Newsletter
Opening days and opening dreams
Opening up, setting intentions for the new season
Latest
Writing
The best fly-fishing books ever written
Books that will improve your fly-fishing. A definitive list of all the best fly-fishing books, from beginner to technical methods, from entomology to romantic lore and conservation. And, of course, great writing.
Newsletter
Signs of summer: Salmonflies are on!
It's big bug time on the Deschutes, the most wonderful time of the year.
Technique
The roll cast: A basic fly-fishing cast for tight spots
Whether it's the first cast you learn or the second, the roll cast is a hard-working and versatile arrow in your casting quiver.
Environment
Thinking in watersheds
Understanding watersheds, and the different types of rivers we're going to encounter when fly-fishing
Technique
Fly-fishing with indicators: When and how to use them
All about indicators, floats, suspenders—whatever you call the thing every other angler calls a bobber.
Technique
Fly presentation and drag-free drift
You've rigged up your rod, landed your cast in the right place, your fly is on the water...and, it's waterskiing. Tactics and tips to maintain a drag-free drift that's irresistible to fish.
Environment
How to read a river: Riffles, runs, and pools
Digging one level deeper to understand the different features we find in a river
Environment
Reading the river: The Thalweg
Find the fast water for keys on where to row, where to put your flies, and how the river wants to be.
Gear
From reel seat to tippet: understanding the anatomy of a fly-fishing rig
The knee bone connects to the thigh bone...the thigh bone connects to the hip bone...digging into all the things that attach to your fly rod, from reel seat to fly line to tippet.
Gear
How to buy your first fly-fishing rod
There's one mistake I want to help you avoid when you buy your first fly rod.
Gear
The ultimate guide to fly fishing knots
The do's and do-knot's fly fishing knot tying. Find out what you need to know, what you don't, and how to build your skills and have confidence in your fly fishing knots
Environment
Scouting 101: Keys to finding great fly fishing spots
Scouting fly fishing spots can be a major challenge for beginners. It depends on combing through lots of sources of information to find places where you might find great water, then verifying those hunches in real life.
Environment
Finding your Home Waters with the Big Here Quiz
Start your journey to find your home waters by grounding yourself on your home planet.
Connection
Setting your fly-fishing intentions: The CFS Check-in
Check-in with your goals and intentions at the start of every fishing season, or calendar year.
Gear
Fly-fishing gear: What's essential, what's optional?
Here are the four pieces of gear you really need to get started fly-fishing
Mindset
What is fly fishing? Why do we fish? A very short introduction
For as long as humans have lived near rivers and oceans, we’ve fished. And I’d argue that fly fishing is the closest to how our ancestors did it.
Mindset
My life story as told by water
Who I am, and how that's shaped my fishing life
Mindset
Five reasons to start fly fishing
Nobody fly fishes because it’s easy. So why do they do it? Here are five reasons why I fly fish, along with two anti-reasons.
Icons
Icons: Percival Everett
On trout fishing and the truth: "For all the aggravation a trout can cause, it cannot think and does not consider you. A trout is very much like truth; it does what it wants, what it has to."
Technique
Streamers and triggering trout aggression
Here are two examples of videos depicting the most visible and dramatic types of eats you'll ever get: territorial brown trout going after streamers.
Writing
If These Walls Could Talk: Fly-Fishing Guide Wisdom on the Rogue River
Proof that fly fishing guides have gotten no less droll and cynical over the years.
Writing
Stepping inside the Angler's Club of New York
If you get a chance to visit the Angler's Club in New York City, take it. It's the nucleus of the sport's North American origins.
Writing
River time: A manifesto
For me, a river is a sacred place. Any old river will do. It's a nice bonus if trout live there. For when you step into a river, you step away from false time, and surround yourself in what's real.
Icons
Icons: William James Lunn, River Keeper of the Test
Lunn's extensive restoration and reclamation work on the Test is a must-read for anyone interested in the practice of taking care of a river.
Nymphing
CFS Chat: George Daniel on Dynamic Nymphing
We were lucky enough to get some time with George (in between the Green Drake blitz, even!) and had the chance to ask him a few questions about his approach to the book.
Mindset
Public access and the ethics of fishing trespass
If a trespass happens in the backcountry and leaves no trace, does it make a mark?
Technique
Dapper Don: Stalking large browns with a long rod
Inspiration on moving to a more sight-fishing, patience-oriented trout approach.
Seasons
Somerset in January: Reminders of Fish
It's always a nice thrill to get to break out of the winter doldrums for a day and get to feel some good fishing vibes.
Romance
Lawfully Wadered: How to have a fly fishing wedding
Here's a "Top 10 things to remember when planning or attending a fly-fishing wedding" list. Because, one day, you too might wind up at one.
Gear
That great fraternity of fishing idiots: Why fly rod warranties matter
There are more ways to break a fly rod than there are to catch a fish. A warranty can help get you back out on the water, but there are nuances to what they cover.
Newsletter
Congrats Piscator: Happy Birthday Izaak Walton
Happy 418th birthday to Izaak Walton, the first (and Compleat-est) angling blogger. Give his masterpiece a leaf through if you haven't before—there are some great carp recipes in there.
Technique
Adding movement to your wet fly swing: Lift it like Leisenring
Once you're through the main drag-free-drift area, it's never a bad idea to try to impart some motion in your flies. The Leisenring Lift is a great way to accomplish just that.