Below is a short, beautiful video filmed on the water of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, set to the words of John Voelker's (aka Robert Traver) "Testament Of A Fisherman". Even though Judge Voelker wrote those words back in the mid 1960's, they still ring true today. 

Take just two minutes & escape whatever the world is tossing at you today to step into the stream in your mind & enjoy this gorgeous video.  

Being a rod maker, I'm always fascinated to see & learn how similar items to fly rods are made. I've always been especially interested in how fly reels are made. In fact, it's been an idea of mine to someday make my own fly reel....someday. 

When I stumbled upon this series of videos, showing a machinist / craftsman taking us through the process of them making their own fly reel I watched these videos with great interest. In each video we're looking over the shoulder of the reel maker. I could watch videos like this all day long!!

So if you're curious about how a skilled machinist might make their own reel &/or you enjoy watching folks at work performing interesting tasks, check out the video below. In this one we're watching him make the spool for his reel, but you can watch the entire series (which you can see on youtube) as he takes us through his process of making a reel from beginning to end. Enjoy!

"The Rodmaker" is a film, about 20 minutes long, about famed Michigan rod maker Morris Kushner. Kushner made innovative & unique bamboo rods of his own design. He was a very respected & interesting character to the folks who knew him. 

Scott Mann, a multimedia producer of InSight Productions, & John Roman, made the film back in the early 1980's (Kushner was Scott's Grandpa). Unseen for many years, Scott offered the movie for sale on DVD for a while. The DVD is no longer available, but Scott has graciously put the film online for all to see & enjoy. Not only that, but he has also posted the full interviews with rod maker Bob Summers & author John Voelker (Robert Traver) that he conducted for the movie - the unedited interviews which are fascinating to listen to. I'll post those here separately later on, too. 

The film is a fantastic look back at an often overlooked, but important rod maker - & as such, a look into fishing history. It's a fascinating & well told story. Thanks to Scott Mann for allowing us all to enjoy it, as I'm certain you will. Enjoy!

If I were forced to fish with only one dry fly, I would choose the Adams. It looks like nothing in particular & kinda like everything all at the same time. There are times when you just can't be sure what the fish took it for - but that's what makes it so great, because it just works.

This pattern has been around for a long time. The video below does a very good job of explaining how this fly pattern came to be, what the original version probably looked like, & briefly discusses the many variations of the Adams that have appeared through the years. If you're into history, dry flies, &/or fly tying I think you'll enjoy this short, but informative video below.  

Jack Hargreaves was a television host in England from the middle to the late twentieth century. Some of the shows he hosted discussed 'country life', to which fishing is a part. So naturally he took his viewers fishing on many of his TV shows. 

The video below is in 2 parts. In the first, Jack shows us the development through the years of the fishing rod in England. Here we can see how different materials came into, & went of fashion of, fashion for fishing rods. We can also see how the fishing reel developed along with the rods. In the second part, Jack takes us fishing with a friend & philosophies a bit on angling in general & what goes through the mind of a dedicated angler at times.  

While none of this covers fly fishing specifically at all, I find very informative, entertaining, & charming. I hope you will, too. Enjoy! 

Originally published in 1955, "How to Fish from Top to Bottom" by Sid Gordon is an older book that is filled with good information that is still very useful for any angler today. The title, however, might be slightly misleading, as it's more than just a 'how-to-fish' type of book. No, it has much more important info for the angler....... 

Sid Gordon was a fishing writer & a skilled angler. In addition to that, he was employed throughout his career as a fish technician for the states of Wisconsin & Michigan at different times. This job also called on him to research fishing environments in other locations as well. As a result he examined the fishing waters of many places across the United States & Canada, learning how the fish live in different types of water along the way & seeing the best methods of preserving rivers, streams, & lakes. 

For those of you who are wondering more about the world of fresh water fishes & how to catch them, this is a must-read book. In it you will learn easy steps on how to judge water quality simply by knowing what to look for when you gaze at a stream or lake. You will learn how to read the water. Gordon will show you how to make stream & lake improvements - great info for any club or organization looking to make better fishing conditions. You will also learn how to take accurate water samples & how to test them to know exactly what is going on in your favorite fishing spot. 

In addition to all these lessons, Gordon also gets into detail about specific types of game fish & what conditions the need for survival. Bass, pike, muskie, trout, etc are all covered in this book & you can learn what to look for when pursuing any of these species of fish.

Of course a book with a title such as this one would not be complete without some actual fishing techniques. Gordon also gives you detailed & time tested methods for catching all of the different popular game fish, covering fly fishing, spin, & bait casting as well. 

The fist chapter of this book is titled "Water Can Be Read Like a Book" - & that sums up the general theme of the entire work. Fishing from a boat, on shore, wading in a stream, & for all types of fish it's all covered here in an easy to understand book. To me the really valuable information here is the water quality explanations. After reading this, I recalled different places I had fished before & some things clicked in my mind. It all made more sense to me about the conditions at certain fishing spots.

In my opinion, this is a book every angler should read, no matter where you fish, how you fish, or what you fish for. It is one of the most overlooked "important" books on fishing written in the 20th century. I believe this book is currently out of print, but good used copies can be found & purchased for very little cost, so pick up a copy for yourself. You will learn something very useful before you put the book down.  

Yesterday a good friend showed me this very informative & entertaining video that discusses different types of leaders & their uses for trout fishing (thanks, Terryll). 

One thing that I admit I should do in my fishing is to pay more attention to my leaders than I do. About the only time I ever really do what I should with my leader is when I'm fishing very low & very clear water where I know I could easily scare the trout. Otherwise, I'm that clod you see using a knotless tapered leader that has gotten way too short & is half straight tippet because I'm too busy fishing - or too lazy - to change to a new leader. I admit it. I'm not proud. 

So I've always been interested in nicer, furled leaders. I've heard good & bad things about them from folks (mostly good things) & it's something that I really should give a try. Also, I'm curious about tippet rings. I've never tried them, but I like the concept. You see, I'm pretty old-school when it comes to all this stuff. Again, I admit it. Again, I'm not proud. 

If you have any strong opinions about leaders & tippet rings, I'd love to hear your thoughts. Let me know what you think & help me to decide to either get out of the 1960's or to stay there. If you're like me & really are not 'leader aware', then the video below will help to shed some light on the subject while watching a skilled angler catch some beautiful trout. 

I fish a soft hackle wet fly a lot. It's my favorite style of pattern for many reasons. They're also pretty simple to tie, no matter what the specific pattern. Hungarian partridge feathers are a typical hackle feather used on these flies. These feathers can be a little tricky to work with &/or to get the results you want tying with them. There are a few tricks you can use & the video below shows a pretty clear, straight forward way to handle them. 

Partridge & orange, partridge & green, partridge & yellow, etc, etc these three patterns can cover most of your year along the trout stream. Take just a few minuets to learn these quick tips on tying with partridge.  

​(I'm not affiliated in any way with the dealer who made this video. I show this only for the advice this video demonstrates).

Here is a fantastic old movie featuring the baseball legend Ted Williams fishing for Atlantic salmon. In the video we get to see, & have Ted explain, the gear he uses, the flies he ties, his casting techniques, & all the preparation he put into his fishing. You can see the work ethic that he put into his baseball playing is the same that he applied to his fishing. He was a very skilled angler indeed. 

If you have half an hour, sit back & enjoy this gorgeous & fascinating look back at some great fishing for the beast that is the Atlantic Salmon!

The "tuck" cast is a very cool specialty cast that is designed to get your fly down deeper in the water much faster than a normal cast can do. Obviously, based on that description, its a cast that's used for fishing near the bottom of the stream with nymphs, streamers, or wet flies. It is particularly useful when you're fishing submerged flies upstream. 

It's not very hard to do - but it can take a while to get the hang of it. The trick is to overpower your forward cast. Really jam that line forward hard & then stop the cast very quickly, all of a sudden. This causes the leader to tuck under the line. Your fly then comes crashing straight down to the water, as if it has fallen from the sky. This allows your fly to sink down deeper a lot faster. Its a cast to use in situations where the sooner you get the fly to the bottom, the better. 

The first time I performed the tuck cast it was by accident. I was casting into a fairly stiff breeze that day, foolishly. On one cast the wind let up just as I was trying to punch my forward cast through. I realized this & stopped the cast very quickly. The result was a beautiful tuck cast - even though that wasn't what I was trying to do!! After realizing what had happened I tried to recreate this cast. It took me a while, because at first it feels wrong (at least to me it did). Casting, so I thought, was always supposed to be smooth & graceful. Indeed, the tuck cast is, but it took me a while before I got the feel of the abrupt stop to the cast. 

The best way to explain the tuck cast is to show it. The short video below is an excellent demonstration & explanation of the tuck cast. If you fish below the surface, this is a great cast to have under your belt. It will help you pick up more fish when you need to use it. The best part is that it's an easy cast to learn.