Category: Words From The Masters

Fin and Fire Podcast

Fin and Fire with Jeff Mishler is a podcast you will love. https://www.finandfire.com/blogs/fin-fires-podcast-with-jeff-mishler I interview the most interesting people in the world of hunting, fishing and media while discovering the common ground we all share. It’s like sitting around a campfire with your friends, minus the winter chill. Land Tawney, April Vokey, Hank Shaw and […]

Skagitmaster 5 Update

It has been some time since my last post here on the Skagitmaster site. With a recent upgrade, the blog is a better way to communicate with the 2000 members of this page. To date, I have filmed on the Naknek, featuring my good friend Patricia Edel and her program pursuing HUGE rainbows using spey […]

Anchored With April Vokey

Nearly two years ago April interviewed me at my home for her podcast.  I’m very happy with how this turned out. After spending time on her site, I can see why she’s putting in the effort. Our oral history should not fall into a black hole.  Thanks for listening. http://www.aprilvokey.com/podcasts/   JM

SAGE X 990-4 REVIEW

SAGE X 990-4 A Cannon in the Hand by Jeff Mishler After winter steelhead season winds down, the months of May and June mean long hours spent casting shooting tapers into the wind hoping that, on at least one presentation, a spring chinook eats my fly. By the end of the day, a ten weight […]

SAGE 7120-4 X Rod–Review

SAGE X Series—7120-4 Jeff Mishler February and March is prime time for winter steelhead here in Oregon. The rods I use are 8 weights for two very good reasons: 1) I’m usually chucking heavy sink tips and weighted flies so the 8 weight rocks that gear. 2) I’m often fighting a wild fish that I […]

The Decline of the Deschutes!

In an age when water quality is recognized as a limiting factor for successful/sustainable salmonid populations, it really is amazing how far this river has fallen.  The idea of creating pre-dam conditions and safe passage for sockeye to the historical spawning in the Metolius River was novel, but the implementation has left out serious aspect […]

Tyler Corke and His Funk

Pardon the misogyny.  It is, after all, a story about a couple of crittery steelheaders. And if you know one, you also know that the descriptive language they adopt after days of pounding the water can take on shades of…let’s just call it…questionable colors and tonality.   tyler-corke-chapter-6

Deschutes River Alliance is getting busy!

http://www.deschutesriveralliance.org   While its true that the recent management of the Lower Deschutes has produced higher water temps  earlier in the summer and lower water temps earlier in late summer and that has postponed the early returns of summer steelhead in the last few years,  the quality of the water coming from the mixing tower […]

SAGE Mod—What a Rod!

I was recently asked by SAGE to produce some video clips focusing on Winter and Summer Steelhead fishing tactics. During the process I was fortunate to use a new SAGE Mod 7130 featuring Konnetic Technology. The rod sports a deeper flex than the other Sage spey rod models, making it an efficient tool for casting […]

Setting the hook

When and how is a great question, with no perfect answer.  I try to address this, in this clip. JM

Bent is selling and the comments are appreciated!

Thanks to all who have purchased the book.  I’m amazed at the interest. Here’s one comment from Robert Sheley: Hi Jeff, Just got my copy of Bent. Very clever double entendre for the title. It looks great – it’s the book that I’ve outlined in head for year, my dream project that work always seems […]

Bent is selling….First sales to ship on Friday the 26th

Wow, some of you were waiting with hovering fingers for that moment when the site went live.  BAM!  and the first books were sold.  Thanks for the interest.  I’m wondering how long it will take to sell the first printing of 500.  At this rate, not long.   JM  

Bent should be ready for delivery the week of Feb. 22

It’s been a very long process, but the books are on their way to the fulfillment company and I should have a live Point of Sale here at Skagitmaster.com by Monday….Tuesday at the latest.  Thanks for your patience.  I hope you like this work.  If you love the culture of fly fishing, this book contains […]

Skagit Lines on Single Handers

I produced a short clip of Yours Truly showing how easy it is to incorporate a Skagit Line into your single hand rod fishing arsenal. For tight quarters, there’s really nothing better: I’m developing SM5 to cover this material, presented by expert anglers dedicated to using Skagit style lines on small rods.  The world of […]

Another Casting Flaw…D Loop Crashes On The Water

by Jeff Mishler I spent some time last week helping a new-to-the-sport angler/buddy work on his casting.  My initial intent was to find a fresh steelhead for him, but his casting flaws brought the line, leader and fly down from the sky in a heap, keeping his fly too close to his casting position for […]

Check your $%#&!

by Jeff Mishler In the dinner tent of one of our Russian steelhead expeditions, Pete Soverel proclaimed to the weary clan of weather beaten anglers, “If you loose the fish because the terminal gear fails, that’s operator error”.  Interpretation: You failed the process of landing the fish if the leader parted, because you didn’t check […]

New Running Lines for Cold Water Steelheading

I love to fish mono behind my shooting heads.  It’s effortless to jack casts of any length and have total control over the swing because mono, being so light, is easy to manipulate when the line is laid out on the water.  But if you fish mono a lot, you know that winter steelheading with […]

New Water Media, LLC begins development of “Headwind”.

A documentary featuring some amazing women in fly fishing. Thanks to Patagonia for getting on board.  I’m looking for others to help produce this documentary intended for festival audiences: “Headwind” (working title) A Documentary Film (in development) Format:  HD Video Length: 60 minutes Produced by:  New Water Media, LLC Jeff Mishler—Owner   “Headwind”(working title)  Portraits […]

Trouble Shoot Your Spey Casting Flaws

July 18, 2013 Casting Issue: Your fly nearly takes your hat off on the forward stroke. This is common when these things happen: 1) You place the anchor too far away from your casting position while thinking, “If I just move it farther away, I’m safer”. The tendency then, is to put too much power […]