When I’m on small streams with spooky trout I use my “flip cast” to prevent scaring the trout. Hold the fly in your [...]

Don’t break your fly rod by jerking at a fly hung in a tree. Point your rod straight at the fly and pull [...]

You are standing in the middle of the river and you would like to change reel spools to switch from a floating to [...]

The North Fork of the Shenandoah has started to recede as of this evening. We still have quite a way to go before [...]

Can a trout catch you? According to Ray Hurley, my Montana fishing guide of 17 years, yes. More than once when we were [...]

Which hand should you use your wading stick with when you are crossing a fast run? I strongly encourage the upstream hand because [...]

I am certain that everyone reading this post with a conscience already does: Pack it in, Pack it out! Please take the time [...]

My compact rental car scraped and dragged badly as I drove down an old ranch road which was in terrible shape as we [...]

The old hand-twist is a good way to slow down your retrieve for those times the fish want a nymph or streamer crawled [...]

How long a cast do you need to make when fly fishing? Only long enough to get your fly to the fish without [...]

Being a pharmacist I hear many good stories in this field, but this true story is one of the best. Sue, a pharmacy [...]

When setting the hook on strikes on mountain streams with low hanging tree limbs use a line hand strike rather than a rod [...]

I have 3 rules for myself in rattlesnake country. 1- Don’t walk through laurel or deep weeds when you can’t see where you [...]

This nice 12 inch smallmouth bass decided a Chartreuse Shenandoah Chuggar looked interesting enough to eat! Notice the Redbud tree in the background [...]

Buggy looking flies catch fish. Fancy looking flies catch fishermen. [...]

When you are tying your own flies use very snug tight thread wraps to hold all of the materials in place. This, more [...]

Southwestern Montana presently has 100% to 110% of the normal snow pack. Anglers there believe this will afford better stream levels than they [...]

Experienced anglers know there are two types of waders, those that leak and those which are about to leak. [...]

Wade especially carefully when fishing small shallow streams. When you fall when wading deep water you get wet; but when you fall in [...]

In order to assure strong knots replace your tippet material from 0X down to 7X each year. This could save the largest fish [...]

After a sermon on the fallacies of superstitions reverend Ben Coe replied to a query from his fishing partner about his practice of [...]

When making long casts with large underwater flies you will improve your percentage of solidly hooked fish if you set the hook quickly [...]

If you are tired of having your split shot slide up or down your leader from where you put them there is a [...]

“Oh, I can’t believe I did that,” was the embarrassed utterance of the beginning angler in my fly fishing school when he hooked [...]

Check out American Rivers. Get involved to help protect our nations rivers. They have a good newsletter if you are interested in joining, [...]

As the rivers warm in April the large bass get hungry. Hit them with deep running nymphs and streamers and you just might [...]

I knew the young spin fisherman was serious about getting into fly fishing when he asked me if I could teach him to [...]

A good friend consistently catches more large trout than most anglers. When I asked him how he did this he said “I never [...]

A friend says when the canoes crowd him on the smallmouth rivers he just puts his back to them and makes very low [...]

I was fishing beside a good friend on the Madison River when I heard him exclaim, “Oh no”. Looking at the river I [...]

The concerned angler called and asked, “I want to take some flash photos of trout but since they don’t have eyelashes will this [...]

After my slide show for a group of would-be fly anglers a real nice lady on the front row asked sincerely, “How do [...]

How many of you believed that the intersexed fish found in the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers over the past few years were a [...]

Southwest Montana has a good snow pack which will provide good fishing this year so make your plans now. Call me (540-984-4212) if [...]

Yesterday my son Jeff, caught several bass on the North Fork of the Shenandoah River running up to 18 inches. Hit the deep [...]

A glimpse of the water coming down the North Fork of the Shenandoah River from the USGS Stream Gauge at Cootes Store, VA. [...]

In order to tie your flies so they are durable be sure to make firm thread wraps with your bobbin in each step [...]

Yesterday was beautiful and today is forecast to be even better. I had to try the river yesterday afternoon and was well pleased [...]

I’ll be doing a slide show and lecture on Getting Started in Fly Fishing at the Strasburg, Va Library on March 10 at [...]

If you find you are missing some strikes on streamers with your longest casts try setting the hook with both your line hand [...]