While I have yet to see my first trout rise of 2023, I know it will happen soon—the photo above was taken on May 1 last year—and I’ve seen plenty of photos from other parts of the country where mayflies are already popping. The next six weeks should . . .
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Podcast: Are Mayflies in Trouble? With Journalist Robert O’Harrow
This week, my guest is award-winning investigative journalist Robert O’Harrow, who has been with the Washington Post for more than 30 years. Last fall, he wrote an extensive article on the threats to mayfly populations worldwide and is continuing to . . .
Read MorePro Tips: Top 5 Autumn Olive Patterns
A blue-winged olive emerges from its nymphal shuck.
Photo by Stemonitis, via Wikipedia
Everybody loves the blue-winged olive hatches of spring, when the mayflies emerge on cloudy or even snowy days. It’s often the first great dry-fly fishing of the year, and the bugs are . . .
Read MoreClassic Video: How to Tie the Sulphur Usual
The original Usual dry fly was created by Fran Betters of Wilmington, New York, who specialized in fishing the fast water of the West Branch of the Au Sable. To do so, he needed flies that. . .
Read MoreBonus Friday Video: Bugs, Bugs, Bugs!
Our favorite fly-tying-video maker, Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions, has turned his lens on the underwater life of his home stream. He took a benthic sample from. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie a Catskills-Style March Brown Dry Fly
Catskills-style dry flies often have some bare shank behind the eye.
March browns (Stenonema vicarium) are among the more important hatches in the East and the Midwest. The big bugs don’t usually create blanket hatches, but instead emerge sporadically throughout the day, which means you can. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie the Parachute Purple Haze
A Purple Haze tied by its originator, Andy Carlson
I fished the Purple Haze in Montana a few weeks ago, so I was excited to see that Tim Flagler had chosen it for his newest video. The pattern was invented in 2000 by Andy Carlson, who guides on the Bitterroot River, and it has become very popular as both a searching pattern and as
Read MorePhotos of the Day: Brown Drakes and Rainbow Trout on the Henrys Fork
Written by Rowan Nyman
The Henrys Fork at dusk is a place of awe-inspiring beauty.
Photo by Rowan Nyman
It is a busy time in the greater Yellowstone area, as many of the “glory” bugs of summer are making their annual appearance simultaneously and en mass. After a hot summer day spent chasing salmonflies, George Kelly and Alan Muchmore and I headed to the Ranch section of the Henrys Fork, to attempt to fish the elusive. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie an Isonychia Nymph and Emerger
Isonychia nymphs are always moving, so you should fish them with some action.
Photo via freshwater-science.org
Last week, we featured a video lesson on tying an Isonychia Parachute, which imitates an adult insect, so here are the two previous stages—the nymph and emerger. Iso nymphs are active for most of the fishing season, which makes a nymph imitation a good searching pattern if you can’t tell what the fish are feeding on. These are predatory “swimmer” nymphs, which means that you don’t want to. . .
Read MoreVideo: How to Tie an Isonychia Parachute
Isonychia hatch from late May through October in some waters.
Isonychia mayflies go by many names—Mahogany Dun, Slate Drake, and Leadwing Coachman, among others—and they are among the more important sporadically hatching bugs in the East and Midwest. These insects rarely provide the blanket hatches that make sulfurs and caddisflies so exciting, but Isonychia emerge in light numbers almost every evening for much of the season, long after the “sexier” hatches are over. Although these bugs are generally not as. . .
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