Geartalk

Flylab Interview: Kyle Schaefer

The destination fly fishing lodge business is complicated–so many things need to line up to make a location truly viable.

News

Does Fly Fishing Need a Women’s Brand?

Founders trying to build in the fly-fishing space often describe the same problem Cassie Abel identified in bikes: gear designed for men and shrunk down and colored-up.

Profiles

Flip’s Final Gift

As I sit reflecting on the man from “My-am-uh” and the legacy he left, I begin to recall the outpouring of love and sentiment that came in the days after his death.

Meadow section of the Upper Colorado River.

Skills

Allowing For Serendipity

Tunnel vision of the mind. I’ve watched friends succumb to the effects of this phenomena many times. They end up going fishing only under sets of conditions known to be optimal…

Young man riding a mountain bike with a fly rod. He is headed fly fishing.

News

Orvis Built the Church. Duck Camp is Filling the Pews.

Fly fishing isn’t graying out. It’s growing. The question is who’s actually driving that growth, and what that means for the next decade.

Drift boat and truck on a road in Wyoming.

Skills

Decoding The Madison River

It finally dawned on me that the only fish I was catching were those rising quietly. It was the explosion risers I couldn’t touch.

Fly-tying Knowhow: Hackle Grading

Most tyers building a hackle bench do the same thing: buy one cape or saddle in one color, run out of the colors they use most, then go back and buy another cape…

In Praise of 12-inch Trout

Relative pleasure in angling is becoming a function of fish size, where bigger equals better. I’m a little worried by this development.

One of Liz Steketee’s “mixed media” hallucinations, circa 2006. The picture has a drift boat and a man's boots in the water.

The Ethical Minefield of AI-generated Journalism

For a fly-fishing media brand, AI-generated content concerns aren’t just about whether stories are “good,” but whether they’re trustworthy, legal and creatively taboo.