1. Perfect Combo: Bill Miller's Crayfish & Bright Butt Leaders
By: Joel Anderson Cedar waxwings were working diligently over the river tonight, with the object of their attention being caddis flies that were trying desperately to make to the safety of nearby trees after hatching off the water. Because of the golden bird’s incredible aerial prowess, not a single insect ...
by joela on 08/16 08:27AM - Story - 10,208 Hits

2. Making a Statement or Just Rubbing It In?
By: Joel Anderson Like "That Hansel", my home river "is so hot right now." Last weekend it was warming up, two nights ago it's getting hot, and tonight it was on fire. Bugs everywhere, fish everywhere; it simply doesn't get any better. Add to the equation the fact that the ...
by joela on 05/24 08:16AM - Story - 2,940 Hits

3. South Wind
By: Joel Anderson If the title of this little essay has you thinking fondly about some obscure parlor game using tiles with Chinese symbols that your grandmother made you play as a child, you might be on the wrong website. Try http://www.mahjong.com. If you’re a fisherman like me, who couldn’t ...
by joela on 11/03 08:37AM - Story - 2,956 Hits

4. East on Route 202 at 4:00 AM (A Short Story)
By: Joel Anderson Introduction: Every fishing trip is its own short story. Here's a short story I've been working on based on a mid-week trip recently. Warning: Very Long!
by joela on 10/27 04:02PM - Story - 4,122 Hits

5. Coming to a Salmon Lake Near You
By: Joel Anderson Today’s rain has me thinking “lake inlet fishing for landlocked salmon”. I’ve been chasing fall landlocked salmon for thirty years, sometimes successfully, sometimes not so much. Over that time, I have learned a trick or two and, since it’s that time of year again, I thought I ...
by joela on 10/04 04:10PM - Story - 3,263 Hits

6. Small Stream, Big Rewards
By: Joel Anderson You might think that a guy who recently returned from a trip to Montana that featured world class trout fishing on the Big Horn River wouldn’t have much interest in chasing 6-8” mountain brookies. You might think that, but you’d be wrong.
by joela on 08/22 08:38AM - Story - 2,048 Hits

7. The Amazing LaFontaine Emergent Sparkle Pupa
By: Joel Anderson In his otherwise excellent book, “The Fly Tyers Nymph Manual”, published in 1986, Randall Kaufmann’s chapter detailing the fly tying sequences of Gary LaFontaine’s Emergent Sparkle Pupa is a travesty. So poor is Kaufmann’s representation of the pattern, I seriously hope he had an opportunity to apologize ...
by joela on 07/08 03:12PM - Story - 4,984 Hits

8. The Brotherhood of the Traveling Fly Floatant
By: Joel Anderson “Plop!” We’ve all heard that awful sound. It’s the sound that tells us something just fell out of a fly vest pocket carelessly left open. It sounds expensive. You just hope it’s not the new Orvis sunglasses or that 100 meter spool of 6X fluorocarbon expensive. Hopefully ...
by joela on 06/28 08:02AM - Story - 2,310 Hits

9. Home River
By Joel Anderson After a cold and record breaking wet spring, the fishing was just starting to pick up over the past two weeks on my home water. My worst fear was then realized last week when an extended stretch of hot weather warmed the water and, in turn, slowed ...
by joela on 06/15 11:45AM - Story - 2,355 Hits

10. The Soft Hackle Streamer Revisited
By Joel Anderson The late Jack Gartside left a legacy of fly patterns that will serve fly fishermen well until the end of time. While the list contains such great flies as the Sparrow Nymph, Gartside Gurgler, and Gartside Hopper, perhaps the most well-known and innovative of all his creations ...
by joela on 06/02 08:21AM - Story - 5,614 Hits

11. The Season of Reflection
By Joel Anderson Thinking back over my career as a fly fisherman, fly tier, and more recently as bamboo fly rod maker, there have been many individuals who have influenced my progression. Some of these personalities I’ve known only through their writing. Others I have had the extreme pleasure with ...
by joela on 01/05 02:49PM - Story - 4,482 Hits

12. It all starts with a 12 foot culm of bamboo
Joel Anderson Hi All Here is a copy of a series of posts my good friend and fisherman Joel Anderson did on the Fly Fishing in Maine web site showing how to make a Bamboo Fly Rod. He is a very good writter and he does make very fine Bamboo ...
by joela on 10/05 01:00PM - Story - 17,876 Hits

13. Confession of a Fish Slut
By Joel Anderson A comment I made in a recent post got me doing a little self-analysis. The following text is the results of those musings.
by joela on 09/11 03:02PM - Story - 2,836 Hits

14. Angling Towards a Fly Fishing Retirement
By Joel Anderson I reread an article today that has me thinking just maybe I'm doing a few things right now to be where I want to be when I retire in 12 years. The article was all about how to prepare yourself so when your week becomes six Saturdays, ...
by joela on 07/21 02:49PM - Story - 3,814 Hits

15. The Future of Maine Fly Fishing
By Joel Anderson With all three sections of my latest cane rod prepared for glue-up, I decided to put that process on hold and head down to the local river to fish the last couple of hours of daylight. Sometimes I get so involved in rod building, I forget that ...
by joela on 05/06 03:51PM - Story - 1,632 Hits

16. It all starts with a 12 foot culm of bamboo (Continued)
This is the continuation of the " It all starts with a 12 foot culm of bamboo " by Joel Anderson.
by joela on 01/24 02:46PM - Story - 11,447 Hits

17. Ah, the ol' hand twist retrieve trick!
By Joel Anderson As I mentioned in a previous post, one of my favorite aspects of fly fishing is discovering a new fish catching trick to add to my bag. In some cases, this may equate to rediscovering an old technique that I haven't used in awhile.
by joela on 01/06 12:54PM - Story - 4,760 Hits

18. A Good Plan Gone Bad
By Joel Anderson Did you ever have what seemed like a good fishing plan go severely wrong? It happened to me late last spring. It all started with a bright idea to leave early from work one Friday and drive 2.5 hours to my favorite river. "I still be there ...
by joela on 01/03 12:28PM - Story - 1,634 Hits

19. Open your eyes and expand your horizons
By Joel Anderson Twenty five years ago, when I first started fly fishing, dead drift nymph fishing was considered a black art practiced by only a few of us among the enlightened. A good nymph fisherman in those days could literally clean out a stream if he was so inclined.
by joela on 01/02 08:39AM - Story - 1,686 Hits

20. From the Mouths of the Uninitiated
By Joel Anderson Ninety degrees, humid, bright sun, and a need to cast a fly. Where to go? Water is running too high in the Big Andro to wade for smallmouth. Besides, what you really want to do is cast dries on light bamboo rods for small stream trout. The ...
by joela on 01/01 07:53AM - Story - 2,336 Hits