Fighting Big Fish by Dave Whitlock Fly Fishing and Tying Journal Fall 2007
The successful conclusion of landing a really nice trophy fish on a fly can make our day, our year, or even be the fish of a lifetime …or it can break our heart if it’s lost. For over 70 years I’ve had a large shar of both experiences with fish of my own, our students and our friends. Here are some things I’ve learned to help cope with these rare occasions.
By Dave & Emily Whitlock Fly Fisherman Magazine Feb-Mar 2015
Temperate bass are a family of five gamefish that are strong, incredibly aggressive and beautiful fly-eating prizes. They are found in many parts of the United States in both still and flowing water ….
By Dave Whitlock Fly Fisherman Magazine July 1991.
In 49 or our 50 states warm and cool-water panfish are more widespread and more eager to bite than trout or bass. And there’s so much more to catching them than you can imagine.
By Dave & Emily Whitlock · Fly Fisherman Magazine – Fly Fishing Made Easy 2015
Most of us remember times when a stream appeared totally devoid of fish, then a “hatch” began and the river boiled with rising trout. When trout see these aquatic insects emerging from the stream bottom and swimming up toward the surface, they have an instinctual and aggressive feeding response. Read more
By Dave & Emily Whitlock Fly Fisherman Magazine Gear Guide 2013
The sight of a fly line in the air or on or below the water is often a disturbing sight to fish. Distract a fish that you want to grab your fly and it’s an almost sure thing that it will forget eating even before your fly reaches the water. So, in certain situations, it makes sense to use a colorless fly line to reduce chances of disturbing your quarry. Read more…
By Dave & Emily Whitlock · Fly Fisherman Magazine November · 2011
Sometimes it can be just as rewarding and stimulating to experience history and tradition, as it is to discover something new. About ten years ago my fly-fishing enjoyment and success was significantly improved when a close friend, Davy Wotton, introduced me to the fascinating methods and flies of traditional wet-fly fishing. Surprisingly, this method is as effective and enjoyable as any current, popular fly-fishing technique. Read more…
by Dave Whitlock · July 1998 · Fly Fisherman Magazine
Let’s create a super-fish for fly fishing in the 21st Century. It should be smart, selective, strong, fast, almost indestructible, and plentiful in clod, cool, warm, and tropical waters from coast to coast and border to border. This super-fish should never need stocking, must coexist peacefully with other game fish, feed on flies from top to bottom, and be as colorful as a Snake River cutthroat. Such a mysterious wonder-fish would be as valuable as gold, so we should call it something special; how about the “Golden Ghost?” Read more…
April 6, 2012
By Dave & Emily Whitlock
I’d like you to consider three questions: What is the first fish most of us catch on a fly? What is the most widely distributed and plentiful fish to catch on a fly? What fish is the most fun to catch on a fly? If your answer to any of these questions is bluegill, I agree with you 100 percent. Read more…
Published in Fly Fisherman Magazine · flyfisherman.com
By Dave Whitlock
Field and Stream – May 1968 (Dave’s very first article)
While most trout streams that lie further north offer mainly ice-clogged impossibilities, Arkansas’ White River has top fishing. The river, hills and sky reflected late-autumn gold as I began to false-cast my second offering to the big fish holding there in midstream. He’d had two close looks at the size 14 Irresistible before losing interest. Now, as the brown Jassid settled lightly on the riffle and drifted close to his lie, it seemed as if he might refuse it too. But the last few inches of float were more than he could resist. Up moved the long green shadow, deliberately and gracefully and the Jassid disappeared in a swirl that barely disturbed the surface. I quickly raised my rod, hoping I would not snap the 5X tippet against his moving weight. Read more…
Tsmiane Gold by Dave & Emily Whitlock · Spring 2010 · Fly Fisherman Magazine
Exploring Bolivia’s clear and exotic jungle rivers.
Long ropes of purple flowering jungle vines hung from the limbs of a 200-foot tree and down the face of the smooth rose, yellow, and rusty-red sandstone bluff. The turquiose eddy rotating against the bluff was flecked with white foam collected from the rapids and riffles above. Only ten minutes before, Emily had landed a platinum-gold, 20-pound dorado and she was still glowing from her success.
