Recently, someone posted this question to the Orvis Fly Fishing Facebook page: “Hey guys, do I really need 8 feet of combined leader and tippet line?” Newer anglers are often not sure how long their leader should be for a specific situation, so. . .
Read MoreTom Rosenbauer
Master Class Monday: How to Catch Difficult Trout

Ever have a day when you know trout are in a river but you can’t interest them? Watch as Dave Jensen cycles through a number of options to try to figure out what kind of presentation will . . .
Read MoreMaster Class Monday: Watch Before You Cast

In this week’s Master Class Monday, Dave Jensen trains his camera on a feeding trout and narrates what he sees. But more importantly, he talks about how his observations inform his tactics. Not . . .
Read MoreMaster Class Monday: How to Cast Big Flies

One of the most common questions I get on the podcast is about casting big flies. People think they are doing something wrong when casting huge streamers because they can’t get the . . .
Read MoreMaster Class Monday: How to Fish Riffles for Trout

Trout are often found in shallow riffles. When they are in this kind of water, they are often easy to catch, but most fly fishers ignore these hot spots because they look too shallow. Trout move . . .
Read MoreTom Rosenbauer on How to Fish Streamers for Trout

This fat rainbow fell for a Bunny Streamer fished with a fast retrieve on Colorado’s Yampa River.
Photo by Jay Nichols
Streamers can be fished just like nymphs and wet flies—across-stream, upstream, and downstream. Streamers will take fish all of these ways, even dead-drifted directly . . .
Read MoreTom Rosenbauer’s 11 Tips for Hot Feeder-Stream Fishing

Don’t ignore the small feeder streams that empty into better-known waters.
Photo by Buzz Cox
A few summers ago, I spent two days at Orvis-endorsed Madison Valley Ranch in Ennis, Montana. Manager Chris Eaton took me on a great short float through the Channels section of the lower Madison and showed me just how much I have to learn about fly fishing this river, even after fishing it for 25 years. I think I caught one fish for every ten he. . .
Read MoreTom’s Secret Tips for Fishing Terrestrial Flies

If you think terrestrial imitations are only for summer fishing, you’re missing a great deal of dry-fly action. The normal thought is that trout ignore land-bred insects in the spring and early. . .
Read MoreTom Rosenbauer’s Top Tips for Finding Your Own Small Trout Stream

Discovering a new stream is exciting, whether it pans out or not.
Photo by Phil Monahan
We trout fly fishers yearn for a stream of our own, a place visited by only a few other fly fishers each season, where the tight feeling in your chest when you round the bend to check if. . .
Read MoreClassic Pro Tips: How to Fish Small Dry Flies in Low Light

Most people have enough trouble fishing small dry flies without the added complication of gathering darkness. But trout often feed on small flies at dusk, and if you don’t have any tricks up your . . .
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