Skip Morris PowerPoint Presentations

General Information About Skip's Talks

Skip's PowerPoint/Keynote/Zoom shows are each about 50 minutes in length.

The photography is primarily Skip's and that of his wife, Carol Ann Morris, a professional outdoor photographer whose work has appeared in his articles and books and those of other fly-fishing writers, but also on the covers and interior pages of such magazines and books as Grey's Sporting Journal, Fly Fisherman, Yale Angler's Journal, American Angler, Fly Fishing & Tying Journal, and America's Favorite Flies.

About Skip:

Skip is the author of 22 books on fly fishing and fly tying (among them, Fly Tying Made Clear and Simple, Morris & Chan on Fly Fishing Trout Lakes, The Art of Tying the Dry Fly,Fly Fisher's Guide to Western River Hatches, 365 Fly Fishing Tips for Trout, Bass, & Panfish, and Top 12 Nymphs for Trout Streams), and has spoken for sportsman's shows, fly-fishing shows, and fly clubs in Arizona, New Jersey, Toronto, Alabama, Illinois—all over the US, Canada, and overseas.

Skip's PowerPoint/Keynote/Zoom Shows

"Creeks"

• Through a mix of entertainment and useful information, you and Skip explore that intricate, elegant little world of creeks ("small streams," some call them) and their fish. The creeks are divided into types: riffle creeks, meadow creeks, and tiny spring creeks. Tackle, techniques, and flies are discussed. But here and there, Skip takes you on brief fishing trips to some wonderful creeks, including one in Sweden.

"Fishing the Surface of a Trout Lake"

• Trout lakes are sadly misunderstood--and they represent a whole world of fly fishing that too many anglers, either through unfamiliarity or uncertainty, are missing. In this show Skip takes you by the hand and patiently guides you through the techniques, tackle, and flies that take trout feeding in the top layer of a lake. Here you will learn about lake entomology, the intricacies of stalking and catching path-rising trout, when to expect surface feeding on chironomids, and a great deal more, along with ideas and images that entertain.

"Fishing the Depths of a Trout Lake"

• As in streams, trout in lakes do most of their feeding well down. In this slide show Skip explores how to fish with sinking lines and with floating lines and weighted flies on very long leaders. You will learn how to determine if trout in a lake are feeding deep, what they are feeding on, and how to turn this knowledge into good fishing. Of course, depth is relative--in the case of lake trout, it ranges from only a half dozen feet down to thirty.

"Fly Fishing for Largemouth Bass and Bluegills"

• Fly fishing for warm-water species is another world from trout fishing--a challenging, fascinating, rewarding world for the fly fisher. This is largely an instructional show--the flies and rods and lines and leaders and techniques and principles that will get you out and catching these much misunderstood and absolutely worthy fishes. But as with all Skip's shows, your audience will be entertained. Surprisingly, Skip has twice taken this show to the Deep South--the best bass water in the world--by request, to inform the local fly fishers on what they are missing and how to take advantage of what they have. Interest in fly fishing for bass and pan fishes is clearly growing; accordingly, so is interest among fly fishers in this marvelous still-under-appreciated sport and opportunity.

  
  
  
  





"River Smallmouths on the Fly"

• As with the other shows, this one is a blend of techniques and flies and strategies, some plain fun fishing, great photos (taken mostly by Skip's pro-photographer wife, Carol) and humor.

  You'll learn to read a smallmouth river, stream, or creek, how to choose between a streamer and a popping bug and how to fish both effectively, the importance of crayfish in this fishing and how to fish imitations of these grumpy crustaceans, floating lines and sinking lines--the works!

"Make Dry Fly and Emerger Fishing Work"

• Covers dry flies of all kinds and floating to half-floating emerger-flies. This was a good show not long ago—but Skip went back, dismantled it, rebuilt it almost from scratch. So it's gone from a good, solid show to a really strong one. Beginners and seasoned fly fishers alike will find plenty of interest here: when to and not to fish an attractor (along with a look at some excellent attractor dry flies), casts for achieving a drag-free fly drift, how to sink tippet to turn it almost invisible, dry flies on creeks Vs. dry flies on rivers, when to twitch a dry fly, a close look at various dry-fly designs and how each is designed to be fished, considerations for choosing the right fly to imitate various insects, and so on, and so on...

  Not merely a dry classroom presentation, "Make Dry Fly and Emerger Fishing Work" has stories and humor woven through it, to entertain as well as inform.






“Make Soft-Hackle and Wet-Fly Fishing Work”

• These very old flies and the techniques by which they are fished were for a long time all but forgotten—but they really do catch trout in rivers. And they catch them sometimes when other flies and methods won’t. Soft hackles and wets can drum up trout that are in a sour mood and aren’t rising, but they can also be deadly during a hatch of mayflies or caddis, even midges.

  Skip came to his understanding of these flies and the ways they are fished through reading the works of, and fishing with Dave Hughes. Skip has also learned a lot, both directly and indirectly, from wet-fly master Davy Wotton.

  You’ll learn to bounce a wet atop the water to drive trout a little mad, how to solidly hook a high proportion of the trout that take both your wets and soft-hackles (an area where many fly fishers have trouble), the rigs, the flies, and more.

Tying-Clinic Topics

Skip has taught so many tying clinics over the years that it's now easy for him to vary them to suit your needs. They can run from 40 minutes in length to three hours. Following are the subjects on which he is most solid:

• Trout Nymphs
• Trout Dry Flies
• Trout Emerger-Flies
• Trout Lake Flies
• Trout Flies in General
• Bass & Panfish Flies
• Spun-Hair Flies
• Flies for Sea-Run Cutthroat Trout and Salmon

Fly Casting

Skip is a seasoned and very good caster who has done enough presentations on casting that he gives a polished one--but there are people who do nothing but cast and teach casting and they can take this further than he can. Still, in fairness, he really does a valuable and entertaining casting presentation, so long as it's on beginner to middle-range topics such as the following:

• Basic Fly Casting
• Trout-Lake Casting and Retrieves
• Casting on Creeks
• Slack Line Casts

A Few Words about Skip's Past Appearances

"Thanks, Skip, for speaking at our Annual Banquet. I hope you had as much fun as we did. Your presentation was perfect in content and length."

—Craig Anderson program director,
Columbia Basin Fly Casters, Tri-Cities, Washington

"'Thank you so much for the amazing presentation!!"

—Penelope Gadd-Coster program director,
Russian River Fly Fishers, Santa Rosa, California

"Skip Morris has appeared as a speaker at our club's annual banquet and also numerous times at our annual, club sponsored, Midwest Fly Fishing Expo. He is a very knowledgeable and entertaining speaker that thoroughly researches his presentation topics.

Skip Morris relates very well to fly-fishing groups of all levels. He is eager to share with his audiences his vast fly-fishing and fly-tying knowledge that he has gathered from many years of both academic and on-the-water fly-fishing research and experiences."

—Daniel Finstad, presentation and speaker chairman,
Midwest Fly Fishing Expo, Michigan

"My organization, the MidSouth Fly Fishers, in Memphis, TN, had the privilege of having Skip Morris speak to us in 2014. We put together an all-day presentation covering topics such as reading the water, warm and cold water tactics, and instructional fly tying. Working with Skip was extremely easy. He was both personable and professional, and even provided us with insight into ways we could increase the polish, professionalism and marketability of the event.

During the course of the event, Skip was able to weave together anecdotes and humor with valuable educational content to keep the attendees engaged for the whole day. Attendees were extremely satisfied with Skip's presentations."

—Mike Moskal president,
MidSouth Fly Fishers, Memphis, Tennessee

“Great presentation for the Bellingham club. Focusing on [fly-tying] techniques for a lifetime instead of a fly for a day was fantastic.”

—Marion Hiller programs,
4th Corner Fly Fishers, Bellingham, WA

”Skip, that was one of the best presentations we have had. We will look forward to working with you again to speak again at a future BUFF meeting."

—Jack Gormley, program chair,
Buckeye United Fly Fishers, Cincinnati, Ohio

Are you interested in hiring Skip to speak for your fly fishing club or Expo?

Click here to contact him...