There are few more maddening situations in fly fishing than watching fish gorge themselves right in front you but being unable to catch them because you can’t see your fly. (And for you whippersnappers who can now spy a Trico spinner at 60 feet: rest assured that such acuity won’t. . .
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Video: How to Tie a Great CDC Blue-Winged Olive
Blue-winged olives are among the first great hatches of the year in many parts of the country, especially on cloudy and raw days. These bugs often have difficulty breaking through the. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie Mike’s Honey Ant
Mike Lawson’s Honey Ant is easy to tie and very effective.
One summer afternoon, we had a reception on the back lawn here at Orvis HQ, and we were treated to a massive flying-ant hatch. Bugs were flying into people’s hair, eyes, and ears, and it was kind of frustrating to be in the middle of a conversation and have to be digging ants out of your collar. But fly fishermen know that trout love ants, and a lot of folks began. . .
Read MoreClassic Photo Essay: Dry-Fly Heaven in Yellowstone National Park
This wild Yellowstone Park brown trout fell for a foam hopper pattern.
Photo by Tom Evenson
Tom Evenson and I spent Tuesday night at Hubbard’s Yellowstone Lodge, which was pretty cool for me: it was the first time I’d stayed there since I was a guide at Hubbard’s in 1994. As you can see from the photo below, the view from the lodge is nothing short of spectacular, looking northward up Paradise Valley along the. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie the Extended-Body Light Cahill
It’s sulfur time on the Battenkill, as well as on waters across the country. One of the venerable patterns for matching these hatches is the Light Cahill. Historians don’t seem to agree about whether the pattern was . . .
Read MoreVideo Pro Tip: Learning by Watching Trout Rises
Most of us are in prime dry-fly season now, so enjoy it while you can (or after runoff ends, depending on where you are). You can learn a lot about how to present your fly by watching. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie the Classic Bivisible
The Bivisible is one of those time-tested patterns that you’ll still find in many anglers’ boxes today. Although no one knows for certain who first wrapped these contrasting hackles on a . . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie the Foam Beetle
A foam beetle is a great late-season searching pattern.
On Monday, I was talking with my colleague Roger Edholm, an art director here at Orvis, who said that he had been having great luck on his local brook-trout stream with a foam beetle. Lo and behold, the folks at Tightline Productions emailed me that. . .
Read MorePro Tips: Turn Yourself into a Hatch Detective
This smashed bug on the bumper of a car could be the key to success.
Photo by Phil Monahan
When there are bugs on the water, it’s pretty easy to figure out what’s hatching. All you have to do is collect a few insects, note their size, color, and silhouette, and then tie on your best. . .
Read MoreClassic Video: How to Tie the Sulphur Usual Variant
Last year, the folks at Tightline Productions showed us how to tie a traditional version of the Sulphur Usual, based on Fran Betters’s original. Although the original Usual was really. . .
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