how to fly fish Archives - Page 3 of 18

Video: Finding Cheap, Fun Fly Fishing Close to Home

May 14, 2020

While you’re sitting in your office dreaming about Montana or New Zealand, there are probably a dozen places to fly fish nearby. In this great video from the Orvis Fly Fishing Learning Center, . . .

Video Pro Tip: How to Make an Aerial Mend

April 30, 2020

Mending is such an important part of achieving a good dead drift that we have posted about many times here on the Orvis News Fly Fishing blog. (See here and here, for instance.) One of the . . .

Classic Pro Tip: Keep Your Fly In the Water

August 13, 2019

Your chances of catching a gorgeous trout like this increase the longer your fly is in the strike zone.
Photo by Shawn Combs

There’s an old saying among fishermen: You can’t catch fish if your line isn’t in the water. I believe that this is one of the reasons that wives often outfished their more-experienced husbands on float trips when I guided on the Yellowstone and in Alaska. Whereas the husband recognized every great trout lie the boat floated past and. . .

Pro Tips: How to Find Trout in Lakes

June 27, 2019

Bill Spicer, host of “The New Fly Fisher,” with a nice lake-caught brown trout.
Photo courtesy Falcon’s Ledge

This week, we offer some tips on trout fishing in lakes from Phil Rowley, one of the top stillwater experts in North America. I asked Phil to host the stillwater chapter on from the Orvis Fly . . .

Pro Tip: Three Tips for a Better Backcast

March 12, 2019

Written by: Tim Linehan

Keeping an eye on your backcast will help you ensure it’s straightening out correctly.

If you’re looking to improve your cast, start by perfecting your backcast. Here are three tips that will help you accomplish a better backcast and therefore, . . .

Video Pro Tip: How to Cast in Heavy Wind

July 12, 2018

Written by: Peter Kutzer

Welcome to another installment of “Ask an Orvis Fly-Fishing Instructor,” with me, Peter Kutzer. In this episode, I demonstrate how to cast in windy conditions. Before we proceed, a word of caution: Whenever there’s any kind of wind, your first priority should always be. . .

Classic Pro Tips: 3 Steps to Teaching Teens to Fly Fish

June 13, 2018

Written by: Will Lillard, Lillard Fly Fishing Expeditions

Teens are among the hardest groups to engage in a new activity.
Photos by Will Lillard

Before I led Lillard Fly Fishing Expedition’s first teen fly fishing adventure, I sat down for a beer with TU’s Director of Youth Education, Franklin Tate. We talked about the success TU has. . .

Video Pro Tip: Learning by Watching Trout Rises

May 11, 2018

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. . .

Video Pro Tips: How to Detect Strikes When Nymph Fishing

February 20, 2018

As a general rule, the distance between indicator and fly should be 1.5 times the water depth.
Photo courtesy Tom Rosenbauer

As hatches become fewer and farther between in the fall, most anglers will be fishing with subsurface nymphs or streamers. When you can’t see your fly, detecting strikes can be the difference between. . .

Pro Tip: How to Make a “Slinky” Sighter for Light Nymph Fishing

January 22, 2018

Written by: Tyler Befus

Fifteen-year-old Tyler Befus is already an astonishingly accomplished angler.
All photos courtesy Tyler Befus

The competitive anglers on the USA Youth Fly Fishing Team, along with our coaches, are always trying to develop new ways to fish more effectively and to catch more fish during our time on. . .