To simplify their identification, mayfly nymphs have been divided into four groups–burrowers, crawlers, clingers, and swimmers–and the name of each group offers some insight into the. . .
Read MoreOrvis Staff
Museum Pieces: History of the Hopper
Pro Tips: How to Fool Really “Smart” Trout
Trout outsmart me regularly. This neither surprises nor embarrasses me. Sure, a trout’s brain is about the size of a pea—a bit smaller than mine—but it’s a highly specialized organ. It’s not. . .
Read MoreClassic Tips: 8 Ways to Stay Connected to Bass on the Fly
Keeping a fly in a big largemouth bass’s mouth often proves more difficult than getting it there. Here are 8 techniques that will make the difference between showing off a photo and telling . . .
Read MoreClassic Pro Tips: Smallmouths as a Gateway to Muskies, Part I
Do you really want to fall into the downward spiral of a musky addiction? Many of my smallmouth clients ask me about musky fishing every year, and that is the response I usually give. . .
Read More4 Hot Tips for Fishing the Madison in August
August is a popular time to visit and fly-fish the Madison River in southwestern Montana. The Madison can fish well during all twelve months of the year, and each month offers a different set . . .
Read More“The Bass-Bug Moment,” by William G. Tapply
I grew up casting deer-hair bugs for bass, both largemouths and smallmouths, in lakes, ponds, and rivers all over New England. It was my favorite kind of fishing—even better, I thought, . . .
Read MorePro Tips: Top 5 Subsurface Flies for Largemouth Bass
Just like trout, largemouth bass spend most of their time feeding below the surface. And as most people would agree that catching trout on dry flies is more exciting, watching a bass explode on . . .
Read MorePro Tips: Damsels for Big Summer Trout
I thought I’d found a pond full of basking carp. Its surface lay flat and still under the blazing mid-morning Montana sun, and I spotted the big swirls and sloshes and boils from a hundred yards . . .
Read MoreA Midsummer Trifecta of Fly Patterns
If the fly fisher’s lexicon were ever available in written form, the unknowing reader would be amused, if not astounded, by the twisted definitions and associations fly fishers have ascribed to a certain . . .
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