To me, nothing says stillwater trout more than the short days and cold water of autumn. So when I arrived at one of my favorite trout lakes a few days ago, I was in fly fishing heaven. The water temperature was a nicely chilled 51 degrees and the air temperature […]
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 […]
The excitement was palpable, I was finally able to go home to Florida with a fly rod in hand. This was a big deal to me; the guys at Fishwest heard about it for two months. I knew that I would need to be guided to learn the areas for […]
Now Hiring: Fly Shop Staff Fishwest is a Sandy-based fly fishing company looking for a competent, hard-working associate to join our team. The right person will have the abilities to work in a detail oriented and quick paced manner. Summary of Duties: Fly Shop Staff: Outfit and assist customers accordingly, […]
Behind every good man is a woman, right? At least in my case it seems to be true. However, woman in fly fishing seems to be a hotly debated topic, with negativity among men running high. They see a woman who fly fishes as merely a model trying to pose […]
Ever since I started targeting carp with a fly rod back around 2015, I’ve been in love with it. They’re about all I’ll fish for in the urban areas of the Twin Cities, and I’ve never gotten tired of it. They’re smart, strong, super cool fish, not to mention they […]
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 […]