Rigging in the cold, always seems to be the most daunting task at hand whenever I am fly fishing winter waters. So, as history had already proven, standing at the rear of my truck attempting to complete a simple task I had done a million times over was once again kicking my ass. Even though 25 degrees and no wind felt almost balmy when I first stepped out of the truck, 5 minutes with bare finger tips trying to tie a tandem rig with two size #16 nymphs quickly changed all of that.

Aquatic weed-beds growing out from the bottom of spring creeks are one of iconic items of fly-fishing scenes. Aquatic weeds dance as the creek flows and the beds host many food sources for trout. But also weed-beds cause micro-currents and make "chutes" between them. Both of which make the fishing spring creeks very challenging and technical!!

A rod, specifically a fly rod, is a tool and as such what one can do with it depends upon the skill of the user. One of the things that I remember when I was teaching fly casting was that beginners always wanted to know what fly rod to purchase. My advice was that they should purchase the finest rod that they could afford and then, when they discovered that they could not cast they could not blame it on the equipment.

In this installment we will be covering the Longnose Gar, Barracuda and the Look Down. These are not the normal fish species that are covered in most fishing magazines however they can be caught by the saltwater fly angler and each has its own appeal.

It was mid-November and the weather had been unseasonably warm. The ice that was on the ponds was gone. That means that the rods have to go into the truck and the truck needs to find a pond. Several of the ponds were not available as the ground was to wet to drive into them. I had not been stuck all year and this is not the time to do that. I headed to a pond that is easy to walk into and has very few trees around it.

What flies do I need? This is one of the most common questions asked by traveling fly fishers. This is because many fly fishers also enjoy tying flies and wish to properly prepare for their trip. The best way to determine your imitation list is with a little research. Call a local shop in the area you are going to be fishing, ask about the hatches and the pattern recommendations for the time period that you will be fishing the area. If you are unsure of some of the patterns, have the shop send you one each of the patterns, so you may use them as samples.