The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

This week is all about fly tying.  I took a whole bunch of questions that came in over the past week (thank you very much for your great questions) and we spend about an hour going over some tricky and not-so-tricky questions.  The hardest one for me was to list the essential fly tying materials every tier should have on his or her bench (and I was not allowed to use CDC, rabbit fur, or peacock herl, which made it even tougher) and it took me two days to decide on that one.  I ended up cheating and coming up with a trout list and a saltwater list.  Other questions included emergency procedures for when you break your thread, when to use wax, most under-utilized materials, substitutes in fly-tying recipes, tips for tying with deer hair, and many others.  Don’t forget that this month, fly tying materials at Orvis are 20% off, so now is the time to think about what you’ll need for next season.

This week we talk to Paul Moinester, who we should all envy.  He quit a good job in DC to simplify and de-stress his life, and spent 6 months traveling the US to finds out more about fly fishing.  He drove from the Keys to Alaska, fishing along the way, and came up with some very eloquent pointers on improving your fly fishing game, based on his many experiences.  These are great tips from the perspective of a relative novice (at least he was when he started his trip!).

**This is a fixed version of "The Return of Fiberglass Rods". The originally posted version contained an editing error.**  We’ve had a lot of requests to do a podcast on fiberglass fly rods, but I wanted to wait until the Orvis rods were in stock before I did one.  The Orvis Superfine Touch Fiberglass are now in stock and on our web site, so this week I cover the basics of fiberglass rods:  A little history, some brief technology notes, and why you might want to at least test cast a fiberglass rod to see what all the fuss is about.  They are not like the glass rods you remember from the 60s or 70s!

We’ve had a lot of requests to do a podcast on fiberglass fly rods, but I wanted to wait until the Orvis rods were in stock before I did one.  The Orvis Superfine Touch Fiberglass are now in stock and on our web site, so this week I cover the basics of fiberglass rods:  A little history, some brief technology notes, and why you might want to at least test cast a fiberglass rod to see what all the fuss is about.  They are not like the glass rods you remember from the 60s or 70s!

This week, the main event is a fascinating podcast with Tom Bie, editor and publisher (and founder) of The Drake Magazine, an unconventional, edgy fly fishing publication that addresses the new, media-related fly fishing culture.  Tom talks about his favorite fish, the steelhead, and about his passion for swinging flies, East vs. West, hatchery vs. wild steelhead, using Spey rods, and lots on the philosophy of the best swing speed for steelhead.  We also touch on steelhead flies, and the future of fly fishing in general.  It’s a great interview and a little more cerebral than we usually get on the podcast.  Also in this week’s Fly Box, we circle back to fly tying materials to get a little more clarity on thread sizes and types of elk hair.  I answer questions on fighting big trout in confined quarters, what to do if a big trout sulks, the difference between a creek, brook, and river; the characteristics of spring creeks, tailwaters, chalk streams, and freestone streams; sight fishing to trout in shallow water without indicators, and just why a Zebra midge with a pink body sometimes out-fishes one with the standard black-and-white body.  

From the brilliant mind of CarpPro's Dan Frasier.

This week’s podcast is mostly about fly tying—at least the main event.  In The FlyBox, we talk about dangers on the water, how to keep your distance from your fishing buddy, Tenkara rods for kids, casting indoors, and how to do The San Juan Shuffle (hint—you don’t want to).  There is also a very special offer only for podcast listeners somewhere in the podcast, and it’s only good for this week, so make sure you listen soon!

This week it’s all about steelhead—or at least mostly about steelhead.  Besides the main topic, dead drift vs. the swing for steelhead, we talk about overlining rods, matching a rod to a fish size, dressing dry flies, the NOAA Saltwater Registry, hooking fish in the tongue, fishing beads, and whether to ask a guide for a refund if you don’t catch any fish (I think you know my answer to that one).

On this week’s podcast, we discuss man-eating Chinook salmon, the ethics of going back to a spot a guide has taken you to, what BWOs are, possible cranefly hatches, stomach pumps, and I make an apology to the SUP crowd.  Then we have a great interview with Whit Fosburgh, president and CEO of the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.  Whit brings to light some boring-sounding legislation that is important to anyone who loves the outdoors, and gives us a good general overview of why they are important—like thousands of acres of public land that is inaccessible to taxpayers and what is being done about it.

In this week's podcast, besides an interview with Kirk Deeter, author of The Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing for Carp, we talk about how fly fishing can be a pain in the neck, fishing above waterfalls, jeans under waders, split shot on spring creeks, Tenkara and kids, minimalist equipment for fishing, hiking, and camping, and when to look for Trico duns this time of year.