Current Flow State Fly Fishing Weekly Update archives

"Miss Norway at Miss Universe in salmon costume with silver sequined body and metallic orange wings representing Norway's famous fish, shown in two poses on lit stage"

Weekly Update

Harness your inner salmon goddess

Miss Norway, it me. Tying night success, updates from the alchemist's cave, and ten(-ish) fishy links to start your week with trout in the tabs.

Weekly Update

Winter Term registration opens Wednesday

Sign up for Winter Term class, come tie flies on Friday, read CFS in the Financial Times, and watch two Swedish brothers bust chops while contemplating the good life.

Weekly Update

HOA Karens gatekeep eight-pound peacock bass

Don't let the park police keep you off your personal best. Fly fishing stoke from around the world in this week's newsletter

A misty river scene, with a background conifers and dark orange autumnal foliage and large wet rocks in the foreground

Weekly Update

Portlanders! Come tie flies on Friday (or...just hang out?)

We're hosting two tying nights in November: This coming Friday, November 7th, and again on Friday, November 21st.

Weekly Update

Tune in to our massive Craig Mathews Q&A

We hopped the Pheasant Tail Simplicity press tour train and had a chance to chat with one of its iconic co-authors, Craig Mathews, about a bevy of topics related to tying flies, the future of conservation, and much more.

Weekly Update

Win a free copy of Pheasant Tail Simplicity

Announcing our Pheasant Tail fall giveaway, a member Q&A on tenkara and creative woodworking projects, tariffs bite the fly fishing industry, and a Leaders roundup of must-reads from around the fly fishing world

Weekly Update

Fall is for Pheasant Tail

We're going all-in on Patagonia's latest book, with a virtual book club meeting, fly-tying events in Portland, and a special surprise.

A man floats through a rapid reeling a fly rod

Weekly Update

Free-floating through fall

Fly tying meetups, welcoming a new Intro alum group, and more

Weekly Update

Big swell off Point No Point

Routines, purposelessness, wrist action, and our Member Drive fish reveal

Industry

What do the Grateful Dead and birdwatching have in common?

Probably just this week's newsletter? From private equity Dead deals to twitcher road meals.

Weekly Update

Go beyond the bobber

Challenging yourself to become a better angler, a book club rundown, and upcoming events.

A drift boat floats in the midground, anchored at the side of Montana's Madison river

Weekly Update

Do you want the wire worm?

Knowing what you like, and sticking with it.

Angler George Daniel fishes on a bushy Pennsylvania trout stream

How To

Back to school: Six tips to get started fly fishing from George Daniel

One of the greatest educators in the angling world offers a roadmap to building your skills in the sport.

Weekly Update

Let's hit the road

What if the secret to life's problems is just getting better at evading them?

Weekly Update

Seeing salmon, seeing snakes, and tying simple flies

Facial recognition, but for fish, our first buzzworm of the year, and a new PCC fly-tying class for Fall Term

Conversations

CFSQ&A: What I Wish I'd Known Before My First Guided Float in Montana

Impressions, insights, and lessons-learned when an Intro to Fly Fishing alum takes her first guided float trip in Montana.

Three Penn Stater magazines fanned out; cover shows George Daniel in Orvis waders beside a stream, headlined "In the Flow: George Daniel leads Penn State's iconic fly-fishing program."

Weekly Update

Profiling fly fishing educator George Daniel for PennStater magazine

From inspiration and ideas to executing a feature story, it takes a team, trust, and a little bit of good timing. Sounds like a successful fishing trip, too

Books

Fix your yard, help a fish?

Join us for a discussion of backyard ecology in our Summer edition of the Read By the River book club.

Weekly Update

Pain, pressure, and one hard pull: Hook removal done right

If you stick yourself rather than a fish, know how to get it out.

A lab-grown block of salmon sits in the middle of a white plate, with curiously rounded edges.

Weekly Update

Salmon without fish: Lab-grown seafood earns FDA approval, and a spot on the menu at Portland's Kann

With recently-granted FDA approval and a summer slot on the menu at Portland hotspot Kann, lab-grown salmon is in the spotlight. I talked with Justin Kolbeck, co-founder of cultivated seafood startup Wildtype.

Weekly Update

Leaders: Wisdom never expires

It's the June edition of Leaders, our links roundup, featuring the big public lands battle, the wisdom of guides and land-watchers, gear reviews, technique primers, and more.

A sequence of skateboarder David Gravette riding a miniramp with fly-fishing waders on, and then riding to catch a fish.

Meditations

Skate or Fly: How two outsider sports foster the same creative flow state

From boardslides to redsides, meet a few notable skaters who fly-fish, and identify the big areas the sports have in common, built around getting into the flow state.

CFS News

TroutFest 2025, debriefed: We came, we saw, we fished...we won the trivia contest!

Here's what went down at the first-ever Maupin Meetup during the Deschutes River Alliance's TroutFest.

A black and white book book cover is overlaid onto a backdrop of a river at sunrise. The book is titled Wisdom of the Guides and features a grizzled-looking man with a white beard looking

How To

Tap into the Wisdom of the Guides

Gleaning advice for taking your first guided fly-fishing trip from legendary fly-fishing guides and a tome that's stood the test of time.

Meditations

Nirvana on the Deschutes: The salmonfly hatch with no hookups

Deciding to fish the salmonfly hatch on the Deschutes with hookless flies

How To

30 micro-lessons for the fly-curious to learn to fish

We're off and running on a marathon of Bluesky posting to kick off this year's trout season. Try one every day, and in a month you'll be an angler!

Weekly Update

Rigged for spring

it's the May edition of Leaders, our links roundup, featuring a bevy of great PNW events, primers on fish handling, and an intro to Trout Spey.

An old red fishing logbook has FISHING gold-embossed in the upper left corner, and some sort of fish-related icon, a creel maybe, in the lower right.

How To

One of the best ways to improve your fly fishing: Download our free fishing log template

All the theory, workflows, and downloadable tools you need to build one of the most important habits of a fly angler.

Weekly Update

Floods, anarchy, and river gods

The season kicks off with a rush of fun, with the TroutFest agenda dropping, a little soliloquy, a report from our book club, and my first significant fish of the new season.