Fly Fishing

Last week, Orvis held its semi-annual Kids Fishing Derby at the ponds beside the flagship retail store in Manchester, Vermont. It’s an opportunity to introduce kids to the joys of fly fishing, as well as a way for the folks at the store to remove some of the larger fish from the population to ensure the health of all. This year’s deby was quite a success, although those big ol’ trout are awfully wily and more difficult to catch than you’d image a semi-“tame” fish to be. All the kids had a wonderful time, as evidenced by the big smiles in the pictures below.

Capt. Taylor  Edrington has a pretty enviable resume, which just screams “Trout Bum.” He has lived on the Arkansas River in Canon City, Colorado pretty much his whole life, and has fished and guided all over the Rocky Mountain region, as well as in Alaska. Taylor spent eight seasons as a full-time guide, and three years as a lodge manager in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. He is now co-owner of Royal Gorge Anglers fly shop and SoCo Anglers outfitters in Cañon City, Colorado. Check out his video (above) about a day on the “Dream Stream” section of the South Platte.

“Big fly, big fish” may be an old adage, but it’s as true now as ever. The bigger the protein source, the farther a big fish will move for it to get a protein fix. I’ve caught plenty of good fish on RS2s and other size 20 flies, but mostly on spring creeks and tailwaters, where you sight-fish and have to all but hit the trout on the nose. In faster, heavier, deeper, or cloudy water, a big trout isn’t. . .

The author with a spring hog from the Pere Marquette. photo courtesy Chris Raines

As a full-time fly-fishing guide on the Pere Marquette River in northern Michigan, I enjoy year-round fishing to a variety of species of trout, salmon, and steelhead. As the spring steelhead guiding season winds down in late April/early May, the fishing pressure drops and some of the best trout fishing of the year is at hand.

June 1980 marked my third year fishing the Battenkill and also the third year of my fledgling fly-fishing career. The previous fall, I had acquired my first bamboo rod after having spent the summer cutting lawns and saving up to earn the asking price for the rod, $175. It was a 7 ½ foot 5-weight Orvis Midge characterized by a rich brown coloring brought out by the hand flaming process. . .