This week we get a special peak behind the curtain about how fly rods are developed. How long does it take to design a fly rod? How many prototypes are built? How are they tested? How are materials selected? And where do the ideas come from? Shawn Combs takes us into the depths of the Orvis skunkworks and tells us a few secrets (and withholds just as many) about how his team of engineers and technicians develop Orvis fly rods—specifically the new Helios 3 series. In the Fly Box this week, we talk about fishing emergers subsurface, the perils of using the wrong super glue on casting cuts, how long to let a bass popper sit, water temperature guiidelines for trout, fly fishing for crappies, a tip on keeping the trailing hook of a tandem out of the way when tying, leader lengths for stocked trout ponds, species-specific leaders, correct water depth for setting indicators, and how to fish multiple-fly rigs when the flies are barbless.

How Orvis Designs Fly Rods, with Shawn "Diddy" Combs

The Orvis Fly Fishing Guide Podcast provides weekly tips  from acclaimed fly fishing author and lifelong fly fishing enthusiast, Tom Rosenbauer. Get the most from your time on the water!

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Scott [41:18] is an assistant professor of motor control and learning at Long Beach University, as well as a fly fisher and podcast listener.  He has a small number of quick tests you can do at home to check your balance, and then simple exercises you can do at home without any special equipment to improve your balance in a matter of weeks.  Wading safely and comfortably on a river involves both balance and confidence, and what you learn here will give you help with both.  You'll enjoy your time on the water more.   In the Fly Box this week we have so many great tips from listeners that I may be able to retire and turn the podcast over to you.  But we also have some interesting questions that I'm happy to answer as best I can.  Some of these include:   A listener suggests when a self-inflating PFD may be a good option   Two listeners weigh in on how to access scientific articles on fisheries science with paying a fee for access   A listener offers a great suggestion on how to easily attach a dropper to the bend of a hook.   Should I be concerned about fishing below a sewage treatment outlet?   A listener tells a great tale of his momentous catch on one of the new Helios rods   Should I be concerned about angling for fish when they are on their spawning run?   With the new Helios rods, do you still prefer the F version for trout and the D version for salt water?   If I dispose of the shiners I catch will it help the local trout population?   What do you think of using an indicator with a big nymph or crayfish fly for early season smallmouth?   Can you explain the difference between a shooting head and a sink-tip line?   A listener gives some expert advice on the choice of insect repellents   I am having trouble with short roll casts.  Do you think it's my casting technique?   Is it helpful to pre-treat dry flies right after you tie them?   If I fish an indicator and split shot and a nymph, should I use a double taper or weight-forward line?  

How to Test and Keep Your Balance When Wading, with Scott Ducharme

Ralph Cutter [36:53] is an extremely perceptive, pragmatic angler with a lifetime of experience in white water, both fishing and in watercraft and water rescues.  He feels that what we’ve been taught to do if we fall in wearing waders is all wrong, and he has a number of tips for getting to shore safely that most of us don’t know about.  He also recommends a second wader belt for wading in very tricky waters.  He’s proven this through countless experiments on the water.  If you spend any time at all wading in rivers, you must listen to this podcast—or you can read an article in Fly Fisherman magazine he wrote a number of years ago through this link: How to Wade Safely and Get Out of Dangerous Situations - Fly Fisherman     In the Fly Box this week, we have questions that range from the very basic to more advanced, and tips from listeners as well, including:  Why do my CDC dry flies sink like a rock? I am not feeling strikes when I am nymph fishing.  Are there improvements I can make to feel more fish? Would a longer rod help more in nymph fishing? Why aren’t knotless leaders marked with a small segment of color so that the butt, tippet, and transition sections are clearly demarcated? A listener clarifies the issue of whether northern strain brook trout were ever stocked in the southern Appalachians If I want to fish pools that are 8-10 feet deep with a Euro rig, do I need an 8-10-foot tippet? What do I do if I am fishing a dropper rig and my upper dropper tippet breaks off or gets too short?  Do I need to tie another surgeon’s knot? If I am fishing straight upstream, do I need to mend my line? If my hook bends after removing it from a snag and I bend it back into place, will that weaken the hook? I have trouble tying a dropper onto the bend of a hook.  I lose tension and pressure before cinching the knot down.  Do you have any tips to help this? The water temperature was in the 40s and there was a mayfly hatch, but I only caught fish on nymphs and nothing was rising.  Why did this happen? Does choosing a fly rod really depend mostly on the size flies you’re throwing?  When I fish a small bass fly, I don’t want to try to land a bass on my 3-weight.   

This Podcast May Save Your Life, with Ralph Cutter

The use of the natural toxin rotenone to remove invasive, non-native species of trout to protect native species is a controversial topic. Does it really work? What does the poison do to the insect, mammal, and bird populations? Ted Williams [52:36], a proponent of these tactics in selected waters, discusses where reclaiming populations has been successful and also places where it would not make sense. Ted is one of the foremost environmental writers of our time and is never afraid to stick his neck out, so you may agree with what he says or you may not, but you’ll learn some important biology in the process.   In the Fly Box this week, we have a host of interesting questions and some great tips from listeners, including:  A plug for Trout Unlimited’s “Trout in the Classroom” projects What is your favorite rod for small streams, what size flies do you use, and where do I find the biggest trout in small streams? Can I use nymphs in small streams?  They have not worked for me. How do you test water temperature?  Do you need to suspend the thermometer deep in the water? How can I catch walleye on my fly rod? At what water temperature should I fish for bass? How long do you stick with one fly before changing it, and what do you look for in new water? Have you found any difference between painted and unpainted flies on streamers? I want to do some writing about fly fishing.  How do you handle criticism when you do this? What is the best practice for tipping guides? Do you recommend studs for rubber-soled waders, and how often can you remove them and then put them back? On cloudy days I can’t see as much with my polarized glasses?  What should I do? How long does it take for trout to get back into their normal positions after a flood? Should you present streamers differently in the early season than you would later in the spring? The dry fly on my dry/dropper rig keeps twisting.  What can I do to avoid this? How do you get your fly to fish in deep water running along the bottom? I keep breaking my tippet where it connects to my tippet ring even though I am using a lighter tippet to my flies.  What can I do? 

How to Preserve Native Trout Species, with Ted Williams

  This week, my guest is guide BJ Gerhart [33:50], a longtime veteran guide at Three Rivers Ranch in Idaho and one of the savviest anglers I know.  He shares his tips for getting around the common problems of early season trout fishing, mainly cold water and high flows.   In the Fly Box this week, we have some helpful tips from listeners, and some interesting questions for Tom, including:  If adult trout can’t see UV light, as you said in last week’s podcast, what should I do with all the UV and flashy materials I have in my fly-tying collection? What kind of standard trout flies are closest to the kebari flies used in tenkara fishing? When fishing a dry dropper, all the trout took my dry fly yet when I removed the nymph I stopped getting strikes.  What caused this? Why are beads on nymphs usually gold? Why is my casting worse when I use beadhead flies? What are the main differences between the 9-foot and the 8-foot, 5-inch Helios rods for a 10-weight line? Why is fly fishing for salmon in Great Lakes streams not as popular as steelhead fishing? When choosing a fly line for a two-handed rod, should I add the grain weight of the sinking head to the grain weight of the Skagit head? A great tip for wading safety with a buddy A listener raves about the Orvis rod repair team Do you think I should stop trout fishing at 60 degrees just to be safe? Are there public resources I can use to find out if a river might be too high to fish? A listener gives a tip for adding a long mono rig easily without the need to tie a clinch knot to the permanent loop in a fly line. 

Tips for Early Season Trout-Fishing Success, with BJ Gerhart

Can trout see color?  Can they see UV light?  How does a trout's window on the outside world affect how they feed and how they notice predators like us?  How can a trout see so well at night and also in bright light when they have no eyelids, and their pupils don't constrict?  Jason Randall [31:10] is an experienced fly fisher and scientist, and he stays up on the latest scientific papers on trout and also talks to leading scientists, and is one of the best at distilling this information for us ordinary anglers.  This is a fascinating podcast and Jason does a great job of explaining trout vision.   In the Fly Box this week, we have some great questions but also a bunch of great tips from listeners, including:   When water is low and the sun is bright, what tactics do you recommend for Great Lakes steelhead?   Four great fly-tying tips from a tier in the UK   I am looking at the 10-foot Helios rods.  For all-around fishing, should I get the 3-weight F model or the 4-weight D model?   A guide from the mid-Atlantic shares tips on targeting snakeheads   A young fly tier asks for advice on a moderately priced vise for tying bass flies   Why do my 9-foot 6X knotless leaders keep breaking?   A new fly fisher from Ohio recounts a wonderful experience he had on the river   A listener provides some great tips on rooftop rod carriers   A listener asks for suggestions for a book on the history of trout in North America    

How Orvis Designs Fly Rods, with Shawn "Diddy" Combs

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