Fish Behavior - Due West Anglers

When fly fishing for muskie, northern pike, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass, are larger flies better for catching big fish?

science

Big Flies For Big Fish... right?

Big flies equals big fish, at least that's what we're all told. Is it actually true?

fly fishing nymphs, dry flies, wet flies, streamers, fly fishing trout, atlantic salmon, steelhead

tactics

Protecting A Fishery With Ineffective Angling?

Why would you limit your fly fishing tactics to help the fish? Hear me out...

Hot Bead Get Down Sow Jig Fly, Euronymph, euro nymph, tightline nymph, czech nymph, fly fishing

Members only

fly design

Are Trout Just Eating The Bead?

fish pale pat's rubber legs fly patterns when fly fishing the stonefly molt

Members only

weird flies that work

The Stonefly Molt

Attractor dry flies, sparkle pupa, why do trout rise? Gary LaFontaine Dry Fly New Angles

trigger points Featured

Attracting Rises from Trout

Wisdom from a forgotten book: Why do trout rise to a dry fly? Exploring LaFontaine's lost ideas on attractors

Members only

tarpon

More Clues on Fish Vision (Tarpon Edition)

We're diving into the wide world of tarpon vision, a place more vivid than humans might imagine...

Flies displayed include: chubby chernobyl, clouser minnow, barr's meat whistle, popper, crazy charlie, and turneffe crab

behind the scenes

Behind the Scenes

Unveiling the creative process from idea to ink for Due West Angler's distinctive articles on fly fishing + science + conservation

behavior

Wait... Carp Don't Have What Organ?!

These picky fish lack an internal organ commonly found in almost 3/4 of all fish, how is that possible?

Releasing a pre-spawn Wyoming Brown Trout

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big fish

5 Tips for Landing Those Big Fish

To be a true angler you need to experience the heartbreak of losing a big fish. Here's how to stack the odds in your favor so that doesn't happen...

anatomy Featured

Useful Biology: What A Fish Tail Teaches Anglers

We can learn clues about fish by simply understanding how tail shapes differ (Fly Fishing)

how does trout memory work? they remember flies after large hatches like the salmonfly hatch

pattern hangover

Fish Memory and Pattern Hangover

You missed the big hatch, but if you know a little about how trout brains work you might know that you're window of opportunity hasn't fully closed yet...

Bass vision, how do flies like bass poppers, Mr Wiggly, Slumpbusters, other assorted bass flies look?

Members only

largemouth bass

More Clues on Fish Vision (Bass Edition)

Can fish see color? Bass don't see our flies like you'd expect...

Cutthroat trout from Eleven Mile Canyon on the South Platte River, does fly fishing impact trout behavior?

from the road

Story From the Road: Third Time Makes the Pattern?

Usually great stories start with full cars, open roads, and rigged rods, but this one starts different. This one starts with an internet troll.

clouser minnow fly pattern, do fish know when they get hooked?

behavior

Do Other Fish Know When A Fish Gets Hooked?

Let's talk about the social cues a group responds to, or doesn't respond to, when a fish gets hooked.

Eleven Mile Canyon stretch of the South Platte, Colorado, how do trout respond to fishing pressure?

Members only

fish behavior

The Science of Rest: Trout Get Burnout Too

Do fish remember being caught? And how long would it take to reset the timid behavior of previously hooked fish throughout an entire fishery?

Wading and fly fishing the Gunnison River, Colorado, tactics for fly fishing rivers with low trout density

Members only

behavior Featured

Tips for Streams with Low Fish Density

Lets take a look at how we approach rivers based on fish density and discuss what fishing rivers with fewer fish per mile have to offer

Hog of a rainbow trout getting released from a tailwater in Wyoming, rainbow trout, amy's ant fly pattern

terrestrials

Story From the Road: Amy's Ante

Fish were rising everywhere, skimming #28 midges off the film of a deep run. Cows surrounded us as spectators for the feeding frenzy of a developing hatch. The water temperature was perfect...

sculpzilla fly pattern, fly fishing Montana, streamer fishing

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sculpin Featured

Phantom Sculpins of the South Platte

Why would a trout eat a sculpin fly in a river without sculpin?

Releasing a Rainbow trout from the Pueblo Tailwater, Colorado

Members only

behavior

The Dynamics of Fish Spooking

Why do fish spook? Why don't fish spook? Let's investigate.