Rivers - Due West Anglers

fly fishing for picky trout, how to catch finicky trout, targeting stubborn trout, grad school of fly fishing

Crash Course in Picky Trout Behavior: How Trout Learn and Decide What to Eat

Fly Fishing graduate school: Understanding a picky trout can be the difference-maker when trying to present flies to these stubborn fish.

Landing a trout from a tailwater, South Platte River using indicators, airlock, thingamabobber, oros, strike indicator

indicator nymphing

More Indicator Secrets: Perfecting Your Nymphing

Have you ever felt like your indicator rig was moving too fast? As if sliding over the water's surface and preventing your flies from presenting deeper?

how does trout memory work? they remember flies after large hatches like the salmonfly hatch

pattern hangover

Fish Memory and Pattern Hangover: How Trout Remember What They Eat

You missed the big hatch, but if you know a little about how trout brains work you might know that you're window of opportunity hasn't fully closed yet...

salmonflies

Improving the Salmonfly Dry Fly

We walk through tying a modified 64 Impala fly pattern and clarify how to customize this recipe to match the hatch beyond the original

Cutthroat trout from Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Platte River, does fly fishing impact trout behavior?

from the road

Story From the Road: Third Time Makes the Pattern?

Usually great stories start with full cars, open roads, and rigged rods, but this one starts different. This one starts with an internet troll.

Fly fishing the Uncompahgre River, Colorado

private waters

Let's Talk about Private Waters: Access, Pressure, and Angler Experience

The comparison of fishing pressured public waters to private regulated-access waters is enlightening for anyone interested in fish behavior.

Eleven Mile Canyon stretch of the South Platte, Colorado, how do trout respond to fishing pressure?

Members only

fish behavior

The Science of Rest: How Trout Recover from Angling Pressure

Do fish remember being caught? And how long would it take to reset the timid behavior of previously hooked fish throughout an entire fishery?

Wading and fly fishing the Gunnison River, Colorado, tactics for fly fishing rivers with low trout density

Members only

behavior Featured

Tips for Streams with Low Fish Density

Lets take a look at how we approach rivers based on fish density and discuss what fishing rivers with fewer fish per mile have to offer

that compass is pointing the wrong direction...

exploring

Frontiers in Angling: Exploring Liminal Fisheries as Modern Fly Fishing

Let's take a look at those new fisheries, and how anglers can uncover new and unexplored frontiers in angling

sculpzilla fly pattern, fly fishing Montana, streamer fishing

Members only

sculpin Featured

Phantom Sculpins of the South Platte: Trout Don't Care What Your Fly Mimics

Why would a trout eat a sculpin fly in a river without sculpin?

Miracle Mile Fly Fishing, double tailwater, tailwater fly fishing, Dream Stream, Land of the Giants, Montana

tailwaters Featured

The Double Tailwater Phenomenon: How Reservoirs Produce Epic Trout

"Tailwater" is almost a mythical word in Western fly fishing. What about double tailwaters?

Members only

conservation Featured

The Warmwater-Coldwater Connection: Why Warm Habitats Matter for Trout

Let's take a look at the surprising way that warmwater can support coldwater fisheries

safety

The Three Unforgivable Sins of Safe Wading

Stay safe when wading by avoiding these unforgivable sins.

Members only

conservation concept

Conservation Concept: Artificial Boundaries and Their Impact on Rivers

Borders are everywhere. Not only natural but also artificial borders. The two don't always play nice...

winter fly fishing the Arkansas River Tailwater in Pueblo, Colorado

secret season

Winter Fly Fishing: How to Protect Your Tippet

Protect that tippet at all costs

A beautiful Colorado River strain cutthroat, Pearl Lake, Colorado

Paid-members only

cutthroat history Featured

The Story of the Cutthroat Trout Subspecies: Origins and Evolution

This is the story of how Cutthroat trout spread across western North America and transformed into their distinct variations

Winter fly fishing the Pueblo Tailwater, Colorado

Members only

secret season Featured

Winter Nymphing: The Dropshot Rig

Fly fishing for winter trout is all about low and slow. Implement the dropshot rig to nymph more effectively with midges and bwos during the secret season. These tactics work great whether euro-nymphing or indicator nymphing.

catch and release rainbow trout fly fishing

technical trout

Catch More Trout: Tips, Tricks, and Tactics for Every Angler

Fly fishing: Let's discuss everything from approaching the water, to rigging, flies, and dealing with picky trout.

Fly fishing Redband Trout from River X, Oregon

steelhead

The Weird Biology of Half-Pounder Steelhead: Rare Rainbow Trout Variant

Fly fishing: Let's take a look at the weird biology of half-pounder Steelhead

terrestrials

Silver Linings Fly Box: Grasshoppers and Drought

Fly fishing: There is one interesting byproduct of the drought that could serve to favor trout anglers when fishing hoppers

climate change

Western Trout Rivers: An Angler's Prospectus

Fly fishing: Out west, with years of lingering drought, and now reports of declining trout populations in the holy-waters of Montana...

Rivers

At The Crack of Noon

The early bird gets the worm right? Consider this a night-owls manifesto

behavior

Sibling Rivalry: How Brown and Rainbow Trout Behave When Sharing a Stream

Rainbow Trout vs Brown Trout , the Ultimate Battle

fly tying

Weird Flies That Work: The Super-X Streamer

Fly tying: Developed for the South Fork of the Snake River below Palisades Reservoir in Southeastern Idaho, the Super-X kind of has a cult following

nymphing the South Platte at Deckers, Colorado

fly rod

Rethinking the 9' 5wt Fly Rod: Why Longer Fly Rods Are Gaining Ground

Are longer rods going to replace the 9ft 5wt?