Fly Tying? You want me to tie a fly? No way. I can’t even darn socks. I knew I had enrolled in a fly fishing school, but I never thought about the fly tying aspect that would accompany my studies. School started and there I was, my instructor persuading me to give it a try. Reluctantly I went to the tying area. With a heavy heart, I tried my hand at tying my first fly, and managed to make a large and splendid bug. That disheveled fly went on to startle many fish, but one showed interest; all was
Oman … the name alone conjures up images of the desert, sand dunes and camels. This is the place that I now call home and where my husband and I have started our fishing business: Arabian Fly Sport Fishing. Most people’s first reactions are “Oh yeah, I saw the movie Fly Fishing in Yemen. Is it like that?” Well we haven’t built our own river and stocked it with wild salmon, that’s for sure. Our business is saltwater fishing. Oman has over 2000 kilometers of coastline - from rugged, unforgiving cl
Laurentian Great Lakes steelhead are a complex stock of fish. The population is a mixture of hatchery-released and wild, naturally reproduced fish originating from many different streams. Knowing the natal streams of the fish is important to best managing this species, as it allows for targeted conservation and management to the areas that are the major contributors to the total lake population. Fortunately, we may be able to determine the natal stream of a fish by looking at its otolith. Otoli
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How a family business became one girl's passion and profession
Much has been written about the role of women in fly fishing over the ages, and much more has been forgotten over time. Women have always fished and have made many notable contributions to advancing the art and practice of the sport around the world. The record of many early pioneering women fly fishers of the early days would be lost without the photos, prints, and postcards rescued by collectors from the stream of time. What can we learn from the women and the memories captured in these images
I pity the woman who doesn’t have a sister. The lucky ones have ‘sisters-by-birth’ but if that’s not an option, you can still have ‘sisters-by-choice’, and organizations like Sisters on the Fly (SOTF) are a great place to start. As the largest women’s outdoor group in the United States, SOTF members are known for a love of fly fishing, vintage campers, and for having ‘More fun than anyone.’ Started in 1999 by two sisters, Maurrie Sussman (Sister #1) and Becky Clark (Sister #2) it quickly grew
Saturday, September 12th at 11 am in every time zone something incredible is going to happen. Female fly anglers from across the globe will begin posting photos of themselves at fly fishing events or doing something fly fishing related. This is the start of something great. This is International Women's Fly Fishing Day. I caught up with Madeleine Kelly from Ireland, who is one of the two women at the helm of IWFFD. Maddy and her co-creator, Pamela Dunlap from West Virginia (USA), are about to
Hopper-dropper in early Spring, late Fall, and wait, even Winter? I became serious about the dry-dropper set up, outside of grasshopper season, after starting my journey with tight line nymphing. I was quickly addicted to jig-hooks, tungsten bead nymphs, landing big fish on a 3 wt 12ft rod, with 6 or 7x tippet size, and learning a new way to drift that is so effective. I realized one day in late winter, that despite my rod length, I couldn’t reach out to the sections of water that looked sup
Things have changed around here.
Imagine it being January at one of the most desolate lakes in America—Pyramid Lake. You’re standing on your ladder in the water, bundled up in what never seems like enough layers, and donning ever-so-flattering neoprene waders. Just as you wonder why you brave the stinging cold and miserable wind, you feel it and set. It feels like a car engine is on your hook, and your line screeches as the fish takes you into your backing almost before you can blink. The fish porpoises through the water’s
I recently had the opportunity to be a guest on Mark Hopley’s podcast, “Fly Fish 97” out of British Columbia. He asked some really great questions throughout the conversation, but one question especially intrigued me. I’ve thought of it several times since and decided to paint that picture in writing. The question was, “How would you paint your perfect fishing day?” I love early mornings for a number of reasons. I’ve grown to love the pre-dawn stillness, the first glimpse of light as the
Mayflies crawled, tickling, over my arms, legs, and face—something only a fly angler would be excited about. I couldn't get my rod together fast enough. This was my second lake of the day. I’d hiked five miles to the first lake, along a dusty trail, later through a stretch of my beloved ponderosas, and finally up to exposed rocky lookouts. While incredibly scenic, it was dotted with backpackers and way too windy to cast. I usually fish rivers or unnamed alpine lakes, but on this solo trip, I dec
The Tennessee creek was small, the water swift, and channels deep in some areas. Wild rainbows swam in this mostly unknown tributary sourced by a cold underground spring. It was the perfect scenario to try to master Euro-nymphing or French, Czech, Spanish, or Polish – take your pick. My friend Susan Thrasher, founder of Nashville's Music City Fly Girls, had invited me out for a special day on secret water. She gave me a few pointers and waded further upstream. In a few hours, I had landed a coup
