How to Take Great Fishing Pictures with Your Smartphone, with Chris Niccolls

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 1 December 2025

⏱️ 85 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

My guest this week is photography expert and co-host of the Petapixel podcast Chris Niccolls [28:39]. Chris has access to nearly every kind of expensive camera in the world because he evaluates photo equipment for his day job. But when he is fishing, guess what he takes most of his photographs and videos with? You guessed it—his iPhone. Chris shares tips on how to set up your shot, how to get a photograph and still have minimal fish handling, and what settings to use on your phone. He also gives great tips on setting up the scene so that your photos are better than just grip & grin snapshots.

In the Fly Box this week, we have these questions and tips:
You say Orvis fly rods are true to line weight but you say you use a line that is a half-size heavy. Why?
With a fly line that is rated for colder water, is it OK to use it for the occasional largemouth bass fishing trip in warmer water?
A tip from a listener on how to get an estimate of a fish's length and weight using AI.
A tip from a listener on great places to fish close to Chicago.
Can I get a rod that is suitable for carp and for large salmon in the Great Lakes?
How can I target suckers on a fly rod?
Would a leader with a long stiff butt and abrupt taper be a good one for fishing big Chubbies in western rivers?
What do you think of double taper leaders?
What are some fly fishing books form the 1960s and earlier that are still worth reading?
A great tip from a listener on using hockey laces for wading boots.
A tip from a listener on a hot fly to use in the Driftless Region during the winter.
Is there a trick for fly casting in rough seas?

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi and welcome to the Orvis fly fishing podcast.
0:16.0	This is your host, Tom Rosenbauer.
0:18.1	And my guest this week is Chris Nichols.
0:21.3	Chris is a host of a very, very popular photography podcast with a company called Petapixel.
0:32.1	And if you're into photography at all, you've probably seen Chris's videos either on YouTube
0:37.1	or on the Petapixel website.
0:40.3	Chris is also a fanatic fly fisher and wanted to talk to him about the use of smartphones for
0:50.6	fly fishing pictures because honestly, that's what a lot of us use these days for our fishing
0:56.6	pictures and and it was funny when I when I talked to Chris he actually admits that with the
1:04.6	with the just piles of photography equipment that he either owns or he uses because he does a lot of equipment
1:15.1	lens and camera body evaluations on his podcast.
1:19.8	He takes most of his fishing pictures with a smartphone, with an iPhone.
1:27.1	So I think you'll get a lot of good tips on this podcast,
1:33.6	a lot of good tips on how to safely release a fish
1:36.8	and not spend a lot of time getting your picture lined up.
1:40.6	And also, what a phone can and can't do. And then the age old question, is an iPhone really
1:48.5	waterproof? So if you have a phone in your pocket and you take fishing pictures at all, I think
1:55.5	this will be a valuable podcast. I know I learned a lot in it. A few announcements before we do the flybox. One is that the
2:05.0	Mirage USA reels right now are 30% off. I'm recording this podcast on November 30th, 2025.
2:14.4	So from now until, well, who knows when, you can get the Mirage USA reel for 30% off.
2:22.7	This is the reel that I use in all of my saltwater in big game fishing, and I have for many years.
2:30.5	And these reels have never failed me.
	...

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