“Life moves quickly and you never know which fishing trip will be the last with your buddy. Call them and make plans to get out on the river as soon as possible, we could all use more river time shared with a good friend.”
On The Swing: Winter Midges
Greg Pearson shares a day on the river swinging midges in search of wild trout.
The Orange Asher: a swung trout dry
“During my tailgate meditation, I felt thankful to have spent time on the water with my dog and for the little orange fly that resulted in such great action during the slowest month of the year.”
Dan Gates doesn’t let the cold of winter stop him from finding dry fly action in Utah. Find out what works for him.
Icons: Steve Bird
In this installment of Icons, we visit with Steve Bird, Chief Information Officer of Trout Spey, caretaker of Steve’s Eddy on the Shining Reach, and in the opinion of some, writes with the creativity of bluegrass banjo picker.
Icons: Whitney Gould
Icons, a web series from Swing the Fly, looks at the most influential figures in Spey casting and swinging flies from North America and beyond in the 21st century. In this installment, we visit with Whitney Gould, a World Fly Casting Champion. Whitney is also the developer of virtual and in-person casting instruction through The Gould Standard.
Icons: Simon Gawesworth
Icons, a web series from Swing the Fly, looks at the most influential figures in spey casting and swinging flies from North America and beyond in the 21st century. In this installment, we visit with Simon Gawesworth, one of the greatest Spey casting instructors and authors to grace our sport. Simon talks in this article about his latest book, his favorite rivers in both the U.K. and the U.S., his memories of times fishing on his own, and the Miracle of Istanbul.
George Grant’s Woven Nymph
George Grant and Franz Pott were the best-known tiers of the woven-hackle fly with their Featherbacks, Black Creepers, Fizzles, and Sandy Mites.
Syl Nemes Mother’s Day Caddis
To me, the real magic happened in places like the Shilo Inn convention center and old fly shops with the smell of coffee and moth-balls etched into the wood paneling, or pretty much anywhere an old timer has hot coffee, a hidden flask and time to tell you about the days gone by.
Greenwells Glory
The Greenwells Glory is an old fly with a storied history. I won’t repeat that history here, as you can easily find it yourself. However, I can attest that it catches just as many fish now as it did in 1854 (the supposed year of its creation)
The Way of Winter
While other anglers are fumbling in the parking lot with size 24 flies on 6x drop-shot rigs, the swung fly angler can tie on a single size 18 fly to a gargantuan 4x leader and still have plenty of time to sit on the bank and drink coffee before the hatch begins.
Hackling Spiders and Flymphs
There is no single correct way to hackle a wee fly, and there are a handful of ways to get the job done, but hackling is important to the proper construction. And some ways are better than others. Following is the most effective method of hackling I’ve found.
Swinging for Grayling
Casting a light skagit head made the fishing methodical – swinging the riffles and dropping my fly into seams produced a dozen or so fish, and before I knew it, the sun was setting and it was time to head home.