Why?

Welcome to fly fishing’s Trout Underground — the kind of site you might build if you thought fly fishing was taking itself a bit too seriously.

Maybe you’ve noticed fly fishers “measuring their experience” via fish-per-hour body counts, or even suffered the presence of someone taking that mercenary, tight-lipped approach that suggests a hostile takeover instead of serious recreation.

I have. I see it on Nothern California’s Upper Sacramento River all the time.

You see, fly fishing’s supposed to be fun. It’s not always graceful, it’s rarely simple, and it’s almost never stupidly easy, but it is supposed to be fun.

Kids Have More Fun

The fly fishers who have the most fun are those who approach it like they were kids (kids with neat cars and hot spouses, but kids). Kids know how to play in the woods. And how to experience wonder at the happy accident.

My friend Dave Roberts fishes this way, and our time on the water always feels like a school field trip, and some trips even rise to the level of improvisational nature theater.

Dave fishes big nymphs and heavy rods for steelhead when he’s jonesing for it, but he’s just as happy to bank sit with a friend while waiting for the BWOs to come off. Naturally, he fishes bamboo fly rods and catches more fish on dries than anyone I know.

Play Like the Wonderdog

Then there’s Wally the Wonderdog, the odd Lab/Basset mix. There is nothing he doesn’t get excited about running through, rolling in, or barking at. I’m glad he’s around to remind me that every moment you spend outdoors is pretty much an adventure — if you’re willing to see it that way.

So — with the proper perspective installed — enjoy the articles, essays, pictures, links, rants, reviews and my fly fishing blog (which a friend once said was “updated often, but almost never like you’d expect.”)

Welcome to tomchandler.name. Feel free to let us know how you’re doing. Hopefully, it involves having fun. And if not, why not?