Author Archives: mkflyfishing

The last few days have been a wonderful, unexpected pause from the normal heat and humidity of our typical Ozark summer. Conditions are bound to get back closer to normal, but we’ve enjoyed some remarkably pleasant and productive days this past week and the forecast continues to look tolerable. We’re also well above normal forContinue reading “A Cool and Wet Break”

For much of their life, trout feed mostly on insects. Identifying what insect they prefer at any given time, and presenting a similar artificial, is one of the most satisfying challenges we enjoy in fly fishing. The challenge can, at times, be a bit daunting. For instance, if we just consider beetles, there are 300,000Continue reading “A Wealth of…Beetles!”

Depending on where you live, you may have witnessed remarkable numbers of periodical cicadas this spring and hopefully, enjoyed some exciting fishing as a result. There certainly are alot of cicada-fattened fish in our area and despite the dwindling population of real cicadas, the fish are still on the lookout. I expect them to stayContinue reading “It’s Not Over”

I suppose the answer depends on your location. Certainly, in many countries you are going to hear the latter pronunciation. I’ve had the great good fortune to fish many “cicahda” emergences in New Zealand and I can report that big trout love them just as much there as they do in the Ozarks. If there’sContinue reading ““Cicayda” or “Cicahda” ???”

if you’ve been reading my posts for a while, you may remember one from a year ago entitled, “Cicada Stragglers.” In it, I recounted the success we were having with big cicada dry flies, and the fish we saw eating the few periodical cicadas that got their calendar a year off. Well, it’s stragglers noContinue reading “The Main Event”

Missouri’s Ozark rivers offer some of the best fly fishing around and are the focus of my guiding. But when overnight rains bring an excess of water for good fishing, it’s time for an alternative venue. Fortunately, we don’t have to look far to find a wealth of ponds and small lakes where hard fightingContinue reading “A Good Backup Plan”

One of the best things about being a fly fishing guide is creating opportunities for people to share quality time with people they love. Husbands and wives, parents and children, old friends and siblings getting together to reconnect. I hear alot of stories, share laughter and see people making time for the important people inContinue reading “Sharing Time”

After too many months of dry weather and steadily dropping water levels, we’ve finally gotten the spring moisture we need. Of course it always arrives in big storms and high water when everyone wants to go fishing, but now is a time for patience and appreciation. Our reward will be a long summer of goodContinue reading “Spring Revival”

When spring presents a long string of good weather days and good flow levels in our rivers, the options of where to go and what to pursue are numerous. On such a recent day we took the opportunity to explore some overlooked water. It was an adventure that required a chainsaw to clear the riverContinue reading “So Many Options”

Sometimes you just can’t wait to go fishing, even if the river level, personal schedule or weather forecast are less than ideal. But you overlook all those things and go anyway. Spring is full of days that tend to crowd out your fishing time and it’s easy to miss out on some of the bestContinue reading “Can’t Wait”