Books
Remembering Jimmy Carter, our greatest fly fishing president
Many presidents have fished, but few had the soul of an angler.
Latest
CFS News
Maupin Meetup 2025
Come one, come all, to the 2025 Current Flow State summer meetup at TroutFest in Maupin, Oregon!
Books
Read By the River, 2024
Sometimes, literally. The five favorite (mostly) fly-fishing books I read this year
Weekly Update
From runway to river
Fly fishing fashion icons, Joe Pera, final slots for winter classes, and more.
Industry
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.
Weekly Update
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.
How To
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.
Dispatches
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.
Meditations
A time to mend
If you can manage your line, you can manage your life.
Weekly Update
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.
Weekly Update
So long summer, come winter's hope.
If you start summer steelheading earlier than October, does it get less bittersweet?
How To
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.
Weekly Update
Remembering John Gierach
Recalling the shaper of a Platonic fly-fishing reality, in his own words
Weekly Update
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
Dispatches
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.
Weekly Update
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.
Weekly Update
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
Weekly Update
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?
Weekly Update
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.
Meditations
What we give up fly fishing
On Adam Phillips, and finding, and re-finding our identities as anglers
Weekly Update
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.
Weekly Update
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
Meditations
Fly fishing and problem solving
Moving beyond the engineering mindset, and trying to embrace frustration as a key function of learning
Meditations
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.
Weekly Update
Forest fires and fly fishing
Do forest fires hurt fly fishing? An update from the Clackamas river fire zone.
Dispatches
Fools rush in: on finding, hooking, and losing a trophy trout
Reflections on an epic face-plant, remembering Bill Walton
Weekly Update
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.
Dispatches
Signs of summer: Salmonflies are on!
It's big bug time on the Deschutes, the most wonderful time of the year.
How To
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.
How To
Thinking in watersheds
Understanding watersheds, and the different types of rivers we're going to encounter when fly-fishing
How To
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.
How To
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.
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.
How To
How to read a river: Riffles, runs, and pools
Digging one level deeper to understand the different features we find in a river
How To
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.