Page 6 - All Stories

Author Sam Wike buys a flats skiff and takes on the daunting challenge of Islamorada's bonefish.

Truth is, steelhead do take during the middle of the day, in bright sun, but you probably won’t raise one to the surface at that time. Instead, these fish find deep runs, slots, chutes, and plunge pools and hold close to bottom. You can also find summer steelhead holding in the shadows that ledge-rock provides . . . and you’ll find plenty of that shadowy ledge-rock on Idaho’s Clearwater River, Oregon’s Deschutes and North Umpqua rivers, and Washington’s Klickitat, among others.

Mid-summer fly fishing in Montana means two things: hoppers and caddis. That's what the fish will key on over the next month and a half and if you're looking for success, you'll do the same.

Common carp, a native Asian species, are abundant in central Montana's Missouri River. They are also easy to find and grow to large size, which is a one-two punch any fly fisher appreciates.

Herer are five products that stood out at the ICAST show in Orlando, Florida last week. These will be available at House of Fly this late summer and fall.

A guide to successfully releasing trout during hot weather.

Nick Moore won the recent British Fly Casting Club's 5-weight distance contest while using House of Fly's Ballistic 57 fly line. His record-breaking cast glided 139' 6".

Doomscrolling on social media can diminish our own experiences, but only if we allow it to. Take time, at least every once in a while, to consider how fortunate each of us has been in our angling careers.

The Trico, or "Trikes" as anglers often call them, are small mayflies that hatch prolifically between early July and early September, and may last as late as October. They are commonly referred to in angling circles as the "white winged curse.” The defining characteristics of freshly hatched duns are dark bodies with white wings. The curse portion of the equation is that they are tiny, typically represented by hook sizes ranging from #22 to #26. When I show anglers the flies we use to represent Tricos, they often get mad. "How can I even tie it on? I can’t see it."

The PMD hatch comes off in June and this is one of the few times of the year that large brown trout hold in the shallow shelves, tucked in amongst waving weed beds, gently rising to a mix of PMD’s, spent caddis, and any number of clumsy terrestrials. During a strong PMD hatch the largest browns don’t care too much if it’s full sun, full clouds, raining, or whatever . . . they are there to eat.

A 9-foot 5-weight is the ideal western trout rod and I can’t disagree; it serves equally well for bass, yellow perch bluegill and crappie. I consider it to be the most versatile stick a fledgling western flyfisher could own.

4:30am, hours after leaving the Costa Sunglasses party we found ourselves at The Black Pearl in Mosquito Lagoon. This is the spot to find big redfish in clear water, and it's about as close to a tropical redfish trip as you can find anywhere in the world. We visit Titusville, Florida and Captain Scott Maccalla.