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This week’s Tying Tuesday is all about simplicity. These patterns require no special tying skills and take just a few minutes to create. We kick things off with a cool cased-caddis imitation from Cheech at Fly Fish Food. I’m not sure what he means by “feelers” (legs?), but you tie in the long dubbing fibers just like a tail. Next up is a classic Appalachian Palmer Fly,” from Matt O’Neal…

Both native and stocked brook trout habitat was severely damaged by Hurricane Helene. Photo: Courtesy the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission Last September, historic rains brought by Hurricane Helene caused devastation in communities across western North Carolina, destroying homes, infrastructure and river courses. As the region begins to rebuild, the future of the fly-fishing industry is still a big question mark. According to an article on Blue Ridge Public Radio,…

When most anglers picture a Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi), they envision one of the giants caught this time of year from Pyramid Lake. But the subspecies’ original range is much larger, involving many small, headwater streams. Lahontan cutthroat trout (LCT) are native to the tributaries of what was once Lake Lahontan—a huge ice-age lake, of which Pyramid Lake and Lake Tahoe are remnants, in northwestern Nevada and extending…

The raffle held by the American Museum of Fly Fishing is a cool opportunity to fish some hallowed waters. Whether you live in the Northeast or not, there are three rivers you simply can’t leave off your historical fly-fishing bucket list: the Beaverkill, Ausable, and Battenkill. Each of these rivers has played host to countless fly-fishing legends, from Theodore Gordon to Lee and  Joan Wulff, to modern legends like Tom…

“In the dazzling light, under the brilliant blue sky, every detail of the magnificent forest was vivid to the eye: the great trees, the network of bush ropes, the caverns of greenery, where thick-leaved vines covered all things else.” -Theodore Roosevelt, Through the Brazilian Wilderness (1914) A cocoi heron sails off into the magnificent forest. Two weeks ago, I led a group of Americans into a section of the Amazon Rainforest within…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features three very different patterns for fishing different parts of the water column. If you enjoy fishing dry-dropper tandem rigs, Davie McPhail’s hi-vis caddisfly imitation makes both a great indicator and a tasty meal for trout looking to smack insects off the surface. Next, Matt O’Neal of Savage Flies teaches you to tie a classic wet fly that still brings trout to the net. And finally,…

Hayden Creek Cutthroat trout have proven to be true survivors. Photo: Colorado Parks and Wildlife. One of the country’s rarest trout subspecies is making a remarkable comeback in southeastern Colorado. As Chris Hunt reports in Hatch magazine, the Hayden Creek cutthroat was nearly wiped out by wildfire in 2016, but biologists have made a startling discovery: A native cutthroat trout found only in the Arkansas River drainage of southern Colorado,…

Photo: Alex Stulce After five years and 2,823 posts here at MidCurrent, it’s time for me to turn the reigns over to someone new. I started with MidCurrent back in 2020, before the pandemic. Marshall Cutchin, publisher emeritus and then-owner of MidCurrent, hired me as the News Editor. I was in charge of finding and sharing the goings-on of the fly fishing world. When you realize just how small a…

Destination travel is all the rage right now. Instagram is filled with pictures and videos of anglers in far-flung locales, chasing exotic fish on 12-weight rods, and generally having the time of their life. I’ll admit, a bit of jealousy creeps in when I see those posts. I’d love to be somewhere warm right now. Instead, I’m thawing out from a deep freeze that’s turned everything into mud. At least…

Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie/Flickr Even though fly fishing is a global sport, I think many of us—myself included—forget how much of an impact it has on other people. It’s not just the North American market that dominates fly fishing. In fact, a recent story from The Times in London claims that “fishing, and in particular fly fishing” is Britain’s favorite sport and a “new youthful craze.” The Times goes on to describe fly fishing’s…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features one of my all-time favorite flies, a new smallmouth pattern that’ll work well for trout, and some tips on picking and sizing dry-fly hackle. With spring creeping ever closer, I reckon most of us could use the refresher on the Klinkhåmer, and picking and sizing hackle. Davie McPhail’s videos—and flies—are some of the best available, but I’m particularly impressed with his high-vis Klinkhåmer. Davie uses…

Back in the 1990s, salmon and steelhead returning to the Columbia River Basin averaged just over one million fish per year, according to Oregon Public Broadcasting. That includes all five species of Pacific salmon, and steelhead. The current 10-year rolling average is 2.3 million fish per year, which is certainly better than almost 30 years ago, but still far below the historical runs for the basin, which saw 15 to…

Photo: Dom Swentosky/Troutbitten Years ago, when I first learned to tie flies, my dad showed me a caddis pattern that he said his father—my grandpa—invented. This particular fly is a mashup of what a tier today would label as an Adams and an elk-hair caddis, complete with the wing. It has the Adams tail, but the flat, stubby body of the caddis. You can hackle this fly with whatever you…

Bob Quigley was one of the most influential fly tiers of his generation. While he passed in 2012, his innovations in fly tying live on, and continue to influence fly design today. In a 2013 Fly Fisherman Magazine article, Charlie Craven had this to say about Quigley: “(he) changed the shape of technical dry-fly fishing. That’s an impressive sentence and an even more impressive feat. He coined the now-common term…

Photo: Jay/Flickr Where I grew up, we called them crawdads. I’ve heard them called crawfish, but most folks seem to settle on crayfish as the official term for these interesting freshwater lobsters. Regardless of what you call them, crayfish are an important part of the diet for many trout, especially those living in tailwaters. They’re a high-protein food source, and some of my best fishing days last year came when…

There are lots of folks making great fly-fishing videos—the Fly Fishing Film Tour and International Fly Fishing Film Festival showcase some of the best—but few are making true films like Rolf Nylinder. As a young Swedish snowboarder, skateboarder, and angler, Rolf burst onto the scene in 2011, making videos under the name Frontside Fly, and his blend of great angling action, humor, and manic energy made him a crowd favorite….

If you put a hole in your waders last season and haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet, you might be able to get it professionally repaired. The folks at Patagonia’s wader team are hitting the road this spring for their Wader Repair Tour, where they’ll inspect, diagnose, and repair waders, for free. And they don’t have to be Patagonia waders, either. Any brand is welcome at the events, which…

Oliver White is a renowned fly fishing guide who’s also made a name for himself traveling to far-flung locations in search of exotic fish. You might not know his name, but you’ve probably seen his face in more than a few fly fishing videos, like “A Thousand Casts” from Yeti. Ryan Chelius, over at Field & Stream, recently sat down with White for an extensive Q&A. Their conversation ranges from White’s start…

WRITTEN BY: Lily Cutler The 10th anniversary lineup of readers: (Back row L to R) Amanda Monthei, Bridget Moran, Greg Fitz, Jason Rolfe, Steve Duda, Will Rice, Jesse Lance Robbins, and Anne Landfield. (Front L to R) Jon Tobey and Nick Basaraba. Photo by Dave McCoy Frigid temperatures on Thursday, February 6, kept exactly no one from attending the 10th anniversary of Writers on the Fly at Emerald Water Anglers…

This week’s Tying Tuesday is a nymph-focused affair. While the first dry-fly hatches of the year aren’t too far off, nymphing will still be the name of the game for the next few months. These patterns should do some work as the fish warm up and the bugs start moving again. Up first is the Idaho Stank Perdigon from Fly Fish Food. That’s an interesting fly name, to say the…