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Tom Rosenbauer on How to Fish Small Streams

Friday, September 05, 2025

Fishing small streams is a lot of fun, especially if you know how to make the most of the situation. In this video from The New Fly Fisher, Tom Rosenbauer shares his favorite tactics—from flies and rigging to approach and presentation—that he’s honed over his five decades as a fly fisher. The post Tom Rosenbauer on How to Fish Small Streams appeared first on MidCurrent. Source: Fish2

Charlie Craven’s Favorite Flies for September 2025

Thursday, September 04, 2025

Charlie Craven is a well-known fly tier—the Jujubee Midge is his creation—as well as the owner and operator of Charlie’s Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado. In this video, he sits down and shares his best producing flies for September. No matter where you live, you’ll find some great info here.   The post Charlie Craven’s Favorite Flies for September 2025 appeared first on MidCurrent. Source: Fish2

Charlie Craven’s Favorite Flies for September 2025

Thursday, September 04, 2025

Charlie Craven is a well-known fly tier—the Jujubee Midge is his creation—as well as the owner and operator of Charlie’s Fly Box in Arvada, Colorado. In this video, he sits down and shares his best producing flies for September. No matter where you live, you’ll find some great info here.   The post Charlie Craven’s Favorite Flies for September 2025 appeared first on MidCurrent. Source: Fish2

Ross Reels Introduces the Machinist Edition Reel

Thursday, September 04, 2025

The new Ross reel is designed to pay tribute to the the company’s skilled craftspeople and manufacturing process. By Rick Mikesell, MidCurrent Gear Guru Ross Reels has announced the release of the Machinist Edition ($295), a limited-edition reel designed to honor the people and processes behind every reel produced at the company’s Montrose, Colorado facility. According to Ross, the Machinist Edition is machined, hand-finished, anodized, and assembled in Colorado, with…

Podcast: The Magic of Pheasant Tail, with Craig Mathews

Wednesday, September 03, 2025

  [Interview starts at 42:22] This week, Tom talks to legendary fly shop owner, author, conservationist, and fly designer Craig Mathews. Although this is a podcast about a fly-tying material, there is much more info here—such as how to fish small flies and how to see those tiny flies on the water. But Tom and Craig do talk about one of the most amazing materials in fly tying—pheasant tail fibers—which…

Tying Tuesday: Top to Bottom

Tuesday, September 02, 2025

In this week’s Tying Tuesday, we’ve got patterns from each of the main categories—dry fly, nymph, and streamer. We kick things off with a historic pattern created by Don Martinez, who ran a a seasonal fly shop in West Yellowstone, Montana during the summers of 1932-1943. Using a pattern from Mike Valla’s The Founding Flies, Andy’s Flies shows us how to tie a pattern that may look odd to today’s…

The 11th Annual “20 Days in September” Contest Starts Today!

Monday, September 01, 2025

The finalists from the Orvis 2024 contest produced some wonderful images that captured several species and a variety of on-the-water experiences. Although astronomical summer doesn’t end until September 21st, most kids are back in school, and the nights are growing increasingly crisp. It’s a time to reflect on how well you spent the longest days of the year. Back in 2014, I had a tough summer, fishing-wise, so to make…

How Realistic Is Fly Fishing in Movies and TV Shows?

Sunday, August 31, 2025

Over the past few decades, fly fishing has increasingly entered the public consciousness, and therefore it shows up more in car commercials, popular TV shows, and movies. But do these productions get things right? In this video, Brian Flechsig of Mad River Outfitters takes a look at a variety of fly-fishing scenes and judges them for accuracy, verisimilitude, and technique. As you might imagine, the depictions of the sport are…

A Brief History of Charles F. Orvis

Saturday, August 30, 2025

Many people know that Orvis has been around since 1856—something of which the company is very proud—but do you know the actual history of the founder, Charles F. Orvis, for whom the CFO Reel is named? A story in the Vermont Daily Chronicle explains how the the son of a general-store owner became a hotelier and then the preeminent fly-fishing tackle dealer in the U.S. It’s fascinating stuff (and you…

A.K. Best Remembered in a New York Times Obituary

Friday, August 29, 2025

Best at his home vise. Photo courtesy Umpqua Last week, we posted about the passing of legendary fly tier and author Archie “A.K.” Best, who died at the age of 92. Yesterday, the New York Times posted a lengthy obituary by Jeré Longman that gets to the heart of what made Best so popular: His great skill was creating flies of a size and color that appeared natural, rather than…

A.K. Best Remembered in a New York Times Obituary

Friday, August 29, 2025

Best at his home vise. Photo courtesy Umpqua Last week, we posted about the passing of legendary fly tier and author Archie “A.K.” Best, who died at the age of 92. Yesterday, the New York Times posted a lengthy obituary by Jeré Longman that gets to the heart of what made Best so popular: His great skill was creating flies of a size and color that appeared natural, rather than…

Saltwater Fly-Fishing Legend Flip Pallot Passes Away

Thursday, August 28, 2025

The fly-fishing world has lost another legendary angler and teacher. Flip Pallot—longtime guide, teacher, and host of “The Walker’s Cay Chronicles,” among many other accomplishments, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, August 26. The Instagram page for Saltwater Experience posted this tribute: There was always a distant horizon for him. Always a next adventure. It was ever this way, and so it remains. Now the task will be to hold the…

Tying Tuesday: The Spice of Life

Tuesday, August 26, 2025

In this week’s Tying Tuesday, we’ve got three very different patterns—from a fairly standard caddis pupa/emerger to a dry fly that will catch everything from panfish to trout, to a fly-fishing version of a classic lure. We kick things off with a cool caddisfly imitation from the mind of John Barr. Tyler from AvidMax walks us through the steps to create the Graphic Caddis, which just looks all kind of buggy….

How to Splice Fly Line to Backing for Big-Game Fishing

Monday, August 25, 2025

 There’s no better feeling than getting ripped into your backing by a huge saltwater game fish and not hearing that big Bimini twist go click, click, click through the guides—just a brilliantly smooth connection with hardly any friction at all. In this video from Ole Florida Fly Shop in Boca Raton, Capt. Michael Passalacqua demonstrates how to splice your backing to your fly line for the smoothest connection possible….

Photos: The 9th annual Get Trashed Delaware River Cleanup Was a Big Success

Monday, August 25, 2025

On August 16, the 9th annual Get Trashed Delaware River Cleanup took place, and it was a huge success. More than 60 volunteers came out, and together they removed 100 tires along with a huge amount of other trash from the West Branch of the Delaware River. The event is organized by Housefly Fishing and hosted by the Delaware River Club, with kayaks and shuttles provided by OARS of Hancock….

Podcast: Tom Rosenbauer Learns the Secrets of the World’s Most Successful Permit Angler, Mike Ward

Monday, August 25, 2025

  [Interview starts at 46:31] Mike Ward, owner of Adipose Boat Works, recently tied Del Brown’s lifetime permit count with 513 permit caught on a fly rod. On a bamboo fly rod! Now Mike would be the first one to say he may not be the world’s best permit angler, but he has put in the time and energy to catch more than anyone else in history. And along the…

Legendary Fly Tier A.K. Best Passes Away

Saturday, August 23, 2025

Best was a signature tier for Umpqua. (See his patterns here.) Photos courtesy Umpqua On Thursday, August 21, the family of A.K. Best announced that he had passed away at the age of 92 after a brief illness. A commercial fly tier and author of books such as Production Fly Tying (1989), A.K.’s Fly Box (1996), and Advanced Fly Tying (2001), Best was a close friend of John Gierach and…

Paying Tribute to the Great Bud Lilly

Friday, August 22, 2025

George Ochenski (left) and Bud Lilly (right) pictured here in 2007 (Photo courtesy of George Ochenski). Bud Lilly’s Trout Shop opened in West Yellowstone, Montana, in 1952, and he ran it for more than three decades. Even after new owners took over in 1982, the name remained until 2020 because Lilly had created such an iconic brand. His shop was a Mecca for fly fishers from around the world, and…

Podcast: Late Summer Terrestrials, with Jenny Mayrell-Woodruff

Wednesday, August 20, 2025

  [Interview starts at 40:26] This week, Tom Rosenbauer posted a classic podcast from 2018, in which he talks to Jenny Mayrell-Woodruff—the Orvis-endorsed Freshwater Guide of the Year for that year. Jenny now lives in Norfork, Arkanasas, and she took time out of her very busy schedule to share her knowledge of late-summer terrestrial fishing. It’s an educational podcast and a timely one. In the Fly Box, Tom explores a…

Tying Tuesday: From the Catskills to the Bass Pond

Tuesday, August 19, 2025

This week’s Tying Tuesday features three very different patterns that relate to different corners of the sport. First, Hogan Brown of Loon Outdoors teaches us to tie a jig-nymph pattern with an ominous-sounding name. Next, Matt O’Neal of Savage Flies shares an all-purpose Catskills-style dry fly that should work as both a prospecting pattern and an imitation of a variety of mayflies. Finally, the folks at Dressed Irons share a Terry…