Video: Tying the Griffith’s Gnat

Named for one of the founders of Trout Unlimited, the Griffith’s Gnat is perhaps the most popular midge imitation among fly fishers. The pattern’s namesake also holds a revered place in our sport’s history: On July 18, 1959, sixteen men gathered in the home of George Griffith, on the shore of the Au Sable River, and formed a conservation group called Trout Unlimited. You might have. . .

Read More

Video of the Day: “Holy Crap” Brown Trout

Matt Heron Reels in a Gigantic Brown Trout from Filmed In Tahoe on Vimeo.

Here’s an amazing video of Lake Tahoe guide Matt Heron casting to, hooking, and landing a brown trout of a lifetime. His astonishment when the fish first comes to the surface is understandable, and he plays the big trout extremely carefully. But it’s when it comes time to net the monster that Heron needs all his football skills. It’s an amazing fish, and we’re all lucky that someone was there to film the whole thing. Hat tip
Flymage Magazine
.

Read More

Art installation seen as a threat to the Arkansas River gets the go-ahead from BLM


A drawing by Christo that shows how the suspended panels will look from river level.

photo Courtesy Rob Snowhite

Back in September, we posted about a proposed art installation that would suspend translucent fabric panels above almost 6 miles of Colorado’s Arkansas River in Bighorn Sheep Canyon. One commenter on our post had this to say: “Due to the overall stupidity of this I doubt it will be approved.” We wish he were correct. . . .

Read More

Video of the Day: Call of the Andes

ANDES FLY CAST | AYSEN EXPERIENCE by Outdoors TV© from OUTDOORS TV on Vimeo.

Springtime comes to the Andes, in the Aysen region of Chile, and that means new opportunities to fly-fish in gorgeous mountain lakes and rivers. This video is in Spanish, but I don’t think you miss anything of substance if you can’t understand the words. From the expressions and gestures of the speakers, you kinda know what they’re talking about because fly fishermen are fly fishermen everywhere. And the real stars of the show are the amazing scenery, spectacular trout, and plentiful wildlife. I have never fished in Chile, and this video makes me wonder why.

Read More

Tuesday Tip: The Un-Swung Wet Fly

These days, classic wet flies are probably the most underused patterns in the average American fly fisher’s box. Trailing far behind nymphs, dry flies, and streamers in popularity, wet flies have the reputation of being for older guys or those not willing to sling two tungsten-beadheads and a Thingamabobber. But for hundreds, if not thousands, of years, . . .

Read More

Nymphing Techniques from Across the Pond

Fly Fishing Team USA
Why was Team USA Fly Fishing getting beaten, regularly by the Europeans?

This week I interview George Daniel, past competitor in Team Fly Fishing USA and now head coach. The subject is European nymphing styles like Czech nymphing, Polish nymphing, French nymphing, and Spanish nymphing. I’ve had a number of requests to talk about European nymphing so I called in one of the top American experts on these techniques. You’ll learn the differences between these styles and under which conditions you use them, as well as how to rig for these very effective styles of catching trout and grayling on nymphs. These techniques are great to have in your bag of tricks when standard strike indicator and dry/dropper techniques aren’t working.

Click read more to listen.

Read More

Pictures of the Day: Little Kids, Big Fish

Kids 3

Jessica Conklin is all smiles as her dad helps her hoist a trophy.

photo by Paul Conklin

New York fly-fishing guide Paul Conklin sent in these great images of kids and big Salmon River fish caught last month. Get ’em started young.

Click “Read More” to see two more great images of smiling kids and sweet fish.

Read More

Pictures of the Day: Salmon River Bonanza


Created with flickr slideshow.

Note: If the slideshow isn’t working, click here to see the images.

Podcast listener Moriel NessAiver, a physicist from Baltimore, sent in these photos along with a note:

Hi Tom,

Love your show. I’ve got over 90 of your podcasts on my computer, and I cycle through them as I work, particularly if I know I’m going to be hitting the water soon. You did a steelhead show recently; how about salmon fishing? Alaskan vs. landlocked. Single-hand rod vs two-hand/Spey. Small stream vs. large river?

Last November, I spent a day with guide Tony Gugino on the Salmon River near Pulaski, New York. I’ve attached pics of all the fish I caught that day. I hooked half as many more that got away. Definitely the best day of fishing I ever had. All of these were in the catch-and-release section near the source of the river, just below the dam.

That’s a pretty good haul for a single day of fishing. Don’t you agree?

Read More

Friday Film Festival 11.04.11

Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Festival, in which we scour the Web for the best fly-fishing footage available. This week’s collection starts off with a couple of Aussies heading deep into the rainforest in search of an elusive jungle species. When they finally achieve their goal, you might be surprised. As you might imagine, . . .

Read More