Tip of the Day

Have you ever been on the river when one person was hammering the fish and all others were picking their nose?  The dude seemed to hook up 3 or 4 times for every touch you had.  Probably wondering what fly pattern he was using, right? Sometimes in fly fishing, bigger isn't always better.  In fact I've found that the smaller...

Why do steelhead take a fly?  Becasue they are looking for food - Maybe?  Because they have instincts from their juvenile self from 2 years previously - Likely?  Because they are aggressive fish and just get pissed that there is this little nagging thing in front of them - Oh Yeah...... All of these scenarios are likely correct at some...

  Have you ever thought about what your fly looks like to a fish under water? Yeah, I know…. we all have. But, have you figured out how to control the fly so it is displayed in the best position possible to entice a fish to strike? Do you know what the best presentation is for fish?  Hint: Allowing the fish...

When I started out swinging flies with a spey rod, my cast wasn’t great.  In fact, it pretty much sucked.  But, because mending the line with the spey is pretty easy (think length), I was able to turn a bad cast into a great cast. After I piled my crappy cast out there, I only needed to pick up and turn over...

Do you remember the greatest fly fishing movie of all time?  Yeah, I'm sure you do - A River........, well you know the rest.  If not, watch the video clip below.  Remember that seen where Norman is false casting away - something about enticing a fish to rise. Well, that's not reality.  In realtiy or in steelhead fly fishing reality...

When you first feel the hit of a swung fly from a steelhead, you’d better have your fly rod ready. No, seriously, you need to be ready for that first hammer! You should be ready for that fish to pull out 100 yards of line. One solid tip to help you prepare for this....... Make sure your rod tip...

One nice tip to save you the potential pain of breaking your spey rod, is using electrical tape around the ferrules.  Pretty simple way to assure your sections don't separate.  Why tape? As opposed to single handed rod casting, which is a pretty straight back and forth type of motion, with spey casting, there' a lot of side to side...

Do you ever find yourself in a position where there is great water that you want to fish, but there is some big obstruction that is presenting a spey casting challenge for you?  Maybe it’s a vertical bank or a bunch of trees that just doesn’t allow you to set up a good D Loop? With spey casting there are...

  The power of the take of a steelhead is, well...... Powerful.  It can really blow you away if you aren't ready.  Hell, it can really blow you away if you are ready.  I've talked about a few techniques already that will help you hook and land more fish -  see the Open Clinch Knot and Bow to the fish. The...

Do you sharpen your hook on a regular basis?   A fish's mouth is hard and tough.  Although steelhead often hit like a freight train, they can also take super subtly.  Just as light as a tip-tap is sometimes all you feel.  Take a look at Tip #1 here for clarification. A sharp hook can mean the difference between just getting...