Mindset
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
Latest
Access
Forest fires and fly fishing
Do forest fires hurt fly fishing? An update from the Clackamas river fire zone.
Newsletter
Fools rush in: on finding, hooking, and losing a trophy trout
Reflections on an epic face-plant, remembering Bill Walton
Environment
Opening days and opening dreams
Opening up, setting intentions for the new season
Books
The best fly fishing books ever written
Books that will improve your fly fishing. A definitive list of the best fly fishing books, from beginner guides 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
You could just roll cast your entire life
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
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.
Access
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.
Tools
Essential fly fishing gear for beginners: What you need (and what you don't)
There are only four pieces of essential fly fishing gear you really need to get started.
Mindset
My life story as told by water
Who I am, and how that's shaped my fishing life
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.
Books
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.
Access
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.
Industry
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.
Community
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.
Fly rods
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.