The Tip Library Is Live: 364 Fly Fishing Tips From Our Podcast Guests, and How to Use It
The Fly Fishing Insider Podcast Tip Library is live: 364 fly fishing tips from 225 episodes, each credited to the guest who gave it and sorted by region, species, water type and topic. Open Tips Library in the main menu, pick the door that matches your next trip, and read each tip's why and how.
If you've listened to the show for a while, you know how every episode ends. Right before I say goodbye, I ask the guest for one tip. Not a pitch, not a plug, just one thing a listener can take to the water. It's my favorite minute of every recording, because that's when a tarpon guide, a Yellowstone backcountry guide or a musky junkie stops being polite for the microphone and tells you what they actually believe.
The problem was that those tips were buried. Five years of episodes, and unless you remembered which one had the black leech advice, it was gone. So we went back through the transcripts, pulled every closing tip, checked who said it, and built a home for all of them. That home is open now.
What's inside the Fly Fishing Insider Podcast Tip Library?
The Tip Library is 21 articles: one hub page plus 20 deep-dive pages, each built from the same set of guest tips and cut a different way.
292 of those tips carry a guest name we verified against my own show notes. Where I couldn't confirm a spelling, the tip is credited by role instead, like "a Kenai River guide." I'd rather be honest than guess wrong on someone's name.
How do you use the Tip Library?
It takes about a minute to find a tip that fits the water you're about to fish. Here's the fastest way through it:
- Open it from the menu. Click Tips Library in the main menu, or go straight to the Tip Library hub.
- Pick a door. The hub splits everything four ways: by region, species, water type and topic. Headed somewhere? Start with region. Chasing a fish? Start with species.
- Read the card. Every tip shows the guest's own words, who they are, and the episode it came from. Under that, "Why it matters" explains the problem it solves and "How to do it" gives you the steps.
- Hear it for yourself. Click the episode name on any card and you'll land on that episode's page in our podcast archive, where you can listen to the whole conversation.
- Stack two doors for a trip. Planning a Florida flats trip? Read the Southeast and Gulf Coast page, then the bonefish, tarpon and permit page. Two reads and you've got most of what our guests would tell you on the boat.
Which tips should you try first?
Here are four from the library that I keep coming back to. Each one is a sample of what you'll find on every card.
Redfish · Presentation
Land the fly on the fish's outside eye
— Lucas Largel, Florida redfish flats guide · East to West Coast Fly Fishing for Redfish in Florida, S6E230
You want your fly to land on the fish's outside eye — the eye not facing your skiff — and lead him rather than throw it two feet in front of his face. Then match his energy.
Most blown redfish shots aren't about the fly pattern. Put the fly ahead of the fish on the side facing away from the boat, then match the retrieve to its mood: fast for a fish crashing bait, slow for a cautious one. More in the reading water and presentation tips.
Trout · Dry Fly
Fish one dry fly, not two, on technical water
— Alice Owsley, Yellowstone-area fly fishing and backcountry guide · Guided EP #2 Alice Owsley
One well-presented single dry fly will out-fish two poorly presented flies dragging through those currents.
On water full of little seams, two dries sit in two different current speeds, and one of them is going to drag. Tie on a single fly like a Parachute Adams and put all your effort into one clean drift. Alice also carries permanent markers to recolor a fly's body or post on the spot. More in the trout tips.
Trophy Trout · Streamers
Go dark on overcast, off-color days
— Simeon Myers, streamer angler on Pennsylvania limestone streams · Trophy Trout Hunting - What Big Rapalas Tell You About Big Streamers, S3E148
I target inclement weather. When the water gets really off-color I'm using black almost exclusively because it shows up.
Big trout are more willing to chase a big meal on the stormy, stained-water days most anglers skip. Watch the forecast, go on the ugly days, and tie on something black with a big silhouette, like a black Mini Sex Dungeon. More in the nymphing and streamer tips.
Alaska · Fly Selection
Carry a black leech as your go-anywhere fly
— Kyle Shea, Alaska fishing lodge marketing director and former guide · GDF 09: Kyle Shea PT 2
A black leech is something you could fish anywhere in the world for anything, and if I had to bet on catching a fish today that would be my go-to.
Alaska trout change what they eat as the salmon run moves through, which keeps anglers guessing. A black cone head leech is the fly that works through all of it, and for trout almost anywhere else too. More in the Alaska and Pacific Northwest tips.
Where should you start in the Tip Library?
Pick the door that matches what you're doing next. Every link below is a full page of guest tips.
By region
By water type
A huge thank you to every guest who handed over their best advice at the end of a long conversation. This library is theirs as much as ours. Pick one tip, take it to the water this week, and let me know how it goes on Instagram at @flyfishinginsiderpodcast. Here's to catching any fish, any time, and anywhere.
Tight lines, everyone!
Find your next tip
364 guest tips, sorted by region, species, water and topic.
Open the Tip Library Browse the Episodes
