Fish, Flies & Water » Techniques

Be the Heron!

JB — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 03:07:27 +0000

I have a live show that I do called “Approach & Presentation Strategies for Trout.” In addition to the rather pedagogical title, the discussion delves into how trout perceive their environment (and ours) and how we perceive the trout’s environment. It then goes onto talk (at some length) about, well, approach and presentation, taking into [...]

Making the Cast

JB — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 18:11:54 +0000

With the IFTD show having been in New Orleans this past weekend, I got to thinking about saltwater, cruising fish and the casting required to do what needs to be done. Fortunately, I already have a short article on the subject here at hand. It’s a piece that has recently appeared in Fly Fish America [...]

Swinging Soft-Hackles and Rain on Junipers

JB — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 16:09:00 +0000

As some of you know, I don’t tend to blog a lot about my actual fishing in “real time.” Fishing is often a rather personal affair for me, and I typically use fishing events to later enhance “how-to” pieces and so forth some time after the fact. This week, though, I wanted to do an [...]

O-Ring Method (Shooting Line)

JB — Tue, 28 Jun 2011 19:12:01 +0000

Shooting line—allowing extra line to slide out through the rod guides as the line loop unrolls—is a core skill in fly fishing. Of course, like many things in fly fishing, just taking a “whatever goes” approach to shooting line can often result in less-then-desireable (read: make you angry) results. The O-Ring Method, while not an [...]

A Few C&R Ramblings

JB — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:01:36 +0000

Just a few ramblings that I wrote some years ago on the subject of catch-and-release. Since the majority of my fishing is C&R, I figured that I might as well toss this up on the blog. Here you go: – – – – – – – – – - A number of factors can come [...]

Jelly Water

JB — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:07:21 +0000

This is an old article of mine, spruced up a bit for an upcoming book in the 20-title “Fly Fishing” series (it is likely to show up in The Angler as Predator). Figure that I might as well give a (very) advanced preview of that book here on the blog. Hope you like the read, and [...]

Seeing Fish (the Short Version)

JB — Thu, 05 May 2011 14:07:40 +0000

A little article re-print from some years back. As some of you know, I’m rather fond of sight-fishing, to the point where I tend to make more than a few of my fishing trips planned around that aspect of angling. What follows is a brief look at some of the aspects of seeing fish, which [...]

Bow & Arrow Cast

JB — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 00:05:50 +0000

Up-close-and-personal fishing can be one of fly fishing’s most exciting aspects. At very close ranges, however, “normal” casting is often not possible or desirable. What to do? No problem, just break out your Bow and Arrow (cast, that is). I consider it a “must-have” technique for any angler who likes fishing at super-close ranges. Also [...]

The Last Five Percent

JB — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 17:35:48 +0000

Just a little slice of something I wrote a while back for those readers who like to push their fly-fishing skill sets a bit. In any sport, there are those athletes who can develop and utilize the “last five percent” of their abilities. Five percent may not seem like much, but it is the difference [...]

Practice, Warm-Ups, Stretching & Weights

JB — Thu, 31 Mar 2011 15:08:00 +0000

This one is a slice from the recent FF&W E-List mailing, and is also straight from the next version of my Nature of Fly Casting book (and not yet edited). Makes for a decent (if brief) lead-in piece to the “Heathier Cast” post/page. Here goes…. If you’re going to be doing some serious casting during a [...]

A Small-Stream Secret

JB — Thu, 03 Mar 2011 15:07:07 +0000

Small streams usually don’t force much in terms of wading, aren’t typically the realm of long casts and, with their shallower waters, can be dry-fly heaven. However, just because a stream is small doesn’t mean that it can’t also have secrets. Perhaps the biggest small-stream secrets are undercuts, those dark places where water carves at [...]

Strip-Strike Technique

JB — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 15:07:45 +0000

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). [...]

GB on “Ask About Fly Fishing” Tonight

JB — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 01:12:22 +0000

My father (a/k/a GB) is doing a “Fishing the Film” Q&A on Ask About Fly Fishing Internet Radio this evening. He’s on at 7pm Mountain Time, so tune in tonight (or download later) to get an earful. I asked a question myself via the Ask About site—well see if chooses to answer it (something that [...]

Slip-Strike Technique

JB — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 15:00:57 +0000

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. [...]