One of the most common questions for flyfishers this time of year is whether or not it’s too early to hit the local lake for largemouth. Sure, some of you Southern boys have already been getting after it, but for those of us living north of the Mason-Dixon line, March still means near-frozen surface temps and super-sluggish fish.

Nevertheless, there are some ways to increase your odds of finding a few hungry ones.

Temperature is everything.

In the winter, the bottom of most bass lakes hovers around 39 degrees, while the surface–just below the ice–is around 33. But as the ice melts, winds start mixing the warmer water below with the colder water up top, and a magical sort …

Opening day of trout season often falls on the first Saturday of April for many states. And even if you are lucky enough to live in an area where trout fishing is available year-round, April often marks the symbolic beginning to trout-chasing, that glorious seven-month stretch from now til October, when you learn or re-learn the joys and frustrations of tossing tiny flies to feeding browns, rainbows or brookies.

If you’re new to the sport, or if your skill set became a little rusty over the winter, here’s five trouty tips for the opening-day onslaught.

1) Fish upstream, not downstream, to feeding trout.

Early April remains pre-runoff for most major trout fishing rivers, so the water is often …

Ahhh… March in the Florida Keys. When permit come up onto the flats before heading offshore to spawn. Spring is one of the best times to chase this most sought-after species, and March is traditionally one of the hottest months to catch them. Do your research before heading down, book a reputable guide, have the kinks in your cast worked out, pray for your shot at a tailing 20-pounder, don’t screw up the presentation or the strip or the hook-set, and maybe, just maybe, you’re day will end up like this:

If there’s a better tailwater fishery in the country during February and March than Northern Utah’s Green River, I sure don’t know what it would be. Sure it can be cold. And windy. And snowy. But hey, isn’t that part of the fun?

Located in Northeastern Utah, near the intersection with Colorado and Wyoming at the tiny trout town of Dutch John, the Green River flows from beneath Flaming Gorge Dame at a near perfect 45- to 55-degrees. This provides great conditions for going after the Green’s many rainbows and browns swimming in the 8-mile “A section” just below the dam, from the put-in down to Little Hole.

There is …

Forget the flowers, the chocolates, or that mango-colored thong. Before Thursday rolls around, get you and your girl a trip someplace warm. So she can lounge in the sun, go kayaking or snorkling, or take a surf lesson with some guy considerably hotter than her husband. In return, you get to do this:

And she gets to do this:

And everyone is happy. Here is a list of three great places to start:

Turneffe Flats, Belize

For one of the best combinations of excellent flats-fishing and great food, accommodations, and alternative activities, head to Turneffe Flats off the northern coast of Belize. This place offers probably the …

BY MIKE STAHLBERG

The Eugene Register Guard

Steelhead appear to be returning to Oregon coastal streams early and in above-average numbers this winter, which is good news for anglers — and something of a “relief” for fishery biologists.

The latter entered the winter season with trepidation, given that chinook salmon returns last fall were “the lowest we’ve seen in two decades,” as biologist Bob Buckman of Newport put it.

“So far it seems like a pretty good year for winter steelhead, which is certainly a welcome relief after the poor salmon return,” said Buckman, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife district fish biologist on the mid-coast.

Buckman said there are encouraging reports and/or data from all the major watersheds in his …

One of the unforeseen benefits of the North American dam-building era is all the great winter flyfishing it created in the mountain states for those of us unable or unwilling to wait until spring. These stretches of water that flow beneath dams are known as tailwaters in fishing terminology—as opposed to “freestone” which are undammed rivers.

Some of the more famous tailwaters in the country are the South Holston and Watauga Rivers in East Tennessee, the White River and Little Red in Arkansas, and the Truckee and East Walker in California and Nevada. But for winter and early spring flyfishers, nothing matches the 900-mile stretch of road between Page, Arizona, and Missoula, Montana, where dozens of legendary …

The official start to the winter flyfishing consumer show circuit began in Denver over the weekend, as two competing consumer shows—The Fly Fishing Expo and The Fly Fishing Show—both drew anxious anglers to the Denver Convention Center and The Denver Merchandise Mart, respectively.

Despite some grumblings among attendees and exhibitors regarding the shows being on the same day in the same city, both shows were relatively well-attended, especially considering that it was the first warm day in weeks, when many of the attendees could have chosen to go fishing instead. “It figures that we get our first great day of the year to go fishing, and we …

They appear by the hundreds, collecting just off the beach in places like Louisiana (Grand Isle), Alabama (Orange Beach), Florida (almost everywhere), and the Carolinas. They are big bull redfish, or red drum, and late November, December, and January are when many of the biggest ones are taken.Schools of big redfish work together much like albacore or other blitzing fish, herding baitfish to the surface where they work with the birds to attack them. So you can often look for the birds to help you find feeding fish.A boat and a captain who can run up on schools is helpful, but these fish can be taken from the beach or from a kayak. Just know that these fish …

Atlantic Beach, North Carolina.

They’re here.

The wind and weather are cooperating. And false albacore–albies, lilttle tunny, fat alberts, bonito (south of North Carolina) whatever you want to call them–are ready to give your ten weight all the pressure it can handle.

False albacore are one of the greatest flyfishing species in the ocean. And the second week in November often marks the peak of these eight- to 20-pound fish making their return to the famous hotspots of North Carolina’s Outer Banks.

Albies are almost 70 percent muscle (as opposed to 40 percent for most fish, according to Tom Gilmore’s great book, “False Albacore”), and swim ten times faster than the fastest trout. They can be caught throughout the fall from …