Stephen D

The Puterbaugh Caddis was developed by Don Puterbaugh, a long-time guide on the Arkansas River in Colorado. It floats well and presents a great silhouette in the water. It also uses very few materials and is easy to tie.

The Gray Fox Dry Fly is a great go-to pattern, no matter which side of the country you’re on. This pattern originated in the Catskills by Preston Jennings in the 1930s. Despite developing as an eastern fly pattern, it has since found a home across the west where it’s effective for imitating tan and brown mayflies.

Variations of these egg patterns have been around for quite some time. Simple and quick to tie. Best of all they are very effective. Hook sizes 14 -16 for the smaller trout and larger 8 – 10 for Steelhead.

The Enforcer is Sage’s brand-new reel that replaces the Spectrum Max in its midpriced saltwater and big game lineup. We’re stretching the term ‘midpriced’ a bit since the 8wt Enforcer is nearly $600. Still, if the Enforcer can deliver on performance, it could represent a solid buy considering 2023’s sky-high saltwater reel prices. The big issue is that Sage has struggled to make a saltwater reel that has caught fire with consumers in the past. The Spectrum Max was decent-enough but hardly dented the 8wt reel market. If Sage can incorporate the Thermo’s strengths into the Enforcer, they could have a winner.

The Regent is the latest to bare the Fortuna name, but it’s been completely redesigned from the ground up, and it’s unlike anything we’ve seen from Hardy. While the Fortunas of yesteryear were noted for their burliness and run-stopping drag systems, upon first glance of the Regent, it’s noticeably sleeker and slimmer! How does this translate to performance? Thankfully we were able to get ahold of one just in time for our 2023 Big Game Reel Shootout. Read on to see how the Fortuna Regent stacks up against the rest of the competition.

With the R8 Core, Sage seems to be back on track by making rods with a smooth, progressive taper that gives the caster exceptional feel and feedback but still delivers plenty of power. When Sage announced the new Salt R8 would replace the Salt HD, we were excited about the rod’s prospects but a little apprehensive over a new salt-specific Sage Rod. Has Sage finally delivered? You will not want to miss this review!

The Morrish Hopper was created by Ken Morrish and is considered by many to be one of the most effective hopper patterns out there. It utilizes a foam body which is easy to form using The River Road Creations cutters.

The Amy’s Ant pattern was created by Jack Dennis in the late 1990’s to be fished in the famous Jackson Hole one fly tournament which it won in 1999. A hybrid between an ant, hopper, and stonefly, Amy’s Ant is a great pattern for a variety of freshwater river fishing scenarios.

The Platte River Spider is a classic streamer and wet fly designed by Chris Schrantz that has been successful swinging on a trout spey fly rod as well as swung, stripped, or dead drifted on a single-handed rod.

For our 2023 11wt Big Game Reel Shootout, we had the opportunity to test Shilton’s SR10. Shilton claims they built the reel specifically for remote and harsh environments and the hard-charging gamefish like GT that reside there. If you want to know more about why these reels are worth their weight in gold for Seychelles guides, you will not want to miss this review.