Word on the Stream Is…

If it’s out there, there is a good chance that you can find it online. Google it has become synonymous with figure it out. With a few taps on your screen, you can get anything you want (and a lot you don’t).

But there are still some things that can’t be found on the internet. Or, at a minimum, they can’t be found easily. Believe it or not there are some people making it in this world without social media. There are businesses getting by without search engine optimization strategies. Information exists that has yet to be turned into 1s and 0s.

And some of all this has to do with fly fishing.

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No Water In with Whitewater’s Great Lakes Pro Jacket

Since fly fishing occupies relatively scant acreage in the greater outdoor landscape, I’ve long practiced looking in other catalogues for gear that might help my time on the water. Hiking, hunting, and kayaking equipment works when fly fishing. Sometimes, the niche it was designed to fill is precisely what fly anglers need. So it should come at no surprise that conventional fishing gear is worth the fly fisher’s consideration.

One category that makes a lot of sense to consider is rain gear. While fly fishers obviously focus on the right waders, with rain jackets as an important back up item for bad weather, the guys who head miles out into open water absolutely need equipment to keep them dry. A serviceable rain jacket isn’t an option; it is a necessity.

Designed to be utilized by professional conventional anglers, the Great Lakes Pro Jacket by Whitewater is the perfect example. I don’t want to invest in a rain jacket that will keep me mostly dry. I want the kind of jacket that people trust when motoring across a lake in a driving rain. I want gear that does what it is supposed to do and lets me do what I want it to do. On top of that, I want comfort and a few legitimately beneficial features.

These are the four criteria I judge any outdoor gear on when I take it into the field. How did the Whitewater Great Lakes Pro Jacket hold  up?

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Podcast Ep. 286: Your Fly Rod Questions

You need a fly rod to fly fish. Whether it is one hundred or one thousand dollars, you’d do well to have a good idea of which fly rod is best for you and your fishing.

The absolute best way to do this? Go to a fly shop and cast.

Before you take that step, it is good to have a bit of a foundation to work with. To that end, I’ve put together a new page on Casting Across entitled “Fly Rod FAQs.” Today I’m talking a bit about the reason for the content, and then talking through three questions I’ve heard numerous times over my years selling rods, teaching casting, and writing about fly fishing gear.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Even More Fly Rod FAQs

How light of a fly rod should you use if you want to feel fish?

What is the perfect dry fly rod?

Will a broken rod make casting harder? (Yes, I’ve heard this a number of times.)

I love questions. And I enjoy thinking through and talking about fly rod questions. In my years writing Casting Across, teaching casting, guiding, and selling rods, questions about selecting rods have made many of the inquiries I’ve answered. They constitute the bulk of gear-related questions I’ve fielded. I’m continuing this series of articles by looking at five more fly rod questions  I’ve handled quite a few times in the past 25 years.

You can check out the list of previous questions/answers, and check out the latest batch below:

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In Memoriam: Opening Day of Trout Season

I mentioned going fishing this weekend. “No,” he quickly replied. “Next weekend is opening day.”

He was right,  from a certain point of view. Opening day for trout ponds is next weekend. But in this state the  vast majority of water had been open since New Year’s  Day, after a  brief hiatus for the fall spawn. Fly fishers had been on rivers and streams for months. With a little creativity, there is a chance to pursue fish 365 days a year.

So yes, there is an opening day. It is nothing like the opening day: what was opening day for generations, what opening day entailed, what opening day meant. If old habits die hard, old beloved traditions hang on for dear life.  For many sportsmen, the plug has been pulled on  the annual anticipation and tradition of opening day.

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Podcast Ep. 285: 6 Cash Saving Tips for Fly Fishing Trips

Yes. I know it is a long title. But I like the way it sounds.

Today I’m in the midst of planning a fly fishing excursion of my own. So I figured I would share some of the most practical advise I have amassed over the years related to lodging.

If you have the means, it is a wonderful experience to stay at a full-service fly fishing resort right on the water. But there are plenty of reasons, economics included, why that might not be an option for everyone.

This episode contains 6 quick things to think about that might save you some serious money when it comes to staying somewhere for fishing.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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Earth Day Books from My Other Library

I don’t celebrate Earth Day. But I think about the environment quite a bit. And I do so from within a worldview that forces me to reckon with nature, my place in it, and the entire trajectory of the created order.

If you have been around Casting Across for any length of time, you are probably aware that I am a pastor. These days, it is necessary to qualify that statement with the follow up that I am a pastor who believes in the Bible. Funny days, these.

Similarly, if you’ve been reading or listening to Casting Across you undoubtedly know that I hold books in high regard. Fly fishing books are one of the pillars of my angling appreciation. But for every one fishing volume I own, I probably have another dozen books touching on some various aspect of theology.

So today, “in honor of Earth Day” (albeit a few days late), I’m sharing some books on nature from my other library. There isn’t anything here about casting, fly selection, or where to catch the biggest trout in the lower 48. But the concepts and questions books like these will encourage you to think through address the very ground beneath your wading boots.

Are you a Christian who wants to pursue a more theologically rigorous conception of the world around you? Are you a skeptic who has only heard the stale, one-note church choir sing about using it up because the end is near? Here are four books worth reading that present a Biblical worldview of the creation:

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Catching Virtually Inaccessible Fish

Fishing new water is always exciting. Particularly when there is  a high degree of certainty  that there will be plenty of trout, exploration is enjoyable. A recent  morning on a new stretch of river was filled with probing undercut banks and drifts through deep runs. Slow and deliberate observation was the ticket to identifying spots and staying inconspicuous. Upon turning a bank in the creek, I saw a hole that obviously held a fish.

The only problem was that it was virtually inaccessible. Virtually, not completely. But it was going to be a challenge. There were two large logs forming an “x” across the creek. Debris had piled up at the center axis, which also happened to be right over the deep, dark hole on the same bank as me. That was my target.

I’ve caught plenty of trout out of virtually inaccessible spots. Each time it requires some significant planning, positioning, and, ultimately, being the beneficiary of circumstance. I’ve also botched plenty of legitimate chances at good fish holding in complex situations. Bad casts, bad drifts, bad back casts, bad rod positioning, bad footing, and bad approaches have led to plenty of spooked and lost fish. Some trout aren’t going to be caught. Others can be, but it takes a little bit of work.

Here are four things to think about when it comes to spots that force truly challenging presentations:

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Podcast Ep. 284: Urban Fly Fishing 101

Trout don’t live in ugly places is a cute little phrase. But it is not true.

I have caught trout in some ug-ly places. Busted concrete abutments, shopping carts, and the growl of engine braking are not what you think when you daydream of fly fishing. But out of necessity or adventure, this alternative ambiance certainly is an option.

Today I give an ever-so surface level primer of how to figure out where and how to fish in town, city, or subdivision. You might have to dodge an angry person or some garbage, but you might also have an unforgettable angling excursion.

Listen to the episode below, or on your favorite podcast app.

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TroutRoutes & onX: Charting Fishing Success

TroutRoutes is unequivocally the best digital app for fly fishers. And no: it is nothing like social media. No one knows where you’re fishing, what you’re catching, or what you’re doing. Given the majority of the angling apps out there, that needs to be said. It could be argued that alone makes it  worth having on your device.

But there is, of course, so much more. And now that onX has acquired TroutRoutes? You can be sure that more is going to get even better.

If you hunt, or are simply aware of the vast outdoor industry outside of fly fishing, you are undoubtedly familiar with onX. The platform is the digital authority for knowing access and distances in the field. It is also a superb mapping tool regardless of how far from civilization you find yourself. Launching soon, onX fish  promises to provide the same benefits to anglers who find themselves motoring across massive lakes or walking around their local pond. With their absolute wealth of data resources for trout rivers throughout the country, TroutRoutes will serve as a powerful third facet of the onX family.

Check out the press release, and more of my experience with TroutRoutes, below:

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