Long-time friend, Bob Pelzl, slip-striking a big ‘bow on one of the lakes on the Vermejo Ranch property. Striking a fish—from trout to tarpon—properly requires more than just rearing back and hoping for the best. For trout anglers, the “slip-strike” method of hook-setting is an important skill to learn, especially when fishing with light tippets. [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Redfish. Was thinking of drawing nothing but a redfish tail “flagging” above the surface this week (with that tell-tale black spot), but then decided that I still wanted to see the head of the fish. Tried a sample sketch to see if might be able to really get a whole redfish. Didn’t [...]

Rather than wait until year’s end to make the Drawing Fish 52 art available, I’m going to do it on an as-we-go basis. If you are interested in a piece, please contact me directly using the Contact JB link above, or send an email to jason(at)fishfliesandwater(dot)com. Available Drawing Fish 52 (2011) art (in reverse chronological order): [...]

If you’re an FFF Certified Casting Instructor, and living in the PNW, and feeling the need to be continually educated, I thought that I’d let you know that I’m doing a continuing education seminar for FFF Certified Casting Instructors in Albany, Oregon on March 13th (how convenient, huh?). If you are indeed an FFF Certified [...]

Okay, this is more of what I was after originally with the DF52 bonefish. Should have just kept going down the pencil route last Thursday and skipped the color all together. Too many distractions in those 30 minutes and I lost sight of the fish’s core structure. Got the head more of the way that I [...]

So, I got an email asking about snail patterns. Told Bruno (he would be the one who emailed) that I’d get something up here for him. Figured that today was as good a day as any. Before I got started, I decided to check out GB’s blog, just to see how his posts from the [...]

GB has been busy lately. He’s managed to finish all of the text for book #2 in the Fly Fishing series: Reading Waters, and is onto Long Flies. All of the photos for Reading Waters have also been scanned (at least the first pass), and I’m into the edit with a box of red pens. GB [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Bonefish. This one is drawn for my friend, Coach Duff, at Hawaiian Bonefishing. The drawing is based on several Hawaii bonefish shots he sent me, with the angle and the eye being based specifically on one shot in that I really liked. The colors and some other details are from a couple of [...]

For those salty FF&W readers out there, a bonefish is coming the DF52 project on Thursday evening. That gives Jeff and I a cold, warm and salt water start to the year (rainbow, pumpkinseed, bonefish). From there, the sky’s the limit, and you can expect to see fly-rod gamefish from all aspects of angling. I [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Pumpkinseed. Almost blew it on this one! I had practiced the general head structure a few times casually before sitting down to paint, and I’m glad that I did. This fish is quite different from trout and salmon in shape (and I’m not exactly known as a painter of panfish, so…). That [...]

So I got an email complimenting the current art posts, but asking if I was going to do some more purely “how-to” posts soon. How about today? This is from an old article that I did in “Fly Fish America” magazine: – – – – – – – – – - As a kid I [...]

While some 2010 Drawing Flies 52 art has already been purchased (and some pieces are not suitable or possible to offer as originals), there are a few pieces remaining that I am presenting here. If you are interested in a piece, please contact me directly using the Contact JB link above, or send an email [...]

This showed up the other day, a long-lost promotional photo of my father that was sent to me via my friends at The Fly Shop. The pic is still in great shape, and looks pretty much exactly as it would have when it was sent out in the 1980s. That makes GB is this shot [...]

Drawing Fish 52 rainbow trout. The first fish of the 2011 project. Felt solid on this one! A little break and change of pace seems to have gotten my drawing hand back (I’d swear that it simply fell off with a few of last year’s flies…). This fish is based on a ‘bow that my [...]