want to ruin a good several minutes worrying over another of life's Gordian knots. So I'll give it a glance, take a couple of tugs, then follow Alexander's example of going to the sword.

Here's a pretty good tip, though: As we all know, fly lines tangle, and sometimes they don't do it until you are just making that perfect shooting-line cast. When that happens, the first thing to try is to pull on the back end of the line, and leave the front end of the line alone. Think of it as the "last in , first out" principle of fly line tangles.

It used to be that only Florida Keys bonefish pursued post-graduate educations. With the rise in fishing pressure along Florida's Gulf coast, redfish have become the new doctors of selective eating, according to this Sarasota Herald-Tribune writer: "Head for exotic destinations such as the Bahamas, Venezuela, Mexico, Belize or Christmas Island, and even the most inexperienced fly fisher can become a seasoned bonefish pro. For our money, redfish are tougher than bonefish when it comes to shallow water sight-fishing with flies or artificial lures. Redfish can make bonefish look downright easy."

Randy Cameron reviews the ten commandments of stealth, as taught to Gary LaFontaine by river keeper Henry Ramsay. "The crusty old caretaker of the Windsor Club pulled him out of the bushes by his ear, and after admonishing the young LaFontaine, told him he could fish the stream if he learned the skills necessary to never be seen by any member of the club." In the Monte Vista, Colorado Journal.

As Morgan Lyle notes, before fishing with a single dry fly became the ultimate test of trout-fishing skill, tandem rigs were commonplace. While fishing the West Branch of the Delaware, he becomes yet another convert. "Blue-winged olives with size 18 bodies and tall smoky wings were on the water, but I didn't see any of them taken by trout. I became convinced that the rises were being caused by trout feeding on emerging mayflies approaching, but not yet in, the surface film." On New York's DailyGazette.com.

"Match the hatch."

"Unmatch the hatch."

"Match the hatch unless...."

You've probably heard it all by now. But there are a few principles of fly selection and presentation strategy that will get you through 90% of hatch-matching challenges. Charles Meck shares them with us this week in "Mastering the Hatches."

For most expert casters, a single haul comes naturally: they do it almost unconsciously, sometimes very subtly, adding it as one more motion that increases their feel for the line. The double haul, of course, contributes greatly to line speed and is commonly used to counter the effects of wind and to shoot line. But its use extends to even short casts and windless days.

This week Joan Wulff demonstrates an easy method for learning the Double Haul, using an overhead camera to show when and how fast to move the line hand during the casting stroke.

Vermont angler Lawrence Pyne finds the silver lining in a summer of endless rains by returning to the upland streams of his youth. A fine story comes full circle with this quote by Aldo Leopold, from his essay on small-stream fishing in A Sand County Almanac: "What was big was not the trout," Leopold wrote, "but the chance." In the Burlington Free Press.

Pick any river lined with grassy banks and it's hard to go wrong with hopper flies in the heat of summer. Add wind and you have one more ingredient in what can be fabulous mid-day fishing. But as Eric Sharp points out, there are still a couple of things you can do wrong. One is to ignore the local hoppers' colors. The other is to choose the wrong size. "One mistake many anglers make is the same one they make with Hexagenia mayflies -- using imitations that are far too big. If you hold a grasshopper up to a hook gauge, you see that even the biggest are usually No. 2-4 in length, and most are about 4-8. You don't have to exaggerate the size to get fish interested in hoppers -- the insect equivalent of a submarine sandwich." In the Detroit Free Press.

This video covers a subject on which LaFontaine literally wrote the book. "Caddisfly Water" shows how to position yourself properly to fish caddis dries and emergers and demonstrates why caddis water demands different tactics than the typical mayfly stream.

Excerpt: "During a hatch, emerging nymphs in the film escape their shucks and adults skitter across the surface, so you can fish the adults up and across with no drag. And then, after the dry fly has drifted downstream, twitch it and pull it back slowly. There are three possible spots from which to fish here. A is on the bank here. B is on the bottom of the run. And C is here, on the right side."

Second after the video on Orvis's new Silver Label XT bootfoot waders (which feature integrated laceable boots), Rosenbauer podcasts on fly fishing for wary bass and panfish on stillwater.

Excerpt: "The first thing to do is to throw that bug out there, let it sit on the water, let all the rings disappear... wait, wait, wait... to see if anything takes it. If nothing takes it, try a very subtle twitch. Just keep your rod low to the water. And pull some line through the fingers of your stripping hand. And this is a really important point in stillwater fly fishing. A lot of people keep their rod tip up in the air. There's nothing worse for line control than having that rod up in the air; the wind blows it around and you really can't control it, so the closer your rod tip is to the water, the more control you're going to have over the fly and the easier it is to set the hook."

Yesterday reader Steve Piper sent us this link to a long thread exploring the history of fly fishing for corbina in the California surf. We don't normally spend time perusing fly fishing boards, but this discussion caught our eye, if only for the detailed contributions. As always, the question of who "first" caught a corbina on fly -- like the question of who "created" a fly pattern -- has a lot to do with who kept the first records, but there is plenty to chew on here, including this quote from author and saltwater expert Nick Curcione:

"I'm always hesitant to use the word 'first' because even the most thorough research (I was a sociology prof in my other life) may not uncover all the facts. I caught my first corbina on the fly sight casting in the surf about 100 yards south of Hermosa Beach pier back in the fall of 1973. There were fish cruising back and forth on a sand bar and I finally got one to take an early version of my beach Bug. I remember I was using a fiberglass Fenwick 8-weight and an a Medalist reel with a lead core shooting head."

If anyone else has information that would help these folks answer the question of where fly fishing for corbina originated, they can contact Steve Piper via email at scpiper2@gmail.com.

As Gary LaFontaine says, "most of the problem in fishing high mountain lakes is finding the fish. Once you've found the fish, then you've got a few basic food forms." LaFontaine's video on how to fish a "Small Mountain Lake" shows where to find trout in high mountain lakes and how to feed them.

Excerpt: "A fairly steep shoreline is always good. Shorelines naturally gather food blown by the wind. You can fish lakes from the shoreline alone, but a float-tube or boat is more versatile. Bays too are a great place to find fish, as are the shelves and drop-offs associated with bays. Other good places are submerged trees, large rocks, or weed beds in deep water."

This week on MidCurrent Joan Wulff demonstrates the "Reach Cast." It's one of a trout angler's most useful techniques, providing longer drag-free drifts. A few key pointers on timing and technique also make it one of the easiest casts to perfect.

Excerpt: "A dry fly fisherman has to be aware of what we call 'drag.' Drag is that motion that makes the fly look as if it is a water-skier instead of a free-floating insect, and it's caused by the currents that work on the line and leader. So we need affect that by doing what we call a 'Reach Cast,' which will put the arm and the upper part of the rod upstream of the fly, so that the fly drifts down first."

Early July can produce good permit fishing in Key West, but as the month drags on toward August, calm winds and high temperatures can make it maddeningly hard to find fish, and especially ones that will eat. Apparently that's what happened during this year's annual Del Brown Tournament. Only three fish were caught in three days, and that's out of eighteen skiffs fishing.

One notable story coming out of the tournament is that the winning team was guided by Scott Collins -- the same guide who partnered with David Dalu to win the first ever one-season hat trick of tarpon tournaments this year. Collins and angler Greg Smith won by only 3/4" of an inch (that's what separated their one fish from the second-place catch), but it does suggest Collins is doing something right.

Below are the final results of the tournament:

1st Place: Angler -- Greg Smith, with Capt. Scott Collins (1 fish on day 2)

2nd Place: Angler -- Jack Knoll, with Capt. Jeffery Cardenas (1 fish on day 3)

3rd Place: Angler -- Chase Wise, with Capt. Bryan Holeman (1 fish on day 2)

A couple of weeks ago Tom Rosenbauer wrote about why you might impart drag to a fly as an obvious signal to trout that it is time to take a fly. But Rob Brown makes a subtle distinction between intentional drag and the imperceptible drag that he says can also stimulate feeding. Heresy, you might say. But it's an interesting theory. Is it possible that trout are reacting to imperceptible drag more often than not? "The fisher has made a good throw and a fine, long drift. At the physical limit of that journey, the fish is almost convinced, that is, there hasn't been enough stimulus to trigger the fish's finely honed instinctual response. At that precise moment, the time when the fly is about to drag, it begins to speed up, suggesting that liftoff is imminent, and at that critical juncture there is sufficient stimulus to provoke a rise and take from the trout." In BC's Terrance Standard.

The roll cast puts all of the basic fly casting principles to use, and so learning it is one of the first steps in becoming a competent fly fisher. It's also one of the most useful casts, giving you options when your back is against high bushes or trees, and helping you quickly lift line off of the water before a new cast.

This week Joan Wulff, in her typically clear teaching style, demonstrates the mechanics of roll casting, breaking it down into steps and showing just where the hand and arm need to be during each stage. She also shows how a small shift in arm position allows fly fishers to deal with wind coming over the casting shoulder.

Vermonter Drew Price ignores the naysayers and throws big flies at whatever wily, finned critter will eat them, including carp, longnose gar, and even bowfin. "Price's preferred form of fly fishing is more cage match than ballet. He likes casting huge, garish flies to big, brutish fish using heavy, powerful rods that would have Hulk Hogan grunting with approval." Lawrence Pyne in the Burlington Free Press.

The hand and the arm -- they are, after all, the gears driving any good fly cast. Tip control, proper application of power, and even the particular style of presentation all begin with mastering the fundamentals of hand and arm control. Joan Wulff considered it so important that she began her now-classic instructional DVD "Dynamics of Fly Casting" with a discussion of role of the arm and hand in the casting stroke.

We're lucky to have permission from producer Jeffrey Pill (whom you probably recognize by now as the producer of "Why Fly Fishing" and Gary LaFontaine's "Successful Fly Fishing Strategies") to begin showing segments of Wulff's "Dynamics" on MidCurrent. Wulff has the remarkable distinction of having taken the art of fly casting to its highest level while remaining able to explain complex techniques in the clearest, simplest terms. "The Hand and the Arm" is an example of why she has had such a tremendous impact on fly casting instruction.

After glancing at the opening photo for Deborah Weisberg's piece on the growth of carp fishing in the U.S., all I can say is, "To each their own." While I won't be tying garbanzo-bean-flavored Clouser Foxy Red Minnows any time soon, I applaud those who have challenged themselves to trick these very difficult fish on a fly rod.

This week on MidCurrent, Gary LaFontaine shows us how to best position ourselves for fishing attractor dry flies on a freestone stream. It's another segment from the DVD "Successful Fly Fishing Strategies" (Jeffrey Pill, producer), in which LaFontaine and former major league outfielder Dick Sharon demonstrate a wide range of situational strategies. LaFontaine tells why he favors the across-and-down presentation with attractors, and he even shows how to hold a trout without having it jump out of your hand.

On FishandFly.com, Jeremy Lucas describes the steps he uses to make a coiled leader, part of the system developed by the Spanish to detect the very subtle takes of trout feeding on tiny nymphs. "They can eject it in a flash, particularly fish like roach, dace or grayling. We need every chance possible in order to register when a fish has mouthed the fly. The greased, coiled indicator is far more sensitive than the proprietary available strike indicators, though will not support as much weight as these, but then it does not need to do so. We are employing mostly lightly-ballasted, single (occasionally double) nymphs in size 20, 18 and 16, at depths commonly less than a metre."

"The swirl in the chop said northern pike. When the fish gulped the guy's bunny streamer, it showed nothing of itself. But you could see the boil, and it was profound. So was the bend in his fly rod. The beast sulked, as if it were thinking things over. Then it poured on the coal and pulled free." Ed Dentry describes what happens in Colorado's reservoirs when the early summer sun finally warms the flats and pike laze in water only inches deep. In the Rocky Mountain News.

The legendary Hexagenia limbata hatches that cause midwestern snowplows to come out of hibernation and make bridges unsafe in early summer are also one of the least predictable "macro events" in fly fishing. The only real answer, according to Eric Sharp, is to fish more. "At one point, a fish started rising closer than the length of my nine-foot rod, and when I dapped four feet of leader on the water I got an instant strike from an 18-incher. I'll never forget that night. However, I would rather forget the 200 or so other nights when the Hex hatch produced a few trout of moderate size, and the 100 nights when I got absolutely nothing." In the Detroit Free Press.

"Foam means food,' [guide Dan Legere] explained. 'Bugs collect in the foam and fish look to the foam for food. Whatever fly you choose, land it and dead drift it in a patch of foam. I know it's tempting to drift your fly all by itself on clean water, but fishing the foam will get you way more takes.'" John Holyoke highlights a tip from a top Maine guide talking about fishing a caddis hatch on the West Branch of the Penobscot, but the advice could be applied anywhere. In the Bangor Daily News.

V. Paul Reynolds nails it with his discussion of the importance of tippets in fly presentation. In the process he's quite eloquent on new-versus-old, pricey-versus-cheap, and Lefty worship. "I have begun to look beyond fly angling orthodoxy, which teaches that matching the hatch (the right fly) and proper presentation (smooth, ethereal delivery of the fly upon the water) is the thing. If you have matched the hatch, and made a good cast, and still the trout ignores your offerings, is there something else? Oh yes. Try tippet trickery." (Thanks to reader Howard Fenderson for this link.)

Looking for something to occupy your time during the runoff hiatus? Try damselflies, says Charlie Meyers. "In that eternal search for evidence of a just and beneficent God, we present for your consideration a simple insect, the damselfly. At precisely the time when rivers are overflowing their banks and the high country remains wedged in snow and ice, this compassionate being sends relief to frustrated fishermen in the form of what may be the perfect bug." In the Denver Post.

Back in 1999, Curtis Rist wrote an article for Discover magazine on the physics of fly casting. It's worth reading again to remind ourselves how we manage to deliver a fly to a target that is sometimes a hundred feet away. Rist points out that while the smartest folks in the world are challenged to reduce fly casting to a mathematical formula, the physics of achieving momentum with a fly line are apparently simple: "Bullwhips operate under the same principle as the fly line: Energy travels from the arm to the thick end of the whip all the way down to the tapered tip, which accelerates wildly as the mass decreases. The characteristic crack of the whip results not from the tip snapping to the ground, but from the tip literally breaking the sound barrier and producing a concussion of sound waves." On FindArticles.com.

"Shadows of the surf, gray ghosts of the shoreline, that's corbina, a prized croaker that ranges from the Sea of Cortez to Point Conception. They can grow to 8 pounds and are known for their great initial runs and fights. Anglers say they're tough enough to catch with bait, such as sand crabs, which is 90 percent of their diet. It takes an artful angler to fool one with a fly." Ed Zieralski writes about the challenges and rewards of chasing Corbina in the California surf in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"Put simply, every fish has to be somewhere, and that place invariably will just be a few feet from shore. These trout are easy to locate, hungry and, on a typical day, as dumb as fish ever get. Anglers who can make the mental break into a new mocha-colored realm can turn what ordinarily might be the bleakest time of the year into a bonanza." Charlies Waters points out the several advantages to fishing runoff-muddied trout streams, including the fact that even a poor presentation can produce big fish. In the Denver Post.

In his latest podcast,Tom Rosenbauer talks about spinner falls and why the frenzied feeding of trout on spent spinners makes fishing a classic "hatch" seem dull in comparison. "Mayflies live underwater for just about 12 months. Then the nymphs rise to the surface, they split their skin, and an immature adult emerges from the skin. It's a winged adult, but it's actually not a true adult because they're not sexually mature yet. This is called a 'dun,' or subimago, and the dun is kind of an intermediate adult stage. And this is what people refer to when they talk about a 'hatch.'"

Think big bluegill take a fly readily and wouldn't tow a five-pound bass backwards? Think again, says Tim Kennedy of Grand Rapids, Michigan, who regularly pursues oversized sunfish. "'When I see the smaller fish rising to flies on the surface, I like to drop a woolly bugger or a crayfish imitation or a No. 12 hare's ear in the deeper water near them,' Kennedy said. 'I use a 10-foot leader with three feet of 5X fluorocarbon tippet.'" Eric Sharp in the Detroit Free Press.

One of the truisms about fly fishing is that it provides fodder for endless debate, self-limitation being inherent in the sport. Often the focus of disagreement is whether or not a particular piece of gear, technique, or fly is legitimate. Since there is no central governing body of all things fly fishing, no rules committee or international court of appeals, and since fly fishers are probably more inventive than most other sorts of anglers, every so often the classicists rise up in anger over the introduction of a "new way." And that, many would say, is how it should be.

So it is with the latest fashion in England, which involves the use of "blobs," balls of fiber that are stripped through the water and have upped the catch rate considerably on English lakes. (You can see blob fly examples here and here.) "England fly-fisherman Jeremy Lucas said while the use of the blob and the booby - a brightly coloured lure with polystyrene 'eyes' - could encourage novices, it was 'repulsive' to see them used by experienced fishermen. He said: 'Most of us would wash our hands of it. It reflects fly-fishing in a very bad light.'" Keith Perry in the U.K. Telegraph.

Gary LaFontaine gained wide notoriety for his sparkle pupa series of fly patterns and for his classic book Caddisflies. But to the people who were lucky enough to know him, he was more than just another very knowledgeable fly fisher. He was, as one friend told me, "the kind of guy you could sit down and have a beer with, and come away with some bit of knowledge you'd never considered before." The fly fishing world lost one of its great mentors when LaFontaine died of Lou Gehrig's disease in 2002.

This week we're happy to begin a series of showings from the DVD "Successful Fly Fishing Strategies," in which LaFontaine and former major league outfielder Dick Sharon demonstrate a wide range of situational strategies. Besides being another example of Jeffrey Pill's truly fine filmwork, the DVD is packed with tips on how to handle everything from small stream pocketwater to undercut banks. This first segment covers "Deep Water Nymphing" and shows how indicators and weight are effectively employed in high water.

It seems like every day or two we get an email from someone asking us to analyze a casting problem or provide direction to resources for improving their casting. Our best advice: follow the example of the top professional golfers who are always getting personal instruction -- often from players who can't compete at their level -- in order to improve some aspect of their game. Fortunately fly fishing has an official certification for instructors, managed by the Federation of Fly Fishers, and finding a qualified instructor is much easier than it sounds. Just use the FFF's online search form to get names and contact info for instructors in your area.

That quote comes from Tony Soltys, president of Alaska's Rain Country Fly Fishers, and it highlights Alan Suderman's piece in the Juneau Empire about learning to fly fish. As he soon discovers, even the experts claim they never stop learning. "When I asked [Brad] Elfers, who said he's been fly-fishing for 20 years, if he considers himself an expert, he frowns and thinks for a second before saying, 'maybe in a few parts. It's one of those sports where becoming an expert is an ongoing thing,' Elfers said. 'You're never there.'"

With all the talk about drag-free drifts, you'd think the fly fishing world revolved around limp leaders, bounce casts, and stack mends. But fly fishing is filled with examples of where doing the exact opposite of the general advice often gets better results. Skating flies is a perfect example.

This week on MidCurrent, Tom Rosenbauer shares his considerable insight on the subject in "When Drag is Desirable:"

"Imparting movement to a dry fly is one of the most effective and exciting ways to fish dry flies, but it must be done under the right circumstances with special techniques that distinguish movement given to the fly by the fisherman from ordinary drag."

U.S. west coast casting instructor Jeff Putnam shows how to use the Snap-T -- a cast originally developed for two-handed rods -- in effective fishing with single handed fly rods.

Ed Engle says the time is now if you want to hit the peak of the Mother's Day caddis hatch on the Arkansas and nearby rivers. "The key has always been that you want to get the higher water temperatures that will stimulate the hatch before you get the brunt of the runoff which raises, cools and dirties the water. It was beginning to look like we were going to have relatively clear water, but it was too cold for the hatch and by the time it warmed, the river would be high and muddy." In the Boulder Daily Camera.

As I was explaining tarpon behavior to Patagonia fishing product designer Steve Straqualersi earlier this week, it occurred to me that a hooked tarpon behaves very much like a certain presidential candidate. "Give a tarpon any amount of leeway," I suggested, "and they will fight forever. You need to fight them from the moment you get them on the reel, and make them think they don't have a chance."

Sue Cocking's recent experience with a large Key West tarpon had her wishing she had picked a less experienced fish. "For the next 20 minutes, the wicked fish alternately charged away on after-burner, or turned and aimed itself like a torpedo at the boat. A couple of times, it surfaced briefly to gulp air, but it never jumped again. 'Something tells me this fish has been down this road before,' I puffed to [Captain Tom] Pierce." In the Miami Herald.

Tom Pierce started guiding in Key West back when wire was the preferred material for tarpon shock tippets. His experimentation with knots for dissimilar lines led to many improvements in leaders, not the least of which was the Slim Beauty knot. And he's one of the most mentioned captains in the IGFA world record book. Through it all Tom has remained one of those guides that never boasts, never says an unkind word about a client, and would rather be fishing than doing anything else. The Miami Herald's Susan Cocking describes an example of the complex leaders that Tom has perfected over the years for catching large, fast, or toothy fish on fly rods. "The fly line was connected to a 12-inch butt section of 30-pound mono, which was fastened to a six-inch section of thin shock gum, which stretches like parachute cord. There followed another small butt section with a loop to connect to the two-pound, tournament-grade tippet which was fastened to a flexible wire-trace bite tippet. It seemed to me you could launch a fly shop with just what was on my rod."

There are some situations where the only way to offer a drag-free presentation to trout is with a downstream drift. Deep, unwadable pools and runs with complex currents are examples. Morgan Lyle looks at the technique of fishing dry flies downstream, and though the idea is nothing new, he does suggest several reasons why those stuck on "up-and-across" presentations ought to consider a downstream drift. "When casting upstream, the fly starts coming back to you the moment it alights on the water. If your best cast is 50 feet, that's all the water you can cover. Downstream, on the other hand, you could theoretically let your fly drift for the combined length of your line and backing, although you'd have a devil of a time detecting the strike and setting the hook 500 feet away." On DailyGazette.com.

"Trout are a lot more interesting than bugs." That's the launching point for Rosenbauer's excellent new podcast on reading trout water on the Orvis Web site. Rosenbauer has, of course, written extensively on the subject, but hearing him explain stream dynamics really brings the subject to life. Not to mention the fact that, if you prefer, you can download the the audio and listen to it on your iPod.

Here's a sample from the new podcast: "People have found that trout prefer to lie in water that's moving at about one foot per second. That's comfortable for them -- they're able to maintain their position -- and they won't exhaust themselves. And then they like to feed in water that's a little bit faster, because obviously the faster the water the more food that goes by their mouth. You may wonder Well, how do I find out how fast the water is moving? One of the ways you can do this is to put a yardstick down on the table and move your finger and count one thousand and one, one thousand and two, etc. and see how fast your finger moves when it travels one foot per second."

Faced with the highest spring waters they've seen in years, many anglers in the U.S. will be floating rivers rather than wading this spring. Arkansas guide John Berry has some excellent tips on etiquette at the ramp and on the river, our favorite being "Just because you like Toby Keith [music] does not mean that everyone else does." In the Baxter Bulletin.

Runoff. No matter where you live, if you fly fish for trout that word conjures images of swollen rivers and unexpected challenges. And since big water is right around the corner for many of us, this is a great time to remind ourselves of safe wading practices.

This week on MidCurrent Dick Galland lists thirteen key bits of advice for wading safely and effectively, among them: "A wader belt is as important as a seatbelt," and "Don't die for your tackle."

Lean into the current. Always plant your staff upstream of your body, leaning into the current. Should you begin to lose your balance, the current will push you upright rather than downstream.

Keep your body sideways to the current. Facing directly upstream or down exposes you to the full force of the water and makes it difficult to maintain your balance.

Read more...

Way back in 1987 (even before the advent of Tarpon Wear and before anyone knew what an Abel or Tibor was) Nelson Bryant recorded his observations on the "not-very-popular" sport of saltwater fly fishing in The New York Times. "Any decent fiberglass, graphite or graphite-boron fly rod capable of handling a No. 9 or No. 10 line is suitable for blues and stripers. The reel for these species need not be a costly custom-made job, but it should have room for at least 150 yards of backing plus the fly line. The venerable Model 1498 Pfleuger will do the job, as will the Martin Reel Company's new and similarly-inexpensive MG-9 reel. The Martin reel has an excellent drag and will hold a 10-weight line and 300 yards of 18-pound test dacron backing."

"'It works on little streams. It works on big streams,' [Skip] Morris said. 'Anywhere you have moving water or even still water, a nymph can be effective. Eighty percent of the time, if you really want to have great fishing, you need to fish a nymph.'” So said the Washington state author and fly tier at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission auditorium last Monday. Bryan Hendricks on NWANews.com.

Morris's latest book is Morris on Tying Flies (Frank Amato Publications, June 2006, 112 pages).

"At times like this, it pays to consider the nature of the rivers themselves. I have learned that different rivers turn on at different times in the spring. It could be that the Big Thompson will give up a few midge hatches, but there won't be any trout rising to them and they might even be unsettled about taking the pupa below the surface." Ed Engle suggests throwing aside old habits and paying attention to what the fish are doing this year. And it doesn't hurt to have a local who can keep you tuned in to the daily changes in activity. In the Boulder Daily Camera.

Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited, an organization devoted to ensuring healthy populations of bonefish and tarpon, just released a new guide to handling and releasing bonefish. An excellent read for anyone new to the sport, the guide contains one bit of advice that may surprise those accustomed to using mechanical lip-gripping devices: don't. As the guide says, "If lip gripping devices are used, it's best to use them only to restrain a calm fish in the water while removing a hook; if the fish's weight is desired, cradle the bonefish in a sling and suspend the sling from the device.

You can download the new guide from the BTU Web site.