Summer 2025 is turning out to be a weirdly exciting chapter for the US fly fishing scene. If you’ve been paying attention around the local shops—or just eavesdropping by the riverside—you already know folks are still flocking to the water for that dose of Zen only fly fishing can deliver. Take Colorado for instance: one shop just had a July 4th weekend with more Texans than ever buying out local guides for record numbers of trips. Apparently, the Lone Star crowd practically moved in for the summer, making a big splash in every creek and eddy, according to Angling Trade. And while the data says those pandemic newbies might be thinning out, the hardcore crowd is still going strong, obsessing over new gear and hitting their favorite stretches just as hard.

Of course, the action isn’t only in the Rockies. Up in Michigan, new sportfishing regulations just rolled out for the 2025 season, so if you head that way, don’t get caught napping on the new size limits—especially if chasing steelhead or muskie is your jam. The Michigan DNR tweaked steelhead possession rules on certain streams and upped the minimum size on muskellunge in Thornapple Lake and Lake Hudson to 50 inches. For the first couple weeks of November, you’ll need to leave the spearing gear at home in some of the bigger river ports, since single-pointed hook rules are now in place for Grand Haven, Muskegon, and Whitehall. Page through the new regs before you fill up the ice chest.

Meanwhile out West, guides are hustling with an ever-changing bite. Over on the Crooked River, Fly Fishers Place says the hatches are hit-or-miss—maybe all that extra snowmelt this spring washed bugs downstream, or maybe it’s just a case of the wrong time of day. The guides swear by scud and leech patterns lately, though old standbys like the Zebra Midge and PMD Nymph are still reliable when the fish get picky. And on Fall River, it’s the early birds catching fish under an indicator with leeches, while afternoon risers are taking PMDs, BWOs, and even a humble ant when things get slow. Troy, one of the local guides, likes to say 7x tippet is better than 6x if you want to actually land those risers.

On the gear front, most of the big launches are coming out of the ICAST show in Orlando these days—the old Fly Tackle Dealer Show is a goner. Sam Wike over at Fly Project points to the new Launch Pad Drift made for drift boats as one of the coolest products at the event. He walked the floor and says while most West Coast shops skip ICAST because it falls at the busiest fishing time, there are still new rod and reel designs aiming to shake things up later this season. As usual, we might be due for a real curveball once the next hot 9-foot 5-weight hits shelves.

Finally, quick shout-out to California anglers: emergency rule changes are about to open up ocean groundfish opportunities again, after several years of restrictions tied to dwindling quillback rockfish numbers. The state Fish and Game Commission says a new stock assessment loosened things up; expect bigger open fishing areas north of Point Conception, with all the details coming out any week now.

Alright, that’s a wrap for this week’s tour through the latest fly fishing news. Thanks for tuning in and don’t forget to come back next week for more riverside updates. This has been a Quiet Please production—if you want more stories or tips, check out Quiet Please Dot A I.

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