(Just bumping up a previous post…) I have confirmed that I’ll be doing casting demos at the Bellevue, Washington (Feb. 6-8) and Portland, Oregon (Feb. 14-15) Fly Fishing Shows. If you have the burning desire for up-close-and-personal discussions of the Foundation Casting Stroke, the Three-Step Exercise, In-The-Air Mends, and more, mark the date(s) on your [...]

One thing that I emphasize in my fishing seminars and clinics is to “play the heron.” In other words, approach with calm, pay attention, have patience, and strike accurately when the time is right. I try to practice what I preach, but I never really expected to get schooled in my own teaching by my [...]

If you read this blog, but still subscribe to the old RSS feed (anything prior to mid-December 2008), you may be wondering why your feed returns a blank despite the posts here. That’s because the old feed is no more (FF&W and fishfliesandwater.com are now one-and-the-same and occupy the same URL). If you haven’t already [...]

After last year’s interview that I did with “Hatches” magazine,” I’ve had a few questions about the hackling technique shown on the highlighted flies. So, here’s a post covering the core technique—Diffusion Hackling—used to produce the leggy results. Actually, this post is a version of a couple of similar articles that I wrote back in [...]

(Update – January 17, 2009: I’ve had an e-mail asking me the whereabouts of the full 3-P article (I had published it on the old blog a year or so ago). The answer: I’ll re-publish it as a Page shortly.) The Three-Point Grip (not to be confused with the “Finger-On-Top Grip” or “Forefinger Grip”) is [...]

Just a quick note about how the comment “work-flow” has been established here at FF&W. First-time commentators do need to go through a painless approval process. Just follow the instructions for supplying a name and an e-mail address (e-mail is not shared, collected, sold, etc.), and submit. The commentator’s IP address is scanned by an anti-spam system [...]

Versions of this little article have floated around various magazines and Web sites over the years. Not the most glamorous of fly-fishing topics, I know, but an approach that can be of real help when conditions warrant. – – – – – – – – – When fishing the small stuff, a strike indicator of [...]

This new short from film-maker RA Beattie captures the core essence of winter dry-fly fishing. When I watch it, my angling mind spins with thoughts of places that I’ve been and places that I want to be… Thanks to MidCurrent for the heads-up.

Due to popular demand (well, one person), I am offering my “First Fish” illustration as a computer desktop/wallpaper image for FF&W readers. Just download the appropriate size for your monitor (right-click or ctrl-click on the link, depending on your system), and you’ll have a rising rainbow all day long. 1024X768 – 1280X960 – 1440X900 – 1600X1200 1680X1050 [...]

Just before the turn of the (21st) century, my father and I traveled to Russia’s Kola Peninsula to shoot a couple of TV shows for OLN (now Versus). Along with Executive Producer, Jim Hagar, and good friend/guide, Juha Vainio, we shot at the Varzina Lodge for two weeks, focusing on the big brown trout of [...]

The latest issue of “Catch” magazine is now available for viewing (and it really is all about the viewing). The superb Ken Tsurusaki leads with a beautiful photo essay in this issue, which also happens to include a short video from friend, Grant Wiswell, at Castaway Films (the company that produced the Equilibrium DVD). Enjoy!

Just a little visual for the new year. This is an older piece called “First Fish” that I did as a digital “woodcut” with digital “ink.” Another version of this image accompanied an article that I wrote about my wife’s first trout on a fly.