Blog

 When I was at Orvis, for several years I ran a holiday campaign called “Moment of Chill,” which was a series of short videos designed to help consumers pause and de-stress from the frantic pace of the holiday season and connect to the natural world. This video from Poland’s Wkra River would have been a perfect fit, as the description of the video makes clear: Mist over the Wkra…

 Here’s a great quick lesson on fly-fishing for stripers in the surf with a two-handed rod. George Revel from Lost Coast Outfitters in San Francisco fishes the surf in real time, sharing practical tips and observations on reading water, positioning, casting in wind, fly selection, and adapting to changing surf conditions. These are lessons learned through years of fly fishing California beaches for striped bass, surf perch, and corbina.  The…

Simms waders on sale at Duranglers, in Durango, Colorado. Photo: Will Warasila for Bloomberg Businessweek Consolidation has played an increasingly important role in the fly-fishing industry over the past couple of decades—see companies such as Far Bank and Mayfly Outdoors—but interest from private-equity groups is a more recent thing. And according to an article by Andy Becker on Bloomberg.com, many fly-shop owners are unhappy about it. In fact, many shops…

Photo: USFWS Mountain-Prairie/Flickr Fly fishing show season is about to get underway! Attending one of these events is a great way to get out and involved in fly fishing, even in the dead of winter, when many of us just can’t be on the water. We’ve put together a list of consumer-focused fly fishing shows starting in January, which you can browse below. (If we missed any, let us know…

Steve Huff on the water. Photo via American Museum of Fly Fishing Back in 2011, writer Monte Burke declared Florida saltwater legend Steve Huff The Best Fishing Guide Alive, and the folks who gathered last week to honor Steve as the recipient of the Izaak Walton Award didn’t disagree. The event, hosted by the American Museum of Fly Fishing, was held at the Key Largo Anglers’ Club, and the attendee…

Shawn Combs makes the leap from Manchester to Montrose. Shawn Combs arrived at Orvis in 2011, a year after I did, and his influence on the quality of the company’s fly rods and reels—as well as the scope of the offerings—cannot be underestimated. He burst onto the scene in 2013 as the man behind the Superfine Glass, and the hits just kept on coming, right through the launch of the…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features four fascinating patterns that will require tiers to think outside the box a little bit. We kick things off with an elaborate take on the classic Prince Nymph, as Gary Morin shares a version that he uses for steelhead. It will certainly also work for trout, especially in smaller sizes. Next up, McFly Angler offers two versions of the Sparkle Minnow, one tied with a…

  [Interview starts at 45:09] Want to know how a bamboo fly rod is made? How long it takes to make one? How many different hands touch an Orvis bamboo fly rod before you (and your children and grandchildren) become its lucky owner? And finally, what’s so great about bamboo fly rods? How are they different from fiberglass and graphite, and what will they do for you on the water?…

A monster lake-run brown from Western New York. Photo by Capt. Scott Feltrinelli, Ontario Fly Outfitters As year-round fly fishing for trout has become more popular and states have opened rivers during fall and spring spawning seasons, the ethics of fishing to trout on their way to spawn has become a bigger issue. There is full agreement, of course, that anglers should never target fish on redds, but as  Tony…

For every game-fish species, there’s a benchmark size that fly fishers dream of. These can change from location to location—for instance, a “monster” rainbow in my home state of Vermont might be an average fish in Alaska—but the angler’s satisfaction is the same. Writing in the Anna Maria Sun, Rusty Chinnis describes catching the fish that had long eluded him: In my opinion the “holy grail” is landing a bonefish…

Fly-fishing-only regulations have been a vital tool for fisheries managers for decades, but some conventional anglers in Maine are suing to gain access to waters that have been off-limits to them: A family of fishermen is pushing for change. They say rules related to fly fishing aren’t fair, so they’ve filed a lawsuit against the state to open all of Maine’s public waters to everyone, not just fly fishermen. The…

Photo: Earl Harper The entire sport of fly fishing is based on questions: Where are the trout holding? What insects are hatching? What stage are the trout eating? And on and on. Writing in Hatch Magazine, Todd Tanner tries to identify the most important question any angler can ask: “What fly should I fish this evening?” “What’s your favorite rod?” “Can you explain leaders and tippets?” “Why do I keep…

Material inserted in the creek will improve habitat for native Apache trout. Photo: Trout Unlimited The new Thompson-Burro Meadow Restoration Project—near the community of Alpine in the Apache-Sitgreaves National Forest—will not only offer better habitat for Arizona’s native Apache trout, but it will also benefit the Phoenix Valley and Colorado River. The area is still recovering from the impacts of a 2011 fire, which caused channel incision and erosion, leading to…

This week’s Tying Tuesday features four very different patterns to help you learn new skills at the vise and catch fish. patterns designed to get down in the water column and tempt sluggish fish to strike. We kick things off with a a caddis/grub variation of the Classic Prince Nymph, from In the Riffle. Next, Tim Flagler teaches us to tie a very tiny Parachute Midge, which you should be…

David Klausmeyer (1958-2025). Photo via Fly Tyer. I was saddened to learn of the passing of my old friend, Dave Klausmeyer, who served as the editor of Fly Tyer magazine from 1994-2023. He died on November 24, after a long battle with a rare form of lymphoma. According to a Facebook post by his wife, Diane, Dave remained positive the entire time, which makes perfect sense to those of us…

Have you ever wondered what role sterile game fish—triploids and hybrids—play in fisheries-management plans? A cool story on the Idaho Fish & Game website explains: The most commonly stocked sterile fish in Idaho is Rainbow Trout. We stock triploid Rainbow Trout, meaning these fish have three complete sets of chromosomes instead of two. This makes them sterile. Hatchery staff induce triploidy by interrupting the early stages of embryo development shortly…

You’d be hard-pressed to find anyone in the world with as much angling experience as Joe Humphreys, and in this video from The New Fly Fisher, he shares one of his favorite small-stream tactics, the long-distance bow-and-arrow cast. The post Video: Mastering Small Stream Fly Fishing with Joe Humphreys appeared first on MidCurrent. Source: Fish2

  The Bitterroot River in early spring. Photo: Phil Monahan In recent years, anglers and conservationists in Montana have fought several different mining proposals, with various levels of success. In Field & Stream, Travis Hall writes about the latest chapter in this saga: A company with Canadian roots that calls itself “US Critical Materials” is trying to fast track a plan to build a large mine on public land immediately…

Writing in Florida Sportsman, Chris O’Byrne offers some hot tips for targeting crappies on the fly in Florida: Good weather for crappie is often bad weather for other Florida activities. They are prompted to vigorous action by cooling lake and air temperatures, fresh winds predominantly from the north or west, and skies so cloudy that they look like a crappie’s body. So, while Estero-based freshwater fishing guide Debbie Hanson said…

The Virginia Fly Fishing & Wine Festival celebrates its 25th anniversary on January 9 and 10, 2026, at the Meadow Event Park on the state fairgrounds in Doswell, just a few miles north of Richmond. The 2026 festival features an impressive roster of renowned speakers and authors, including Tom Rosenbauer, Bruce Chard, Josh Miller, Beau Beasley, Wanda Taylor, Wes Hodges, Ian & Charity Rutter and Gary Dubiel; as well as…