Salomone: Fly rod resolutions

The new year is upon us: 2025.

People create lists of goals and new objectives that sometimes carry a negative tone. Thoughtful fly fishers do well constructing resolutions that better their angling game. Setting resolutions around our favorite sport possesses a whole new rationale for being kept. While most New Year’s resolutions loom ominously overhead, these resolutions are more fun to keep.

All New Year’s resolutions take a little work to complete. Same goes for the objectives fly anglers desire to attain. Attention, focus and commitment elevate our fly fishing when we deliberately try to improve. Some of these resolutions are skill based, others more intrinsic in their reward. Make no mistake, they all lead to enhanced performance, more time on the water and increased success.

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10 resolutions for anglers swinging the fancy stick

While we can all benefit from casting instruction and practice, learning to throw a proficient double haul elevates your fly fishing in numerous situations. The double haul is the main tactic for gaining line speed and achieving extra casting distance. Timing and control are key. Watching videos is effective but there is nothing like actually feeling the cadence in your casting stroke. Film yourself to see where you are lacking skill. This can be an embarrassingly humbling activity but can really highlight inadequacies in your casting.

All fly anglers find bugs fascinating and should learn more about them. Insects are the foundation of our sport. Knowledge of the insects we imitate elevates any fly fishers’ presence on the water. The confidence anglers achieve recognizing insects stimulates excitement in our sport. Understanding the developmental stages in each insect is key. Recognizing an aquatic insect as the immature form of a desired adult builds confidence and steers fly selection.

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Fly tying with those of a similar skill level is a learning experience for all. It also emphasizes a key component for connecting with fly fishing on a new level. Local fly shops often offer tying events. Watching videos is key but nothing compares with person-to-person interaction.

Book a guided trip to water you would never fish. It could be an adventure close to home, a nearby tailwater or a far off saltwater fly trip. Chase a new fish on the fly. This is out of your comfort zone angling that will require a whole different skill-set and possibly a new rod.

Aim to dry-fly fish more. Don’t reach for the heavy nymphs during the summertime, but rather, fish on the surface. Just because you don’t see rising fish, make them rise. A good dry-fly presentation will bring them up to the surface to eat. We live in the midst of the best dry-fly fishing to be found — embrace it.

Follow a blueline to nowhere. Our mountains hold treasures if you follow the blueline trail. Most mountain streams lead to small water nirvana. While one must adjust their expectations for size, when it comes to reward, blueline water is hard to beat.

If you must go deep, learn a new nymphing technique such as Euro-nymphing. Nothing allows fly fishers to pick apart a riffle like a pro better. Euro-nymphs sink fast and tick every rock on the bottom of the river, down deep where the trout wait and eat. Euro-nymphing will increase the numbers of fish caught.

Learn the basics of trout spey. Two-hand casting is a niche in our sport. Swinging flies is a skill not just for steelhead and salmon. Brown trout have an affection for smashing swinging flies and crushing streamers. Trout spey is the way to deliver your flies and broaden your understanding of fly fishing.

Fish the salmonfly hatch. The storied hatch is the impetus for anglers to take road trips to far off waters only known from the pages of magazines and angling guide books. Our local water holds a population of the giant insects that drive beasts out from cutbanks and bring them up to the surface from the security of deep water. There is no better time to catch a trophy trout than during the salmonfly hatch.

My 10th resolution: come up with your own. Make a list of fly rod resolutions and choose one. Participate in your own growth. You know what you need to improve or learn more about, so make it a goal.

Focus gives priority to the angler who makes resolutions they want to keep. Make it a point for your 2025 year to have a few resolutions on your list that revolve around a fly rod.