The winter issue of Trout Unlimited’s “Trout” magazine inspired me to want to return this spring to my fly fishing roots — swinging a type of wet flies known as “soft hackles.” Soft hackles are simple ...

I don’t know if you’d consider it a clinical condition or not, but I have a long-standing predisposition for old, soft hackle wet flies and Catskill-style dry flies. The logical result, no doubt, of ...

If you find yourself stumped by picky trout with any regularity, it’s probably time for you to learn how to fish a soft hackle fly. These time-tested patterns are characterized by their wispy, “buggy” ...

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I like to fish dry flies. It’s not that I dislike nymph fishing, but there’s something truly special about watching a trout rise to your fly. There are, however, times when fishing dry flies simply ...

A few weeks ago, I resurrected a fly pattern that you’ll probably recognize if you are among that group of now middle-aged fly fishers who took up the sport in the 1970s. We called it the “spider.” ...

A close second would be, “What (or how many) fly patterns do I need to have to be successful most of the time? Those are both valid queries, and ones which reflect the quintessence of fly-fishing. On ...

One of these caught fish, while the others didn't / Photo by Ken Baldwin Prime hopper season runs from late summer into early fall. When warm water and low flows slow the regular aquatic insect ...

This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in ...