
This week, my guest is Orvis COO Simon Perkins, a lifelong fly fisher who spent eight years guiding full-time in Montana prior to working for Orvis. The subject is “Seek the Inside,” getting detailed about reading the water in a place that many anglers ignore—and one of the best places to find trout. Learn how to find these inside places and how to fish them from a highly experienced guide, who is also a great story teller.
In the Fly Box, we have these questions and tips:
- How do I keep my fine scissors sharp? What should I avoid cutting with them?
- I have an 8 ½ foot 5 weight Encounter rod and need something bigger as well. What weight rod should I think of for my next one?
- A great tip on how to relieve lower back pain when fishing all day
- Why don’t we have wild rainbow trout in more streams if they are so easy to grow in a hatchery?
- What is causing my leader to twist when fishing with a dry dropper?
- What are some good fly patterns to tie for panfish, ones that are easy for a beginner to tie?
- What would cause a large brown trout to suddenly dart erratically in all directions and then return to the same spot?
- What can I do to keep the tip of my floating line from sinking?
- Why am I having so much trouble making short casts on small streams?
- Is a 5-weight rod too small for bass?
- Can Antron be used as a parachute post material?
- Why do the wings on my poly wing spinners sweep back along the body and how can I fix it?
- How would you approach an unknown stream if you only had a few hours to fish?
If you don’t see the “Play” button above, click here to listen.

Photo by Andrew Pierce