Tip of the Day

  There's no question, one of the best, and easiest, tips I could ever give you for hooking steelhead is called the Hang Down.  This is how it works - After you cast and swing your fly through the run, your fly will be "hanging down" below you.  Make sure to let the fly sit there for 3 or 5...

The open clinch knot has probably helped me hook more fish than any other knot.  Super simple to tie and strong, the open clinch knot does two big things - It gives your fly more action and keeps your fly from getting tangled up. Click on the video below to see how the knot is easily tied.  The big trick...

I demonstrate how to tie a bowline knot which is without doubt the greatest knot in the world.  In can be used for many things but I find it most useful when I need to put a lot of pressure on it and still get the knot undone. Click Here to see how to tie the bowline knot:   If you want...

  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...

One of the easiest ways to loose a fish is to get so excited that you pull the fly right out of the fish's mouth.  This is no different for steelhead.  Next time you feel a pull of a fish from a swung fly, rememer to bow to the fish. What I mean is, instead of jerking the rod to...

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 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...

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...

Over the years, I've taught a lot of people how to cast a single handed fly rod.  By far, the biggest issue I see is breaking your wrist.  Don't get me wrong, there are times when you will move your wrist, and I'll talk about that in a bit. But, for right now, if you are struggling with your cast...

One of the things you will learn about steelhead fly fishing is that sometimes you can put in a lot of time for one shot at a fish.  That one pull that you put in 40 hours for.  You will likely be logging a lot of time and effort until you get that next hookup. I want you to be ready...