Month: January 2025
Mojo Bass Fly Rod Review – St. Croix Fly Rods
It’s an interesting juxtaposition comparing someone’s first fishing rod to their first fly rod. For most new fly anglers, you go to your local fly shop and get a nine-foot five weight outfit, usually for trout. Now compare that to getting your first fishing rod by shopping at a big box store or local tackle …...
The “Fishitch” Strikes Again
Old Man Winter put a chokehold across the south in mid-January of 2025. Subfreezing temperatures along with ice and snow made fly fishing extremely difficult. The water temperature in one of my favorite rivers hovered around thirty-four degrees Fahrenheit. During the frigid weather, the decision to tie flies or work on my “honey-do”...
Go Small or Go Home
Some times it seems the trout are frustratingly selective. We tie on more and more different patterns and nothing seems to work. We finally give up, pack our gear away and head home. That has happened too many times to me, but there is often a solution to the problem that we overlook. Here is …...
A Winter Fishing Trip
Is there ever a time when a fly fishing trip is unbearable due to the weather? Of course not…well, maybe with a few exceptions. If the neighborhood children can play outside when the high temperature is twenty-five degrees, then indeed it’s alright to go fishing. It was bitterly cold this week in the southern Appalachians...
The Best Day I Ever Had Fishing
It wasn’t the best day I ever had fishing because of the size of the fish, or because of the number I caught. It was memorable because it was the first. As I recall I was six, or thereabouts. My dad was working hard to support our little family of him and my mother and …...
Breaking News: NOAA Proposes Fishing Closure for 55 Species Off Florida Coast
Today, NOAA Fisheries released Amendment 59 to the Fishery Management Plan for the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the South Atlantic. The Amendment would prohibit bottomfishing for 55 species, including red snapper, off much of the Florida Atlantic coast. This proposed Secretarial Amendment was prepared by NOAA Fisheries as part of a legal...
Joe Brooks
In the early 1970s I bought a book from the Outdoor Life Book Club entitled Trout Fishing by Joe Brooks. Joe was the editor of Outdoor Life magazine then but was widely known for his fly fishing expertise and his passion for chasing trout, salmon, and even saltwater fish on a fly around the world. …...
Naming Flies
People who tie their own flies often have a tendency to break away from standard patterns. Perhaps they don’t have all the specified materials or just want to update old classic flies. Maybe they just saw an interesting material in the sale bin at the fly shop. In any event, tying your own flies comes …...
