The Fly Culture Podcast

Send us Fan Mail I'm joined by Richard Tong to talk about his approach to targeting large trout on dry flies. The conversation turns out to be more than this as we look at his fly fishing career, talk tackle and the mental approach to making a cast to a fish. We also talk about the loss of a fish and fishing in New Zealand too. I describe Richard as a thinking angler in the introduction and y...

Send us Fan Mail It was great as always to be back in the mountains fishing pocket water with dry flies for fast, rising fish. Before the trip I'd experienced a blip in my relationship with fishing and wanted to see if I could fully reconnect with it. As ever, the fishing lived up to expectations but it was so much more than that.  I speak with the guides and some of the guests about their fi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode I talk with Dave Wiltshire who is a well known fly tyer and angler who has written numerous articles for Fly Fishing and Tying magazine. We cover a vast range of topics looking at how fishing fits into his life and how he has changed how he approaches fly tying. We deep dive into what fishing means to him and uncover some interesting ideas on the subject. For both...

Send us Fan Mail I caught up with Howard Thresher at the tackle shop he runs in Crediton, Devon. I've known him quite a few years now and I really wanted listeners to hear the story of a river that was completely fished out until he was lucky enough to buy the fishing rights and nurse it back to health. It now holds some pretty special fish. We also get an intimate insight into how he runs a...

Send us Fan Mail I catch up with Dom Garnett to talk about coarse fish on the fly. Our conversation ended being a whole lot more as we ended up covering some interesting ground. Dom is open, honest and isn't afraid to share how he feels about fly fishing, how it is seen and what could be done to more attract more people into it. One not to miss!

Send us Fan Mail I got talking with Damian at a recent Fly Culture event. His story is a really interesting one that saw him leave the streams of the Peak District when work took him to Bozeman Montana. We discuss how he coped with the challenge of moving to a new country, settling in and of course the fishing that he discovered while there. An engineer by trade we look at the net he has developed...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the podcast, I talk with Paul Cañada, a writer and journalist who is passionate about fly fishing.  We discuss Paul's experience fishing in Gunnison, Colorado, and his favourite streams in the area.  Paul shares his preference for dry fly fishing and his love for brown trout. He also talks about his fishing style, including his preference for solitude and h...

Send us Fan Mail This is an interesting interview. Paul came into fly fishing via carp, pike and then bass with conventional tackle rather than usual route and headed straight to the coast with a fly rod and discuss whether lure anglers may be the way to get more people to try a fly rod. We also talk about his first fly rod purchase after being sold a 12wt rod and 5wt line! Paul spends his time fi...

Send us Fan Mail I'm sure you'd do the same when you get the chance to fish for 2 days on a remote salmon river. I made the long journey from the bottom of the country to the top with my flies packed and fingers crossed. The podcast, recorded on the river, with no retakes on edits is as exactly as it happens and turns out to be about more than just fishing.  Speaking with my friends Lana...

Send us Fan Mail I catch up with my friend Paul Procter to talk about the frustrating season we've experienced so far. We look at a wide range of subjects that cover fishing, his guiding, fly tying, how quickly the fishing seasons now pass and how to make sure we're fit and agile along with us both having partners who fish. Although Paul has been a guest on the podcast before the convers...

Send us Fan Mail I first met Lee some 20 years ago and over that time I have seen his drive, expertise and determination applied to many aspects of fly fishing.    We look at what goes into casting events, what is needed to compete at the highest levels and how it feels to take part.    He tells us about chasing sea trout in salt water in the UK, what he has learnt from decades of mullet fishing a...

Send us Fan Mail It is early April and I am on the Derbyshire Wye with riverkeeper of the Peacock Fishing Club,  Jan Hobot. I learn about the ethos of the club and his minimal rules approach to running it along with the history of the river and it being the only place in the UK with a self-sustaining population of wild rainbow trout. We make some casts, talk and have a great day on the water. I ha...

Send us Fan Mail This episode is recorded in front of a live audience at Mallon and Green in Bakewell. I speak with some fishing experts who share some great advice and information as well as looking at the state of fly fishing. We had beer and pizza, shared fishing stories and talked about flies before starting the podcast that had no script or re-takes and as ever, the conversation just took the...

Send us Fan Mail I'm pleased to welcome Hans van Klinken to the podcast. I am sure many of you have used the flies he has developed and I get a look inside the process of how they were developed and how he has used them. The Klinkhammer Special is now 40 years old and the release of his book - The Klink coincides with this anniversary and I learn about the work that went into it. This episode...

Send us Fan Mail David Pilkington first stepped through the doors of the Arundell Hotel in 1968 to help out on a fishing day and has been there ever since. I learn about what took him there, what he has seen and the changes he has witnessed both on the river and in fly fishing. As we sit and talk in the new tackle shop I discover why the local streams mean so much to him and why he has never felt...

Send us Fan Mail I catch up with Chris Aldred to talk about how he started fly fishing, became an instructor and what he has learned along the way. He has multiple casting qualifications and we discuss casting tips and the learning process of casting along with what has changed since he qualified as an instructor. We look at how more people could be brought into fishing and if fly fishing is growi...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode of the podcast I talk with Damon Valentine about how his life has changed since he was last a guest. There is a lot to catch up on and we look at how fly fishing is looks and feels right now, his love of sea trout and how he shifted jobs to move full time into film making. He has also produced a wonderful film called Hooked On Hope about James Gilbraith and his pas...

Send us Fan Mail In this episode, I'm joined by Dr. Paul Gaskell to discuss early season on the river and talk about the relationship between creativity and science, the writing process, and the importance of environmental awareness and responsibility. We also discuss the role of collaboration and advocacy in improving water quality.  We then delve into the approach to early season river fish...

Send us Fan Mail We ran a fly fishing film competition last year and I got the chance to speak with the winner, Owen Bruce. The conversation turned out to be a whole lot more than films as we discuss the importance of small still waters, wild fish and fly fishing culture. I learn about what went into making 'The Craft' and how Owen feels about fly fishing.. If you haven't seen our w...

Send us Fan Mail There was a time, not so long ago, when the internet was new. Many of us were figuring out how to use it.  Some of us wrote blogs while some took the concept and developed it further to build an online presence that shared information and ideas for anglers to learn from. Over the last 30 years Martin Joergensen has built a formidable reputation as the driving force behind Global F...

Send us Fan Mail I have believed for some time now, that we're evolving as fly anglers. The warm, dry summers have meant we are looking to catch other species from rivers, canals, lakes or the sea. I am keen to hear from people who are looking at fly fishing from a different angle and was pleased when Elijah Wait agreed to be a guest on the podcast. Despite trout being his first love, Elijah...

Send us Fan Mail I got talking with Elias after he messaged me saying that he'd enjoyed listening to the podcast while shovelling snow at his home in Lapland some 200km north of the Arctic Circle. I invited him along to learn about the fishing in the area and what it means to him. I discovered someone who cares passionately about their waterways, some clean enough to drink from, and the huge...

Send us Fan Mail This is a special episode of the podcast that is recorded in front of a live audience at Orvis, Stockbridge. We have Brett O'Connor talking casting tips, Paul Jennings tells us about mullet and Peter Hayes gives a detailed talk on the work he and Don Stazicker have done on the behaviour of trout and the flies we should consider using on the river. This was recorded with no re...

Send us Fan Mail Join me as I walk the water of the Upper Teign Fishing Association in Devon with committee members Stuart Medford and Harry Chance. I learn about what the river means to them, how they fish it, the importance of terrestrial flies on this water and the history of the club. We discuss the issues many fishing clubs have right now and how they are trying to maintain memberships. I was...

Send us Fan Mail It is great to have Colin Macleod back on the podcast and cover a lot of ground with him. We talk about trying to keep fly boxes tidy, the culture of fishing shops, not worrying about not knowing the answer, the pressures of social media and plenty more. His life has taken a new direction as he is now looking after Nam Fishing Products in the UK and he tells us about their ethos,...