Outdoor Adventures with Tim Tipton

        Let’s say you love fly fishing. You have been at it for a long time and gotten quite good. Your experience can be measured in decades. You catch a lot of fish. Big fish, and you have the pictures to prove it. You learned to tie your own flies. They were sloppy at first, but after years of repetition, they are now comparable to the flies you can buy in your local fly shop. You have taken first-time fly fishers out, taught them how to cast and put them on fish. Your mind begins to wander in ever-widening circles. You are thinking to yourself, “how could I do this every day?” For many, the answer is to become a guide.      Guiding can be a fun and rewarding career, but it can also be a lot of work. It’s not just the fishing either. The real work is off the water and off the clock. There are lunches to be packed, flies to be tied, rods to be untangled and prepared for the next trip. An eight-hour day can easily turn into ten.  One of the harde...

  ©Tim Tipton 2021 Genesis 27:3 Now therefore take, I pray you, your weapons, your quiver and your bow, and go out to the field, and take me some venison ;        I can still remember it like it was yesterday, though it is going on 30 years. It was a balmy, Indian summer day, the kind that can bring a type of joy to the heart of an outdoorsman in late November in Kentucky. An almost perfect day to be afield with a recurve bow and a quiver of arrows. I was with my father-in-law Danny, bow hunting a small section of land on the outskirts of a little Kentucky town.       The Thanksgiving holiday had passed two days prior, marking the unofficial start to the late archery season. It was getting on toward lunchtime and my stomach was letting me know. I had been in the woods for about six hours but hadn’t seen a deer. I decided to still-hunt my way back to the truck to meet my father-in-law and decide what we were going to do about food. ...

  © Tim Tipton 2021     Murphy and His Law     "Many of us would probably be better fishermen if we did not waste so much time watching and waiting for the world to be perfect." --- Norman Maclean     “Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong.” ---- Murphy’s Law     It started two days after Christmas and continued through the early portion of summer. What is IT? My sudden inability to catch fish and have things go wrong on fishing trips. Things I’ve never seen, at least not this much. It started on my home stream. The stream where I caught my first trout over 25-years ago. I took a new friend on his first fly fishing excursion, and we got skunked. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. It was one day and even the best anglers can have a bad day. It wasn’t the kind of day I was hoping for, but there was a lot more fishing to do. Over the next few weeks, I would return to Otter Creek and catch plenty of fish, including one day when...

© 2021 Tim Tipton Fly fishing is supposed to be relaxing; A way to unwind, enjoy the outdoors, take in beautiful scenery and escape from the real world. Unfortunately for those new to the sport, that is not always the case. Things frequently go wrong. Oftentimes when they do, simply slowing down and putting your knowledge to work can save an otherwise slow, frustrating day. These five tips can help those new to the sport catch more fish. They can also help experienced anglers who are having a tough time on the water.   Read the Water Studying the water is a key to make sure you are putting your fly in front of fish. Obviously, the more fish that see your fly, the better odds they will eat it. In moving water, such as streams, rivers or even most lakes, there is current present. Current is what will position the fish when they are feeding. In a moving body of water, fish will use slow current next to faster water to rest while feeding. Fish have no desire to fight the fast c...

  Blogger Tim Tipton joins hosts Jayd Raines and Quinton Tyree on The Everyday Outdoorsman Podcast. He discusses life as an outdoor writer and fly fishing guide and shares some humorous stories along the way. If you aren't a Podbean listener, you can search for The Everyday Outdoorsman on Google Podcasts, Amazon, Pandora, and all of the other major podcasting platforms. The Everyday Outdoorsman Podcast - Don't Get Caught With Your Waders Down | Free Listening on Podbean App

  © Tim Tipton 2021          I previously told the story about not recalling the first fish I caught as a child. I really wish that I could remember that moment, if for no other reason than to look back at my misspent youth. Fortunately, I can recollect many fish that I have taken on the fly rod.      I bought my first fly rod on a whim. I was in the old Fischer’s Sporting Goods store in Shepherdsville, talking to one of the two brothers that owned the place, while idly surveying products. My thirty-first birthday had recently come and gone, and I was in town killing time before heading to the newspaper office where I worked.      I had taken an interest in fly fishing, even took a try at casting my uncle’s fly rod in his yard. I still hadn’t bought my first fly rod, but I was ready to pull the trigger. While browsing the store inventory, searching for anything that might strike my fancy, I came upon a cheap fly rod a...