Back Porch

Conservation content can be a bummer, especially when it comes to steelhead. The past couple decades have delivered a near-constant flood of unhappy messaging. Wild steelhead populations have cratered, and fish that were always somewhat challenging to catch (on flies, anyway) have become nearly mythical.  Most of us here at Skwala call ourselves steelhead anglers, and we know steelhead populations face enormous challenges, challenges far too big for any of us to tackle them as individuals (or even small companies). That’s why we support the Wild Steelhead Coalition and hope you will consider doing the same.

Skwala Ambassador Jake Keeler discovers more about his beloved Brule River than he ever thought imaginable.

When you contact Skwala, you don’t get connected with a call center or passed off to a third-party customer support network. You talk to one of us, our core team of anglers right here in Bozeman, Montana. Chances are, you’ll probably talk to Scott Battista.

Reframing the Battle Over Stream Access By Miles Nolte Not too long after I moved to Montana, I went fishing on a ...

A Trout Angler Seeks Small Jaw Redemption by Miles Nolte Imagine you’re forced, gun-to-your-head, absolutely must ...

Or, what to do when you can’t fish on a fishing trip  Fishing trips aren’t all fishing. In fact, depending on wher...

Check your ego; improve your fishing Everybody warned me. Friends, mentors, random guides at the bar, they told me wh...

When we started the concept for Skwala back in 2020, people told us the world didn’t need another fly fishing brand. But fly fishing isn’t about needs; it’s about irrational passion. We're a tight group of dedicated fly anglers who’ve helped lead some of the most innovative and successful outdoor gear companies in the market today.

Everybody had a good year. Everybody caught a big brown. Everybody pulled their waders up. Everybody laid a line down...

This holiday season, Skwala is turning its focus to critical issues near its home in Montana by donating 20% of all sales on SkwalaFishing.com for Thursday, December 14, 2023 to the local organization, Save Wild Trout. 

Let's interrogate some of the common claims about the virtues of tying vs buying.

You can’t buy a helicopter ride to a magical pond of big, dumb carp. If you’ve got a bicycle, some old Chuck Taylors, a 6-weight, and a fist full of flies, you can probably go carp fishing, but that doesn’t mean you can catch them. Have you got your local carp pond dialed?