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
There are two ways to experience fly fishing. Anglers can diligently research each proposed fishing location, painstakingly scrolling through site descriptions and reading up on local guidebooks and scheduling trips to local fly shops. The first day on the water, they are perfectly prepared, sporting the ideal fly, the proper technique, the best tackle. Or, one can wing it. My husband Brian and I definitely fit into the latter category as we pulled in through the gates at Rocky Mountain Nation
I always enjoy reading about fly fishing excursions to exotic countries, primarily because I’ll never get to visit any of those places myself due to, shall we say, financial considerations. My fly fishing travel experiences have therefore been limited to the domestic sort, such as Montana, for example. A teeny little fishing village, Craig, is located about an hour north of Helena along the western bank of the Missouri River. Craig’s population in the winter months is zero, because, I’m just gu
A good stream-side stiffener never fails to elevate a good story...but we must wait and travel back to the late 19th century. We travel to a famous Catskill inn, sit by a hand-hewn, rock fireplace to remove our waders and boots. We hang our rods by the fire before we partake of the bar that was built to connect and serve both this raconteur’s retreat and the main lodge—home to our subject, The Pink Lady. There, not one, but two pink ladies await. One, just off the dawn and dusk stream - rode ha
Quietly crawling through marshland with my rod balanced on my shoulder and doing my best to stay out of sight, I was reminded of stalking chalk stream trout in the British countryside, not a technique I had anticipated when fishing for the aggressive golden dorado in the Ibera Marsh of Northern Argentina. But, I was in fact after salminus brasiliensis, and this morning’s delicate roll casting in the small and intricate channels of the marshland was one example of how golden dorado fishing consta
“Our entire existence has been dedicated to protecting our natural resources for our future generations. Within our lake, the fish are viewed as sacred … They have given us life and we are responsible for their protection.” Autumn Harry, Paiute member and environmental activist When it comes to leading change, there is no one more fierce than a woman backed by history, tradition, and a passion for a place and people. Autumn Harry is such a woman. Though most anglers know Pyramid Lake only for i
Anyone with a keen interest in saltwater fly fishing will likely find their Facebook news feeds loaded with captivating images of glamorous flats trophies such as bonefish, permit, tarpon, and the occasional redfish. While angling for the species is some of my favorite fishing, there is so much more to saltwater fly fishing. If there’s one reason people write off saltwater fly fishing, it’s because flats fishing looks too expensive, time-consuming, and difficult. As a Mid-Atlantic saltwater gui
The whispers still come, “Have you completely lost your mind, to give up your career to go fly fishing?” My heart answers back, “No, I have found it!” No longer encumbered by killers of my inspiration, I am taking a leap. I’m jumping off my 35-year career as a software engineer into the world and industry of fly fishing. I’m taking my favorite route on this journey, the one that is unknown even to myself. I can only recognize that I am headed in the right direction as I travel from guidepost to
I preach the value of learning for a living, but I am not always comfortable as a novice. The first time I fished the Owyhee River with my friend Kaitlin about four years ago, I was skunked. I was a typical beginner—I’d fly fished a few times before, but never really learned the craft. I was practicing a basic cast with a hand-me-down rod and eight-year-old fly line, somehow drawn to this pointless activity of catch-and-release fly fishing. I couldn’t, like Kaitlin, shoot the line a straight 25
Darrian White Stepping away from the everyday and taking control The thing that inspires my fly fishing lifestyle is the simplicity of just being out on the water. The diversity of flies, casts, rods, and locations takes my mind away from the reality of stressors and insecurities of my everyday life. The thing that really attracted me to fly fishing was the capability to be in complete control of the situation; the fly, and the cast. Being 23, I’ve been through a multitude of situations some
Does this sound familiar? You’ve been making long casts, but then decide to make a series of short casts, leaving a pile of line at your feet. You see fish blowing up bait near the shore. You bomb out a long cast, but instead of the fly heading to that perfect lie, the fly line ends up tied in a huge knot around the stripping guide. Or how about this? You’ve been fishing with an indicator all afternoon and then decide to switch to a dry fly. Your first cast has the fly turning over, and over,
Water ... It’s all around us. It makes up 70% of our bodies, flows through our homes and businesses every day, and sustains us. But for me, my local river is much more than a drinking water source, it’s my life. Over the past nine years, the Chattahoochee River has provided me a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of a hectic city life and the strength to get through two cancer diagnoses. It is also why I get up and go to work every day as a senior staff member of the nonprofit Chattahoochee R
