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Hacking Fly

Kreh Loop Step 3

Forceps Knots – The Kreh Loop

Using forceps to quickly tie a Kreh Loop Knot Since the clinch knot is a direct line-to-fly connection, the line may impart some unnatural motion to the fly. If you prefer having the fly swing independently of the line, use a loop knot. The most natural loop knot to learn and fastest to tie using […]

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Filling Fly Box

Matching the Hatch Basics

It probably happened right after you picked out your first fly rod. The fly shop owner or your buddy immediately ushered you to a huge display case of flies; hundreds of them captured and prisoners in tiny compartments with confusing names like Royal Wulff, Chernobyl Ant, Mister Rapidan or Adams. “Don’t worry,” he said as

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Fly Boxes

Packing Heat! Hot Flies!

Not concealed weapons, but something infinitely more important and precious – hot flies! Just as a pistol requires a unique size holster, different flies require storage containers with specific characteristics as well as an overall organization strategy.

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Frogs Fanny Floatant

All about Floatants for Fly Fishing

Floatant? Trout feed below the surface 80% of the time and that statistic should push the rational trout angler to fish exclusively with nymphs to catch more fish. However, the excitement of a trout slurping a dry fly on the surface is compelling and is the visual pot of gold at a rainbow ending in a sparkling pool high in the mountains.

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Stack of tippet spools

Tips on Tippet

As a fly angler, you’ve already learned what tippet is. You know, it’s the stuff that breaks when you have a beautiful fish on. Thankfully, once you learn the ins and outs of matching the right type and size to your conditions, you will lose fewer fish.

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Fly lines in pile

Fly Line Basics

Been using the fly line that came with the packaged starter kit you either purchased or were given? Thinking about upgrading? While everyone has an opinion on whether the fly line or the fly rod is the most critical piece of gear to improve on-stream performance, I agree with the fly liners. I believe a

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Tenkara Tips

A cane pole? Hardly! If you fish small mountain streams, stuffing a Tenkara rod into your backpack instantly levels the playing field and puts the new fly guy on equal footing with the most experienced fly angler.

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Pick the Right Fly Fishing Reel

Considering the rod, line, and reel, the reel is the least important part of your fly-fishing outfit. Right? A good rod provides power to punch out a well-executed cast facilitated by a smooth, supple matched line. All the reel does is hold the line. Not so fast! While you may not need some elements of

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Quick Clinch Knot with Forceps

At the business end, it’s time to tie on a fly; forcing a choice from an almost infinite number of line to hook knot options. Want to start an argument? Ask experienced anglers which knot they prefer! In the end, as Phil Monahan wrote on Orvis.com, correctly tying the knot you learn is more important

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Spring Fishing Tips

By Loyal Brezny of The Hunting Mark Nine Things an Angler Needs To Know. When the fishing season starts in the spring (and I say this because opening dates can vary quite a bit from state to state), there are some things you need to know that are unique to this time of year. During

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Casting on a Tight Stream

Why do fish always shelter in the most challenging spot to cast to? Apparently, they do it to make our life as anglers miserable as opposed to their need to stay alive! The first problem is trying to cast with tight, overhanging cover preventing the normal casting motion. The second is when your casting arm

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Hatch Chart 101

Typically, experts develop hatch charts through years of observation, and different people may see different things based on when they are on the stream; resulting in small differences.

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The Fantastic Forceps

For the new fly angler, the forceps (aka hemostat) is an easily overlooked, critical tool. Do not make a quick purchase of the cheapest thing you can find! Examples of the wrong choices include medical hemostats or a set of needle-nose pliers masquerading in the role.

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The Fish Camp

As we roll up on steelhead season, many will head to “fish camps” as a part of that annual ritual. Living out of a true fish camp makes the expedition authentic – here’s the skinny. More filet knives than butter knives You can make anything as long as you can do it in an electric

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What’s in Your Fly Vest?

With almost three million websites selling hundreds of different brands of fly fishing accessories, it’s not surprising new fly fishers may be a bit confused; as if buying the rod, reel and fly line weren’t bad enough! Let’s cut to the chase – here’s what you really need… and what you don’t.

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Fly Fishing Vest Selection

Fly anglers are easy marks for every widget and gadget any expert claims will be the difference between catching enough fish to make their arms sore or being skunked. It’s easy to see who has fallen victim to the siren song – their fly fishing vests are so overloaded they look like a Sherpa hauling gear for an expedition. As always in these articles, let’s get back to basics.

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Selecting Waders

Anglers have many choices since manufacturers produce waders from rubber, canvas, PVC coated nylon, neoprene and breathable material. Of these, most trout anglers use neoprene or breathable. Rubber, canvas, and PVC coated nylon are durable, but also stiff, horribly hot and damp as the sweat from normal streamside exertion turn them into a mobile steam bath

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Wading Boots Basics

We can be successful fly fishing with rods and reels ranging from a $25 Walmart starter kit to a $1,000+ custom setup, but neither will ever see a fish unless we can walk to the stream, and, once there, safely negotiate the challenges of the streambed.

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Fly Rod Bass Rig

Frustrated yet? It’s the tail end of summer. All the experts warn about fishing the small mountain trout streams that have probably warmed to the threshold of terminal stress for the sensitive brookies. “Fish someplace else,” they say. Where? For most of us, “someplace else” means the stocked trout water that is also terminally warm – nothing there but… bass!

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Fly Fishing – One Leader, Many Seasons

After breathing a sigh of relief celebrating success in hiding the small fortune spent getting outfitted for fly fishing from your spouse, you put the gear to good use on a pristine trout stream. A few fly changes into your day, you realize the tip of your leader is starting to become stubby and must be replaced to maintain the taper from thick leader to skinny tippet. Congratulations! You just discovered the highest hidden cost of fly fishing – leaders!

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Dollar Store Fly Hacks!

In my endless effort to find ways to avoid costs in what can be an expensive sport, I wandered through the Dollar Tree (aka “Dollar Store”) looking for bargains and found some! The Dollar Tree, as opposed to Family Dollar, prices everything at a buck. To find fishing gear, turn your brain sideways while looking cross-eyed at the products on the shelf and voila! Savings!

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Stocked Trout Strategies

Stockers have been driving fisheries professionals insane for years with their central questions being the same as ours, “What happened to all the fish? Were they caught? Did they die? Did they leave?” Understanding the answers is crucial to their mission to provide a good angling experience that, in turn, stimulates license sales supporting hatchery programs.

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