Articles

Dr. Slick Unveils Typhoon Pliers

by Ben Kryzinski - Tuesday, Jul 8th, 2014

Dr. Slick's new Typhoon pliers.

Continuing the trend of new product announcements in advance of the IFTD/ICAST show in Orlando, Dr. Slick has unveiled their lineup of new tools and gadgets for the coming year. Included in their new product offerings are their Typhoon pliers, a pair of premium pliers that are targeted at fly and conventional anglers alike.

Dr. Slick's new Typhoon pliers are made of 6061-T6 aircraft quality anodized, salt-water resistant aluminum that is fully machined, not die cast. Also featured are non-slip rubber grips and a self-opening
spring. The Typhoon's cutters are HR (Rockwell Hardness) 70+, which Dr. Slick describes as "lethal on all monofilament, new age braid and synthetic lines plus coated wire up to 60-pound." The pliers' jaws offer a half smooth and half striated design.

Dorothy Was Wrong. And Right.

by Mike Sepelak - Monday, Jul 7th, 2014

Photo: Mike Sepelak

I traveled three thousand miles to the Mexican Baja and the baitfish disappeared. So, too, did the roosters who feed on them. Flew fifteen hundred to chase South Padre reds, only to be blown off the Gulf by thirty-knot winds and freak thunderstorms. Twice. Verified emphatically that rain in the far-flung Bahamas is tough on the bonefishing. There’s something about traveling thousands of miles and getting utterly skunked that puts a man to thinking. Was it worth it? Why didn’t I just stay on my home waters where I know I can catch fish? Why go to the trouble?

They’re dumb questions, all, to my way of thinking, because if the sole purpose of your fly-fishing destination trips is to catch fish, you’re missing the point. There’s so much more to be gained by stretching your limits.

Headwater Trout Streams: True Trickle-Down Economics

by Chris Hunt - Friday, Jul 4th, 2014

A lot of us learned to fly fish on small waters. We cut our angling teeth on brook trout-laden creeks of Appalachia or maybe a high-mountain trickle somewhere in the Rockies. My first fly rod trout came from a tiny beaver pond in the headwaters of Colorado’s Taylor River, somewhere on the shoulders of Tin Cup Pass.

This little trickle likely wouldn’t have been fishable at all if not for the beavers that dammed its course and created the habitat suitable for trout. The fish was a stout little non-native brookie that, along with its brethren, had long ago pushed the native Colorado River cutthroats out of the stream. But to a kid more interested in the fish than the flavor, it didn’t matter. What mattered was the opportunity.

That little trickle — and thousands of others like them all across America—was protected by the Clean Water Act until the 2000s, when the U.S. Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings that left these sensitive waters vulnerable to development. According to the court, these small headwater streams — some of which run dry at certain times of the year—had no proven nexus with the “navigable” waters of the country, and therefore, they were not specifically protected under the Clean Water Act.

Bucket List

by Todd Tanner - Thursday, Jul 3rd, 2014

Is chasing salty creatures like this Ascension Bay permit on your bucket list?

I’m not sure why, but it seems like more and more folks are talking about their “bucket lists.” If you’re not familiar with the term, it refers to the places you’d like to visit, and the things you’d like to do, before you “kick the bucket.” A little morbid, perhaps, but it’s easy enough to understand the general allure. We’re only here for a few score years and there’s no point sitting on the sidelines while life races on by. So with that in mind, here are my thoughts on the ultimate fly fishing bucket list; both things I’ve done (marked with a check) and things I’d still like to do.

The Henry’s Fork

If you haven’t fished it yet, you need to. Not because of the hype, or because it’s the most interesting river in North America, or because it’s the ultimate dry fly water, but because standing knee deep in the quiet flows of Bonefish Flats while darkness settles gently over the Island Park caldera is the angling equivalent of saying the rosary in St. Peter’s Basilica or vision-questing in Glacier Park. It’s a transcendent experience; one we should all be fortunate enough to enjoy at least once. ✓

Hundred Mile Latte

by Steve Zakur - Wednesday, Jul 2nd, 2014

The East Branch of the Delaware River near Margaretville. (photo: Daniel Case)

If you have never seen Green Drakes and Coffin Flies hatch, well, I recommend you make the effort to do so. I had always been somewhat dismissive of folks who chased these blue-chip hatches. I'm partial to the hatches of pale yellow mayflies on late spring evenings on my home waters so I never really got into being on rivers outside my normal range just to fish something exotic. It was an error not to pay attention to the Drakes. They're pretty damn fantastic.

In mid-June Jonny and I were heading west with the hope of taking some carp in Indiana. Driving eight hundred miles to fish for carp may not seem like the most sensible thing but we had good reasons. It's not something I'd done before -- neither the epic road trip nor carp fishing -- so I was looking forward to having an adventure. But being a trout angler I couldn't tolerate the thought of driving so far, passing some of the finest trout streams in the east, without stopping to wet a line.

Penns Creek, our original target, was bank full from storms that had tracked across Pennsylvania the week before. We set our sights on the Delaware system which seemed to have been spared. The fly shop mentioned Drakes and Coffins and when I saw the size of the dries and emergers I had a "holy shit!" moment. It would be quite something to see a trout pluck one of these from the surface.