This week’s interview is with Steve Galletta of Bighorn Angler in Fort Smith, Montana. The Bighorn fishes well all winter long, and with Steve’s many seasons on the river he shares his tips on how to catch tailwater trout all winter long. Even if you don’t plan on fishing the Bighorn any time soon, Steve’s tips will give you valuable intel on how to fish your local tailwater. In The Fly Box, we have questions about the effects of fly flotants on knots, disappearing brook trout, releasing fish in fast water, using switch rods on lakes, why streamers work well in the fall, using UV resins for fly tying, fishing mouse patterns on lakes at night, keeping track of tippet rings, smells on carp flies, and how to apply techniques learned in one fishery to other species and places.

This week we get a special peak behind the curtain about how fly rods are developed. How long does it take to design a fly rod? How many prototypes are built? How are they tested? How are materials selected? And where do the ideas come from? Shawn Combs takes us into the depths of the Orvis skunkworks and tells us a few secrets (and withholds just as many) about how his team of engineers and technicians develop Orvis fly rods—specifically the new Helios 3 series. In the Fly Box this week, we talk about fishing emergers subsurface, the perils of using the wrong super glue on casting cuts, how long to let a bass popper sit, water temperature guiidelines for trout, fly fishing for crappies, a tip on keeping the trailing hook of a tandem out of the way when tying, leader lengths for stocked trout ponds, species-specific leaders, correct water depth for setting indicators, and how to fish multiple-fly rigs when the flies are barbless.