Fly fishing is about far more than catching fish. It is about rivers and lakes, weather and water, the anticipation of a rise, the places fishing takes us and the people we meet along the way

It can be absorbing, frustrating, occasionally ridiculous and, on the right day, completely unforgettable.

tight-lines.net is an independent digital fly-fishing publication launched in August 2026 by journalist and fiction writer David King.

The aim is simple: to create an intelligent, entertaining and useful magazine for people who love fly fishing, whether you've been casting a fly for forty years or you're still trying to work out why your leader has somehow tied itself into three knots.

We cover trout, salmon and other fly-caught species; rivers, chalk streams, reservoirs and stillwaters; tackle and equipment; techniques and fly patterns; conservation and the environment; destinations worth fishing; and the characters, stories and traditions that make fly fishing such a compelling pursuit.

But tight-lines.net isn't intended to be another catalogue of tackle reviews and fishing reports. We want to explore the wider world of fly fishing: the great waters, the people who look after them, the pressures facing our rivers, the innovations changing the sport and, above all, the simple pleasure of being beside water with a fly rod in your hand.

Independent by design

tight-lines.net is independently published.

That matters.

We aren't part of a large publishing group and we don't have to fill pages simply because another issue is due at the printers. Digital publishing allows us to publish when we have something worth publishing, and to continually build a useful archive of fly-fishing writing that doesn't disappear when the next issue arrives.

We'll recommend good equipment when we find it, question things when they deserve questioning and try not to take either ourselves or the fishing industry too seriously.

Fishing near and far

Britain has an extraordinary variety of fly fishing.

From a tiny wild-brown-trout stream to a windswept reservoir, a Hampshire chalk stream or a Scottish salmon river, every piece of water has its own character and its own stories.

We'll explore those waters, but we'll also look further afield.

Fly fishing has become genuinely international, taking anglers from Ireland and Iceland to Scandinavia, the Alps, North America and some of the wildest places on earth. We'll bring together destinations, practical advice and first-hand experiences to help you decide where might be worth taking a rod next.

For experienced rods - and newcomers

Fly fishing can sometimes appear unnecessarily complicated from the outside.

Lines have numbers. Rods have weights. Leaders have formulas. Flies have names that sound as though they were invented in a Victorian public house.

It doesn't need to be intimidating.

Alongside material for experienced anglers, tight-lines.net will publish straightforward guides for anyone discovering the sport: choosing tackle, learning to cast, selecting flies, reading water and understanding the etiquette and traditions that aren't always explained to newcomers.

Everyone started somewhere.

Access all areas

Become a subscriber and you'll have access to the complete tight-lines.net archive as it grows, features, fishing destinations, practical guides, tackle, techniques, interviews, opinion and stories from the water.

Think of it as your own expanding fly-fishing library, available whenever you want it.

Fresh stories, delivered

New articles can also come directly to your inbox.

No algorithms deciding what you should see. No endlessly scrolling social-media feed. When we publish something worth reading, you'll know about it.

You can read it immediately or save it for the evening when the rods are back in the cupboard and the kettle, or something stronger, has been poured.

A community around the water

Some of the best fishing knowledge has always been passed from one angler to another.

We want tight-lines.net to develop in the same spirit.

Subscribers are part of the publication, and we'd like to hear about the waters you fish, the flies that work, the tackle you've discovered, the places you've visited and the issues you think deserve greater attention.

Because ultimately tight-lines.net isn't just about fish.

It's about why we go fishing in the first place.

Subscribe

If you enjoy tight-lines.net, please consider subscribing.

Your support helps keep the publication independent and allows us to commission, research and publish more original fly-fishing journalism.

And wherever you're fishing next:

tight lines.