Although a fly fisherman, being accustomed to light leaders, is tempted to use these artificials on that same leader which he would use in casting the fly, he should be cautioned to step up the tippet strength to approximately a minimum of three pounds (.009) or four pounds (.011), which means a heavier leader throughout, [...]

A tremendously effective artificial lure is that of the curve shaped wood or plastic wobbling plug of the Flatfish type. There are many lures patterned after this enticer and some of them are pretty good. It is the opinion of many experienced fishermen, including myself, that these light-weight, under surface plugs will get the desired [...]

Many otherwise confirmed fly fishermen, to be able to garner enough trout to form a layer in the frying pan, have, for one reason or another, resorted to their pet spinner or spoon or other artificial lure to accomplish the feat.In nearly all instances these “hardware” lures are fished, as are wet flies, downstream and [...]

Crickets, grasshoppers. large caddis flies, stone flies (called salmon flies in some localities ) impaled on the hook or caught through their collar are fished floating or sunken, either upstream or downstream. These baits are most effective if fished during the period when your trout are accustomed to seeing them and feeding upon them.
Minnow fishermen [...]

Some fishermen frown on the use of weighted flies. In the case of the nymph, however, in order to reach the lower feeding strata of water, it is sometimes necessary. The added weight should ordinarily be built into the nymph when it was tied. A weight added to the leader will work but some difficulty [...]

Several years back I pondered the problem of how to tell, from year to year during definite fishing periods, just what fly I should expect to see if a “hatch” occurred. In my study of the aquatic insects I felt that I could recognize the fly when I saw it. Having perused that data, which [...]

Every fly tier and manufacturer of nymph flies, like the blind Arabs feeling the elephant and guessing what it is, seem to see the little fellow in many different ways. Every tier believes his formula to be superior and he wonders how it is, how it can be, that the other fly tier’s interpretation seems [...]

One of the most opportune times to fish your nymph fly is during and immediately following the run off after a high water period. Whether the high water was occasioned by rainfall or a man-made changing of a water level in a dam above.
A nymph fly fished deep and near an overhanging bank is one [...]

Some of the maneuvers in nymph fishing are very similar to the fishing of the standard wet fly upstream but true nymph fishing is not “chuck and chance it” by any means but is a skilled exploration of the water, based on the scientific application of experience and knowledge of trout habits, aquatic feeding, aquatic [...]

The nymph’s life, up to the time he feels the urge to get out in the open air, is spcnt under rocks, covered with silt or in a case constructed of gravel, sand or sticks. When this latter type nymph, the caddis or sedge, has the desire to move he drags his house around with [...]

The colors, pattern and type of a streamer is, to a great extent, a personal choice of the angler. All streamer fishermen have a pet lure, whether it be the feathered type, a bucktail or a maribou lure. Some will swear by the Ghosts, others the Tigers, some will use only bucktails or squirrel tail [...]

In performing retrieves the angler should never attempt to induce the interest of the fish by artificial movements which no small fish or minnow would ever make in its normal state. The fish you’re after, in using streamers, are not the little yearlings, they’re the kind gauged by pounds rather than inches and they have [...]

Fishing streamers is in many aspects the same as fishing wet flies. Streamers are simulated minnows. Minnows move with the current and dart about exactly as you sometimes manipulate your retrieve in the wet fly procedures. In using the term “streamer” we include all the various types of this lure as the feather streamer, the [...]

In wet fly fishing on small or medium streams the line should always float and the leader should be submerged along with the fly, if possible. In fact the connecting knot of leader to line should cut the surface and be visible to the angler. On larger waters many fishermen use a heavy line, undressed, [...]

If you’re fishing a pocket or a pool where you’re pretty certain there are catchable trout residing, and they refuse your offering after tempting them in the customary fashion, hit the spot from other angles. Practice the different retrieves on them and with varying rates of speed in the movements. If no action at all [...]

An old-fashioned, not quite so sporting method in fishing of using two and three flies on a “cast,” attached by snells to the main leader, is fast losing favor. It actually went out with the snelled flies. There are, however, still some anglers who insist that it’s quite the proper procedure. There are still anglers, [...]

You have noted that we stress the quality of the leader knots. Just any old connecting tie won’t do. Where a leader crosses itself in a knot is definitely a weaker link, sometimes reducing the strength in half. Care should be taken to learn and make the correct knot which will provide the strongest possible [...]

If you have fished with companions much you’ll know of those anglers who insist on shorter leaders with the claim that it makes no particular difference providing the tip of leader is fine enough. A longer leader, having no particular weight, is more difficult to cast and you’ll find that those who do not or [...]

Here’s another procedure in dry fly fishing that is easy to do and will, many times, turn an otherwise mediocre fishing occasion into one more successful. It is that of dapping your fly on the surface in likely spots and, providing you are comparatively out of sight, working the edge of the water near you. [...]

Plan your fishing attack rather than tossing the fly dictionary of patterns at your trout. Select the flies with care and thought. Know them by name and the insect they simulate, if any. Pick the dry flies that should be emerging. Select the wet flies that, in your opinion and experience, might be effective, and [...]

We haven’t touched on the “abomination” subject for quitea spell now and I hope you will seriously catalog this issue in your mind. DRAG causes more unfilled creels, more action-less days, more heartbreaks in downing fish than any other cause in normal dry fly presentation. Natural insects rarely skate around on the water’s surface leaving [...]

You will notice, or have seen, fish taking midges on the surface. Duplicating the midge, even vaguely, in a fly is ahighly ambitious endeavor that, to my knowledge, has never been done to any degree of effectiveness. The midge is a tiny insect that, were it simulated correctly would have to be on a size [...]

A flush “hatch,” or emergence, and the dry fly enthusiast is in his heaven. Strangely, the height of the hatch is, more often than not, the least productive period. There are sometimes so many floating naturals on the water that the angler’s lure is lost in competition. The most favorable periods of the rise or [...]

Dry fly fishing is by far the simplest, also the easiest, method of fly fishing for trout and many other fish. You can, usually, see the fly on the water—you have a pretty good idea as to whether it’s a good presentation or not—you can see the fly taken and you can see whether it [...]

Fishing streamers is in many aspects the same as fishing wet flies. Streamers are simulated minnows. Minnows move with the current and dart about exactly as you sometimes manipulate your retrieve in the wet fly procedures. In using the term “streamer” we include all the various types of this lure as the feather streamer, the [...]

ONCE A fisherman gathers a little skill in fishing he will rarely turn to bait because the kick seems to be lacking. There isn’t a truthful expert or experienced fly fisherman but who must acknowledge the use of bait in his earlier fishing days, so there are none who can go high-hat or look down [...]

Ever heard that statement made by an angler? As you attain skill and knowledge in your fishing you will sprinkle more and more salt on pronouncements of that character. The angler should have stated, “They aren’t taking flies today FOR ME!”
Were the truth known the angler, above, was, in all probabilities, incapable of artful fly [...]

The presentation of your fly is another substantial condition that has a bearing on successful results. I can tell you to lay your dry fly on the water like a wisp of down and that the fly must deliver a cocky semblance of the natural, that it must float without a trace of drag, that [...]

A list of fly and fish axioms that I’ve picked out of my notebooks is herewith presented, again not as final, flat declarations, but as facts that I have found true and effective more times than not.Tailing or bulging trout is the signal to tie on a nymph. Large rolling fish are interested, usually, in [...]

A fisherman clothed in drab attire, silhouetted against a foliage or rock background, is practically camouflaged and, to a degree, invisible to the fish.In the same “caution” category it may be well to warn against untoward movements, if wading a stream, that will create wavelets which may pass over your prospective fishing pocket. This unnatural [...]

There is a tremendous pleasure in hooking into a fish at a time when, supposedly, they’re not to be caught or at a spot which other fishermen have passed up because of its apparent lack of fish life or under conditions that others believe quite impossible. The very act or move that crowns your effort [...]

I firmly believe that trout can be taken on either flies or nymphs AT ANY TIME. At periods the trout’s selectivity rises to the ninth degree and it requires an ingenious skill and an ingenious system of ideas to interest them. Many times we fail and we tend to blame other factors when it rests [...]

Fishing a nymph is comparatively a simple exercise in lakes. It is important that a long fine leader be used and that the nymph be permitted to actually reach bottom and rest there for a moment. Then start a slow, slow, slow hand-twist retrieve. If you are in the vicinity of fish this manner of [...]

FISHING FOR trout in lakes, ponds and dams resolves itself into five major methods. These are, casting from a boat, casting from shore, trolling, drifting and plain old bait dunking.
This latter mode of fishing is that of nostalgic memory. Just bait fishing is one so often pictured portraying an individual comfortably snoozing, with his “pole” [...]

Now may I cover an ingredient that is commendable in many activities but in trout fishing it becomes a glaring negative. That is the quality of competitiveness. If you are obsessed with it, shed it by all means while you’re fishing and it isn’t so difficult if you want to. Hurrying to be first in [...]

There are three distinct phases of fly fishing:1—Dry or floating fly. 2—Wet fly and streamer. 3–Nymph and Larvae.
Dry fly fishing is the easiest insofar as performance is concerned. Successful results is another factor. Nymph fishing enacted properly is the most difficult of the three and requires the most knowledge and know how. Wet fly fishing [...]

“There is no single BEST way of taking trout!” The author wishes, in telling you “HOW,” that he could
present you with a formula or prescription that would outline definite “one,” “two,” “three” steps upon which you could depend and that would result in a “never fail” action. Unfortunately, however, very few of the trouts do [...]

Log or rock obstructions which form a dam of a sort as a pickup of nature’s trash or a semi-holdback of the current usually have developed a more or less deep hole under or at the sides of the block. These are always good depths for all kinds of lures.
I’ve purposely held off mentioning what, [...]

Throughout this website I’ve urged “observation”—that’s the answer and only you can do the observing.
Now that I’ve told you why it cannot be done I’ll reverse myself a bit and endeavor to briefly coach you on the basic situations so that you’ll have a smattering or a beginning from which to start your own study.
First, [...]

ONE CAN state solemnly that in order to get the most from fishing you should know how to read the stream. This is a thoroughly complexing subject and in which many experienced fishermen (and fishermen writers) have hardly reached “C” in the alphabet. One who knows can take you in hand and travel a piece [...]