I’ve been getting a jump on spring with a little cleaning of my gear closet. I have a pile of gear, some of which has sat unused for a while, or has simply been replaced by other gear over the last year or two. Rather than just toss it all up on eBay, I figured [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Brook Trout. What a favorite of both my childhood an adult angling lives. From swampy Northwoods creeks, to icy alpine lakes, to Hudson Bay rivers, brookies have been there. This fish is one that I caught on Canada’s Sutton River many moons ago. It was one of, if not the biggest, brook [...]

See that soft-hackle? Tie one just like that, but add a trailing shuck. Fish it dead-drift in the film (don’t be afraid of floatant if necessary). I did a quick tying piece for my friends over at “Field & Stream” magazine’s TieTalk (the tying alter ego of the FlyTalk blog). The subject is a trailing-shuck soft-hackle [...]

Plenty of strip-strike action in the video above. The “Strip Strike” is the opposite of the Slip Strike. Instead of allowing slack to slide out, line is pulled in when the hook is set. In its most-basic form, the Strip Strike involves stripping line to set the hook (no significant (or even any) rod movement). [...]

To all of my NZ friends, I truly hope that the earthquake near the Christchurch area has not affected you or your families in any tragic way. Seeing downtown Christchurch on the news here late last night here made my heart sink. I recognized some of the places (a few partly smashed or with rubble [...]

More sad news in the fly-fishing world: Dick Talleur has died. I just received an email from Marla Blair, with the following included from Dick’s sister-in-law: It is with great sadness that I must tell you that Dick Talleur died … February 18, 2011, after a brief illness, at the age of 79. Dick suffered [...]

Got a couple of emails asking if I was going to start doing some other art for sale (other than just the DF52 stuff), like the big brown trout portrait that came from Reading Waters (and the new FF&W Tee). Yes I am, starting now. The first piece up is that brown. It is on vellum, [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Tarpon (Baby). All sharp angles and brilliant color. Late with this one, sorry. This is based on a baby tarpon that I caught in Mexico. And by baby, I mean brook-trout sized. More about this fish and related conservation efforts later today…. Notes: Grabbed my favorite #1 Pigma pen, my well-worn set [...]

So what do you think? Is this the next FF&W tee? Update: Yes. Coming soon!

Guess that GB got a bunch of requests for signed copies of Fishing the Film. As such, he’s decided to offer the book, signed and personalized, on his eBay store. The price includes shipping (international customers will need to check out any additional ship costs). Don’t know how long he’ll keep the book up there, but [...]

An FF&W reader (that’s you, Robert) made a mention in a comment about a “gator-snouted brown.” Well, here’s one for you. This is actually the first fish head I did for the new Reading Waters book in the 20-book “Fly Fishing” series. This fish is in Chapter Two, so for those of you interested in [...]

Drawing Fish 52 Northern Pike. What a mess. Like last week, I based this on a cool photo from my friend, Grant Wiswell (Castaway Films). Sadly, the cool did not translate. Used all 30 minutes, and got something that looks it could have taken about 15. Actually ended up doing some desaturation in Photoshop to [...]

If you’re going to be attending the NW Fly Tyer & Fly Fishing Expo on Match 11-12, there are still spaces available in the trout-leader design seminar I’m hosting. We’ll cover some effective, simple (and tool-free) knots (including a version of the Nail-less Nail Knot), as well as leader-design concepts that cover a huge array [...]

A good update at Chi Wulff on what’s going on with Montana HB 309 to this point (with some links out to other boards/blogs that expand on the subject). It looks like there is still room for an alternate ending on how this plays out, but it should be on the radar of anyone who [...]