Scone, Scotland may not be the epicenter of the flyfishing world; but this morning, it feels like it. A hundred thirty miles north, the River Spey runs past the Gordon Estate where in the mid-1800s, the spey cast was born. Twenty miles south sits Loch Leven where – just a generation later – brown trout eggs were gathered and sent to America to build a wild population. And, beneath the rising fog before me slide the waters of the River Tay—from which in 1922, Georgina Ballantine hauled a 64-pound salmon that stands as the record in the British Isles. The clock strikes 9 a.m.

Each December, as we look back on the most popular stories of the year, we're reminded of a couple of facts that never come as much of a surprise. Fly anglers like to read about gear. They also like to read about how to become better fly anglers. And so, each year, stories about new fishing tools—rods, reels, boots, waders and what have you—and how to best leverage those tools and others to find more success when on the water invariably dominate our annual list of reader favorites.