Beginner’s Guide to Fly Fishing Lakes for Trout The why, where, when, what, and how of fly fishing in lakes for trout. At the onset of the first warm days of spring comes snowmelt in Colorado. Snowmelt means cold and dirty rivers and creeks, and dirty rivers result in the inevitable fly shop question we…
When most people think of fly fishing in the winter, their minds wander south to warmer climes and flats fishing. Destinations like the Yucatan, Belize, and Christmas Island are all great places to slip off to for a while during the cold winter months, but traveling to the tropics is not the only option to…
Winter is here in southwest Colorado. We are lucky to have year round fishing in our corner of the state, but not everyone is cut out for throwing tiny nymphs in frigid temperatures. For those of us that seek warmer climes in the winter, we refer to this time of year as saltwater season. If…
DISCLAIMER: In Fall, brown and brook trout spawn. While not illegal in most of the country, it is highly unethical to fish to spawning trout. Please know how to identify spawning beds, known as redds, and do not fish to trout that are spawning. You wouldn’t want someone to stick a hook in your face…
If there is one thing I’m sure most fly fishers have noticed during the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s that a lot of our favorite fishing waters have been more crowded than in years past. With more people opting to travel domestically than internationally, coupled with more and more people spending time outdoors to stay socially distanced,…
These are not easy times, and everyone is feeling the cabin fever and squeeze of businesses closing their doors, social distancing, quarantines, shelter in place, and everything else that goes along with the state of Spring 2020. It’s hard, but it has been beautiful too! We have seen people reconnect with their dearest loved ones,…
After you have chosen your rod, the next step in building a setup is choosing a fly reel. Again, we have to ask ourselves a few questions. The first is “what rod weight do I have?” as you will then need a reel that is numbered for the correct reel-to-rod pairing. So if I have…
Perhaps winter has you thinking of spring temps and bug hatches. Perhaps you decided that “this is the year” and 2020 is going to be the one you dedicate to learning how to fly fish. Or perhaps, you have been thinking of upgrading your setup. No matter what your reason or needs, we wanted to…
From time to time, we like to drop some tips on Instagram, but we decided to formalize it! We are calling this series “Your Daily Tip” where a few times a week, we will hit you with a little fly fishing knowledge… There are a world of things that go into preparing for a saltwater…
From time to time, we like to drop some tips on Instagram, but we decided to formalize it! We are calling this series “Your Daily Tip” where a few times a week, we will hit you with a little fly fishing knowledge. Right now, we are working through “Fall Hints For The Animas” where we…
We originally wrote Top 10 Flies for Southwest Colorado for another website way back in 2014! That post has since been taken down, so we figured why not get it back up on our site. We have updated the information a little bit, but these flies still remain the bread and butter of our spring…
The Backcountry Beetle, designed and tied by Matt Bennett, is a simple but very effective foam beetle. We really like fishing this fly throughout the summer into fall, and trout seem to love it in the high country and on our local Dolores River. The Backcountry Beetle is a quick and durable tie that is…
The Animas River in Durango is not an easy river to figure out, even for veteran fly anglers. Duranglers Guide Mike Sulkosky did a presentation for us during our annual Fly Fishing Festival on April 7th, 2018 on how to crack the code and divulged a few secrets to fly fishing the Animas River. From…
Early Summer Fly Fishing Clinics and Demos Join us for our early summer clinics and demos and get your learn on through the season of runoff! We have a few clinics coming up that you won’t want to miss! Every other Wednesday evening for the next month, make sure you mark your calendars. Each event…
Euro Nymphing Techniques When it comes to Euro Nymphing Techniques, you could say that Josh Graffam is a bit of an expert. Euro, short for “European”, is an umbrella term that covers a wide variety of nymphing techniques that have been developed by competitive European anglers used to catch trout. In the simplest of terms,…
Duranglers 2018 Fly Fishing Festival Schedule It’s that time of year! Spring is almost upon us and now is the time to start thinking about our upcoming Duranglers Fly Fishing Festival. Don’t miss it folks, it sure to be a great time! DURANGLERS FLY FISHING FESTIVAL – April 6 & April 7, 2018 THE 2018…
Holiday Gift Ideas for People You Like and Don’t Hate Holiday shopping, fun fun fun! We all know how that goes…it doesn’t sometimes. In this day in age, the default go-to is a gift card: “Buy yourself something with my money because I don’t actually know you well enough to pick it out myself!” It’s…
River Trash: Big Problems, Small Solutions Don’t be trash, pick it up instead! The growing issue of trash in and around our waterways was brought to my attention in force a few weeks back while I was fishing with a buddy in the Kremmling area. We locked down a beautiful run, and began the conquest…
How to Fish a Streamer From a Boat Our friends and partners, Simon Gawesworth with Rio Products, have been killing it lately with helpful and informative videos. If you are planning a float trip with us this Spring on the Animas or Rio Grande, then this is one you will want to check out! It is…
The Other Obsession Fly fishing is an obsession itself, but with it comes another obsession that is just as contagious. By Maxwell Westheimer Before getting involved in the fly fishing industry through Duranglers in the Summer of 2016, I was under the impression that fly tying was difficult and time-consuming. I figured I could get…
Fly Tying: 3 Extremely Simple Caddis Patterns The old fly tying adage is always: “I got into fly tying to save money…but that didn’t happen”. It’s understandable, there is so much cool stuff out there and new flies to tie, it’s hard to save money. We really get it. We work at a fly shop…
Fly Casting Double Haul – A How-to Video Do you have a saltwater trip planned for the winter and are concerned about busting out the big stick? Are you thinking of getting into the realm of fly fishing for pike? Or are you just wanting to become a more proficient caster at longer distances? Well,…
The Season of Wet Wading The height of fishing season in the Rocky Mountains, like most locales, falls in the summer. With summer temps comes a disdain for donning the full kit of waders and boots on the water; it’s far to hot out. This is one of the best times to be on the…
Smith Integrated Sunglass Leash Did you know that select models of Smith Optics are now coming with an integrated leash? Instead of purchasing an aftermarket croakie retainer, these sunglasses come with their own! Right now, only the Smith Guides Choice are sold with a leash. However, the Colson and Challis are built to accept the…
Winter Fishing: The Most Important Part of Your Rig Look at this photo. There are a few winter essentials being show here…however which one do you think is the most important? If you were ask us, it would be the split shot. Use a lot to get your bugs where the fish are. Without it, you…
