Articles

Flats wading shoes: how to choose

Wisely pick your flats wading wear based on specific destination, activity

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Sep 23rd, 2015

Photo: Chad Shmukler

Arriving in Mexico's Yucatan on my first ever tropical saltwater fly fishing trip, I was loaded with newly minted gear. Lightweight, sun-protective wading shirts, quick-dry pants with zip off legs, buffs, gloves, flats boots and a host of other gear that I'd just ripped the tags off before packing. Even though my getup clearly hadn't seen any time on the water, I must have chosen relatively wisely, given the lack of stares and giggles our first morning as I hopped into our Palometa Club panga which headed off across Ascension Bay in search of a welcoming permit flat.

Two fly tenkara

This active fly technique is good for the rod + reel crowd, too

by Tom Sadler - Tuesday, Sep 22nd, 2015

Recently, I was in Idaho for a press event hosted by Patagonia. The purpose was to go into deep detail about their 2016 line of waders. As a newly minted Patagonia ambassador, I was along to talk about Patagonia's approach to tenkara.

The 7 core fly fishing knots

With these knots the fly rodder can fish successfully anywhere

by Gary Borger - Tuesday, Sep 15th, 2015

Photo: Chad Shmukler

Yes, you have to know a few more than seven knots to cover all of fly fishing, but these seven form the core. With them, the fly rodder can fish successfully anywhere. I have used these seven knots since 1955, and have used them for everything from bluegills to tarpon with great success. They are easy to learn, fast to tie, and have excellent strength.

The Clinch Knot

For attaching the fly to the tippet.

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.

Pages