This week I interview Damon Newpher of Adventure Bound on the Fly, a guide service that specializes in fly fishing from all sorts of craft, including stand-up paddleboards. Damon uses his SUP to chase steelhead, bass, and even muskies in his western New York location, but has ranged as far away as Belize and the Yucatan with inflatable boards, and has even floated remote rivers and lakes in Chile from them. He advises us on why you would want one, what to look for, how to accessorize one, and how to navigate moving water. These craft offer great advantages because they can get into places no other craft can go, with more stealth than any other method. Plus you are up above the water so you can spot fish and subsurface structures easier. And of course an added benefit is that you’ll stay in great shape while you fish!

In this week’s Fly Box, we cover, as usual, an eclectic range of things:

· Why did my wife get skunked fishing a streamer while I was using two at once?

· How to evaluate a fly rod in a shop

· Pike fishing from shore

· How do I fish emerger flies?

· What is the perfect fly rod for tiny streams?

· Should I buy a 10-foot 4-weight or 5-weight for tightline nymphing?

· Are practice casting rods any good—other than just to torture cats? ·

And we have a new acronym, thanks to a listener: WINTER. Len from PA gives us great advice on how a fly fisher should spend the winter preparing for spring.