I was talking with a friend the other day about doing some fishing in Colorado, his home state. This is a good topic to bring up if you are trying to lure me into an extended conversation. Colorado is near to my heart. He was throwing out places we might fish and said "I know you love the Dream Stream, but I hate that place". This really took me off guard. How could anyone hate that place? If you've never fished it, trust me, the name says it all. A gorgeous high elevation tailwater, this section of the South Platte snakes thru a quant little valley between two reservoirs, bending back on itse ..read more

By Bob Reece On my home waters in Wyoming, wind is a nearly constant factor. This weather altering force can also act as a source of frustration for many anglers. However, this seemingly negative nemesis can be used as a casting ally. While I spend most of my free time fishing moving water, my days of guiding are now spent entirely on still waters. Several of these lakes and ponds lie in open areas that are subject to frequently changing winds. In an effort to help my clients maximize their time on the water, I must be able to provide them with the instruction needed to persevere in these cond ..read more

Every year, I spend quite a bit of time scouring the interweb and flipping through numerous fly company catalogs, all in the effort to stay up to date with the latest new fly pattern creations. Many are just variations of already existing fly patterns, but quite often it's a new fly tying material that's created, manipulated, or that's managed to stay under the radar and discovered, that's used to develop these new fly patterns. I usually spend my time reviewing the new flies and their recipes, and hear my inner-voice chattering over and over, "why didn't you come up with that fly pattern, dum ..read more

How do you find and catch trout on days when there doesn’t seem to be much action? When the river looks like it’s boiling with rising trout and you’re having to wipe the BWOs out of your eyes just to tie on a fly, it doesn’t take a degree in entomology to catch fish. Sadly, days like that are few and far between and we spend plenty of days on the river scratching our heads and guessing what might get a favorable response. Most days there is a combination of fly pattern and technique that will put a couple of fish in the net. If you’re struggling with finding that combination, you may just need ..read more

There's nothing worse than watching a big beautiful wild fish bleed out from a damaged gill. I found myself in just that situation with a big brown trout one day. Watching helplessly as the water turned red. Thank God Kent was with me. Thinking fast he said, "hey, did you finish that Coke?" I had not and he showed me a great trick. He opened the fish's mouth and poured the Coke down her throat. As soon as it hit the injured gill the bleeding stopped. It was like magic. I'm not sure if it's the carbonation or the acid but something in the Coke cauterized the wound. It saved that fish's life. I ..read more

Here's the Million Dollar Trout Fishing Question.... Are you putting enough emphasis on the 3 C's in your trout fishing? The availability of Current, Cover and Cuisine most often dictate where trout decide to set up shop. Being able to consistently pick them out will ultimately determine how much success you have on the water. Furthermore, if you can find a spot that has all three C's, you're probably staring at a honey hole that holds the trophy of your dreams. As a ignorant rookie fly fisher, I recall early on in my career, how I'd start out my day selecting a section of water, and go a ..read more

By Jason Tucker I used to spinner fish for trout a lot. Much of it was done as a scouting tool in preparation to come back and fly fish, and at times I even clipped the hook off and simply took note where the fish were. It was a great scouting tool, one I have long since abandoned. In several years of this kind of fishing I began to notice a trend. In my haste to cover water, I often kept wading as I cast. At times I was puzzled as to why a particularly good spot did not yield a fish. I would stop and cast some more, and very often come up with a fish. Over time a pattern emerged. If I was in ..read more

Do Strike Indicators spook fish? There is a lot of debate over whether strike indicators spook fish. I'm not going to beat around the bush on this one folks. I truly believe that most of the time they don't. Especially if you rule out calm and slow moving shallow water. Only when I'm dealing with really spooky fish, do I downsize and dull down the color of my strike indicators. The other 80% of the time I think the fish pretty much just find them interesting, possibly a tasty morsel, or just another piece of trash floating over their heads. What I really think we should be doing is looking at ..read more

Here are two techniques for more effective fly-fishing in deep, fast water. Indicator fishing with nymphs can be a very effective way to target trout in deep water. Still, it can be a challenge to get your flies in front of the fish, when the water is really deep and the current is moving quickly. During the colder months getting those flies down in the fish’s face is critical. When I’m faced with these conditions, I like to use a weighted 90 degree indicator setup. It’s a simple trick but the results will shock you. When combined with a big initial mend, which moves your indicator upstream, y ..read more

One of the toughest situations I've encountered trout fishing over the years, is when trout are suspended in the water column and feeding in a stationary position. These trout are usually too deep to persuade them to rise to your dry fly on the surface, yet are also holding too far up from the bottom for you to easily dredge your tandem nymph rig in front of them. Most of the time, this is a frustrating sight-fishing scenario for the fly angler, where all you see is the trout occasionally open and close its mouth. You can see the trout you're trying to catch, but no matter how hard you try, yo ..read more