About thirty years ago, I fished streamers on a Mono Rig for the first time. I’d read about long leader setups with no fly line in . I was impressed with the control gained by...
Articles With the Tag . . . leaders
VIDEO/AUDIO: Riverside — Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips
Here are twelve tips for delivering a fly into waters that are heavily canopied, with greedy branches, ready to grab your fly and make life difficult. The best small stream fishing happens in these places. We call it brush fishing. Learning to cast a fly on small...
Woody And The Fly Shop
You can tell a lot about a fly angler from a quick look at their leader. If there was an educational course for working at a fly shop, that’s something the teacher would share early on. And I’ve seen this trick pulled countless times in shops, when the...
True All-Purpose Leader — The Harvey Gold
** NOTE ** Formula for the Harvey Gold Leader appears below It’s 8:00, and your morning begins by tucking large ant patterns tight to the bank. Each delivery of the dry fly drifts the ant a few seconds in slow bank water before quick, neighboring currents rip away...
Twelve Small Stream Fly Casting Tips
With all the right tools of rod, line, and leader, with all the knowledge about casting options, and with serious dedication to line speed, you need just one more thing.
Guts. Courage. Fortitude.
A willingness to fail.
Take your shots. That’s the only way toward a real education on small streams. Make the casts you think you can’t make. Eventually, instinct takes over and the fly goes into tighter targets than you ever thought possible . . .
Favorite Small Stream Leader — Formula, Reasons and Stories
This small stream leader provides the control to cast through the brush yet still achieve good dead drifts on the dry fly. It’s tailor made for precision dry fly fishing in the brush, but it’s versatile enough to fish other styles. For me, this is the perfect small stream leader, and it’s been with me for a very long time.
That kind of control is exactly what is needed on small streams with cover. You can do magic tricks with the fly, twisting around corners and dipping it just inches under the next tree branch. Sure the cast matters most, but a leader that’s built for the job goes hand in hand, completing a system built for the challenges of small trout streams.
Hi-Vis Leader Material for Mono Rigs
The performance between Hi-Vis monofilaments varies widely. Here are the properties I want most, and here are my favorite lines.
There are many options for hi-vis mono, but my preferences are specific. And for so long, I couldn’t find anything that checked all the boxes . . . until now.
(VIDEO) The Universal Uni-Knot — One Knot to Rule Them All
Here are ten different uses for the Uni-Knot. This universal knot is a problem solver, and it opens up opportunities . . .
(VIDEO) The George Harvey Dry Fly Leader — Design, Adjustment and Fishing Tips
The George Harvey Dry Fly leader is a slackline leader built for dead drifting. With intentional casting, with the right stroke, the Harvey lands with slack in all the right places, with curves and swirls through the entire leader and not just in the tippet section. The Harvey is a masterful tool built for the art of presenting a dry fly on a dead drift. But success begins by understanding how the Harvey is different, and why it works.
Fly Distance — What You’re Missing by Following FIPS Competition Rules — Part Three
Fly distance restrictions unnecessarily limit the common angler from taking full advantage of tight line systems. If you choose to fish under FIPS rules, do so by choice, with your eyes wide open and for good reason. Take a fresh look at why you are choosing your flies, your leaders, your fly rods and your tactics. And be sure that you’ve thought through both the benefits and the consequences inherent.