Articles

Making steelhead 'the fish of a hundred casts'

Forget "the fish of 1000 casts", let's improve our odds.

by Kurt Beardslee - Friday, May 1st, 2015

Photo: Brian Bennett.

In Washington, anglers do not count steelhead by the number of fish caught per day, but by fish caught per season. This grueling reality has earned steelhead the moniker “the fish of a thousand casts.” But this epithet is not a tribute to steelhead. Rather it is a dubious distinction because steelhead are not particularly hard to catch. They are just very hard to find.

Review: Patagonia Foot Tractor Wading Boots

Still clinging to your old felt boots? Now you can stop.

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Apr 29th, 2015

After almost a year of heavy use, there's still a lot of life left in the Foot Tractor's aluminum bars.

I’ve been a proponent of rubber-soled boots since they first became available, having eagerly tossed my felt-soled boots into a corner in the basement where they’ve remained ever since. Whether or not felt soles conclusively play a role in transporting river-destroying pests like didymo and whirling disease was always of less interest to me than the common sense likelihood that they do, and so giving them up was easy.

Free fly fishing classes from Orvis

Get expert help with the challenges facing new anglers, for free.

by Ben Kryzinski - Tuesday, Apr 28th, 2015

Free classes are available in over 40 states.

Fly fishing isn't a sport that is generous with its rewards to novices. To a beginner, the gear is confusing and catching fish can difficult or even seem impossible at times. Knots, tangles and the bird's nests of monofilament that it seems only beginners have the knack to create can push a new angler to unspeakable acts where nets are tossed into forests and rods are kicked into rivers. Often, the key to avoiding such calamities is having an instructor to help navigate the choppiness of the waters faced by new fly fishermen and women.

This land was your land

There's an attempted robbery underway, and the crooks have damn near pulled it off.

by Matthew Copeland - Monday, Apr 27th, 2015

Photo: Steven Brutger

Stacks of informative articles and level-headed opinion pieces have been written of late about our slinking progress toward wholesale public land transfer and the ongoing efforts to stop it.

Cabulco volcano unlikely to impact Patagonia's fishing

Expect Patagonia trout fishing to go on being the best in the world.

by Chris Hunt - Friday, Apr 24th, 2015

The Traful River courses through one of the valleys hardest hit by the 2011 Chilean eruption. Today, the river remains crowded with healthy juvenile and adult trout (photo: Chad Shmukler).

While much of the world marvels at the incredible photos coming out of Chile, where the Calbuco volcano erupted twice over the last few days and spewed a massive cloud of ash high into the sky, there are probably more than a few anglers wondering what might become of their planned trips to Patagonia to chase trout next fall and winter.