Pro Tips: A Good Checklist Can Protect You from Your Own Stupidity

Written by: Robert Morselli


You don’t want to forget your rod and end up like this guy, fishing with a hot dog fork (story here).
Photo by Bryan Eldredge

The first time, I took along the correct rods, but wrong reels and lines. Real smart, I know. Yes, I fished, but felt like a complete dope the entire day. The second time, I arrived at my. . .

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Video Pro Tip: How to Tie the Blood Knot

I’m going to state right off the bat that, when it comes to joining pieces of monofilament, I am a blood-knot guy. There are several reasons: It’s the knot I learned first, and I’ve tied it enough that I can tie. . .

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Video Pro Tips: How to Mend Fly Line


By flipping the belly of your line upstream, you keep the current from dragging your line and, ultimately, your fly.

I remember the day the light bulb went off for me. I was standing shin deep in a small New Hampshire stream under the colorful fall foliage canopy while several brook trout rose in. . .

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Classic Tuesday Tip: How to Unravel a Knotless, Tapered Leader


Form the fingers of your left hand into a cone, slide the coils over the cone, and then spread your fingers.
Photo by Phil Monahan

Do you ever have trouble getting a new knotless, tapered leader from the package to the end of your line? When I was a guide, I used to watch anglers struggle with this all the time. Sometimes they’d end up with a tangle bad enough that. . .

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Classic Video Tuesday Tip: Using Different Casting Angles

Welcome to another installment of “Ask a Fly-Fishing Instructor,” starring our own Peter Kutzer, who works at the Manchester, Vermont, Fly Fishing School. In the video below, he answers a question from blog reader “griffjc,” who wrote, . . .

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Classic Pro Tips: 3 Keys to Finding Bigger Trout

Written by: Toby Halley


The author seeks out water likely to hold the largest fish in a stream.
Photos courtesy Toby Halley

I used to fish a lot of good trout water and wonder why I wasn’t catching big fish, knowing that they were in there. It wasn’t until I started fishing with my good friend, Rick, that I really. . .

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