Fly Fishing Newsletter
Helpful Knowledge to Make You a Stronger Angler
Written by The Catch and The Hatch
Should You Change the Fly or Change the Cast?
Should You Change the Fly or Change the Cast? How to solve dry fly refusals When a trout refuses your dry fly, the instinct is to reach for the fly box . Most of the time, that is the wrong move. Before you change the pattern, check the drift. A drag-free…
What Is That Rising Trout Actually Eating?
What Is That Rising Trout Actually Eating? How rise forms reveal the insect stage A rising trout is not automatically eating an adult insect resting on top of the water. That is the single most important thing to understand about dry fly fishing . When you…
Why Good Dry Flies Still Drag
Why Good Dry Flies Still Drag How to find and fix microdrag The most common reason a well-chosen dry fly gets refused has nothing to do with the pattern. It’s drag – specifically the invisible kind. When your line or leader connects the fly to a current…
What Does a Good Nymph Drift Look Like?
What Does a Good Nymph Drift Look Like? How to recognize and control an effective drift A good nymph drift is one where your fly is traveling at the right depth, moving at the speed of the current at that depth, and you have enough contact with the rig to…
How Deep Should You Set Your Indicator?
How Deep Should You Set Your Indicator? How to match indicator depth to changing water Set your indicator at roughly one and a half times the water depth as a starting point, then adjust from there. That’s the short answer. The longer answer is that the…
How Much Weight Should You Put on a Nymph Rig?
How Much Weight Should You Put on a Nymph Rig? How to adjust weight for any nymphing situation There is no universal answer to how much weight you need on a nymph rig, and that is actually the useful answer. The right amount of weight is always a response to…
How to Read Water on a Small Stream Before You Make Your First Cast
How to Read Water on a Small Stream Before You Make Your First Cast Reading the water is the most important skill in fly fishing . A perfect cast means nothing if you’re dropping a fly where there are no fish. On a small stream, this truth gets compressed -…
How to Fish a Small Creek Without Spooking the Best Trout
How to Fish a Small Creek Without Spooking the Best Trout Small creeks are deceptively demanding. The water looks simple – narrow, clear, and shallow – but that clarity is exactly what makes trout so alert and so easy to spook. The fish you can see are…
Small Stream Fly Fishing: A Framework for Finding the Days You Actually Want
Small Stream Fly Fishing A Framework for Finding the Days You Actually Want There’s something that happens when you step onto a small freestone stream. The water is close, the casts are short, and the decisions come quickly. I was reminded of this on a recent…
The Complete Guide to Summer Dry Fly Fishing
The Complete Guide to Summer Dry Fly Fishing Use the three pillars of fly fishing to catch more fish on the surface all season long. Summer dry fly fishing is the reason a lot of us got into this sport in the first place. There is nothing quite like watching a trout rise to a […]
Mayfly Entomology Course
Fly Fishing Entomology Mayflies Mayflies are arguably the most elegant insect of the fly fishing world. They vary in size and color and are a staple in the trout’s diet. As fly fisherman, we imitate this order with patterns like the parachute adams, adams dry fly, pheasant tail, comparadun, and the mercury baetis. Mayflies offer year round nymphing and […]
Prospecting
Dry Fly Fishing Course Prospecting Introduction Now that we’ve covered insects, types of water, and the finer points of presentation, it’s time to turn our attention to what happens on the water when we fish. As is always the case in dry fly fishing, the fish will tell us what to do. Sometimes we go […]