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  [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…

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 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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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….

 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….

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….

  [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…

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…

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…

  [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…

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…

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is proceeding with a controversial plan to stock and study a Class A wild trout water. Photos courtesy of Pennsylvania Council Trout Unlimited The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) is proceeding with a controversial plan to stock and study a Class A wild trout water. Critics claim the exercise is being driven less by science than by social pressure, with troubling implications…

A section of the western side of Rocky Mountain National Park will close for the final week of August, as state biologists work to remove all non-native fish from the Grand Ditch and its tributaries within the park. This will allow for the reintroduction of greenback cutthroat trout—Colorado’s state fish—to their native range in the headwaters of the Cache la Poudre River, the National Park Service (NPS) said. Non-native trout,…

Do you understand how bar stock becomes a “puck” and then a reel spool or frame? In this cool video from The New Fly Fisher, design engineer Dan Hurford walks us through the machining processes that take raw metal and turn it into a beautiful, functional Abel fly reel. The modern machines—as well as human craftspeople—that make this happen are fascinating, and you’ll learn a few cool terms along the…

A video feature about legendary Penn State fly-fishing instructor Joe Humphreys—which aired last October on the “Centre County Report” newscast—earned its producer, Haley Jacobs, a national student Edward R. Murrow Award. The three-minute-long segment, “Trout and Tradition: The Legacy of Joe Humphreys,” focuses on the milestones of Humpreys’s legendary angling life. Jacobs, a senior in the Department of Journalism at the time of the report, graduated in May and now…