Articles

A Guide’s Advice

Fri Nov 30th 2018
Tips & Techniques

Tip #2 for the Guide: Servant Heart

Hands down, the best guides I know on the river are those who truly care and serve their clients.  Having a servant heart means leaving your ego at the door. Being cognitive to your clients needs in every aspect of their experience is so important and knowing that your actions are serving your client will help shape your attitude throughout the day.  The best compliment that I receive from my clients, is when they tell me that they felt we took care of them all day!  Approach your day with a WE not a ME attitude.

Photo & Tips: Dana Lattery @flyfishingbowriver

A Guide’s Advice –

Mon Nov 26th 2018
Tips & Techniques

Tip #1 for the Client: Manage Expectations

So, now we know that when you are booking a guided trip, the outfitter should ask you what you want out of your trip. And wether it your first trip or your 100th, this is a very important step to making your trip successful! Yes, it’s a fishing trip, but the outfitter needs to know what’s important to you so they can properly prepare and design your trip to meet your needs.

Discuss your skill level, special skills you are fine-tuning, fishing styles or species you are targeting.   And, just because you went over these when booking your trip, don’t assume your guide is aware.  This is your most important conversation of the day.  Don’t get in that boat without having gone over your expectations!

A Guide’s Advice

Fri Nov 23rd 2018
Tips & Techniques

Guide, Outfitter, and all round great guy, Dana Lattery @flyfishingbowriver shares some sage advice in the winter issue of Fly Fusion.  But…with more great material than the pages of the mag would allow, we thought it would be fun to share a series of his top tips here.

Guide Tip #1:

Manage Expectations: Observe, Shape, Perform

This is our clients day on the water, not ours.  Our first conversation should be in order to figure out what they want to get out of their day…which isn’t always the same as what we want.  I can’t stress this enough. To ensure a successful day, we need to be on the same page as our clients.

We can assume that they  want to catch fish,  but it is always appreciated when you are clear about how the fishing has been.  Never tell your clients “ you should have been here yesterday”, this is just an excuse and is not fair to them.

Following is a simple summary of expectations from one of my clients: “My goals for the day are as such, Good times, big smiles, fish, and great memories”. Easily laid out, now it’s my role to shape these and expand on the details; conditions,  techniques, seasonal considerations etc.

Suggest, but never trump their desires. I have an  annual client who who only wants to use a dry fly.  We know that this isn’t always a possibility, but together, through proper scheduling and concerted effort we make for a higher probability of success.

RIO: How To Tie a Dropper Video

Wed Nov 14th 2018
Fly Tying
Tips & Techniques
Videos

In this episode of RIO’s “How To” series, RIO brand manager Simon Gawesworth runs through a number of reasons of why you would fish a dropper on your leader. In addition, Simon shows 4 different ways of making a dropper – using a surgeon knot, a tippet ring, the “New Zealand” dropper and the swiveling dropper from Poland.

If you want to fish more than one fly on your leader, this videos will give you some great ideas for rigging, as well as showing many typical multiple fly set ups that Simon uses, and that can give you a more successful day on the water.

Error getting video from vimeo API.

12-Steps to Tying with Mallard Wings

Mon Oct 29th 2018
Fly Tying

Mallard Wings: How to Choose Them, Shape Them, and Mount Them

Will Bush

Tying with feathers is mechanical form of art. You take parts (feathers), that already have a certain shape and texture, combine them in a sequence to create something else entirely – something beautiful, something functional. To me tying is akin to building an engine. In order for that engine to work properly the parts must be used correctly and every step completed with the next step in mind. Feathers can only be manipulated one or two ways to create the intended result. You cannot force a feather to do something against its “will.” In order to have your flies look and swim properly you must first learn how and why these parts work.

Read More

Fly Fusion Streaming

Mon Oct 22nd 2018
News

Did you know, you can now stream previous seasons of IF4™, along with tons of other fishy content right in one place?  Catch all the official selections and so much more by visiting flyfusionstreaming.com today!

Error getting video from vimeo API.

On the Mend

Wed Oct 17th 2018
Casting
Tips & Techniques

A straight-line cast is often the best way to present a fly, but sometimes you need to change your location in order to get the drift you want. When you’re able to move, you should. But if trees, currents, the position of the fish or the position of the sun won’t allow you to move without spooking the fish or getting into wading trouble, the best option is often to use a mend. Read More

RIO: How to Fish Out of a Flats Boat

Fri Oct 12th 2018
Tips & Techniques
Videos
In this final episode of RIO’s second season of “How To” videos, RIO sales manager, Zack Dalton talks about “How To Fish Out Of A Flats Boat/Skiff”. In this film Zack explains how to orientate yourself in a flats boat, and how important it is to know the “clock face” directional method that guides around the world use to point out fish. In addition, this film goes over the really important duties and responsibilities an angler has when they are not fishing, and waiting for their turn to get up on the boat and fish.
If you are going on your first trip in a flats boat – for whatever species, this film will make sure you know how to maximize your day in the boat, whether when fishing, or when waiting for your turn.
RIO’s “How To” videos are a series of short films that explain all you need to know to learn a particular way to fish, or cast. Where applicable, each film talks through the gear that you need, shows how to rig the gear, how to read the water, and how to fish that particular technique. These educational films are packed with information and top tips designed to improve the knowledge and skill level of all fly fishers. Each one is bought to you by a RIO employee or a RIO brand ambassador.
Error getting video from vimeo API.

Backpacks & Roadmaps

Thu Oct 11th 2018
News
Couple of good friends of Fly Fusion, John Van Vleet and Tiffany Barber, are hitting the open road and will be journalling their adventures through a new travel website called Backpacks & Road Maps. We plan to live vicariously through their adventures and encourage you to join us in following this epic husband and wife team. Just a couple of outdoor lovers from Montana, they can’t get enough of life on the road. Follow along on all of their adventures, with travel reports, tips, and photography highlights from destinations all around the world. #backpacksandroadmaps

The Western Coachman

Wed Oct 10th 2018
Fly Tying

       The story of Wayne “Buz” Buszek and his Western Coachman begins in the 1930s. Buz began fly fishing the local streams of California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains as a young boy. His abilities as a fly tier and fly fisher developed quickly, thanks to guidance from the local “old timers.” He excelled, developing into an exacting and innovative fly tier, a skilled fly fisher, and a “mountain goat of a hiker.”

Read More