Category: Fly Fishing
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Another Look at the Dark Side of Catch and Release
I came across an article on a Wyoming website today that discusses the pressure fish face on some of the West’s iconic rivers. Actually, the story focuses on the North Platte’s Grey Reef section, which is one river I haven’t made it to yet, but the problem affects many popular rivers. “Almost a quarter of…
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Texas Specks (Salty Toothy Trout)
In 2019, I spent a few winter months pursuing Texas redfish on the fly from North Padre Island eastward over to Matagorda Bay. I caught plenty of small puppy drum blind casting into murky water, but the goal of sight fishing to big reds in clear water was elusive. I did finally find those fish…
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A Madison River Fall Run Flybox
I’ve got a story simmering about the experience of fishing the Madison River above Hebgen lake in the Fall and it just isn’t coming together the way I want it to yet. In the meantime, let’s take a look at some of the flies that I’ve tied for that event, in West Yellowstone, Montana. Probably…
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Wintering in the Desert
October, 2018: It got pretty cold in West Yellowstone and I finally had to face up to the end of my Montana adventure for the year. I started south towards warmer weather, but lingered on the Teton river in Idaho for a final week, and twice had pipes freeze in my motorhome. It had been…
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A Week on the Big Mo in July
Tricos, Caddis and PMDs, Oh My! The Missouri river in Montana is one of the top destinations in America for fly fishers who prefer the art of the dry fly over chucking bobbers and lead. I first visited “the Big Mo” in 2018, the year that I spent trying to hit all of the big…
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August on the Bighorn: 2021
I had spent a couple of weeks on Hebgen lake near West Yellowstone, and after getting my fill of that top notch dry fly action, I decided it was time to move on. As often happens in my meandering travels, I didn’t have a plan set in stone. The skies had been getting more smoky from…
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Gulpers on the South Fork Arm of Hebgen Lake
July, 2021 I caught a few fish on the first day out from the float tube, but they were on a leech pattern under the surface, and I was searching for gulpers. They are the famous Hebgen trout that methodically eat emerging and spent callibaetis mayflies over a long stretch of the summer, making this…
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Wade Lake, Montana: Turquoise and Rainbows
In the Summer of 2022, I spent a little more than a week camped at Wade Lake, Montana, which is up the road from the famed Three Dollar Bridge on the Madison River. A few years prior, I had fished Cliff Lake, which is the adjoining lake to the south, but I walked the shore…
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Eight Species in an Afternoon
I’ve moved farther south along the Rio Grande and have set up shop for a while at Caballo Lake State Park. Yesterday I fished the river below the dam, which has almost zero flow coming out of the lake, so it is a series of ponds, really. The one closest to the dam was packed…
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Fly Tying Friday
Let’s take a look at my San Juan flybox from my recent not-so-stellar visit to the northern New Mexican tailwater. About half of the flies in this box were tied while camped at the Crusher campground at the end of the “Quality Water”. The holdovers from previous trips include the terrestrial patterns in the lower…
TRAVELINGWITHTOOLS 