Joe Brooks was one of America’s greatest sportsman, and his contribution to the rise of fly fishing in America, including the conservation of our fisheries, is unparalleled. With this episode, we start a new series called “Legends of Fly Fishing,” in which we profile some of the great contributors to our sport. First up is …

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You arrive first on the river. You have a couple miles of river to fish by yourself. The day is slightly overcast. Fishing reports have been fantastic. This is the day. You fish the first run. Nothing. Then the next. Nothing. You switch to streamers. Nothing. Then to nymphs. Nothing. Three hours later, you’ve had …

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Scant attention is paid to fly care and presentation. So much of the focus is on fly rods, reels, waders, boots – and every other fly fishing gadget known to humankind. But without the fly itself, there is no catching. In this episode, we concoct a list of aphorisms – short witty statements about how …

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Fly fishing tends to move from simplicity to complexity. You start out learning to cast. And you have one fly rod. You pick up a couple of attractor patterns. And you have one fly box. You purchase a vest, waders, and wading boots. And head to the river. Over time, however, you wind up with …

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Spring dry fly fishing is one of the most delightful stretches of the fly fishing year. While there are other hatches, the two most dominant in most streams and rivers, of course, are Blue Winged Olives (BWOs) and Caddis. In this episode, we discuss patterns that we like, the use of an emerger with a …

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It was a great day for skiing in late winter – a fresh foot of powder blanketed the landscape. But we were fishing. Recently, we got up before dawn and drove almost four hours to fish for a few hours on a stretch of the Blue River west of Madison, Wisconsin. The snow was fresh, …

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Fly fishing is truly global, if for no other reason than most fly fishing products are created or assembled in other parts of the world. In this episode, we interview Peter Stitcher, who, along with his wife Jessica, is the co-founder of Ascent Fly Fishing in the Denver area. Peter designed his company with purpose, …

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If we had it to do over again, we’d do a few things differently. In this episode, we ask the question, “What would we tell our 20-year-old fly fishing selves?” One answer is that we’d have spent fewer years as do-it-your-selvers. That is, we’d have pursued more fly fishing instruction in our 20s. We’d be …

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For many fly fishers, fishing is more than the simple act of catching a fish. It’s not merely the transaction of hooking and landing a trout or salmon or bonefish. In this episode, we reflect on several quotes from Nick Lyon’s wonderful book, “Spring Creek.” The world of fly fishing has a few things to …

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Fly fishing wading boots are the undisputed, most important safety purchase you’ll make for the sport. There are felt soles, rubber soles, rubber soles with studs, and rubber soles with aluminum bars. In this episode, we discuss our philosophy of wading boots, given the number of days we fish each year – and make a …

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