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By Justin Hanson
4.7
2020 ratings
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.
Fly fishing with chironomids is one of the most effective techniques for stillwater fly fishing. This type of fly fishing often doesn’t evoke images of high testosterone hundred-yard casts and ripping giant seven-inch streamers into the mouth of a toothy brown trout. Don’t be fooled though. The fish that are willing to eat these millions of aquatic insects are almost always no less mean and toothy. Sometimes big trout want a large steak, while at other times they prefer popcorn or M&Ms. It’s up to you to be skilled enough to adapt to their moods and food opportunities. The tactics used to fish these smallish stillwater patterns require skill and patience, but they will pay off with not only trout, but other species. In this first of a two-part series, we discuss the fundamentals and fine-tuning of chironomid fly fishing. In part 2, we discuss some of the more advanced techniques with chironomids. The information in these podcasts will help you in any stillwater situation, including warm-water environments, and are a hugely important arrow in your fly fishing quiver.
CHIRONOMID LIFE CYCLE: LARVA
CHIRONOMID LIFE CYCLE: PUPA
CHIRONOMID LIFE CYCLE: ADULT
TARGETING SPECIFIC WATER LEVELS
FLY SELECTION
SOME TOP FLY PATTERNS
PRESENTATION
RIGGING
Lines
Leaders and Rigging
Double Rigs
Phil’s Website: Fly Craft Angling
Phil’s Email Address: [email protected]
Phil and Brian’s Stillwater Store
Brian Chan’s website
YouTube Channel
Fly fishing with chironomids is a great fly fishing skill in itself, but you can also take these ideas and skills into other areas of your fly fishing, primarily when fishing for trout, Great Lakes steelhead and browns, and many different warm-water species. As far as stillwater fly fishing is concerned, chironomids are hugely important in most bodies of water, and because they are so prolific, trout will at times key on these and ignore nearly all other food sources. Fly fishing with chironomids is not for everyone, but if you prefer catching lots of big trout to going for a boat ride, then give them a try when it’s obvious that you need to be fishing them. If you have any questions about indicators or anything else having to do with chironomids and fly fishing, feel free to ask a question in the comments below. Good luck!
The post FLY FISHING WITH CHIRONOMIDS PART 1 WITH PHIL ROWLEY [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
Musky fly fishing has become so popular that it is almost common to find someone in your fly fishing circle who fly fishes for muskies almost exclusively. The payoff with musky on the fly is a toothy fish with arguably the biggest appetite of any species taken on a fly, pound for pound. There are a lot of barriers that get in the way of success, when it comes to fly fishing for muskies. The scarcity of fish, the huge flies, accessing where muskies live, and even handling the fish once it has been caught are all challenges for most fly anglers. To aid in your musky fly fishing, there are a handful of anglers who really know as much as any angler in the world. Rick Kustich is one of these anglers, and he brings decades of experience in musky fly fishing. His new book is now the standard for musky fly fishing and is filled with lots of musky knowledge. In this podcast, he discusses all things musky and, particularly, how to tackle specific types of water.
BASICS OF HUNTING MUSKIES WITH A FLY
FINDING ACTIVE MUSKIES
FLIES FOR MUSKY FLY FISHING
AT THE BOAT
DEEP-WATER POOLS
DROP-OFFS AND BOULDERS
REEFS
SANDY BAYS AND BARS
MAN-MADE STRUCTURES
WEEDBEDS AND WEED EDGES
TIMBER AND BRUSH
Rick’s Website
Rick’s Book
Blane Chocklett
Nick Pionessa
Different Fly Actions
Musky fly fishing is an extreme form of fly fishing. With advancements in gear and in musky fly fishing tactics, we are more capable of catching muskies on the fly than ever before. Many, many muskies on the fly over 50 inches have come to hand, with the current world record measuring in at 57 inches. You yourself may be an unsuspecting victim of the musky bug, when, after hours of launching wet socks, you experience that first musky on the fly. That one musky might be enough for you, but then again, “normal” fly fishing life may have just ceased, and you may now count yourself as one of the ever increasing obsessive musky bums. If you’ve already done this, you know where you stand full well. Either way, life is better than ever when fly fishing for muskies.
The post MUSKY FLY FISHING: THE HUNT with RICK KUSTICH [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
SEASONS AND A PRACTICAL APPROACH TO BOOKING TRIPS
SOME PLACES SHE LIKES TO STAY
SUGGESTIONS ON GETTING AROUND AND STANDARD GEAR EXPECTATIONS
TIPS TO KEEP IN MIND FOR BULL REDS
CHOOSING GUIDES AND OUTFITTERS
Meredith on Instagram
Meredith on Facebook
Meredith’s Website
[email protected]
Tailwaters Travel
Woodland Plantation
Southern Way Charters
Journey South Outfitters (Venice Lodging)
Redfish Dynasty
Shallow Water Expeditions
Fly Water Expeditions
The post BULL REDFISH ON THE FLY: PLANNING A TRIP TO LOUISIANA WITH MEREDITH MCCORD [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
Musky on the fly has to do with mindset as much as anything. Dedication, skill, and knowledge all meet at the musky mindset. How we cover the water, what flies we use, how we tie our flies, and what we consider big all change with a musky mindset. In this podcast, Chris Willen helps us fine-tune this mindset and shares his approach to muskies. Chris’s own approach and mindset are grounded in flexibility and attention to detail, and he’ll help you get started or improve your musky game no matter who you are. So, read the details below and sit back and get ready to change your musky mindset with Chris Willen.
BASICS OF A MUSKY MINDSET AND APPROACH
SEASONAL MOVEMENTS FOR MUSKY ON THE FLY
MUSKY ON THE FLY AND FLY SELECTION
SEVEN IMPORTANT FLIES
FIGURE EIGHT AND READING FISH
Chris’s Site
Chris on Facebook
Caney Fork River System in Tennessee
Blane Chocklett
Mike Schultz at Schultz Outfitters
Todd Gregory Hardly Strictly Musky Tournament
Fly vs. Jerk
Tim Fischer
Solunar Theory (Moon Phases)
Eli Berant
Eric Grajewski
Musky on the fly is often about extremes: huge flies, huge hooks, huge teeth, huge fish, huge stretches of fishless hours, and so on. Each musky on the fly or otherwise is a trophy in itself. In this way, we need to set ourselves up to catch that one fish. Remember that your next cast could be to a fish that might make you wet yourself a little, and this will help keep you in a musky mindset. If you have any questions about musky or Chris Willen, feel free to leave comments below or contact Chris directly.
The post MUSKY MINDSET: MUSKY ON THE FLY WITH CHRIS WILLEN [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
When fly fishing saltwater, there are a dozens of factors that help determine our fly fishing success. When it comes to flats fishing, there is one factor that is hugely important, tides. Good guides understand tides and know what the fish do on a given tide in a given area. However, there are certain tides that are far superior to other tides in a given area and for a specific species of fish. For example, giant trevally and permit normally need and desire more water, such as with a spring tide. Knowing this can help us plan our trips when fly fishing saltwater so that we are in the right place with the best tides for a given species. Having a basic understanding of tides can be a game changer when fishing the salt and will put the odds in your favors. In this podcast, Scott Heywood discusses how we should think about tides when planning a saltwater fly fishing trip. Also, a quick correction, both Scott and I were into the podcast and glossed over the fact that Scott said “Gulf of Alaska” for “Gulf of Mexico.” He, of course, meant to say “Mexico” since the Gulf of Alaska is nowhere near Mexico. Enjoy the podcast!
Angling Destinations
Fly Paper: Scott’s blog
[email protected]
Angling Destinations on Facebook
Scott’s article on bonefish and tides
Nautical software (No longer available)
Helpful site on everything having to do with tides
We can only control so many things when fly fishing saltwater. No matter how much money we spend on our trip, we still need to work with the tide to help us cast to as many fish as possible. There’s no need to make it harder on ourselves when we target permit, giant trevally, or any other saltwater species. To have the best success, we need to go to the best destination with the best conditions during the time that we have available. This can mean choosing a different location within a given region, for example, in the Bahamas. When we have a basic understanding of tides, we work with mother nature, and because of this, we will have more chances to do what we love, catch fish in the salt.
The post FLY FISHING SALTWATER: UNDERSTANDING TIDES PUTS THE ODDS IN YOUR FAVOR with SCOTT HEYWOOD [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
Smallmouth bass, particularly for fish seventeen inches and above, are tough to beat as a freshwater fly fishing experience. The fish are mean and tough. They live in some of the most beautiful and unique venues of the Unites States and even beyond. They are greedy, and it’s no surprise to find all sorts of baitfish and crayfish in the mouth of the smallmouth you just brought to hand. They love to go airborne and bulldog you all at the same time, and you can catch huge amounts of these fish as well. However, when you want to go after huge smallmouth in rivers, you need to bring you’re A-game. In this podcast, Mike Schultz lays it all out for us and shares how he targets huge river smallmouth. See the notes below, including some of Mike’s videos.
SEASONS AND SMALLMOUTH BASS LOCATION IN RIVERS
SPRING
SUMMER
FALL
FLIES FOR SMALLMOUTH AND TIPS FOR FISHING THEM
BOTTOM OF THE RIVER
MIDDLE DEPTHS OF THE RIVER
UPPER 1′ TO 3′ OF THE RIVER
SURFACE
GEAR
RODS
REELS
LINE
Full Intermediates:
Floating Lines:
LEADERS
HOOKS
[email protected]
Schultz Outfitters: 734-544-1761
Fishhead App
Chris Willen
Blane Chocklett
Mark Sedotti’s Kickin’ Chicken
Keel System
Flymen Fish Spines
In-Fisherman
Smithwick Rogue
Storm Stickbait
Jerkbait
Rebel Pop-R
Tight Lines Fly Fishing Company
Loon UV Clear Finish (thick)
General Tackle’s Influence on Fly Fishing
Smallmouth bass on the fly gets in your blood if you like fish that eat. Smallmouth bass will hurl themselves into the air trying to smash your popper, or they will sip it down like a breath mint. Thirteen inch smallmouth will destroy your seven inch fly, and they eat at every level of the water column. Smallmouth are found throughout the United States, so chances are, you’ve got some smallies living in a river near you. Once you’ve hooked into a few of the larger versions of these fish, it will be tough to leave these fish alone. Mike has thousands of days on the water chasing these guys, so follow what he says, and you’ll have a really good chance of hooking a huge river smallmouth on the fly…landing it’s a different story.
The post TROPHY RIVER SMALLMOUTH BASS ON THE FLY & MIKE SCHULTZ [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
The first time a fish took me to my backing was when I was stillwater fly fishing. I quickly learned that the biggest fish I could go after were going to have some sort of connection to water that wasn’t moving all of the time. If you look at salmon or steelhead and lake-run brown trout, you see how much bigger these fish are than their stream counterparts. This also holds true for most fish that you find within rivers. The biggest fish normally have some sort of stillwater they can use to put on the pounds. Some of us pursue these fish when they’ve entered the rivers, some of us go after them in their stillwater environments, and some of us do both. If you want to go for these bruisers in their stillwater versions, you need to master sinking lines and the techniques and mindset that go along with them. In this podcast, Phil Rowley will help us do that. If you want to learn more about sinking lines, stillwater fly fishing, or any combination of the two, this podcast is for you. I know you’re going to learn a ton from Phil, the stillwater master.
SINKING LINE FEATURES
LEADERS
MOVING THE FLY
FLOATING FLIES WITH FAST-SINKING FLY LINES
SETTING THE HOOK
GENERAL MINDSET AND APPROACH FOR STILLWATER FLY FISHING WITH SINKING LINES
FISHING NEW WATER WITH SINKING LINES
Phil’s Website: Fly Craft Angling
Phil’s Email Address: [email protected]
Phil and Brian’s Stillwater Store
RIO Hover
RIO Aqualux
RIO Camolux
Brian Chan
Loch Style Fly Fishing
Anchor Locks
Way Points with Fish Finders
The Angling Edge: General Tackle Techniques that Advance Stillwater Knowledge
Stillwater fly fishing with sinking lines is a really fun way to catch trout or any other fish for that matter. The fish get fat and strong with the humongous pantry they have at their disposal that is filled with every type of prey item they might want. Stillwater fly fishing has its unique challenges though, and if you’re going to be successful at all on a consistent basis, you need to be very familiar with sinking lines, the tactics, and approach that you take with these lines. If you have any questions or something isn’t clear to you, feel free to leave a comment below. Now, get out there an fish.
The post STILLWATER FLY FISHING AND SINKING LINES & PHIL ROWLEY [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
[email protected]
Great Lakes Fly Fishing: Jeff’s Website
Intro to swinging podcast
Real time flows
Fly fishing for Great Lakes steelhead and brown trout
The post SWINGING FOR GREAT LAKES STEELHEAD AND OTHER SALMONIDS & JEFF LISKAY [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
Bonefish are often the first flats fish that anglers encounter, and these same anglers can catch these fish right away with few problems in most parts of the world. Although these fish are relatively common, they are still incredibly special. This is especially true for bonefish over ten pounds. There are a few destinations in the world where you can encounter a double digit bonefish. A favorite spot of many a legendary fly angler is Andros Island in the Bahamas. These Big Andros Island bonefish inhabit some of the most beautiful flats in the world, and at the right time, you can have multiple shots at trophy bonefish on a given day. In this podcast, Capt. Shawn Leadon from the Andros Island Bonefish Club shares some of his experiences with these big fish and fills us in on how to put the odds in our favor for these awesome fish of the flats.
Andros Island Bonefish Club
Andros Adventures
Capt. Rupert Leadon
Vanessa Haley’s Study
Mojarra Minnow
Dr. Aaron Adams with Bonefish and Tarpon Trust
Two Part Series on Tippets and Leaders
A three-pound bonefish has the capability to rip anglers to their backing. Once you start talking about the double-digit fish, you’re going into another realm of power. These fish have lived through the ospreys, sharks, and barracudas and have probably seen an angler or two. At the same time, these big fish need to take in many more calories than their smaller counterpart. Big Andros Island bonefish seem to act as the predators they are. They get excited with big fly patterns, and they supplement their diets heavily with minnow species in addition to crustaceans. Heavy tippets and smart approaches to playing these special fish will get the fish in as fast as possible and allow us to release our bonefish with as high a chance as possible to survive and roam the flats. This will give future generations of anglers the opportunity to cast their fly to a double digit bone, and like Capt. Rupert Leadon, say “Gotcha!”
The post GOTCHA! BIG BONEFISH OF ANDROS ISLAND & CAPT. SHAWN LEADON [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
Trophy carp fly fishing is something that John Bartlett has specialized in for years now, and he is among the top carp fly anglers in the world when it comes to catching trophy carp on the fly. What makes a trophy carp? Well, that’s debatable, but we start with the proposition that a trophy carp on the fly is 20 plus pounds for common and mirror carp, which is Mr. Bartlett’s specialty. You’ll hear firsthand how he approaches pretty much every aspect of carp fishing in multiple venues. Most of what John does when fly fishing for trophy carp can be applied to fishing for smaller carp as well. However, he focuses on very specific aspects to target the biggest carp in the system. If you listen to his suggestions carefully and implement them in your carp fly fishing, you will catch way more and bigger carp on the fly. I will personally guarantee that! Enjoy this podcast and article as it is one of the best resources on carp fly fishing that I have ever been a part of. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away below.
Carp on the fly blog
Carp on the fly on Facebook
John’s Instagram account
Fly Carpin
Carp on the Fly: Barry Reynolds
Darce Knobel
Justin Wendy Berrell and his blog
Jim Pankiewicz
Getting started in carp fly fishing can definitely be a challenge. Consistently catching trophy-sized carp on the fly is the next step in your carp evolution. If you haven’t started fly fishing for carp yet, then there’s no reason for you to not use the suggestions that John highlights in the podcast. If you’re a grizzled veteran of carp on the fly, I’ll bet you will still gain a lot of great nuggets in this podcast. Above all, deep water is key to finding big carp, particularly outside of the spawn cycle. If this podcast helps you catch some big carp, then let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear how the information here helped you out.
The post TROPHY CARP ON THE FLY & JOHN BARTLETT [PODCAST] appeared first on ToFlyFish.
The podcast currently has 12 episodes available.
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