Step by Step Fly Tying Tutorial: Home Invader

As we approach the middle of summer here in Pennsylvania, my tying (and I'd assume quite a few fellow Pennsylvanians' tying as well) starts to shift, gradually at first, but more rapidly as Labor Day approaches, from dry flies and bass bugs to egg patterns, nymphs, and streamers in anticipation of steelhead fishing in the fall.  This transition is a chance to look back on the winter, spring, and early summer fishing season and recall any particularly killing patterns to keep in mind when replenishing fly boxes during long winter evenings.  Sometimes it's a classic pattern that I've just started to really use that year, other times its...

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Introducing: Dharma of the Draft - Crash Course in Tasting Beer, and a Sample Review of Sneaky Pete Imperial IPA

Just as I promised months ago, I'm about to start expanding the scope of this blog from fly fishing, fly tying, and photography...to include another field of interest: beer. No, I'm not talking about pounding down Coors Light all day, or beer-bonging Natty like a frat boy.  I'm talking about taking an intelligent, thoughtful, adventurous approach to trying new and different beers, and sharing the experience with other beer lovers/beer snobs/beer nerds.  Recently, it seems there's a connection between craft beer and fly fishing emerging.  Maybe it's the younger crowd, maybe it's the independent spirit, maybe its a sort of counter-culture vibe, but there's no denying the overlap of beer snobs and fly fishers. Before I just dive right into a beer review, though, I thought...

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Six Species of Fly Angler

Full disclosure, this post is a spin-off (and a poor one at that) of a recent post over on Troutrageous. In this post, the author has read out a laundry list of gripes with fly fishing culture, which has led to some lively discussion in the comments section below the post.  Like a fly fishing Martin Luther, Mike has nailed his complaints to the door of fly fishing's gilded halls, and the feedback has, unsurprisingly, been lively and varied. Going off on a tangent, I'm doing something that I'm sure has been done before, but if you've ever fished an established pattern, I don't want to hear you complain. ;) That being said, I've boiled down the core essence of most every fly angler I've ever met, and come up with six distinct archetypes, that nearly every fly angler I've ever...

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First Pike on the Fly!

A few weeks ago, I took a rainy weekend and targeted pike in some water I've never fished, but had heard held good numbers of the toothy critter.  It was slow going, and the rain was coming down faster, but just before I decided to turn back, I was rewarded by my first pike on a fly, as well as the first fish on my new Redington Predator!  ...

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A Spring Cleaning

It's been a while since I've posted, but there's good (well...truthful at least) reason for that.  Over the past several weeks, I haven't gone fishing more than 2-3 times, and have exactly no fish to show for it.  Further, I've done no tying at all, and what little photography work I've done to this point has been just that: work.  The D80 got it's first real workout of the year at work, taking a few shots of various pieces of equipment for reference purposes.  Not exactly thrilling news. That being said, changes are in the works for Dharma of the Drift.  Dharma of the Draft?  With recent added responsibilities...

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Redington Predator 7'10" 8wt Review

For those of you in contact with me outside Dharma of the Drift, whether personally or on any of a number of forums, you probably know that I’ve been looking to put together a setup specifically for fishing big streamers for big fish, especially from my kayak.What started out as ‘keeping an eye out for a good price on a 6wt’ turned into a real learning experience.  Some may know that over the past few weeks, I decided on a rod. While I’ve been busy with long work hours and the onset of the spring semester (complete with a 6 hour class that is held at 8am on Saturday...yes...it’s every bit as awful as it sounds), I’ve not had a chance to fish the rod, but I figured that if any of my readers are in the market, it might be helpful to them if I shared my first impressions.  It was a...

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Cross One New Years Resolution Off the List!

Each year, I have a recurring New Years Resolution to take a new species of fish on a fly rod.  Last year it happened to be a chain pickerel, taken late (October) purely by accident.  The year before that, it was an 18-20" flounder, my first ever salt water fish (despite many vacation evenings spend in the surf with squid and blood worms...and two separate charters...all with spin gear).  That fish was the result of a great deal of pre-trip research, tying, map-reading, and deliberate decision making as an angler. This year, I've already got my new species...similar to last year, it was more dumb luck than anything else, but...

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