fly fishing

Fly casting can often be improved by slowing down and casting easier

Very good article on casting technique on Gink & Gasoline site:

ā€œRead the title of this post and try to live by it. Itā€™s my attempt in ā€œone sentenceā€, to help fly anglers quickly improve their fly casting, and itā€™s made me twice fly caster and fisherman I am today. Thereā€™s lots more to fly casting than slowing down and casting easier, but if anglers focus on doing both together, they often will find that it can greatly improve their overall technique and control. Ask any professional sports athlete how they maximize their performance and potential, and almost all will reply with excellent technique. Itā€™s no different in fly casting. If you want your fly casting to reach its full potential, you have to first build a strong foundation of fly casting mechanics and principles that you can consistently live by on the water. Iā€™ve found personally that when I take the time to slow down and cast the fly rod with less power, itā€™s much easier for me to focus on the most important element of my fly casting, my techniqueā€¦ [read full article] (Link fixed)

Posted by Tony Bishop in fly fishing, fly fishing how-to, fly fishing tips

Fishing Minus the Hero Shots

Kirk Deeter from Field and Stream and Midcurrent is one of the better fishing writers, so I found this article about using ā€˜grip and grinā€™ shots to bolster a weak story very helpful to budding writers.

Especially those who want to break out of the morass of bland rubbish writing supported by same-old-same-old-pictures, and instead deliver words that make pictures in the readers mind.

Money line:

ā€œYou see, Iā€™m not a grip ā€˜n grin man.  I prefer to fish from the shadows, and stay in the shadows, even after I land something big.  I have a face thatā€™s made for radio, and a passion for fly fishing thatā€™s rooted somewhere that canā€™t be captured, no matter how many megapixels are devoted to it.ā€

Read full article here.

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing media, fly fishing, fly fishing how-to

Unexpectedly Great Fishing: Again!

A couple of my previous articles, ā€˜Expect the Unexpectedā€™ and ā€˜No Great Expectationsā€™, were based on the sometimes fabulous fishing that seems to pop-up out of nowhere.

I have just had five days of truly unexpected and exceptional fishing.apr5rainbow2

Like other trips like this, it all started out pretty much as usual. I was going down to the Taupo region of the central North Island of New Zealand, for what I hoped would coincide with the start of annual run of brown trout into the rivers and streams that flow into Lake Taupo.

I arrived to weather that was also pretty much as expected for autumn, clear skies, (maybe too clear) and a hint of a chill in the air. The main river I was going to fish, the Tauranga-Taupo, was low and very clear, again, maybe too clear. So, I was not expecting great fishing.

The next morning I set off up the river, and found there was no one else on the river where I was fishing. Big plus tick for that.

I also noticed lots of fish in the river. Well, to be truthful, for the first hour or two, most noticed me about one second before I noticed them fleeing to wherever it is where trout go when they notice fishermen.

But soon enough I shook off the city cloak of unawareness, and began to notice fish before they noticed me, and fling a fly at them. Sometimes they liked the fly and bit it, other times they treated the fly with utter disdain, and after repeated casts slowly moved off to that secret trout place.

Now, you may remember I was down at Taupo to catch browns, but I never saw one, but rainbows where there in big numbers.

Big numbers of rainbows was encouraging, but what was even more encouraging and unexpected was the size of the fish. In recent years the average size of Taupo area rainbows has been in decline, to the point where any fish over three pounds was considered a good catch.

Recent reports however suggested that the average rainbow size and condition coming up to spawning was well up on recent years.

The reports were spot on. That first day I caught and released 16 or 17 fish, not one of which was less than 3lb. Most were over a pound or two over that weight, a couple may have been even bigger.

The fish were in wonderful condition, deep and round, fat as butter, and fought long and hardā€¦ [full story]

(Terrible photo I know ā€“ but left my camera at home ā€“ and my phone camera is, well you can see.)

Posted by Tony Bishop in Fishing Travel, fly fishing, my fishing trips, New Zealand Fishing

Four more fishing quotes and sayings–Oct 25 2010

Just put up four more fishing quotes and sayings, numbers 1002 ā€“ 1005.

My pick from current crop:

ā€œAngling is very different from other sport because of the role the fish has to play. Success or failure depends on the reaction and response of the fish.  In most other sports, if the participant performs well, then the result will reflect this. In angling the performer may well give a perfect performance in all the skills required but all will be in vain if the fish does not respond.  In angling, so much of the initiative lies with the fish: unless the angler can offer him something that brings a response, all is in vainā€

– Moc and Hywell Morgan – Flyfishing and Flytying Magazine (UK) Nov 2009

Posted by Tony Bishop in fishing quotes, fly fishing