Kubie Brown

When it comes to fishing terrestrials, grasshoppers are the most popular kids in school. Anglers wait for months for these big bugs to appear and then fish hoppers with complete confidence throughout the entire summer. But if grasshopper patterns are the only terrestrials you’re fishing, you’re missing out on a lot of action. Both ants and beetles are...

Everyone likes to catch big trout. Whether you’re talking about a chunky, 10-inch brookie out of a tiny creek or a massive, 30-inch brown from a wide river, hooking and landing a trophy trout is the stuff that fly-fishing dreams are made of. Every time we grab our gear and head down to the water, we wonder if perhaps today is the day that we run into a...

A knife is an essential tool for the outdoors. Whether you’re a fly angler, a hunter, or even an avid hiker, carrying a knife with you in the woods or on the water gives you a leg up for almost every task. You can use a knife for simple things like cutting fishing lines and sharpening sticks, or for more complicated jobs like butchering game and as a tool...

The first time I experienced an eastern green drake hatch it was just getting dark, and I had no idea what was going on. My brother and I had spent a long day floating a river in northern New York, and we hadn’t seen a whole lot of action. We were just about to reach the takeout, when I heard a loud splash. “What the hell was that?” I looked toward...

One of the most crucial skills in fly fishing is the ability to achieve a drag-free drift—especially at a distance. Whether you’ve got a rising trout in front of you or a juicy-looking lie to run your nymphs through, your first drift is always your best shot, and you want it to look as natural as possible. You can try to get as close to the fish or the...

There’s nothing worse than grabbing your fly rod and heading to the river only to see that it’s blown out. All your hopes and plans for the day are seemingly swept away by the dark and muddy water raging and churning its way along the banks. It’s an all too common occurrence this time of year, when snowmelt and spring rains have flooded your favorite...

For many fly fishers, bonefish are an addiction. Whether it’s your first time or your fiftieth, every time you see bonefish tails fluttering tantalizingly above the water or a school of gray shadows gliding across shallow sand, it triggers something deep in the recesses of your mind. It’s a fishy itch that just needs to be scratched. Yet, actually...

One of the things that has always troubled me about fly reels is a lack of versatility. It just seems that you need a different reel for every type of water and every species you’re fishing for. Even when you have multiple spools rigged with different lines, using the same reel to go from trout fishing, to bass fishing, to saltwater, to Spey casting is...

When you think about swinging flies for steelhead, you might imagine standing in icy cold rivers with long, smooth-flowing runs, casting gaudy flies on heavy sink-tips and swinging them through deep troughs and holes, waiting and hoping for a tug. This methodical and disciplined style of steelheading is the epitome of the sport. But if you’re swinging...

Spring is a time of change: The snow has begun to melt, flowers are starting to bloom, and everything from the trees, to the animals, to the very air itself seems touched with a gossamer of anticipation. For fly fishers, spring is the time to put away all our winter nymphing gear and start searching the surface of the water for the first ripples of feeding...