Fly Fishing

Although the media has been focusing on drought in the Southwest, the snowpack in the mountains above Taos is looking good for the spring season.  photo by Doc Thompson

[Editor’s note: Here’s a snowpack update from Doc Thompson, owner of High Country Anglers.]

The media throughout the Southwest is working hard to paint a doom-n-gloom picture of a bone-dry New Mexico. I have an issue with this, since they forgot to look into what’s going on in the northern part of the state, particularly the Taos area. Yesterday I had 4 to 5 inches of fresh snow, and it continued to snow throughout the day. Here is a picture I took yesterday morning along the Cimarron. The Cimarron Watershed snowpack is only 9% below average, and some of our other high-mountain. . .

The author’s brother working a streamer deep and slow. Note how he keeps the rod tip low to ensure there’s no slack and he has constant contact with the fly.  photo by Drew Price

Freezing rain. That was the initial forecast for early Saturday morning. I thought it could be the end of this early-season trip in search of a pike or two. My brother Pete and a few other friends had told me about a spot with some decent pike during the winter. I have been dying to get into a water wolf, since it has been since October since I last landed one. I know that the season is coming up quickly, but it is never too early to have a pike on the end of a fly line. My buddy Kevin was concerned about. . . 

Today’s the day it finally hit me: I’m sick of winter. With a foot of snow still on the ground and tomorrow’s high expected to be in the teens, fishing season still seems a long way off. Feeling sorry. . .

Sharptail Media sent us this gorgeous video shot on a recent fact-finding (read: fish-finding) mission to an unnamed Caribbean country. Enjoy.

Lovers of fly-fishing photography should feast their eyes on the new issue of Catch Magazine, which features a wonderful photo essay on trout fishing in South Africa, some great closeups of mayflies, and Todd Moen’s video “Steelhead Dreams, Part II.”

 It looks like Maine could be the next state to ban felt-sole wading boots. The state legislature’s Natural Resources Committee hosted a hearing Tuesday to start the ball rolling, and representatives of Maine Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, Congress of Lakes Association, Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance, and the Departments of Environmental Protection and. . .

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Adam and John caught this 27″ brown trout on a hoppper in August

I spoke with Rebecca Shirley of Eagle Nest Lodge (2007 Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Lodge of the Year) yesterday to see what was happening out there for them on the Bighorn River. Apparently, there is quite a bit of good fishing on the horizon. As Shirley put it…

Here’s a video I shot at the first annual Trout Unlimited of Southwestern Vermont’s “Flies & Pies” tying evening, held on February 15th, 2011 at the Orvis Manchester Fishing School building. We had over 25 people in attendance, and we offered a three-fly “menu” for the evening. This was pattern #2 offered by Orvis Rod & Tackle Product Development Specialist Shawn Brillon. Hendricksons are the best. . .