Newsletter
Rolling your own
If you wish to make a fly rod from scratch, you must first invent the universe.
Nick Parish
Forever seeking flow.
Newsletter
River reads, post-hibernation edition
Grand Canyon dreaming, communing with the fishes, Jackson County's finest, Tokyo shopping, and a great smallmouth bass learning opportunity
Books
Hibernation reads, 2025
When we can't fish and make stories, we read stories. Sometimes those are fly-fishing stories, and sometimes they're not. Here are three that rolled across the bedside table, from the Grand Canyon to the Mariana Trench to the Carhartteratti of Jackson Hole's Persephone Bakery.
Newsletter
Stand up and tell 'em! 📣
A gentle nudge to find your voice in conservation and activism.
Newsletter
Don't get GASed 💨
Snow Peak launches a fly-fishing line, avoiding GAS, we find the safest place on the Oregon Coast to be in a tsunami, and more.
Newsletter
Meanderings: Following the thalweg from the Willamette to the Seine
First flies, finding the thalweg, good eau in Paris, and some riparian art
Newsletter
Leaky waders and slinky links
Here's another thing to do this winter: Fix your waders. And, while you're at it, get stoked with a visit to one of the fly-fishing film fests, and generally click your heart out with some buttery links.
Newsletter
Immerse yourself with Kwintesencja
Take fifteen minutes, and be transported.
Newsletter
Watersheds and watching flies
Zoom out to conserve, zoom in to observe, zoom over to the Grand Fir tonight to have a drink and a bite.
Newsletter
Creek Freaks and Trout Whisperers: Advocacy from the Deschutes to the Chattahoochee
100 subscribers, Maupin in May, the DRA's Deschutes fight expands, a new blueprint for anadromous activism, and a club report from ATL.
Newsletter
A tale for the turn of the year
Wish 2025 an angler's welcome with some intention setting, saying goodbye to Jimmy Carter, summer meetup dates, and the anatomy of a fly-fishing rig
Writing
Remembering Jimmy Carter, our greatest fly-fishing president
Many presidents have fished, but few had the soul of an angler.
Newsletter
Maupin Meetup 2025
Come one, come all, to the 2025 Current Flow State summer meetup at TroutFest in Maupin, Oregon!
Newsletter
Read By the River, 2024
Sometimes, literally. The five favorite (mostly) fly-fishing books I read this year
Newsletter
From runway to river
Fly-fishing fashion icons, Joe Pera, final slots for winter classes, and more.
Fly-fishing trends
Fly-fishing fashion: Streetwear goes streamside
Are kook fits in? Honestly, the only drip I know is when you're wading deep and you dunk your hat.
Newsletter
Finding your fly lab
Another critical element in establishing your home waters: having a place to test things out. Plus a new book from Robin Wall Kimmerer and the many (gnarly) faces of lamprey.
Newsletter
Avoid this one mistake when buying your first fly rod
How's that for a clickbait title? CFS' first-fly-rod buyers' guide, Winter classes open now, and a push against crude fly names.
Newsletter
Ground yourself on our home planet
Establish The Big Here on the way to finding your home waters. Also, two fun fly fishing films, and registration opening for Winter term class.
Newsletter
A time to mend
If you can manage your line, you can manage your life.
Newsletter
Some lines on knots
When it comes to fly-fishing knot tying skill, it's truly a tale of the haves and the have-knots. OK, ok. I promise not to get things too twisted up here, pun-wise at least.
Newsletter
So long summer, come winter's hope.
If you start summer steelheading earlier than October, does it get less bittersweet?
Newsletter
Invest in Your Angling, and Your Community: Join a Fly-Fishing Club
There's a great new documentary out about the wonderful benefits of joining a club. Guess what? Joining a fly-fishing club is even better, and will make you a better angler.
Newsletter
Remembering John Gierach
Recalling the shaper of a Platonic fly-fishing reality, in his own words
Newsletter
High-torque and low-torque activities
Digging in on the progression from Aspen Extreme to Trout Bum (RIP John Gierach), Grant Petersen CFS GOAT, SalmonSuperHwy lauded by the White House, and more
Newsletter
Fly-Fishing in the Italian Alps Part 5: The Packing List
It's not the be-all end-all Ultimate Fly Fishing Destination Packing List, but it's what I wound up bringing to Italy, where the trout fishing is much like at home.
Newsletter
Fly-Fishing in the Italian Alps, Part 4: Nude beaches and remote reaches
In Piemonte, on the Sesia and Mastallone rivers, anything is possible with the right attitude.
Newsletter
Fly-Fishing in the Italian Alps, Part 3: Young marble giants
Searching for slabs on the Passer river in Südtirol / Trentino Alto-Adige, part of our five-part series on fly-fishing in Italy
Newsletter
Fly-Fishing in the Italian Alps, Part 2: Blowouts, high water, and mystery trout on the Swiss border
Can you help identify this strange trout variant? Salmo truta helvetica?
Newsletter
Fly-Fishing in the Italian Alps, Part 1: Decoding access
The first in a series on fly fishing in the Italian alps, on getting licensed in Italy, and the main differences between fly fishing in Italy and the USA.
Newsletter
What we give up fly fishing
On Adam Phillips, and finding, and re-finding our identities as anglers
Newsletter
Hot weather and trout fishing
A few top tips—and one essential piece of gear—can help keep fish safe when the temps get high.
Newsletter
How to not look like an idiot when you first start learning to fly fish
Three ways to conquer the self-consciousness that comes with beginning fly fishing and start building your fly fishing practice
Newsletter
Fly fishing and problem solving
Moving beyond the engineering mindset, and trying to embrace frustration as a key function of learning
Newsletter
The Five Permissions: How to be a great fishing friend
Take me fishing. A simple request, a schmaltzy commercial, a pivotal role. Here are five permissions you can give yourself and your fishing friend to create space for connection.
Newsletter
Forest fires and fly fishing
Do forest fires hurt fly fishing? An update from the Clackamas river fire zone.