Articles

A boy again, in Patagonia

In late summer and autumn, the minnows run in the Collón Curá.

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, May 4th, 2015

Patagonia River Guides' Alex Knull holds a silvery Collon Cura rainbow (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Alex oars us through a relatively shallow but wide and burly riffle on the lower reaches of Argentina's famed Collón Curá river, working hard to bring the boat across to a back eddy on the far bank before the current sweeps us farther downstream. It’s a fine looking stretch of water, to say the absolute least. As it turns, from one side of the river to the next, a streambed of terraced shelves is plainly visible to the eye, each shelf creating a spillover beneath the riffle’s surface currents, most of which are sure to be rife with trout.

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.

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