From Atlantic City to Maine, the striper bite is on fire right now. Fly fishing the surf, tidal flats, and the occasional up-river run of schoolies is a longtime summer tradition here on the East Coast, and veterans of this…
Author: Vince Battista
Late Summer Tactics for Smallmouth Bass
Vince BattistaNew England native and PhD student at the University of Michigan. I throw heavy streamers on sinking tips. Quality over quantity, any day of the week.
Swingin’ for Schoolies
I’m a firm believer that catching a native fish on a swung streamer is one of the most satisfying feelings in our sport. For most Americans, Skamania steel and sea-run trout are too far of a drive and thus not…
Is it Spring Yet? Early-Season Necessities for Cold-Water Angling.
Even though it’s a balmy 12 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s almost spring and the sun is just rising above the pine trees in Northern Michigan. One of your buddies, the owner of the cabin in which you’ve stayed, silences the dinosaur-like furnace and shovels down a…
Tying for Stripers (a.k.a., “All About the Bass, No Treble-Hook”)
With winter comes the cold. And with the cold comes beer, as well as the time to crank out three-dozen saltwater flies for the start of the striper run (T-Minus 100-something days!). Many an angler (specifically, those who self-style as…
Dirty Water, Part 1
In full disclosure, I am not Ted Leeson. I have never caught a Coho salmon, and I’m a self-taught fly-fisherman. Without Pete Kutzer’s YouTube videos, I doubt I ever would’ve gotten into the sport. None of my closest friends fish, I…
Ballin’ On A Budget (Part 1): Convert a One-Hander into a Switch Rod
What is Skagit casting, why is everyone obsessed with it, and how can I get on the bandwagon at minimal cost? There has been a recent resurgence of interest in the two-handed tactical approach to fly fishing. Why? Because it’s…