Another year of fishing in the Yellowstone Region is behind us. It’s funny how time seems to go by so fast, and our perception of time changes as we get older. To think it has been eight years since I moved to Montana is unbelievable, and that it has been almost three years since I started running this blog is just as crazy.
As we end the year, I am so grateful for all of you who take the time to read the blog, send me messages, and support the continuation of The Curious Angler. When I started the blog, I didn’t know if anyone would ever read or enjoy my content, so you can imagine how crazy it feels to have people all over the West reading my blog posts. I hope you know how much I appreciate it.
In this article, I share the current state of The Curious Angler and what I hope for in the future. I hope you had an amazing year of fishing and are already planning trips for next year.
2025 Blog Review
The Curious Angler is a fly fishing blog where I share my experiences fishing in the Yellowstone Region. The focus is on the fish, bugs, and views that make this region so special to the fly angler. If you would like to learn more about The Curious Angler, check out the updated “About Me” page and this article on why I started the blog.
The Blog Is Growing!
While I like to reflect on the blog’s numbers, the success of The Curious Angler will not be determined by a Google Analytics report. I say this every year. My goal with the blog is to run it and enjoy it for a long time. In a world where there are many ulterior motives and people trying to make an extra buck, I’m just looking to do something for the challenge and joy of it. I keep this in mind when reflecting on the numbers each year.
The Curious Angler has continued to grow throughout the year. There are now 148 articles on the website. It’s hard to believe I have written that many blog posts, given the ever-growing list of ideas I have for future articles. I still don’t even consider myself a writer, but the growing evidence to the contrary is slowly diminishing the imposter syndrome I consistently feel.
The most popular articles for 2025 were:
“The Best Of John Gierach” (1,073 views)
“Fishing On Ladders- Pyramid Lake Fishing Recap” (788 views)
In 2025, the blog received 9,052 views from 4,885 active users. This is up from 2,792 views from 1,080 active users in 2024.
As you can see, the blog’s popularity has grown considerably over the past year. This makes me feel all sorts of things. I am excited to reach more people and, hopefully, help more anglers on the water. But it also makes me feel an increased pressure to consistently put out educational/enjoyable content without adding even more pressure on our beloved fisheries. This balance will continue to be a challenge going forward, but I do love writing and running the blog despite its challenges. And I am so thankful and excited that more and more people are following along. It’s so awesome.
Major Changes In 2025
The big addition to the blog this year was the Fly Box page. The fly box is where I share the flies I carry for the hatches of the Greater Yellowstone Region. As I tie new flies and add them to my fly boxes, I plan to update the pages so there are always fresh flies to view. I am excited with how this page turned out, and have had lots of positive feedback thus far. Taking pictures of flies is not easy, and I have to thank my amazing wife for helping me out with the camera.
Speaking of pictures, I also updated the photos page to highlight the fish, bugs, and views of the Yellowstone Region. This is one of my favorite aspects of the blog, and I hope to update this gallery with more photos highlighting what makes the region so special to the fly fisherman and woman.
Each week, I send out The Curious Angler newsletter. Signing up for the newsletter is the best way to stay updated with The Curious Angler. In the email, I share new blog posts, a weekly regional fishing report, and the flies that came off my vise that week. It goes out every Thursday at 7:00 am Mountain Time. The newsletter list has doubled in the last year, growing to 52 subscribers. This is so awesome, as I love putting the email together each week, so I am pleased to see people are enjoying it.
Plans For 2026
Going into 2026, I hope to continue posting better and better content for you. I have many article ideas related to fishing in the Yellowstone Region, fly tying, and trip recaps. If you have any suggestions or things you would like me to write about, please reach out. I’d love to know what you like best so I can do more of it. The goal is to continue posting one blog post per week. This is plenty for me as I balance the blog with a full-time career in finance, time with my beautiful wife, and many days on the river.
I am taking the biggest trip of my young life this March, as my wife and I are heading off to the South Island of New Zealand for two weeks. We have been looking forward to this trip for a long time and plan to travel around the island, see all the sights, hike, and fish. While it is not necessarily a fishing trip, I am excited to test my skills against New Zealand’s big and spooky trout for a few days. I plan to do a trip recap on the blog when it’s all said and done.
I have two new pages I am considering for the year. The first is a page dedicated to the fishing report. Right now, I send out weekly fishing reports in the newsletter. They are rather specific to what I am seeing or thinking about regarding weekend fishing plans. I try to make them different from what you would find on a fly shop’s website. I think it would be fun to have a live page on the website for everyone who doesn’t subscribe to the email list. This is something to look forward to in 2026.
Another page I really want to create is one dedicated to giving back to the Yellowstone Region by highlighting the many organizations that work hard to protect and conserve it. This region faces many challenges that threaten what makes this region so special. Climate change, increased recreational use, threats to public lands, and development, to name a few. I hope to use the blog’s platform to raise awareness and support for the organizations fighting against them. So in 2026, I may implement a page that makes it easy for my readers to learn about the issues the Yellowstone Region faces and to give back to the organizations fighting to protect it. Stay tuned!
Does The Blog Make Money?
This brings me to a point I want to make to round out this article. As the blog has grown, some people ask me whether I make any money from it. I want to make it clear that at this point in the blog’s journey, I do not make any money from The Curious Angler, nor do I want to.
It actually costs me almost $500 a year to keep the website running and pay for everything I use to write and post. Not to mention the many hours it takes each week to publish a new blog post, send the email, and update the website. I have never been paid for a blog post, and I do all of this just for the fun of doing it. I value the freedom to write about what I want, when I want. I worry that monetizing the blog may sacrifice some of this freedom.
Now that’s not to say I wouldn’t consider profiting off the blog at some point. I understand this could always be an option, and who knows where it could take me, but by no means is it the goal. If you know me, you know I am very intentional in my decisions and hesitant about obligations and money. Regardless, the blog is by no means popular enough to profit from, and may never be, given how media preferences are going and how I run the blog. When I say I do this for the fun and challenge, I really mean it.
As we head into the new year, I just want to say again how grateful I am to hear from you and know that a few people out there read my blog posts. It has been a fun journey so far, and I look forward to many more years of writing about fishing the Yellowstone Region. I hope you have a wonderful end to the year and holiday season. I also hope you have many trips planned to fish the Yellowstone Region in 2026. Hit me up if you ever have any questions or just want to chat about fishing.
Thanks so much. Stay curious out there.
Nick
4 thoughts on “End Of Year Blog Review (2025)”
Awesome What you really need to do is start a YouTube channel. Then eventually make that into a subscription
Thanks Paul! Thank you so much for following along this year and the great input all year long. It means a lot. Maybe I will start a Youtube channel sometime, but don’t know if it’s something I’d want to do right now. I hope your shoulder surgery goes well and you have a quick recovery so you can do some fishing this year. Let me know when you head to the creek and would like some company. I would love to fish with you. 🙂
Nick, you should have a YouTube channel as well. But that may take more of your time for both. Whenever I read other Blogs, I always hope they mention somewhere what kind of music they listen to. I believe music goes hand and hand with fly fishing. My favorite part about the 25 season were the photos. These photos can be on anyone of the covers of any fly-fishing magazine out there. Looking forward to 2026 of the Curious Angler.
Happy New Year!!
Your awesome Dan, thank you so much for following along all this time. Maybe a Youtube channel is a good idea, we will see. I had a great time taking photos this year and hope to get better as I learn more and fine tune my photography. Happy New Year Dan!
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