The Orvis Fly-fishing Guide Podcast

This week I interview Damon Newpher of Adventure Bound on the Fly, a guide service that specializes in fly fishing from all sorts of craft, including stand-up paddleboards. Damon uses his SUP to chase steelhead, bass, and even muskies in his western New York location, but has ranged as far away as Belize and the Yucatan with inflatable boards, and has even floated remote rivers and lakes in Chile from them. He advises us on why you would want one, what to look for, how to accessorize one, and how to navigate moving water. These craft offer great advantages because they can get into places no other craft can go, with more stealth than any other method. Plus you are up above the water so you can spot fish and subsurface structures easier. And of course an added benefit is that you’ll stay in great shape while you fish! In this week’s Fly Box, we cover, as usual, an eclectic range of things: · Why did my wife get skunked fishing a streamer while I was using two at once? · How to evaluate a fly rod in a shop · Pi

This week I interview aquatic biologist and fly fisher Peter Stitcher, who not only has a great way of organizing fly boxes (a question I have always neglected to answer properly), he also has some great guidance on how to figure out what is in the river and how to pick a fly from your box that will do the best job of imitating that insect—without any detailed knowledge of entomology. If you learn his acronyms PAUSE and MATCH I am convinced you will have all the knowledge you need to be more successful. Listen to the podcast to learn what these acronyms mean. In The Fly Box, we have all sorts of great questions this week: · The difference between braided and furled leaders · How to Euro nymph rivers with spooky trout · Fishing a midge larva behind a streamer · The difference between “freshwater” and “saltwater” rods · How to transition from saltwater to freshwater fly fishing · Can I use my steelhead reel in salt water? · How to travel with a large net · Tricks for avoiding bulk when tying tiny flies · When t

This week’s podcast is my annual bull session with Tim Flagler of Tightline Productions. Instead of us picking a topic, we decided to ask listeners for questions. We both field questions on making a dubbing noodle out of short-fibered dubbing (along with a bunch of other tips on dubbing), choice of articulations for jointed flies, mono weed guards on bonefish flies, black vs. gold beads on nymphs, consistently reproducing patterns, proportions in cutting hair and fur, mixing dubbing to imitate specific insects, the differences between various types of natural dubbings, and discussions on what makes a “good” hackle feather. And of course we ramble a bit. But that’s what fly tiers do when they have an hour to kill. We went on so long that there’s no fly box this week. Just one long fly box, and all about tying.

After a long Christmas break, we’ve finally gotten back into a regular podcast schedule. This week our guest is Conway Bowman, known for his targeting of large mako sharks on a fly rod. But Conway also loves trout and tarpon fishing, so he gives us his tips on playing and landing large fish on a fly rod, whether it’s a 500-pound mako or a 22-inch trout. Conway is a great teacher and I am sure you will benefit from his tips. In the Fly Box this week, we have questions on taking an extra reel along, dressing for success and comfort in winter, making unweighted saltwater flies ride inverted in the water, factors that make a trout stream great, how to decide whether to go with weight-forward or double-taper lines, streamers in high altitude lakes, casting practice on snow, and a couple of discussions on tippet rings. I hope you enjoy the show

This week’s podcast is all about snook. I have never done a full podcast just on snook fishing, but it is the most popular gamefish in Florida so I figured it was high time. I enlisted Captain Dan Andrews as a guest. Dan, besides being a lifelong snook chaser and guide, is also executive director of Captains for Clean Water, a great organization that Orvis strongly supports. In the Fly Box this week, we have questions on occasional risers, whether you can handle a 22-inch trout on a 10-foot, 3-weight Recon, smelly head cements, targeting walleyes on the fly, pulling trout out of deep, slow pools, casting weighted streamers on a 5-weight, and some tips for steelhead anglers on the Great Lakes. There is also a story on a most unusual animal that took an angler’s mouse fly—but I won’t spoil the surprise here.

This week’s interview is with Steve Galletta of Bighorn Angler in Fort Smith, Montana. The Bighorn fishes well all winter long, and with Steve’s many seasons on the river he shares his tips on how to catch tailwater trout all winter long. Even if you don’t plan on fishing the Bighorn any time soon, Steve’s tips will give you valuable intel on how to fish your local tailwater. In The Fly Box, we have questions about the effects of fly flotants on knots, disappearing brook trout, releasing fish in fast water, using switch rods on lakes, why streamers work well in the fall, using UV resins for fly tying, fishing mouse patterns on lakes at night, keeping track of tippet rings, smells on carp flies, and how to apply techniques learned in one fishery to other species and places.

This week we get a special peak behind the curtain about how fly rods are developed. How long does it take to design a fly rod? How many prototypes are built? How are they tested? How are materials selected? And where do the ideas come from? Shawn Combs takes us into the depths of the Orvis skunkworks and tells us a few secrets (and withholds just as many) about how his team of engineers and technicians develop Orvis fly rods—specifically the new Helios 3 series. In the Fly Box this week, we talk about fishing emergers subsurface, the perils of using the wrong super glue on casting cuts, how long to let a bass popper sit, water temperature guiidelines for trout, fly fishing for crappies, a tip on keeping the trailing hook of a tandem out of the way when tying, leader lengths for stocked trout ponds, species-specific leaders, correct water depth for setting indicators, and how to fish multiple-fly rigs when the flies are barbless.

This week’s guest is Joe Cermele, fishing editor of Field & Stream magazine and the one-man-band behind the terrific web series “Hook Shots” (if you have not seen his videos they are always fun and offbeat). Joe is wild about fishing big flies for big fish—regardless of species. Our interview is about mousing for trout, a sorta-night-fishing, sorta-streamer-fishing technique that has become popular in recent years. But it’s not about fishing mouse flies for wilderness fish in Alaska or Kamchatka, it’s about fishing them in local, heavily fished rivers. Mousing is a great way to avoid the crowds and catch one of those big trout you seldom see during the day. As usual in The Fly Box we have a wide variety of topics: missing strikes on topwater bass flies, the difference between a desiccant and a flotant (again!), finding tailing carp, fishing streamers and high-stick nymphing in spring creeks, fishing bamboo rods for larger trout, tying with peacock eyes, questions on rod models, when to buy multiple reels

This week Jeremy Kehrein from Orvis Travel joined me to share his knowledge of travel planning and packing tips. Most people know how to plan travel (just call up our Travel Department!) and know how to pack a suitcase, so we focus on what travelers often forget—what questions do they forget to ask when calling a travel agent, guide, or lodge, and what do people often forget when packing for a fishing trip. Arriving in a remote destination without an essential doodad can, while not exactly spoiling a trip, make it less enjoyable. In the Fly Box this week there is an extremely helpful tip from a listener that can benefit every angler—of all ages and all genders. I won’t spoil the surprise by telling you want it is. There are also questions on building a 7X leader that won’t collapse, how to land very large trout on a 3-weight rod and 6X tippet, how often multiple anglers can fish a single riffle, a recommendation for a good book on small-stream trout fishing (guess what that is?), studded boots making noise in

I get repeated questions about switch vs. Spey: people interested in two-handed fly fishing but not sure which setup they need. Even though I think I have answered this question before, I thought it was time for a fresh look so I asked the incomparable Pete Kutzer, YouTube star and Orvis casting instructor, for his advice. Pete is a very serious two-handed angler and just got back from a couple steelhead rivers on the West Coast, so the topic was fresh in his mind. I hope it helps to answer some of your questions. In the Fly Box this week, questions are wide-ranging--casting accuracy, dropper flies tangling, flashing trout, Atlantic salmon guides, and trout short-striking streamers. Plus an interesting tip on what may be an interesting way of sharpening hooks.

This week I interview Captain Aron Cascone of Westerly, Rhode Island for his tips on finding stripers on foot along the New England Coast, and then choosing the right fly, the right tide, the right time of day, and the right retrieve. Aron is one of the fishiest guys I know and he’s spent a life on the water. I learned a number of good tips despite fishing for stripers with a fly rod for over 30 years—so I’m sure you’ll learn some good stuff as well. In the Fly Box this week we answer questions on fly reel choices, making a presentation so that the fly passes over the fish before the leader, suggested camera gear for fly anglers, how to keep cleats from coming out of your wading boots, and how to make a simple saltwater leader. Plus suggestions from listeners on lubricating knots with fly paste and how to carry a second rod to the river.

This week’s podcast is an interview with Orvis VP Steve Hemkens about why he took a trip to Washington. The podcast may raise your hackles or it may give you hope for the future. You’ll have to listen to find out why he went to our nation’s capital and why someone responsible for the sale of fly-fishing products and responsible education in the outdoor world would want to meet with politicians. On a lighter note, the Fly Box this week covers a diverse group of questions, including targeting Texas redfish, repairing a severed fly line (hint—don’t), how to find a place to fish if you don’t know anyone, finding feeding trout in the weeds, the difference one tippet size makes, minimalist bass fishing, how to kill and clean trout, and how to a Get Drunk and Disorderly to stay under water (that sounds like cruel and unusual punishment). There is also a great suggestion from a listener on how to keep EP Fibers in line, and how to use the Fly Trap for storing dropper rigs.

This week, I take a break from interviews and do a podcast like we did in the old days by interviewing myself. It’s a shameless plug for my newest book, Hatch Strategies, published by Rizzoli/Universe. I call it Twelve Tips on Fishing Hatches That Might Surprise You. I’m sure that many of you agree with most of the tips, especially if you’ve spent any time chasing trout when they are feeding on insect hatches. But I am willing to bet there are a couple you may not have thought of, that run contrary to what you have heard in the past, or might even think that Rosenbauer guy is full of fish feces. If you don’t agree with me, I’d love to hear about it, which may produce some interesting podcasts in the future. In the Fly Box this week, I answer (or try to answer) how to fish small streams with a 9-foot rod, the use of tippet rings, how to avoid spending a fortune on hackle, what percent of the time you should be hooking fish that rise to your dry fly, whether to fish for steelhead in a river where they are threa

This week Chris Wood, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited, visited us in Vermont and we got to pull him aside for a great podcast (and take him fishing for brook trout). Chris is a master at distilling complicated environmental issues down to their essence in the way anglers can understand them, and he enlightens us on some current issues like Pebble Mine, the Clean Water Rule, and western water laws. And it’s not all bad news! In the Fly Box, questions range from requests to have me MC a rehearsal dinner for a wedding (not gonna happen) to switching from trout to other species to getting another season out of a pair of waders. Plus questions on Village Idiots and herons and redfish and fishing diaries. Plus a couple of cool tips from listeners on fly tying.

This week we have a timely podcast—fishing for large brown trout in the fall. Noah Parker from Land of Enchantment Guides in New Mexico tells us how they fish for large browns in the fall, and they use some techniques in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado that are different from what most of you probably do. In the Fly Box, questions come up on catching fussy trout in small streams, gel-spun backing, swinging nymphs, fishing 4 people at once, what the Copper John imitates, and some great fly-tying tips from listeners.

***This is a Backcast Episode from March of 2014. Tom will be back from vacation with new episodes soon!*** This week we have what I feel is one of our best podcasts ever—an interview with Colby Trow of Mossy Creek Fly Shop on his advanced tactics for catching smallmouth bass. I learned a ton in this podcast and it makes me want to head south to chase some right now. And in this extra-long podcast there are plenty of fly box questions: Using a stomach pump on trout, how to keep your indicator from sliding, whether bright silver and gold beads are a thing of the past, how to find secondary feathers on a goose wing, and good substitutes for deer hair on a Comparadun wing.

OK, get ready for this—it’s a long one! I figured since I had not done a podcast in a couple weeks I would give you your money’s worth, and this podcast includes a long interview with Will Benson, noted permit guide and film maker. As you’ll hear, Will has strong passions for many things—permit, guiding, people, and the environment—and I had trouble cutting this one off. But it was a fun and educational interview, and very inspiring for me. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. And furthermore, it’s a longer Fly Box than usual, with questions on finding a guide school, big fish getting off the hook, Clouser Minnows riding sideways, catching big stripers form shore, remembering Mel Krieger, catching carp in North Dakota, a recommended outfit for Atlantic salmon on the Gaspe peninsula, fishing caddis egg-laying events, and where and how to go fly fishing in the Greek Islands (spoiler—I have no idea).

This week I have an interview with an old friend, Joe Demalderis, of Cross Current guide service in the Catskills. Joe knows the Delaware system about as well as any human, and has a common-sense approach to fishing hatches that I love. We talk about how to fish hatches from a drift boat or other craft, which at times can be more difficult than fishing hatches while wading, but at other times can reach fish in water that is too deep of otherwise inaccessible to the wader. In the Fly Box, we range from questions on getting droppers ready before you go fishing, caddis pupa tactics, fish rising to tippet rings, brook trout on streamers, the effect of heat on tippet material, shirt colors on trout streams, and suggested bonefish books.

My guest this week is guide David Mangum, renowned tarpon guide, filmmaker, still photographer, fly tier—and well the guy is just incredibly talented. In the interview he gives us some fascinating tips on presenting a fly to tarpon, and you may be surprised at what this seasoned guide recommends. He also gives tips on presenting the fly to other species—no surprise that accuracy, not distance or power, is the most important factor. And prior to the interview, in the podcast we answer questions on why you don’t need to change leaders every time you hit a different water type, handicapping fly anglers, sunken hoppers, fishing a new landlocked salmon fishery, nymphing for bass, playing fish on Euro-style nymphing rod, setting the hook on the wet fly swing, diversity in fly fishing, stinky hackle, and attaching backing to fly line.

This week I have a more-or-less black diamond podcast with Josh Nugent of Out Fly Fishing Outfitters in Calgary. With the peak of hatches upon us, now is the time to tune up your sight-fishing game, and Josh provides with some meaty tips (As well as The Seven Deadly Sins). In the Fly Box, I have a couple listener follow-ups on questions from other listeners. One is on freshwater drum from James at the Orvis store in Royal Oak outside of Detroit. The other is from gentleman in Canada who relates his experience with using loop knots on dry flies (hint—don’t). And I answer some questions on obtaining feathers for tying soft hackles, best boxes for large bass flies, how to rig for tightline nymphing, leaders for smallmouths, and whether a graphite rod can fatigue after a day catching more than 10 carp from 10 to 20 pounds in weight (no one is feeling sorry for that guy).