Articles

It would be grossly incorrect to say that innovation is rare in the world of fly reels. A bevy of reel makers are constantly looking for new ways to innovate—better drag systems, lighter weight frame designs, increased backing capacity, greater line pickup per revolution—and so on. Innovation in these areas is relatively constant and makes it way to anglers with regularity. What is rare in the world of fly reels, however, is the kind of anglers that have access to those innovations.

Throughout the West, in hidden streams and backcountry rivers, one of the continent’s signature trout is busy looking up.

With July comes cutthroat trout season.

Certainly, some of us have been catching cutties for weeks—even months if we braved the snow and the cold on rivers that remain open all year. But between now and the middle of September here in the Rockies, cutthroats on big, gaudy dry flies don’t get much easier to catch.