The water was low & clear in the stream, which is why I was using a 4x tippet that day. I knew with the size of fly I was fishing, I should have gone up to a heavier tippet, but I was worried that the fish would see it. That's why I was using 4x that day - or so I told myself. It seemed like a good idea at the time, anyway.

The fishing was slow that day & maybe my mind wondered a little bit. I think that happens to all of us when the fishing's slow & the weather is nice. I had been at it for some time, trying different drifts & approaches with nothing to show for it except a couple of chubs & one nice Fallfish. I was drifting my line through some medium sized rocks when it happened.

​A large bass shot out from nowhere & thrashed my fly! I set the hook & readied myself for a good fight, but the bass had other ideas. It simply turned it's head & - snap(!) - broke off my fly, leaving my limp line & leader to float slowly down stream. The situation called for profanity, so I let go with an expletive. 

We've all been there. In my excitement over what had just happened I told myself that the bass had broken me off by snapping my tippet. My goodness, it must have been even bigger than it looked!! Imagine the power that fish had. It had to be the biggest bass in this stream, for sure. Right? Well.....

When I got my tippet back in my hand & calmed my mind a bit, I began to think things over & soon realized what had really happened.

That bass didn't snap my tippet just by turning it's head, it had help. The more I looked at the situation, the more I realized what had gone down here. The bass struck my fly, for sure, but in my haste to set the hook - & the way the fish turned it's head - my tippet rubbed hard against the rocks. The fish hadn't broken my tippet, the rocks did. Actually, I broke my tippet off against the rocks when I set the hook! It was me (slaps forehead). When the fish rushed my fly, I was so focused on the fish that I ignored everything else. If I had only waited a split-second longer to set the hook.......

So there in a matter of seconds I went from a hero in my mind, who could draw the biggest bass in the world out from hiding to hit my fly, to just a fool who got over-excited & broke his tippet on the rocks. Now that I think about it, maybe that bass wasn't as big as I first thought.........But at least I had some action!!

​I've always said that fish are great equalizers: they don't care how rich you are, or how old, or how smart you are, or even how much you know about fishing. Fish long enough & they will make a fool out of you sooner or later. Plus, if I've learned anything, it's that when the fishing is slow & your mind wonders & you think nothing is going to happen, that's probably exactly when it will happen!!

October is here!! With it comes some great fly fishing opportunities, too. This is probably my favorite month of the year for many reasons, but mostly it is because the fishing can be incredible in this month.

Trout are back to the activity of eating more & spawning as the water temperatures come back down. The cool nights & gently warm days are great for aquatic insect life & the trout that eat those bugs. Plus, as this is a busy time of year for most folks, the fishing pressure is usually much less now than in the spring of the year.

The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission is actively stocking adult trout right now all across the commonwealth. If you're planing a trip here for some autumnal trout fishing, be sure to check their stocking schedule for times & locations HERE.

Trout aren't the only show in town this time of year, either. This can be a fantastic month for bass fishing, too. If you've never fought a bass on a fly rod you are missing out on some of the best action you'll ever experience!

In fact, it's a great month to pursue all kinds of fish with your fly rod - from crappie to bluegill & even pike - the fish are (or soon will be) trying to put on extra pounds for the winter. This aggressive feeding can make for some fantastic sport for us anglers.

Make some time to get out there & enjoy some October fly fishing. You'll be glad you did!!

My parents always taught me to look both ways before I crossed the street. Of course the lesson there is that you should always pay attention to your surroundings & where you're walking. Recently that lesson came into play for me.....

The other day I was walking along a trout stream, negotiating my way over some tricky terrain (tree roots & rocks), while simultaneously looking at the flow of water in the stream, picking my spot to enter the water, when I looked up & saw this about 6 feet from my head!!!.......

I stood perfectly still, watching & being sure to make no sudden moves that would shake the tree. While these paper wasps were busy at their work, they paid me no attention - thank goodness!! I took a moment to snap a few pictures with the camera & then slowly backed away. Later, as I came to the stream from a different angle, I told myself "roll cast only here - no backcasts!!!" I'm so glad I happened to look up when I did.

Hope you're all getting some fishing time in this late summer!! Be safe out there & watch your back casts!

In the very short video below, legendary angler Left Kreh talks about the equality that fly fishing imposes anglers. I couldn't agree more with him. The one thing that always amazes me about this sport is how it brings people from so many different backgrounds together. The fish will rise for the rich as well as for the poor; for the old & the young alike. 

It's always good to hear from Lefty. After all these years spent in fly fishing & the outdoors, we would be wise to take what he says into account.

Fly fishing with poppers for smallmouth bass in the summer is some of my favorite type of fishing. I love the hard-fighting action of these fish & their strength. They can give you some fantastic sport, for sure.

I like to go after these bass in streams & rivers. In fact, some of these bass will be in the same places I fished for trout earlier in the year. The methods are the very similar to trout fishing as well, but poppers are their own breed of fly & require a few different techniques then "normal" flies. Of course, I like to pursue bass in ponds & lakes, too but there's just something about the moving water of a stream that makes fly fishing for bass so much fun.

If you haven't ever tried your hand at fly fishing for bass, you're missing out. They are not easy to catch & require planing & skill to fool. Read up about smallmouth bass & then go after them. If you haven't before, you will have a new respect for these fish. To me they are what the dog days of summer are all about.

​Here is a short video showing you some of the techniques you'll need to think about when you fish for smallies with poppers:

In the spring of the year, I'm probably a trout purist, but in the summer some of the most fun I'll have all season long will be going after these feisty bass (& other warm water fish). They'll have any angler smiling from ear to ear on these hot summer days & nights!!

Here is a very cool, short video showing the life cycle of the midge. I've always found these little bugs to be the most frustrating to hatch to fish - mostly because they're so darn small it's hard to see!! I like how this video shows the hatch from the trout's angle & in a point of view we anglers never get to see. Check it out:

Recently, my friend Mike took a little trip to Scotland, & had the opportunity to fish the River Tweed there. He was fishing the upper part of the river, on a section of land once owned by the famous poet Sir Walter Scott.

Spey casting for large salmon & sea trout in the rain may not be for the non-angling crowd, but when you're fishing in Scotland, you can expect some rain.

Mike was gracious enough answer all my questions about fly fishing in Scotland & sent back several photos, too!! I wish I could have been there with him. By the way, the sea trout pictured below that Mike landed was over two feet long & weighed five pounds!!!

Thanks so much for sharing your adventure with me, Mike!!

Do you have an angling adventure you'd like to share? I always love to see your photos & hear your stories from you folks. So please, feel free to share them with me & everyone else on the Beyond The Rod Shop page of this website.

Well, here in Pennsylvania it has been a very wet & cold start to the trout season, but with some really nice days thrown in there, too, luckily. At the very beginning of the season the streams were all very high & blown out. Then the month of May began with almost biblical rain!! What's an angler to do?!!?

Fortunately, things seemed to level off, weather - wise, & conditions have been fairly decent for the last week or so. As you would expect, it put all the hatches off schedule &, because the streams were not fishable for some time, we even missed some of the hatches coming off. That said, nature always does a balancing act, & the cool nights have helped to delay a lot of hatches, buying us anglers some time for the streams to come down to good levels.

In fact, the other day I happened to see a small Light Cahill hatch in a place where the Cahills should have been done for the year about two weeks ago. On that part of the stream you can tell when the Cahills are just about done with their run for the year, as the hatches get a lot smaller. They can last for three weeks or so on that stretch of the stream, but when they start to go, there's a lot less of them coming off the water every evening.......& here they were still hatching two weeks or so late. It has been a strange year. I'd say it's been a "fish 'em when you can" type of trout season here. 

How has it been where you are? Have any great fishing photos or stories you'd like to share? Please feel free to share them with me & if you want, share them with everyone on the Beyond The Rod Shop page of this website.

I always love seeing your fishing photos & hearing your tales of adventure, so please feel free to contact me & let me know all about what you folks have been up to on the water.

I hope you're all having a fantastic fishing season so far!!!

Most nymphs move along the stream bottom in a start & stop fashion. Some crawl some swim, some scurry very quickly in undulating motions. No matter how they move, they will get caught up in the water current, losing their footing, & tumble down stream for a bit. When you're fishing with a nymph imitation, you want to try to mimic this movement.

Gary Borger, in his classic book "Nymphing" describes a technique called "The Strip / Tease" (we just called this 'working the nymph' when I was a kid). The method is pretty simple: cast your nymph across - up or down & across, wherever - so that it gets to the bottom in the part of the stream where you think the trout are laying. The, very slowly, strip in short amounts of line (using the hand twist retrieve). Start & stop the retrieve often, allowing some time for your nymph to drift down stream. This will mimic the natural nymph movement well - if you're on the bottom.

You can also use this tactic casting straight down stream, if you're in lower water. It makes your fly look like a nymph struggling in vain to move upstream.

This strip / tease method is very effective in the early season, when there's more water in the stream & the water temperature is colder. Also, use this method anytime & anywhere you see the trout flashing their sides. When you see trout flashing their sides, it most likely means they are rooting the bottom, trying to dislodge some nymphs from the bottom.

One thing about this technique - most anglers do it TOO FAST. You must go very, very slowly!! As a general rule of thumb, the colder the water the slower you must retrieve. Give your fly plenty of time to sink.

As you retrieve the line with the hand-twist method, keep the line under your index finger of your rod hand. You need to be in constant contact with your fly to feel every bump & titch of the line so you don't miss any strikes.

Finally, if you're using any weight or split-shot to get your fly down to the bottom, you need to think about where you put your weight on the leader. In order to mimic the real nymphs, you need to know how far off the bottom they're coming when they lose their footing. There's no way to know for sure, so you must experiment with how far up or down on your leader you put the weight. Keep moving your weight up or down your leader until you start picking up strikes. If you move to another spot on the stream, you might have to move the weight again, but at least you'll have a reference to start from.

So, to summarize:

1.) Cast your fly so it gets to the bottom where the trout are. Give it lots of time to sink.
2.) Slowly retrieve your line in a start & stop manner.
3.) Experiment with where you place your weight (if any) on your leader.
4.) Keep in constant contact with your fly & line so you can feel the fly. 
5.) Remember to go slow. Most anglers fish this method too fast.

I hope you've all had a successful 'springing ahead' of the clock. With the time change they say that on this day there are more heart attacks, strokes, & car accidents than usual. I can believe that, since even though it's only an hour, the loss of sleep can have a big effect. 

My loss of sleep brought to mind a funny story my dad tells of a time he went fishing....

He had been working the night shift at the time & was finding it difficult to squeeze any daylight hours in for fishing. As it was the peak of trout season, he decided enough was enough & that he would take his rod & reel to work with him one night & go fishing for a while on his way home, after work, in the early morning. That's just what he did, too.

Well, as any of you who've ever worked the night shift know, it can make you feel like a zombie - sleeping in the daylight hours, never seeing the sun. But on this particular day dad stopped off at a favorite little stream of his that happens to run through a cow pasture. Being tired from the full night of work, he sat down with his back against a tree by the stream to fish a small pool that was known to hold many trout.

As things will go, he nodded off to sleep - for how long he's not sure. When suddenly he became conscience of something very warm & wet against his cheek. He opened his eyes to see that he was, literally, nose to nose with a full grown bull. He screamed, the bull screamed, & both of them took off in opposite directions until they realized what had happened, haha!!!

​Just imagine waking up to this right in your face:

For those of you unfamiliar with cows, they are, by nature, curious animals. Most of the time they're completely innocent creatures that mean you no harm at all. In retrospect, dad believes he was probably snoring & the bull, seeing this strange thing by the tree, making a weird noise, probably went to investigate when it got the you-know-what scared out of it......it didn't do a bad job on dad, either!!

So, by all means nap along a trout stream. It can be some of the best napping you'll ever do. Just be careful where & which stream you choose to nap beside or you could wake up face to face to a cow!!!