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The Schoolie (top) offers a sleek design fit to smaller faces, and the Street Heat adds a touch of surfer culture. Photos: Courtesy Costa By: Rick Mikesell, MidCurrent Gear Guru Costa Sunglasses has announced the release of a new collection curated for the next generation of anglers and boaters. According to the company, the line was designed to blend performance and style while offering younger participants the same protection and…

Peter Laskowski’s moody shot of a solitary angler took top prize. This year’s “20 Days in September” Photo Contest was great success, featuring hundreds of great photos from anglers around the U.S., and quite a few from other countries. Though these foreign images weren’t eligible, it’s great to see these fly fishers getting caught up in the #20sepdays concept. Even those who couldn’t get the full 20 days in seemed…

Anglers who travel to Montana to catch the state’s wild trout spend plenty of cash along the way. Photo: Kubie Brown One of the more powerful influences that fly fishers have is their economic impact, something confirmed by a new study published by the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research and Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. Poring over the numbers from 2024, the study’s authors found that…

Photo: Courtesy of Emily Whitlock It’s been three years since legendary angler, tier, author, and artist Dave Whitlock passed away. This weekend, Dave’s wife, Emily, will be hosting an online auction of an impressive list of gear left behind. (Check out the items up for action here.) Here’s Emily’s announcement of the event: Dave’s been gone 3 years now and much about my life has changed. As I begin planning…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features three effective patterns with plenty of color and action. We kick things off witha bright egg-laying caddisfly imitation from, appropriately enough, Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene, Oregon. It’s a high-floating, highly visible imitation that will work well alone or with a dropper. Next up is a cool hopper pattern from Lucy, a commercial fly tier from Nairobi, Kenya. It’s cool to see how a production…

Orvis president Simon Perkins (left) with his late grandfather, Leigh Perkins, who bought the company in 1965. Simon took over the company in 2020, and Leigh passed away in 2021. Photo: Brian Grossenbacher, courtesy of Orvis Many anglers were surprised to see the statement below from the Orvis Company appear on social media last week, followed by news stories, such as one on VTDigger with the headline, “Orvis to close…

Each of the four medallions for the Cutthroat Slam feature one of the subspecies. Photo: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources The Utah Cutthroat Slam launched in 2016, giving anglers a chance to challenge themselves to land all four of the state’s native cutthroat subspecies: the Bonneville cutthroat, Bear River cutthroat, Coloroado River cutthroat, and Yellowstone cutthroat. Nine years down the line, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources has announced that…

It’s gonna be tough to choose just three! Starting on September 1, many of you committed to an important challenge: trying to get out on the water at least 20 times during the 30 days of the month. This is a concept that dates back to 2014, which means that this is the 11th year! I managed a perfect 20 days last month, which made for a very enjoyable late summer….

Bartram’s bass. Photo: UGA Trout anglers have long been accustomed to taxonomic changes—some of us are old enough to remember the seismic shock of Salmo gairdneri changing to Oncorhynchus mykiss—but the bass world has seen its share, as well. Recently, anglers in the Southeast learned that the bass they’ve been catching their whole lives might not be the bass they thought they were. And article by Chris Hunt in Hatch…

By: Rick Mikesell, MidCurrent Gear Guru I landed my first ever saltwater fish, a black drum, on a Nautilus FWX 7/8. That reel went on to land my first redfish, bonefish, baby tarpon, and barracuda. Ten or so years later, it is still kicking. Since then, I have added several Nautilus reels to the collection. Built in Miami and trusted by saltwater guides and anglers worldwide, Nautilus reels have become…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features four cool patterns that will catch fish in fall, plus the videos will teach you useful tying tricks that you can use on other patterns. We kick things off with an Isonychia imitation from Gary Morin (a.k.a adkflytying) that combines two schools of Catskills dry-fly philosophy exemplified by the elegant Quill Gordon and the messy Usual. The way he creates the legs is ingenious. Next…

It’s Day 29 of our “20 Days in September” Photo Contest, which means that we are in the FINAL DAYS of our challenge. If you haven’t taken part yet, get out there today or tomorrow! I hit my 20th day yesterday, catching some beautiful brookies and browns on a mountain freestone stream in southwestern Vermont. How about you? Are you gonna make it? It’s still not too late for you to…

 Down the Path is a narrative true-crime style podcast created and hosted by freelance journalist Will Rice. The show explores unsolved cases, mysteries, and disappearances connected to fly fishing and travel destinations around the world, often weaving together first-hand reporting, recorded interviews, police reports and other archival material. One of its central stories is “The Disappearance of Stanley Bain,” a multi-part investigation into the 1995 disappearance of Bahamian fly-fishing…

Today is National Public Lands Day, which is organized annually and led by the National Environmental Education Foundation, in partnership with the National Park Service and other federal agencies. Trout Unlimited is taking the opportunity to call for folks to sign their petition to let leaders know how much we value public lands: It is essential that we keep public lands in public hands and keep them accessible to public…

 The reporter in this video offers the understatement of the year when he says, “Oklahoma isn’t the at the center of the fly-fishing world,” but there are some very cool opportunities—such as chasing the elusive Neosho bass, a river-dwelling fish that fights like a trout. The Illinois River serves up some excellent fly fishing when the water cools in fall. The post Video: Oklahoma’s Secret Fly Fishing Paradise appeared…

The passing of Robert Redford last week has brought new attention to “A River Runs Through It” and its impact on fly fishing and southwestern Montana. I would guess that most anglers have seen the film, but perhaps fewer have seen this excellent PBS documentary on the production itself. It’s a fascinating look back at 1991—in fashion and hairstyles—to see how fly-fishing was perceived. No one at the time knew…

  [Interview starts at 34:55] This week, Tom Rosenbauer’s guest is—himself. He asked Reid Bryant of the Orvis Wingshooting Podcast to interview him because Tom has worked at Orvis for 49 of those 50 years and lived through the various stages of Orvis rods. Plus he just spent the past two months writing a history of the Orvis graphite rods. You’ll learn about some interesting things that went on during…

It’s Day 23 of our  our “20 Days in September” Photo Contest, which means that we have exactly a week left in our challenge. I’m in good shape and should hit the 20-day over the next couple days; how about you? We are finally getting some much-needed rain here in the Northeast, so I’m hoping to end the month with a bang, as fish begin moving upstream. It’s still not too…

In this week’s Tying Tuesday, we’ve got three great patterns that range from a classic streamer to a guide’s new dry-dropper creation. We kick things off with Jack Arnot demonstrating how to tie his New Age Caddis, a buggy, high-floating dry fly that will suspend a nymph well even in fast water. It looks like it will draw strikes from upward-looking trout, as well. Next is a super simple nymph…

Have you ever wanted to watch your fly-tying heroes work their magic up close? About 100 professional and amateur fly tiers—among the best the world has to offer—are scheduled for demonstrations, seminars, and individual instruction at the 34th annual International Fly Tying Symposium, held November 15-16 in the DoubleTree Hilton, Somerset, New Jersey. Among those scheduled to display their skills at the Symposium are tiers Tim Flagler, Tim Cammisa, Barry…