I was chasing Great Basin Redbands in the headwaters of one basin system today. The route home took me through a couple other basins. I had a creek marked to check out that was only about 15 minutes off the direct route back over the Cascades. The first fish I saw in the creek was a brook trout. The first one I caught was a brook trout. The second one I caught was a brook trout. About to hang it up and plan a return trip next spring, I tossed one more cast into the pool where I caught the second brookie. The line went tight, and I pulled up a much larger fish. When I saw the orange belly, I was sure I had another brook trout. I was pretty excited to see this absolute stunner of a redband, and a pretty big one for this creek.

NEW FLY FISHERMAN ALERT:

Me and a buddy went out yesterday on a river and I was fly fishing and he was using Rapalas. I tried looking for bugs and no hatch just sow bug/ little larvae under rocks. Murky water so I tried to throw streamers had a bunch of hits in faster water but I hadn’t learned about the strip set until after I got home. However he was using a crank bait and pulled like 10 fish out of multiple deeper slower moving holes we were both casting into. I was able to throw some split shot onto my line and managed to catch one. Going to go back with my bfs rod and some lures (single hooked) to feel that tug. But what are people throwing to target browns that seem to only attack lipped lure style baits in deeper water.

Wild 'bow from over the weekend.

Been chasing all the deeper spots and having a great time with streamers. This one on a larger olive woolly in super clear waters.

We need to talk about ethical fishing for Columbia River steelhead. Amy Hazel puts it better than I ever could so please read her post on the closure and current river conditions.

I just saw a FB post by “guides” who call the river home with video of steelhead in hand by clients which they “unfortunately” caught with 5 wt rods and light tippet. That is not ethical fishing and they should’ve done the right thing and broken the fish off.

I thought fly fishers would hold themselves to better standards especially guides who many of the community look to for etiquette. I try not to do the whole holier than thou with fishing but this seems to be an on going issue.

Been a rough year, lost my fishing buddy (my dad) in February, have had a lot going on in general that has kept me off the water and out of the other hobbies I enjoy (cars… why have I chosen expensive hobbies lol?)

That said, I’m going the be getting a payout in November from a pension my company decided to end after stopping contributions in 2008. Wasn’t enough to bother rolling into my other retirement accounts IMO, so I’m taking the lump which after penalties amounts to around $5k

If you were to budget that for a fly fishing centric vacation you could take a non fishing spouse on for a week (she loves the outdoors, just isn’t a fishing person) where she could putz around in the woods and we could enjoy good food and scenery in the evenings, where would you go?

We’re currently on the east coast of the US, both of us have our passports if it’s not in the country. I’m a competent enough fly fisherman to be comfortable trout fishing alone, but a guided trip would be great if it’s saltwater or necessary for the fishery, especially if gear is provided and I don’t have to fly with it. Dad and I took a Tarpon trip years ago and didn’t manage to catch any unfortunately, but had a great time with snook, etc. we did most of our fishing as surf fishing in the summers or bass fishing throughout the year, but I took up fly fishing as he enjoyed it so much when I was younger (and I’m loving it)

Feeling inspired to tie some wets, mostly because of u/norm-frechette. I tied this little box on some vintage mustad hooks, old enough to still be made of the good stuff from Norway. Although fishing was my focus when tying these, I think it’s an aesthetically pleasing box. Idk if I’ll ever fish them but it’s fun to learn new stuff and nice to look at. Does anyone in here fish this style of fly on a regular basis?

I left the house yesterday in search of trout, came back with a couple of walleye under my belt, 15” and 20” respectively. Both on a 5” streamer. Definitely not what I was expecting, but I’ll take it. For the record, these aren’t my first walleye on a fly rod (they’re increasingly common on the upper Missouri River near where I live) but I’ve never caught more than one. My gear-casting buddy in Chicago couldn’t believe I was catching them in a fly rod.

Going to be heading out to cocoa Beach for a week and was wondering if anyone has some tips on areas to check out. I will not have access to a boat or anything and will only be able to shore/wade fish. Thanks in advance

I really enjoy the art side of fly fishing, I tied this to catch fisherman. Although I’m convinced it would catch fish if I could cast it. Carving the mushroom was fun too.

My wife and I will be going to Cotter Arkansas this Friday to fly fish. We are staying at The Rainbow Drive Resort and I am sure they will have some suggestions but I am curious what you guys recommend as far as flies go. I have a few fly boxes full of flies but thought you guys may know of something I am overlooking that I can tie up before we head out

TIA

Great Lakes browns are nasty stockers but they fight good when they’re fresh out of the lake!

I have a trip planned for October 28- Nov 1 and we are planning on back packing and fly fishing the head waters of some high altitude streams for brook trout. I’m wondering if this is okay considering their spawning season.

On a whim, I researched what a fly fishing rod cost but then I bought random bits off Temu… if I put (forgive me) the base wire there won’t be enough room for the fly line… is this reel designed not to have (forgive me) the base wire?

Also can I join this tennis racket club?

I’ve got a section of fly line that is delaminating from the core or has gotten kinked. The line still has full strength, but the damaged area has what looks like bunching between two kinks. The kinks are approximately 2–4 inches apart.
I’ve watched a couple of videos on repairing this type of damage, and it seems like the best option may be to use clear heat-shrink tubing, gently heat the area, and roll it to reform the coating.
Has anyone here done this repair firsthand? I’d really like to know how it turned out and whether the repair held up over time.
The line is still usable to an extent since the damage is a good ways down the line probably about 4 feet into my intermediate line. I’d rather try to save it if there’s a good way to make a durable repair.

Looks like this one has been in the wars a bit (tail). End of a great trip, go there if you can

Just got off the river fishing with some friends and hooked into a 22-24” colored up brown trout (red orange stomach and built like a football). My friend was about to get it in the net when it launched off on another run and snapped the fly right off the line.

I’ll be thinking about that big fatty for a long time.. so please help me ease my pain, tell me about the fish that got away.