Powerful, handsome, territorial, and ferocious; peacock bass have it all. While payara became my true love during our fishing trip in Colombia, the idea of massive peacocks was the trigger for me to drop everything during the middle of a pandemic and head to South America on three weeks notice. […]
Chad Agy
14 posts
I heaved my cast in to the roiling rapids for the thousandth time that day. The sun was setting on my last day of payara fishing during a recent trip to Colombia, and I wanted to hold just one more of these impressive predators. I stripped my heavy sinking line […]
“So you’re like a human smallpox blanket then, huh?” I received all sorts of reactions when telling people about my plans to travel abroad to Colombia for fly fishing during the middle of a pandemic. Some responded with supreme jealousy. It was like a lightbulb went off in their heads […]
The Lahontan Cutthroat Trout of Pyramid Lake in northwest Nevada defy description of the written word. Their most stunning feature is difficult to define. Is it their bucket-shaped mouths that allow the biggest specimens to prey upon other fish that would be classified as trophies in other waters? Is it […]
I firmly believe that there is no single “right way” to fly fish. I’ll happily crawl through a thicket of Russian Olives to position myself for a shot at sight-fishing a large trout. I’ll joyfully cycle through dozens of dry flies on a technical river in an attempt fool a […]
Have you heard of Fish Bacon? I doubt you have. I hadn’t either, until I invented the term. I’m not a big “catch and keep” type of guy. It’s not that I’m entirely against the practice—certainly many fisheries would benefit if us fly-flickers kept a few fish—I just usually find […]
I received my official introduction to the Trout Bum Rio Pico fishing program on just my third cast. A 20-inch, football-shaped brook trout engulfed my streamer, and I managed to guide it to the net. I stood aghast at its exceptional proportions. My excellent guide, Roge Casal, asked if I […]
As a do-it-yourself destination for the traveling fly angler, a New Zealand experience may surpass any other possibility. Despite its small size, the country boasts more rivers and streams than could be properly explored in a lifetime. Additionally, public access is generally good. Where there is private land in the […]
“This one’s worth dying for, I’m jumping in!” These were the words of my friend, Mike, just before leaping in to a stream on New Zealand’s North Island in an insane attempt to corral a 30” brown trout. The words were actually a prelude to his second brush with death […]
I desperately want to become a better musky fisherman. While all the amazing trout fishing of the intermountain west often distracts me, I made dedicated attempts at catching musky during the past three years. After several mostly unsuccessful attempts at tiger musky this summer, I realized that I am a […]
Everything about bull trout is cool. They definitely look cool. Their scientific name, Salvelinus confluentus, is cool. It’s cool that they will attack a cutthroat trout that would be a decent catch in its own right. They live in cool places, often remote and picturesque. It’s cool that they grow […]
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 […]