824 | Pheasant Tail Simplicity: Yvon Chouinard, Craig Mathews, and Mauro Mazzo's New Book
Wet Fly Swing Fly Fishing Podcast
Dave Stewart
4.7 • 530 Ratings
🗓️ 6 October 2025
⏱️ 56 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
#824 Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/824
Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/patagonia
In this episode, we sit down with legendary fly angler Craig Mathews to explore their new book Pheasant Tail Simplicity. Craig shares why fewer flies, better observation, and thoughtful presentation often lead to more success on the water. From fishing caddis hatches to choosing the right dry fly, this conversation is full of practical tips and timeless wisdom for anglers of all skill levels.
Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/824
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Lee Wolf once said game fish are too valuable to be caught only once. |
| 0:06.4 | That philosophy, simplicity, respect, and letting the river teach you runs through today's |
| 0:11.0 | conversation all day long. |
| 0:13.2 | Today's guest has spent a lifetime proving that you don't need thousands of flies to fool |
| 0:17.8 | a trout. |
| 0:18.8 | From his early days, co-founding blue ribbon flies to co-authoring books |
| 0:22.6 | with Yvonne Chouinard, Craig has shown that a handful of pheasant tail fibers, the right |
| 0:27.7 | presentation, and sharp observation can outfish the most complicated patterns. |
| 0:32.9 | This is the Wetfly Swing podcast where I show you the best places to travel to for fly fishing, |
| 0:36.9 | how to find the best resources and tools to prepare for that big trip, and what you can do to give back to the fish species we all love. Craig Matthews is on the podcast today and we are going to dig into his brand new book, Fescent Tail Simplicity, Recipes, and Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing. You're going to hear why Craig believes restricting your fly options |
| 0:56.4 | actually makes you a better angler, |
| 0:58.0 | how to fish caddus hatches without getting fooled, |
| 1:00.8 | and why listening to the river is the most important skill you can practice. |
| 1:05.3 | Tons of stuff today we're going to cover it all. |
| 1:07.7 | Fesent tails, we're talking match in the hatch, dries, the X cadddis, the Iris Caddus. It's all here. This is another awesome one. Hope you enjoy it. You can check in with Craig in the new book at Patagonia.com. Here he is, Craig Matthews. How you doing, Craig? Doing great, Dave. Thanks for having me back. Yeah, yeah, definitely. |
| 1:28.0 | This is fun. |
| 1:44.1 | We had the last episode. I don't have it in front of me, but it was a pretty epic one. We had you and Yvonne Charnard on. That's an episode that still gets talked about out there, of course, because you guys are such powerhouses. But, yeah, no, that was awesome. I appreciate that was such a good episode. and I think it's really awesome now because we're coming back here, really, to actually have another connection to |
| 1:48.6 | Patagonia. And this new book you have coming, it's called Feasant Tail Simplicity, Recipes and |
| 1:54.2 | Techniques for Successful Fly Fishing. And so I'm excited to hear about that today because I know |
| 1:59.3 | you guys have been going strong, Yvonne, especially on how simplicity, right, one fly. |
| 2:04.4 | So first off, give me an update since that last episode we did with Yvonne. |
| 2:08.8 | What have you been up to? |
... |
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