Hardman Fishing Adventures

My brother Andrew and I both work a regular 9-5. We spend just about every ounce of time off fishing or doing something fishing related. Sometimes we just run down the road to our local river, and sometimes we travel across the country. Either way we enjoy spending time on the water and our passion lies in not only the fish themselves but in the adventures they take us on. Last summer I flew out to Colorado and met up with my brother to spend 8 days fly fishing, filming, and exploring the southern rockies. We did everything from catching big brown trout on streamers, to fishing the blue waters of alpine lakes for cruising cutthroat. This adventure was one of our best yet. Welcome to the Southern Rocky Mountains. Hope everyone enjoyed this Colorado Fly Fishing Film! #outdoors #troutfishing #fishing #flyfishing #nature #colorado

FLY FISHING ALMOST HEAVEN!! Fly fishing for brook trout in the Appalachians is something I'm fortunate enough to do pretty often. I have some incredible streams not too far from where I live so I often get the chance to chase the east's only native "trout". In this video I went to one of the prettiest streams I've ever gotten to fish with the fly rod and my dry fly to attempt and catch some brook trout. With warmer weather starting to cause some good hatches to pop off I knew the fishing would at least be decent. After fishing a tiny creek and catching several mountain gems, I switched to a new spot and was able to catch a really nice fish (10-11 inches) that was incredibly colored up. These little fish are like a piece of art. I hope you enjoyed the video! Thanks for watching #fishing #flyfishing #troutfishing #outdoors

New video is out now! Go check it out. Fly Fishing and spin fishing for trout and bass is always a blast. #outdoors #nature #troutfishing #trout

I decided to try and catch some native brook trout with the Tenkara Rod... it's been a long time coming. In this video I had a relaxing day in the mountains fishing for brook trout in some small creeks. I didn't Catch a ton of crazy fish, but the point was to just decompress and relax. Sometimes I forget that fly fishing is like therapy to myself and many others. I hope you enjoy the video! #tenkara #flyfishing #troutfishing #outdoors #nature #relaxing #mountains

30 day fishing challenge!! Last month I decided to set myself a challenge to catch a fish every day for 30 days. I was confident in my ability to catch a fish every day given the time… but time is something that we’re all short on. I work a full time job so I knew my biggest challenge would be catching fish during the work week. I scouted out areas close to home for several weeks before I decided to start the challenge. I knew this would test my abilities, my patience, and my sanity.. but at the end of the day the fish… and Mother Nature.. would be the determining factor. In this video you get just about everything. You'll see me fly fishing, spin fishing, and tenkara fishing. You'll see me trout fishing, bass fishing, and just generally going after anything that will bite. The name of the game was to catch a fish ever day, I wasn't too concerned with the size or species, nor was I concerned with what I was using to catch them. This was however an artificial only challenge... because let's be honest live bait would have been cheating. I caught trout several big brown trout, some rainbow trout, a few largemouth bass, a few smallmouth bass, some brook trout and more. The difficulty of this challenge was the lack of time, not necessarily the act of catching fish. I truly hope everyone enjoys this longer form higher effort YouTube video. If it does well I'll do more similar videos in the future. #fishing #troutfishing #bassfishing #flyfishing #spinfishing #outdoors

BREAKING MY $700 FLY ROD!! Fly fishing for big brown trout is easily my favorite thing to do when it's on!! In this video I go nymphing for brown trout with a buddy of mine on one of my favorite rivers. With rain recently bumping the river up a little bit the fish were very active. I caught 3 really good wild brown trout and a few nice native brook trout as well. This was one of my favorite days on the water this year and I hope you enjoy the video! #flyfishing #troutfishing #outdoors #fishing

Fly fishing for brown trout and rainbow trout in a desert!! This creek was loaded... #flyfishing #outdoors #desert #nature #troutfishing

These are 5 things I wish I knew when I started Fly Fishing for Trout in the US!! Before we get started my intent with this video is to have something that new fly anglers can use for years to come. So if you’re someone who’s been fly fishing for a while leave a comment and let people know what’s something you wish you knew when you started fly fishing… and then like a few comments that you think were interesting / important. That way new anglers can read through the comments and learn things even beyond this video. 1. There are 3 types of flies… streamers, dry flies, and nymphs. Jig streamers and wooly buggers you can work exactly how you’d work a jig for any other species of fish and are easy to pick up as a beginner. If you have a stimulator, caddis, and a parachute Adams you’re set for dry flies (at least out east). And for out west having a Griffith’s gnat is always handy. There are a few basic nymphs, pheasant tail, hares ear, prince nymph, and rainbow warrior, that catch fish anywhere in the world. Fly sizes are simple, the smaller the number the bigger the fly. For example a size 12 fly is much bigger than a size 18, and so on. The most “normal” sizes for flies range from around six 12 to size 20, with any number lower than 12 being really big, and any number higher than 20 being really small. 2. Fly selection isn’t that important. Everybody talks about fly choice but its such a small piece of the equation. It is far more important for you to get your fly down in front of the fish than it is for you to have exactly matched what they’re eating. For example, if you don’t see any fish rising don’t throw a dry fly and expect to have a killer day on the water. There are obviously exceptions to everything, but generally if you have the flies I mentioned in the flies section in the beginning of the video, you can and will catch fish almost anywhere, regardless of what is hatching and what isn’t. And if you’re struggling and feel like you did need to match the hatch, flip over a rock and match your flies with what you see crawling around, or stand for a second and look at what bugs are flying around the river. 3. Trash flies aren’t trash, people just don’t like how well they work. “Trash flies” are flies like a squirmy worm, mop fly, greenie weenie, or an egg. If you don’t have trash flies in your box then you’re missing out on some of the best fishing you can have on the water. These flies just flat out catch fish, and when you’re knew that’s important. The lesson for section 3 is just have fun and catch some fish. There is no right or wrong way to fly fish and catching fish as a new fly fisherman is the most important thing you need to learn if you’re ever going to stick with it. 4. If you’re new, use an indicator rig or a jig streamer. Indicators are just a fancy way of saying bobber, and if you drop a squirmy below an indicator you’re essentially bobber fishing with a worm. If you drop another fly down there then you’ll have double the chance of hooking up. This isn’t the coolest way to catch a trout, BUT it’s a great way to Catch a few fish and get the hang of casting out, fighting a fish, and landing it. Jig streamers are another great way to get started just because they’re so similar to jigging for any other species of fish. Once you’ve caught some fish and get the hang of fly fishing you can start trying new rigs and getting more particular with how you catch fish (if you want to). 5. What you should and shouldn’t spend money one… for example Tippet is just thinner diameter fishing line and It’s slightly overrated. Let me explain: Tippet is theoretically designed so that you can throw higher pound test on smaller diameter line and spook less fish. The sizing looks complicated but it’s not that bad, I’ll throw up a general tippet to pound test conversion on the screen. Generally when you’re fly fishing you will use 3x to 6x depending on the day, with the most common being 4x-5x. But if you’re throwing a streamer you have no reason to use tippet, and honestly in a lot of nymphing / dry fly fishing scenarios tippet isn’t needed. For years, I used regular florocarbin fishing line for streamers and had 4 pound test monofiliment in my bag for nymphing and dry fly fishing. It’s so much cheaper to use regular fishing line and in most areas it doesn’t make a difference SO that’s my 5 things I wish I knew when I started fly fishing. These are fly fishing specific, in other words I didn’t go into the ins and outs of how to catch trout because when I started fly fishing I already had been trout fishing for years. If you want more specific videos like this one, let me know in the comments below. Thanks for watching! #trout #troutfishing #outdoors #flyfishing

Fly fishing for trout with a 70 year old bamboo fly rod! It ended up being a blast with my buddy McKinley. Go check out the full video! #troutfishing #trout #outdoors #nature #waterfall

Last summer one of my buddies told me that his grandfather had given him an old bamboo rod that he believed was made sometime in the 50’s or 60’s. He mentioned that at some point he wanted to catch a trout on the rod.. so almost a year later.. we decided to try and make that happen. My buddy McKinley is a bass fisherman from North Carolina. His trout fishing experience is minimal and his fly fishing is not the most impressive thing you’ll see. Which is why I decided to take him on a hike down into the middle of nowhere to chase some native brook trout. Fishing these creeks usually doesn’t require any crazy casts and the fish see little pressure in comparison with most other rivers. In other words it was a perfect place to get on a fish using his grandpas old bamboo rod. can tell you one thing for sure.. and it’s that I’m glad we’ve got our modern rods. I think even a poor quality modern rod is easier to cast and weighs a lot less than this rod did. I’m sure some purists or old timers may not like that opinion, and I’m not saying there aren’t upsides to the older bamboo rods… but my gosh that thing was so uncomfortable to fish for any decent period of time. Let me know what you think in the comments below. This is fly fishing at it's finest! Brook Trout don't get any prettier than this! #troutfishing #flyfishing #brooktrout #outdoors #nature

Hardman Fishing Adventures West returns!! CORTLAND LINE GIVEAWAY: In this video Andrew goes fly fishing in a beautiful spring fed creek looking for rainbow trout and brown trout. He's been struggling due to the lack of open water in Colorado this winter. It seems like a lot of his favorite areas are pretty well frozen over, and the ones that aren't (tailwaters for example) have a ton of people at them. Luckily Andrew was able to find a creek with no ice just to give everyone an update. We've seen the comments asking about his whereabouts! Fly fishing Colorado this time of year is definitely gorgeous. With the snow covered Rocky Mountains are your back drop you can't really lose. Andrew was able to throw around a big streamer and catch several good fish over the course of a 2 day period. Hope you enjoyed! #trout #troutfishing #fishing #fish #outdoors #nature

Fly Fishing for my first musky on the fly!! Musky are known as the fish of 10,000 casts for a reason. A true river monster! #fishing #muskyfishing #musky #flyfishing #outdoors #nature #YouTube #shorts #youtubeshorts

CORTLAND GIVEAWAY: https://gleam.io/rQsEM/hardman-fishing-adventures-cortland-fly-line-giveaway Have you ever caught the same fish twice? How about catching a fish two times a year apart to the day? Well that's what happens in this video!! I decided to go fly fishing at a relatively local creek that I knew had some nice brook trout. I hadn't been to that stream in around a year and wanted to check it out to see if I couldn't catch a few brook trout. The weather was cold and I though the fishing would be tough... but I was wrong. As I started fish I immediately started catching some really nice trout. Then the day randomly turned into a fever dream. I heard someone call my name and looked up the mountain only to see a good friend of mine, Dillon, waving at me from above. The reason this was weird is that he's from Georgia.. so the odds of him running into me in West Virginia has got to be slim to none. You'll probably recognize him from the north Georgia trout fishing videos. After meeting up with Dillon we joined forces and got to sight fishing for a brookie with a dry fly and caught several nice fish. I then caught a fish that I recognized from last year... and after comparing spots I confirmed it was indeed a fish I had caught a year ago. The fish was in the same hole and was caught on March 18th on both years. That sort of capped off this creek fishing adventure and what was one of the weirdest days of fishing I've had in a while. Thanks for watching! #trout #troutfishing #fishing #flyfishing #outdoors #nature

Sight fishing for brook trout in a tiny mountain stream never gets old. My buddy Dillon was able to do just that last weekend on this gorgeous Appalachian native trout. Thanks for watching! #native #appalachian #troutfishing #trout #fish #outdoors #nature #fun

I CAUGHT MY FIRST MUSKY ON THE FLY!! I’m not going to lie I bought my 10 wt musky fly rod well over a year ago. I’ve tried multiple times to catch one on the fly and came up empty handed. It’s not that I don’t know how to catch them… the fish has been an obsession of mine and on and off since I was in high School.. but catching one on the fly is bordering on stupidity. The fish are difficult enough to catch on conventional gear, without added difficulty of fly fishing. But when I got a text from my buddy Nate asking if I wanted to float a section of river with him and Beau from natives fly shop, I was all for it. After several hours of fly fishing I finally found what I had been looking for... the fish of 10,000 casts! We celebrated as soon as the fish hit the net. It's a memory I won't soon forget. We netted a total of 3 muskies on the day! That’s how musky fishing is. Hours and hours of nothing, filled with a few moments of chaos that will make it seem like all of the casts were worth it. Beau did have a chance at one musky on the day but lost the fish after a brief fight. So that’s the story of my first ever musky on the fly. I’ll probably be making more of these videos in the future because after my float with Nate and Beau has reignited my passion for the fish of 10,000 casts. If you liked the video, let me know in the comments below! And as always, thanks for watching. #muskyfishing #fishing #flyfishing #fish #outdoors #nature

This is a big brown trot I caught last summer while fly fishing one of my local streams. These fish fight hard and are so fun to catch!! Thanks for watching. #flyfishing #troutfishing #outdoors #nature #fish

Is spending 1000 dollars on a rod and reel combo worth it? That's a tough question to answer. One thing is for sure... I like the combo. And fly fishing is about having fun. I think it’s hard to judge what is worth your money and what isn’t. I put a lot of value in the small things when it comes to fishing because I’m fortunate enough to be able to spend a lot of time on the water. So if something is going to make me a more efficient angler then I’m drawn to it, which is really what having this combo does. Having said that I am in no way advocating for anyone, especially newer anglers, to spend anywhere near this amount of money on a rod and reel. If you’ve watched this channel for a while you know that I’ve used everything from Walmart combos, to a literal stick to catch trout. So you certainly don’t need to spend anywhere near this amount of money to catch fish… But for anglers who spend a lot of time on the water you can certainly tell the difference between a cheap and expensive rod and reel combo. Does that make it worth the money when a seasoned angler can also probably catch fish on anything and doesn’t need the expensive rod? That’s a tough question to answer. Let me know what you think in the comments below. Fly fishing is a hobby that can be as cheap or as expensive as you want it to be. But just have fun when you're out there on the water and catch some trout! Thanks for watching. #outdoors #nature #fishing #troutfishing #flyfishing #adventure #review

My brother Andrew and I caught 3 big brown trout on back to back casts in one hole in Colorado. Trout fishing in Colorado rarely disappoints and I hope you guys and girls enjoy this fly fishing adventure. This was from a full length video that we made almost a year ago so you should definitely check that out. Thanks for everything! #flyfishing #troutfishing #nature #outdoors #adventure #trout

I spent 3 days looking for native trout the Appalachian mountains. I explored 3 different areas and fished creeks I had never even laid my eyes on. The goals was not only to explore some cool areas, but to hopefully show you all how I find new water to fish. On day 1 I found arguably one of the coolest places I've found so far in the mountains. I found a small stream with 2 pretty major springs feeding it. One had a small hole in the ground with a brook trout in it, and the second had a cave with a brook trout in it. Catching the fish in this creek was a challenge, but it was fun. On day 2 I fished a larger creek in hopes of catching some big fish, but I was unsuccessful. It was one of the toughest days of brook trout fishing I've had in some time. Day 3 is when the fishing got really good. I was able to catch several good sized trout with my fly rod, 2 of which were pushing 10 inches. Which for an Appalachian native brook trout is really good!! Fly fishing and exploring nature is always a treat, and I wanted to show you all how much work goes in to finding new water to fish. I hope this video answered some questions and will help you catching more fish in your future adventures! #nature #outdoors #adventure #fishing #fish #flyfishing #troutfishing

While fly fishing last summer I hooked and landed a 26 inch wild brown trout on a stonefly. It took me a few minutes to land the fish but it was a beast for the small creek that I caught it out of! Thanks for watching and don't forget to subscribe! #nature #outdoors #fish #flyfishing #troutfishing

This is one of the the biggest brown trout ever caught on the fly on YouTube! At 28 inches it is a fish that my brother will never forget. Hopefully on day we will cross paths with that fish again. Fly fishing or big trout is never an easy task, but when it works out there's nothing more fun. If you like this short then check out the full video!! #fish #troutfishing #trout #browntrout #nature #outdoors #flyfishing

Dry Fly Fishing in February??? What a day!! In this video I went winter fly fishing for brook trout. I had never been to this particular creek and had blue lined it out of curiosity. To my pleasant surprise it was LOADED with trout, and some really good ones too! These native brook trout are such special fish! The most interesting thing about this particular day was the adventure I had in the outdoors. I ran into a particularly impressive and interesting waterfall and figured out that the creek runs subsurface. In other words the creek is dry for a solid half mile. Interestingly enough I couldn't find fish above the section that runs under ground, meaning the spring is probably limestone fed which allows the lower section to be so productive. This tiny creek was full of surprises! If you enjoyed this video let me know in the comments!! #fishing #troutfishing #flyfishing