Untangled: Fly Fishing For Everyone | Ventures Fly Co.

THIS is the moment you've been waiting for all year long! Fish are about to start BLOWING UP dry flies, like those flies just asked their sister to the prom!  It's terrestrial season, when bugs like grasshoppers, ants, and cicadas are available to the fish. And if you play your cards right, you have a great chance of catching a HUGE fish on a dry fly.  This week on Untangled, you'll learn all abou...

How do you know what fly to use, and when to use it? Well, a lot of that knowledge comes from time on the water, and it depends on when and where you're fishing, since a lot of insects are only active at certain times of the year. But there is one fly that'll catch fish year-round, from the dead of winter, to the height of summer: the midge!  Midges are one of the main groups of aquatic insects th...

If your favorite river is crowded with a million anglers, or the creek is blown out from runoff, what are you supposed to do? Call it a day, go home, and watch YouTube videos of other people fly fishing? Of course not! Instead, you can head to the nearest lake or pond, and get into tons of fish. Plus, you can do it all with the same rod and reel you use for fishing in rivers.  This week on Untangl...

What do you do when you're out on the water, and you run into a fish you don't want to forget? Whether it's a HUGE trout, or just a giant for that stream, or maybe the prettiest brookie you've ever caught, is there any decent way to get good pictures of it when you're all alone?  This week on Untangled, Spencer walks you through the 4 steps he takes to get great fish pics, so you can keep the memo...

It's the middle of summer, and you've finally finished up enough work or chores that you can run off to the river for a bit, and do some fishing. But when you pull up, you realize you haven't fished since before spring runoff, and your fly boxes are full of tiny little dry flies and nymphs.  That doesn't seem like a problem — but it is! The bugs hatching during summer are different from what was c...

Do you often find yourself stuck deciding between throwing dry flies, or tossing nymphs? Well, you don't have to be! The dry-dropper rig lets you fish BOTH at once, allowing you to cover two parts of the water column in a single cast.  A dry-dropper is one of the most effective ways to catch trout and bass in rivers and lakes, and it's what most of us here at Team VFC use, too. This week on Untang...

How often do you walk by water that you think is too fast to hold fish? Would you be surprised if I told you that the water you THINK isn't all that great, is some of the best water on the entire river?  In this week's episode of Untangled, you'll learn all about how to fish the pockets within that faster water. From identifying pocket water, to understanding why fish hold there, to a few tips for...

What do you do when you run into a fish that just refuses EVERYTHING you throw at it? You get a bunch of good drifts, you assume you're using the right fly, but the fish just ignores your bugs, and acts like you're not even there. What's the next step in a situation like that? Well, this week on Untangled, Spencer Durrant walks you through the steps he uses to troubleshoot those days on the water...

There's no such thing as a "magic fly" that works 100% of the time. BUT - the Adams dry fly might be the closest we'll ever get to that kind of silver bullet.  So, what is it about the Adams that makes this fly so effective? It's been around for over 100 yeaers, and anglers today love it as much as they did back in 1922.  This week on Untangled, you'll learn all about how the Adams was developed,...

There's one bug that fish will eat that completely changes how you approach and fish a river. Stoneflies -- one of the major aquatic insect species alongside caddis, mayflies, and midges -- are an integral part of a fish's diet, but they're hugely important from around June through August.  This week on Untangled, you'll learn everything you need to know about stoneflies: where and when they hatch...

Cutthroat trout are the meanest, nastiest, gnarliest trout that ever roamed planet earth!  Okay, they're not. In fact, they've got a reputation for being  kinda easy  to catch.  But cutthroat are so much more than just eager dry fly eaters. They're one of the West's native trout, they're hugely important to some of the most unique ecosystems on earth, and catching them in the high country is one o...

One of the toughest decisions you've gotta make is what fly to tie on, and sometimes, that task feels IMPOSSIBLE! One of the best ways to feel confident about picking flies is to learn as much as you can about the food that fish eat.  Aquatic insects are a HUGE part of a fish's diet, and caddisflies are a bug that's almost always on the menu. But we don't give caddis the attention they deserve. In...

Pools - the slow, deep sections in a river - always look so inviting! They're so deep and mysterious, they've just GOTTA hold tons of fish, right?  Well, they do - but catching fish from these pools ain't always easy. If you're anything like me, you've probably left pools feeling like you could've done better, even if you put a few in the net.  This week on Untangled, you'll learn how to fish pool...

Do you need to use different tactics, flies, and strategies when you're fishing for stocked trout versus wild ones? We hear a version of that question ALL THE TIME here at VFC, and it makes sense. For a lot of people, the most consistent trout fishing they have easy access to are stocked fish. So, we're taking a deep-dive into the world of stocked and wild fish. We'll look at all the differences b...

Catching fish on a dry fly is like MAGIC -- when it actually happens.  As much fun as dry fly fishing can be, it also presents some unique challenges you have to overcome. You need to find your fly after you cast it, you need to make an accurate cast, and none of that matters if you don't have the right fly in the first place.  This week on Untangled, Spencer Durrant covers ten of the most importa...

Have you ever been casting to a trout that's acting as cantankerous as a toddler who missed his nap? You've tried EVERYTHING, but nothing will get the fish to calm down, eat your fly, and spend a few minutes in your net.  What do you do in that situation? Pack up and go home? Admit defeat - yet again - to an animal with the brain the size of a strawberry?  Well, after this week's episode of Untang...

Brook trout might be the most gorgeous fish on the planet. Sure, they're usually small, and where you find one, you'll often find 300 more -- but they're pretty, and they'll almost always eat a fly.  But did you know brook trout AREN'T actually a trout? And that in some places in the world, they can grow to well over 10 pounds?  This week on Untangled, you'll learn all about brook trout. From thei...

The more you know about aquatic insects, the more fish you'll catch. Aquatic insects are the backbone of a fish's diet, so if you know how their prey acts and behaves, you'll be able to make your fake flies look even more convincing!  Mayflies are one of the most abundant aquatic insects on the planet, and they're a HUGE part of a trout's diet. This week on Untangled, you'll learn all about what m...

Riffles are the buffet line of the river. They're jam-packed with both food AND hungry fish, but a TON of anglers just skip this type of water. They think riffles are too shallow to hold fish. This week on Untangled, Spencer Durrant walks you through everything you need to know about riffles. You'll learn how to identify one, WHY fish and bugs hang out in them so much, and how to present your flie...

Rainbow trout are known for their acrobatics, and for growing so big they look like more like a football than a fish.  You can also catch rainbows in LITERALLY every state in America.  But how often do you treat rainbows as just an afterthought? We're busy chasing browns, or cutthroat, or brookies, but rainbows don't always get the love they should. And that's a shame, since some of the BEST fish...

You want to become a better angler. You'd like to catch more fish, definitely catch  bigger  fish, and feel confident in any river you find yourself fishing. So, what skills should you focus on if you want to make that leap?  Well, as I looked back on my own experiences, I found 7 skills that helped me quit feeling overwhelmed and outgunned.  If you focus on these 7 skills, you'll avoid A LOT of t...

The early-season hatches you find during spring are some of the BIGGEST challenges you'll face in fly fishing.  And after a winter where you've been cooped up and dreaming of fishing, the last thing you want is to get frustrated because these hatches are SO TOUGH to fish.  This spring, you won't be the angler who can't figure out the fish.  This week's episode of Untangled takes a deep dive into 8...

Spring fly fishing is here! But how confident are you that you have the right flies for the job? If you don't have the right flies, you could be missing out on what I think is the BEST fly fishing you'll have all year.  In this episode of Untangled, I'll walk you through the 14 must-have fly patterns I use every spring. You'll learn their names, the sizes and colors I recommend, and the real-life...

Brown trout have a reputation for being the smartest - and PICKIEST - fish in the river. If you've ever had one reject your fly, you know it feels like a personal rejection!  But here's the good news: once you understand brown trout behavior, their favorite foods, and where they live, catching them is MUCH easier! In this episode of Untangled, we'll break down everything you need to know about bro...

Have you ever heard of "trash" or "junk" flies, and wondered what the heck they are? If a fly is considered "trash," should you even be using it? Well, here's the thing: these so-called trash flies FLAT-OUT CATCH FISH!  Seriously, these trash flies are some of the most effective patterns out there! And in this episode of Untangled, Spencer walks you through what trash flies imitation, why they're...