Articles

The muskies most likely to hit a fly? You might be surprised.

A new study reveals surprising details about musky behavior
Photo: Riplips Custom Musky Flies.

This just in. Muskies are hard to catch. That is all.

OK, that’s a little simplistic, but the results of a new study show that muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) are, indeed, the “fish of 10,000 casts,” and that catch-and-keep practices involving muskies might be the worst thing anglers can do for the musky fishery and for other anglers.

Interview: Montana Brothers Rodworks' Dan and Doug Daufel

An interview with two of the world’s most interesting fly rod designers
Photo: Dale Spartas

For at least the last 30 years, the majority of fly rod manufacturers have moved in the same general direction. Fly rods have grown stiffer and faster, which means they require more force to bend and they’re harder to cast. At the same time, the consensus among America’s top anglers seems clear. Today’s rods are not as much fun to fish.

EPA issues final determination blocking development of Pebble Mine

Thirteen years later, Pebble Mine's millions of opponents finally have something to cheer about
Spawning sockeye salmon gather at a creek mouth in a lake in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Thirteen years after tribal communities in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska first petitioned the federal government to use its authority under the Clean Water Act to protect the watershed from the threats posed by the proposed Pebble Mine, those communities finally have something to celebrate. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized 404(c) Clean Water Act protections that will stop the proposed Pebble Mine from being built at the headwaters of Bristol Bay.

Trophies

The night I fished Alligator Bend with the men of letters
Photo: Tim Schulz.

When my friend Jerry Dennis invited me to join him and his friends Chad Pastotnik, James McCullough, and Tim Tebeau for a few days on the Trophy Waters of the Au Sable River, I worried I’d be out of place in this group of tremendously talented writers and artists. But like Jerry, his friends’ kindness and humility matched their accomplishments. I would be okay.

Book review: Fly fishing Houston and southeast Texas

A guide to urban fly fishing in one of the U.S.'s largest metropolitan areas
Photo: Chris Hunt

The directions were a bit odd for a meet-up to go fishing. I’ve joined fishing buddies at campsites, mile markers, highway intersections and rural road crossings. I’ve met up at bars and convenience stores. Once I met a buddy from Utah at an abandoned liquor store in the middle of nowhere in southeast Wyoming.

But Rob McConnell’s directions for me as I drove north out of Houston were the strangest I’d ever heard.

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