The category “Fly Fishing Techniques” is a robust category. It includes articles that review casting, reading the water, presentation of flies, knot tying, and fly tying. I have tried to address differing levels of fishing experience as well. Thus, there should be something here for everyone.

Fly Fishing the Salmon Fly Hatch

The salmon fly hatch is surely one of the West's most famous and sought after hatches. Anglers from around the ...
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To Tightline or Suspension Nymph?

While "to tightline or suspension nymph" may at first appear to be a binary question, it is not intended to ...
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The Nail Knot vs. Loop-to-Loop

Over the last ten to fifteen years, the fly line industry has manufactured its lines with a loop at the ...
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Tactics for Fly Fishing a Nonhatch

We've reached the stream, and to our disappointment, there are no bugs in the air. Except for spring and early ...
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Tactics for Fly Fishing a Hatch

After a bit of a hike, we reach our stream. As rods are being assembled, the first question is usually ...
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Fly Rod Grips- Much More Than Handles!

I think it's fair to say that most anglers don't pay much attention to fly rod grips. They purchase a ...
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The White-Winged Curse; Fishing the Trico Hatch

Since the advent of fly fishing, fly fishers have had their demons. The summer trico hatch is mine. Through the ...
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Fly Fishing the Subsurface, Soft Hackles

It has been said by many, that effective subsurface fly patterns have two necessary attributes. They must look a little ...
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Fly Fishing the Subsurface, Tightline Nymphing

Last month, in "Fly Fishing the Subsurface, Suspension Nymphing", I began a series of blogs reviewing techniques used to fly ...
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Fly Fishing the Subsurface, Suspension Nymphing

Virtually every fly fisher loves to fish a hatch. It's hard to beat the pleasure of targeting a rising trout, ...
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Mental Image of Fly Casting

Learning to cast a fly rod is easy, right? We've all read or heard descriptions of the casting  motion, "speed-up, ...
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Read Trout Streams Like an Expert, Even if You’re Not

When I take newcomer fly fishers to a stream, one of the first questions asked is where to cast the ...
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Fishing Streamers

As leaves begin to turn from green to crimson and gold, trout anglers begin to think of fishing streamers. While ...
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Trico Spinner Falls- Breaking the Code

Summer is finally here! With it comes the eagerly anticipated summer hatches. On many streams, the early morning trico hatches and ...
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Fly Fishing Spring Creeks

When I began fly fishing for trout, I was fortunate to be living in Virginia. The Blue Ridge mountains in ...
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Reaching the Next Level of Fly Fishing for Trout

Fly fishing is becoming ever more popular. Most people try it once or twice, while a few make it an ...
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Fly Fishing Tough Conditions- Catching Trout Despite Them

Before I retired, I tried to fish two or three times a month. Working Monday through Friday and sharing a ...
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Fly Fishing Season Transitions- Strategies for Trout

Over the past several years, I have written separately about the four seasons of fly fishing for trout. Done in ...
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Euro Nymphing- an Old American Fly Fishing Technique

In the past few years, Euro nymphing, or tight-line nymphing, has become all the rage. It has been hailed as a ...
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Ten Tips To Catch More Trout and Have More Fun

Although I have previously written in more detail about many  of the topics below, it seems that most fly fishers ...
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Fish Tandem Flies and Catch More Trout

Many's the occasion that I have been asked how many flies I fish with at a time. In truth, I fish with as many ...
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Fly Fishing Small Streams

Most trout anglers who take up fly fishing get their start by fly fishing small streams. What is it about ...
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Extending the Drift for Better Presentation

Almost every fly fisher loves to fish dry flies when the opportunity presents itself. The game is of course to ...
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Fly Fishing Tactics – Fly Rod Length

Like so many things in life, the ideal fly rod length has evolved not in a straight line, but rather, in ...
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Tying the Nail Knot- Without the Nail

Due to the manufacture of floating fly lines with welded loops, the nail knot is not used as frequently as ...
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Fly Fishing Freestone Streams

Every fly fisher has favorites, whether it be a rod, a fly, a lucky shirt or hat, a certain stream, ...
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Fly Fishing Tricos – a Great Summer Hatch

Fly Fishing Tricos - a Great Summer Hatch Fly fishers who live near a stream boasting tricos are indeed fortunate ...
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Fly Fishing Emergers

It's my observation that the average fly fisher does not understand and utilize the varied opportunities to fish emergers. Emergers are ...
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Fly Casting for Distance

When teaching fly casting, I emphasize casting accurately to short and intermediate distances, that is, less than fifty feet. But ...
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Fly Fishing the Riffle

Whenever I'm scouting a new trout stream, one of the types of water I look for is the riffle. Why? ...
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Fly Fishing Tips: How to Find More Trout

Fly fishing magazines frequently publish articles with titles like "Six Steps to Better Fly Fishing", or "Ten Tips to Catch ...
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Fishing Wet Flies

This article begins my third year of writing articles regarding fly fishing for trout. To my surprise, I continue to ...
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Reading the Water – Secondary Trout Lies

Earlier this year, in "Reading the Water - Prime Trout Lies", I reviewed the habitat requirements for trout survival: cool ...
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Fly Fishing the Caddis Hatch

It was a late summer evening too many years ago, and I was standing knee deep in the Missouri River, ...
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Reading the Water – Prime Trout Lies

In April, I discussed fishing during a hatch (Fly Presentation - Fishing a Hatch). For all but winter steelheaders, a ...
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Summer Fly Fishing- Strategies for Trout

Summer Fly Fishing- Strategies for Trout I have previously written about fly fishing for trout in the fall, 10/14, winter, ...
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Presentation- Fly Fishing a Hatch

a Bit of History The first description of the concept of presentation appeared in 1676, in "The Universal Angler", the ...
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Fly Fishing Midges in Winter

It's winter, the first day of January, the first month of the year, and in Virginia, the coldest month of ...
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Fall Fly Fishing- Strategies for Trout

Fall is a time of transition, from summer to winter. Many changes occur in watersheds during this time which will ...
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Trophy Trout- How to Find, Play and Land Them

Hints of autumn have arrived early here in Big Sky country. We are having frequent evening storms in the Madison ...
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Spring Fly Fishing- Strategies for Trout

It’s April, a month of transition in the Virginia Piedmont region. For the trout fisherman, it's a time of transition ...
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Winter Fly Fishing- Strategies for Trout

It’s wintertime in the Virginia piedmont, home to hundreds of brook trout streams. Temperatures dip into the low twenties and ...
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