When people ask me what my favorite nymph fly is, I tell them I don’t have one. I’m not trying to hide anything, it’s just that I try not to pay special attention to those “confidence” flies- you know, flies that I caught my biggest fish on, or flies I used the day I fished my personal best. Choosing confidence flies are probably some dopamine triggered behavior, I suspect. They get fished most often and so they catch the most fish. But only fishing confidence flies can be holding you back. And when you are having a real tough day out there and the fish won’t even take your star players, you won’t know where to turn. You’ve been beat.
Here’s a better way to select the “best fly” in your box when your confident fly is screaming at you “Pick me!”
Trevor Fagerskog, a Roseville resident who moved from Truckee in late 2020, is current president of the nonprofit sporting group Tahoe Truckee Fly Fishers and state chair of the California council of the nonprofit conservation group Trout Unlimited.
The latter group’s Truckee chapter focuses on habitat restoration in the Truckee River watershed. Fagerskog reasons that it’s not likely anyone is going to reverse the effects of climate change anytime soon, so they’re working to find natural areas that were modified by humans, then re-creating conditions that make the water more conducive to fish, even in a drought-threatened future.
My dad isn’t around anymore but his life, or what I know of it, definitely had a lasting influence on me; especially the fishing part.
He was born near Lodi, California, a grape farming town only a couple hours down the hill from Yosemite National Park. Yet we never went there as kids because he didn’t like crowds. For the same reason, we never went to Disneyland or San Francisco, etc. Instead my mom and the five of us kids packed up the Ford camper, sometimes with our aluminum boat on top, and ventured to the mountains or ocean. Looking back, I think money had a lot to do with his destination choices so I’m glad we didn’t have very much- I hate to think of how different my childhood experiences would have been.
I designed the Stinger reel to save weight. People ask “why,” so I wrote this because I realized that the answers are not so obvious, especially to those who have been fishing the same way for decades.
Lightweight and high performance are synonymous terms with regards to competitive sports equipment- the world I came from. Lightweight almost always improves performance because mass and inertia are your enemies when trying to increase quickness, accuracy and or maximize endurance. But what does high performance have to do with fly fishing? Lots.
If you’re regularly hooking into river trout but your “landing rate” is dismal, you’re not alone. By the way, it took a lot of hard work and practice on your part to get where you are now so congratulations.
Assuming you’ve presented the correct fly, the fish takes your fly, and you’ve managed a good hookset, you’re still miles away from getting that lunker into your net. Inexperienced anglers are always bewildered when the fish is suddenly off their line. It still happens to me but far less.
As you've probably noticed in our videos, our dogs love to go fishing with us. While we anglers sometimes have our struggles and tough days, the dogs are having the time of their lives, and I’m happy to share that with you. But off-camera things are a bit trickier when taking your pups to the river - Here are things to consider if you plan to fish with your dog.
When fishing with your dog, or any time you take your dog outside the security of your home for that matter, you’re responsible for your dog’s safety and well being- So lower your expectations of catching fish by realizing that your time in the water fishing will be less than usual, your choices of fishing locations will be limited, and you’ll now have to redirect your focus and keep an eye out for what your fur buddy is doing.
