A Guide Guide

There are plenty of reasons why you might hire a fly fishing guide. The most common reason is that you’re taking a trip, so you want to optimize your angling opportunity. It might also be the case that you have to have a guide to access a particular stretch of water. Or, you could be genuinely interested in learning something from a reputable waterman.

Whether the cost of a day in a drift boat is a splurge or chump change, the investment of time with a guide necessitates that you do more than reach out to the first person Google hands you. With a few simple steps, your day out with a professional has the potential to yield a lot more than a good number of fish.

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Observation: The Angler’s Science

“On my return I found the party at camp; they had butchered the buffalo and brought in some more meat as I had directed. Goodrich had caught half a dozen very fine trout and a number of both species of the white fish. These trout are from sixteen to twenty three inches in length, precisely resemble our mountain or speckled trout in form and the position of their fins, but the specks on these are of a deep black instead of the red or gold color of those common to the U.' States. These are furnished long sharp teeth on the pallet and tongue and have generally a small dash of red on each side behind the front ventral fins; the flesh is of a pale yellowish red, or when in good order, of a rose red.” Meriwether Lewis, 13 June, 1805

While other explorers and generations of native peoples had encountered cutthroat trout, Lewis and Clark’s notes from their expedition were profound enough that later taxonomists would give them the name Salmo clarkii. In the excerpt from their journals above, pertinent to anglers is Lewis’ contrast of these new trout to “those common to the U.’ States.” Even a cursory observation demonstrated that cutthroats differed from the well-known brook trout.

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Analog Angling Library

Digital media is phenomenal. Even for an activity as niche as fly fishing, there are streaming videos, eBooks, and a cornucopia of online options. The information is dynamic, engaging, and relevant. But a day will come when the power is out and the devices aren’t charged. Alternatively, you might want something that is a little more timeless… or simply quieter.

Thankfully, there is a rich literary heritage within fly fishing. The landscape of the sport would be unrecognizable without the works or Izaak Walton, Norman Maclean, and John Gierach. Generations of anglers have learned of far-off destinations, followed fly tying instructions, and daydreamed of rising trout through the pages of a book. Books are not only educational and entertaining; their ideas and the tangible items themselves connect us.

Even with all the digital resources out there, every fly fisher should consider curating their own analog angling library.

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Talkin' Fly Fishing

How do you talk about fly fishing?

Over the years I’ve sold fly fishing gear, taught fly casting, and instructed teens in fly fishing. Recently, I’ve taken a few opportunities to write about fly fishing and talk about it on a podcast. The more I talk about fly fishing, the more I think about how I talk about fly fishing.

There are different situations, and people, that you’ll encounter. In my humble opinion, there are some tried and true tactics for communicating what fly fishing is and how it works. Here are three common circumstances:

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Better than YouTube

Let’s face it: We’ve become all too comfortable sitting in front of our laptop in our sweatpants. Even prior to the pandemic, YouTube and other streaming options have spoiled us. Whether it be business meetings, online classes, or fly tying demonstrations, our commitment level has become commensurate with the quality of our Bluetooth headset.

Snap out of it, people. Don’t get sucked into this dystopian cyber-reality. Power down your screen, put on a pair of chinos, and get out with other real people. Someone tying flies, and a few dozen other interested anglers, for example.

“Why?” you may ask. “I can pause online videos. And they’re free. And, as you mentioned, sweatpants.”

Listen. I am not discounting the value of all of those. They have their times and places. But there is something (somethings, actually) that come with a live fly tying demonstration.

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Leaving the Beaten Path (Out of Necessity)

Necessity, they say, is the mother of invention.

Over the past year necessity has absolutely been at the forefront of our minds. Whether it be because of state mandates or personal reasons, we’ve had to think about what is necessary or essential. That has had massive implications for many facets of our lives.

And, in a very real way, it has had a significant impact on our fly fishing.

Fly fishing isn’t necessary in the same sense as food, shelter, and health are. But the peace and respite it provides are invaluable for us. So we’re planning on going fishing.

Whether it be because of travel restrictions, health concerns, or financial limitations, going fishing has meant staying fishing for a lot of people. Thankfully, many people have options close by. It might take reframing what fishing looks like for you. It might even take some of that invention that pops up when things get complicated.

Here are three ways to reframe your approach to fly fishing. Each involves staying close to home, while leaving the beaten path that most anglers stay as close to as possible.

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Hooks In You: The Best Fly Box

You care about your flies. More than that, you care about the organization of your flies. You spend time, energy, and effort to tie or buy your flies, so it only stands to reason that you should be concerned about where they go.

Of course, you can put flies in anything. An old Altoid tin will work. But for a few dollars you can find the ideal fly box.

Today there are dozens of fly boxes at any fly shop and hundreds available online. What separates one from another? Labels might matter a little and there could even be some bells or whistles. Really what it all comes down to is the method by which your flies are held in any box. Here are a handful of common boxes and their strengths:

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A Gift Guide for the “Hard to Shop For” Fly Fisher

Around Thanksgiving, fly fishing brands and websites offer up an annual Holiday Gift Guide. While many focus on the latest and greatest rods, reels, and gadgets, I thought that I would take things a step further.

It has been my privilege to contribute to Trout & Feather in 2020. As a thank you to those who read my monthly article I have put together my own Holiday Gift Guide: a gift guide for the “hard to shop for” fly fisher in your life.

Here are 5 suggestions that are sure to delight any angling aficionado this Christmas morning:

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Great Lakes Steel (aka, Adfluvial Rainbows)

Let me begin by saying that I have never fished for steelhead in the Pacific Northwest. For the pedantic angler, that would mean that I have never fished for steelhead. For what is a steelhead? It is “just” oncorhynchus mykiss, with a little taxonomic tail of irideus to designate that they live the anadromous life. They spend the bulk of their days getting strong and getting fed in the oceans, and then they move inland to spawn.

I have fished for adfluvial rainbow trout. These big, strong ‘bows summer in depths of the Great Lakes before running into tributaries to spawn and/or go through the spawning motions. But truth is truth, and adfluvial is not anadromous.

Still, I call them steelhead. And no one in their right mind is confused when I say I fish for them in Pennsylvania.

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Learn from your Ancient Angling Ancestors

Imagine the first angler who stumbled upon what is now a famous river - like the Battenkill, the Madison, or the Snake. Think about the pristine quality of the watershed. Consider the flourishing population of big, wild fish he would have encountered. Envision what he must have felt… what had to have been going through his mind.

I know what wasn’t going through his mind. “I don’t know if I’m ever going to catch these fish!”

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Fly Fishing Past

I was past the point where I could hear cars or people.

As a general rule, the pools and deep runs that are within a short walk from the parking lot get fished hard. The water looks great. It seems like it might be productive. Styrofoam worm cups and Bud Lite cans are often serve as the fishing report. Only five or ten minutes up into the mountains and things change. The literal quiet is accompanied by a sense of quiet. The trails get narrower. The signs of people disappear. Then, there are fish.


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Why (& How) You Should be an Amateur Fly Fishing Historian

I had read about this particular creek dozens of times before I had ever fished it. Walking the banks the first time meant adjusting my expectations alongside reading the water. There wasn’t a trophy trout in every pool as I had anticipated. The mental picture of the famous pools was different than reality. And one stretch that I had read about was conspicuously absent from the fly shop-provided map I was following.

Many of the resources I had been using were from the ’60s and ’70s. Change, even in major river features, is inevitable. But an entire tributary hadn’t made the contemporary map.

Cross-referencing what I had read with what I was seeing, I came to where the little flow should enter the stream. From a distance I didn’t see anything. When I got on top of it, I realized that there was indeed water entering the creek at a perpendicular angle. It was shallow, weedy, and covered in brush. Only about ten feet in and it opened up. Soon enough I was into fish. Really good fish.

Reading historical accounts of fly fishing might pay off in really good fishing. More often than not, the reward is going to be in what you learn and how that impacts your time on the water… regardless of if you’re catching fish or not.

Here are three reasons why digging into the history of fly fishing will be beneficial, and three great ways to get started:

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5 Items for Fly Fishing Emergencies

I always keep a small armory of angling equipment in the back of my compact SUV. Fishing happens on a whim nearly as much as it comes about through careful planning. There are a handful of rods, fly boxes, and miscellaneous tools that I like to have at the ready. A lot of it is normal fly fishing stuff.

But some of it isn’t. Some of it is what I’ve learned to lean on over the years of fishing, hiking, camping, and living.

Here are five things I always have in my car. They all have plenty of uses, but I’ve come to use them quite a bit as I take day- and weekend-trips to fish. Sometimes it is disaster management. Sometimes it is just about making life easier. Consequently, it always has a place squirreled away in my car among my fly fishing gear.

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