It’s been three seasons now of swinging up king salmon on the Kanektok River for me, mostly a steep learning curve of spey casting heavy lines in often windy conditions. Year one my major casting fault was over rotation; year two was the dreaded dip, and this year I added […]
Skagit style shooting heads were a product of the “Skagit revolution” in the late 80’s, when at the time guides and anglers were looking to develop a spey line that would cast big flies and heavy sink tips to steelhead on certain rivers of the Pacific Northwest. They had struggled […]
All fly fishermen dream of that trip. Bugs hatch endlessly. Fish rise to dries or crush streamers without a second thought. The summer sun warms the water, making waders obsolete. Grip- and-grin photos with the trophies start to mount. This was not that trip. While my Icelandic fishing trip was […]
Summer is often a time when fisherman struggle to get on the water and, if they do, it is usually a challenge to find ideal conditions – specifically for trout. High water temperatures, bright and hot sunshine, streams blown-out from recent storms, and family obligations which force anglers into a […]
Guide’s choice. A lot of anglers might hear that terms and say, “what does that even mean?” Well, it might surprise you but guides actually tie their own flies and give them to clients to use while out guiding. This means that they will want to use flies that are […]
Tabasco is the state in Mexico that lies along the curve of the Gulf, just below the Yucatan. Offshore oil is big business there and it is not on the radar of most tourists nor fly anglers. Nevertheless, based on a trip I took in early July, here are 12 […]
Catching lake trout on a fly rod. It was something I had wanted to do for a number of years after targeting them through the ice in the winter, however I just wasn’t sure if it was possible due to the nature of the fish. The majority of the year […]
Fishwest joins AFFTA (American Fly Fishing Trade Association) as well as other manufacturers, guides, and outfitters in support of the Bristol Bay Defense Fund Sandy, Utah (July 24, 2019) – Fishwest is teaming up with AFFTA as well as other fly shops, manufacturers, guides, outfitters, lodges and more industry professionals […]
You might have gone through moments in life, or in this case at the fly shop, where someone throws out a idea and then your group of buddies run with it for a bit and it takes on a life of its own. Usually those conversations end up as nothing […]
What amount of suffering would I be willing to pay for a shot at a trophy sea-run dolly varden? I briefly considered this question before eagerly signing up for an arctic expedition to seek out these jewels of the north. The top of the world is famed for its harsh […]
It was that time of year again in my neck of the woods. The time of the season where we let the fish do their thing in the rivers so we can have lots of other little fishes to catch in the future. The spring closure is a tough period […]
(You gotta know when to troll’em…) I arrived at West Blue Lake in Manitoba’s Parkland region on May 19. The ice had only let go about two weeks earlier and the water was a chilly 50 degrees. Perfect! I love fishing for trout when the water is chilly and they […]