What Happens When a Steelhead Season is Lost? Derek Botchford, owner of the Frontier Steelhead Experience, says it best: “Similar to good health—we tend to take it for granted until it’s gone.”
Webinar: Getting Ready for Great Lakes Spring Steelhead
Watch the great recorded presentation by Rick Kustich here!
Guide Gossip: What Fly?
“A skater, unless the zombie apocalypse is happening and I need to eat, then a dirty black leech with an orange cone head.” -Dax Messett
The White-Winged Akroyd
In Eric Taverner’s Salmon Fishing (1931), when discussing the merits of the Akroyd he is quoted as saying, “This is a hard-wearing and killing fly, especially if pains have been taken to dress it neatly and sparingly, so that the body has the appearance of slimness, lightly clad with luminous filmy robes. I would cheerfully put my trust in and even my money on a well-dubbed Akroyd for any river, when the water was at a suitable height.”
Guide Gossip: To Fish A Loop?
I asked fourteen EXCEPTIONAL guides from the most infamous West Coast steelhead rivers the same questions. Every guide was given the task of answering sixteen questions, some with a specific river in mind and others just as a general guide of steelhead tactics.
The Heisenberg
Heisenberg” as a blue fly name should make sense to anyone who has seen Breaking Bad. If you haven’t, “Heisenberg” was the alias of the high school chemist turned meth cooker, Walter White. His meth was the best, and it was also blue. According to Brian Clemens, a northern California guide who spends a lot of the fall and winter on the Trinity River, “There’s nothing like breaking out the bad, and swinging the Heisenberg – the fish hit it like they are hitting meth.” He also adds, “It’s addicting.”
Tension: The Key to the Spey Cast?
Let’s dive in further to the question: Is there a unifying component that all successful Spey casts have, regardless of casting or line style?
The Night Terror
Don’t be fooled by this fly’s simplicity. Designed for movement, the Night Terror undulates and pulses in the current without losing bulk and profile – and to top it off, it is easy to cast!
Idaho’s Salmon River Fly Box
I know I’ll soon be making a trip to watch a dry fly gurgle among the fall glow of the Salmon River.
The Forbidden Fruit
Superstitions and fishing go hand and fin. Some anglers have a lucky fishing hat that has been worn for years; others never wash their lucky fishing socks afraid to fade the mojo clean off. A long-time guide on the Rogue once told me that he would grease up his gunnels on the ol’ woody for good luck – so the fish could just slide right in.
Guide Gossip #10: The Fight
Does the position or angle of your rod matter?
Paris in Summer
Over the years I have received pieces of fly fishing advice that seem to combine both time-tested truth and a devilish elusiveness. Near the top of this list is: “Always be ready for the moment when a fish takes your fly. It can happen any time your fly is in the water, even when you […]