A Happy Listener

Cesal pike 1

Adam Cesal with a pike that he caught using tips from Tom Rosenbauer’s recent podcast.
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photo courtesy Adam Cesal

We recently received a letter from Adam Cesal of Spokane, Washington, who had listened to Tom Rosenbauer’s podcast on pike fishing and then gone right out to put his newfound knowledge to work. From the pictures he sent, it looks like he had a pretty good time. Here’s Adam’s note to Tom:

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Tarpon Hook-Up in the Keys

Orvis Rod & Tackle manager Steve Hemkens shared a boat with angler Fletcher White and Capt. Nick Varnberg during the annual Orvis Lodge Retreat in Key Largo over the weekend and managed to. . .

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A Memorable Opening Weekend

The Governot of VT goes fishing

Drew Price (left) with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (center) and Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry on Opening Day.
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photo courtesy Drew Price

 

April in Vermont is always a total crapshoot when it comes to fishing. The water is high and dirty from runoff, and depending on the year, it can be pretty unpleasant to be out there. In the past, I have mostly ignored opening day for those reasons, waiting for later in the month when the players would be out and about. But for the past couple of years the weather has been much more cooperative. Water levels have been good, and we have had some pretty spectacular days for the beginning of April. This year’s opening weekend ended up as one to go into the record books for me.

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Podcast- 12 Tips for Fishing the Spring Runoff

In this week’s podcast, 12 Tips for Fishing the Spring Runoff, I give a number of valid excuses for getting skunked during spring runoff, and what you can do if faced with high, cold, muddy water.

In the Fly Box section, I talk about fly rod design, fishing pressured waters, and the reality of fly-fishing magazine articles and TV shows. Plus a great tip for threading flies from a listener who left a message on our Podcast Message Line.

Click the READE MORE button to listen.

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Friday Film Festival 04.08.11

Film Festival2

Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Festival, in which we scour the Internets for the best fly-fishing footage available. This week is a bonanza of high-definition goodness, which means you should watch everything at full-screen, in full resolution, with the sound cranked. Co-workers be damned! There’s a little bit o’ steel, a tad of golden dorado, a smidgen of salmon, and even a bit of BWO. Enjoy!

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Trout Bum of the Week: Mike Dawes

Welcome to our first “Trout Bum of the Week” post, in which we’ll highlight one of the guys living the good life…of a sort. Most of them are guides who have turned their passion into a vocation, spending their time in an outdoor “office” that may include a drift boat, gorgeous mountain scenery, and crystal clear water. Others do have day jobs but manage to spend every other available minute on the water with a fly rod in hand. Whether you aspire to one lifestyle of the other, it’s illuminating to explore the different paths these men and women have taken on their way to achieving “trout bum” status.

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Pike in the Last Frontier

Thinking of Alaskan fishing brings to mind images of sockeye salmon jumping up Brooks Falls, the powerful brown bear, bald eagles, and snowcapped mountain ranges seemingly touching the skies. What I found on my adventure to Western Alaska near the Yukon River and the Bering Sea was quite different: the land was flat, water was muddy, and no bears were in sight. We landed at. . .

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Griffin’s Woven Candy Caddis Nymph

Caddis Nymph 15

The finished fly has just the right combination of 
contrast, bugginess, and flash.

Woven-body fly patterns often look intimidating, as if creating the body involves some kind of arcane knitting skill. But Georgia-based tier Kevin Griffin’s caddisfly-nymph pattern reveals that you can achieve that neat woven look simply by tying repeated overhand knots in contrasting materials. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you can mix and match colors and materials to create new. . .

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It’s Beginning to Happen on the Delaware

Delaware hatch

Things are starting to heat up on the Delaware River, and it won’t be long before hatches like this one start coming off.

photo Courtesy West Branch Angler

Just a couple of hours north of New York City, the Delaware River system offers some of the finest big-river fishing east of the Mississippi and ranks right up there with the best rivers in the country. It’s a wide, western-style river with legendary hatches and some very big wild trout. The beauty of it is that the Delaware can be a fickle mistress, offering epic days and incredibly challenging days, and you never know which one you’ll have until you step in the river.

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