FLY FISHING ARTICLES ARCHIVE PAGE

POTATO CHIP GOBY CARP, BASS, AND BONEFISH FLY [VIDEO]

Gobies are succulent morsels in the world of the fish and are found quite often on flats. This can include saltwater flats for big bonefish or the rocky flats of the Great Lakes where carp and smallmouth gulp down these little fish. Fish can rarely eat just one, and...

FLY ACTION DETERMINES FLY FISHING SUCCESS

Fly action is a somewhat underrated topic. Fly anglers are known for their love of “matching the hatch,” and this tendency is connected to fly fishing’s close development with insect hatches over the centuries. As enjoyable it is to dead drift a PMD thorax pattern to...

CRAFT FUR HOLLOW FLEYE [VIDEO]

There are so many minnow patterns out there that it can make your head spin. Many of these patterns are simply profile fly patterns with limited action. Profile patterns, patterns that maintain profile and look extremely realistic in your hand, are very effective in...

HOPPER FLY PATTERN: MR. PEANUT HOPPER [VIDEO]

Hopper fly patterns are a ton of fun to fish. They’re not always the ticket, but when fish are looking for them, big fish are not shy about munching on them. Summer and fall mark hopper time in the northern hemisphere when the nymphs hatch and begin the first of five...

ARTICULATED STREAMERS: ARTICULATION

Articulated streamers, or articulated flies in general, are decades old. However, articulated streamers have really become hugely popular within the last ten years. Everything seems to be articulated these days, although I still haven’t seen many articulated dry flies...

STREAMER FLIES AND THE SUBTLETIES OF MEAT WITH MIKE SCHMIDT

Streamer flies have a tendency to get lost in a vast sea of bunny and deer hair. The common term for these flies is “meat”—“we threw meat today”. While this term makes a lot of sense, the differences in streamer patterns also often end up being lost when you throw...

STREAMER FISHING: TAKING THE NEXT STEP

When you talk about streamer fishing, you need to start with professional bass fishing. In professional bass fishing, there are normally two types of bass fisherman. There are power fishermen and finesse fishermen. Kevin VanDam is one of the most famous bass fisherman...

FLY FISHING HOOK SIZE: RESIST THE NUMBER

Understanding fly fishing hook size isn’t the sexiest topic around, but your hook is your link to the fish and is closely related to the size of your flies. Pretty sexy stuff! Well, maybe that's just me thinking. Most fly anglers' exposure to fly fishing hooks size...

JACKALOPE CARP FLY [VIDEO]

Most truly great carp flies are impressionistic. If a carp fly is going to work from coast to coast and even from pole to pole (probably no carp at either pole), the carp fly has to imitate a lot of different food items. The other alternative is that the carp fly...

BENEFITS OF HOSTED FLY FISHING TRIPS

Fly fishing travel has exploded in that last few decades or so like a volcano on a tropical island. The business of taking fly fishing trips has now become forever a competitive enterprise with hundreds of fly shops, outfitters, and various fly fishing luminaries...

THE SMALLMOUTH GOTCHA [VIDEO]

The Smallmouth Gotcha is pattern that I fish for both largemouth and smallmouth bass. It comes in whatever colors you like, but I fish it in brown/yellow, tan, and orange. Like with all of my smallmouth bass fly patterns, I use this one in specific situations. First...

ARTICULATED DAMSELFLY PATTERN RUFFED DAMSEL [VIDEO]

Fishing damselfly patterns is one of the most fun ways to fly fish stillwaters. I personally love to fly fish damselflies shallow when I can cast in between pockets or channels of weeds. The fish explode on these little, methodical swimmers, but one thing is...

CRYSTAL SEAL BUGGER FLY PATTERN [VIDEO]

The Seal Bugger was made popular by Denny Rickards in the 90s. It's similar to the woolly bugger but is tied for movement and allows for great color combinations. This fly will catch anything from white bass to steelhead when tied in the right manner for a particular...

GB SHRIMP BONEFISH FLY [VIDEO]

There are a million bonefish flies out there, like the incredibly effective Hot Legs Gotcha, so does the world need yet another? Not only are there tons of bonefish flies in general but they're mostly designed to look like a shrimp, so there all basically in the...

HOT LEGS GOTCHA BONEFISH FLY [VIDEO]

Jim McVay on a trip to Andros Island in the Bahamas developed one of the best bonefish flies of all time, the Gotcha bonefish fly. The Gotcha bonefish fly will work for any place that bonefish swim. Its design is simple, and really should be considered a style, along...

FLY FISHING ARTICLES ARCHIVE