Articles

Team terrestrial

Go tandem with terrestrials and up your chances for success

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Sep 14th, 2015

This trout on the North Fork of the Blackfoot River took a beetle pattern fished below an orange-bellied hopper (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Believe it or not, fishing tandem flies is still considered taboo to some. And it's not just to purist anglers, regulations on many streams and rivers still don't allow fishing more than one fly at a time. For the rest of us, however, fishing multiple flies has become a regularly employed way to up our chances at encountering more fish. You'll more commonly find many anglers fishing two or three nymphs than you will a single one and, on rivers throughout much of the West, hopper-dropper rigs are more ubiquitous than flat brimmed hats.

Photo contest update: 7 weeks left

Time to get out and capture that winning image

by Ben Kryzinski - Thursday, Sep 10th, 2015

'Haulin anchor', last year's third prize winner from Stu Hastie.

As we noted when we announced our 2015 Fly Fishing Photo Contest earlier this summer, this year's contest is far and away our biggest yet. All in all, we're giving away over $10,000 in prizes. Leading the pack is the grand prize, which will send its winner to The Palometa Club in Ascension Bay, Mexico for a week of chasing permit, bonefish, baby tarpon, snook, barracuda and more. As if that's not enough, the grand prize winner will tote along with him/herself a killer saltwater fly fishing outfit — rod + reel + fly line + sunglasses + flats apparel.

Cutthroat 101

A crash course on the west's iconic native trout

by Spencer Durrant - Wednesday, Sep 9th, 2015

A particularly pretty westslope cutthroat trout from British Columbia (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Cutthroat trout are prominent feature of the Western fly fishing world. They’re the subject of massive conservation efforts, with restoration work happening from Soda Butte Creek in Yellowstone to tiny headwater streams in Colorado. These days, most anglers are aware of the cutthroat, and a good majority understand why they’re so important to Western fisheries.

New 2016 fly fishing gear: Standout rods and reels

Rod and reel highlights from IFTD in Orlando

by Chad Shmukler - Tuesday, Sep 8th, 2015

Each year, in the weeks and months following IFTD/ICAST in Orlando, we get to hear a lot about the products that walk away with "best of" honors at the show. This is with good reason. These often innovative and superbly crafted products captivate and excite. But they're not the only show in town. Hundreds of products debut each year at the show, many of which get significantly less time in the spotlight.

Hendricksons

You don't think about this shit when you're younger

by Steve Zakur - Friday, Sep 4th, 2015

Photo: Matt Shaw Creative

At some point I stopped being concerned about getting older. I was probably just shy of 60 when the feeling of creeping doom receded. Over the course of a few years, everything that could ache began to do so. The accumulated baggage of the aging process had gathered in one large sack of decrepitude. In spite of this, I began to care less about the parts that didn't work quite right. Ibuprofen helped. So did Bourbon. However, like all phases of one's life there are surprises, most of which aren't pleasant.