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. […]
Stories
256 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 […]
Bonito in San Diego, CA It was a sunny Sunday morning in October, when my husband, Dave Smith, and I, met up with two other fly anglers to go chase some tuna. With three pelagic seasoned fly anglers on the boat, I was the noobie and this made me super […]
Editors Note: I have three kids, currently 12, almost 10 and newly 8 years old, and man, have they taught me a lot and they continue to teach me in parenting. Together we have created a deeper love for the outdoors and all things fly fishing. I’d like to say […]
This week I learned of the passing of one the greatest people I have ever had the pleasure of both fishing with and getting to know. Sadly, Captain Joseph Sands, “Josie” to those who knew him, was taken from his home waters this week when his boat tragically crashed while […]
Each year it seems the stories get a little more far fetched, and of course, way greasier. This year was no different, as my best friend and I set off down the greasy trails. Our plan was to have two camping spots we would use as staging areas and fan […]
The 9th edition of the Fishwest Hosted trip to the Andros South Lodge started like any other year. We arrived into the Congo Town Airport on Sunday Feb 23rd where we were welcomed by Kermit and the Lodge Bus. After a cold Kalik we arrived to our home for the […]
Being from Minnesota, I’ve never been a huge trout fisherman. I’ve always been more focused on the warmwater species that are abundant in my area, that I grew up fishing for and that I’ll always enjoy targeting. (Not to say there isn’t any trout fishing around here whatsoever, but as […]
In the summer of 2010, three friends set off on an adventure of a lifetime. With only a British Columbia backroads map book and the ability to read, we hit the road for uncharted waters. There was no rhyme or reason to the trip, other than the fact we wanted […]