Articles

2014 Fly Fishing Photo Contest Launches

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Jun 2nd, 2014

Last year's grand prize winning image, 'First Fish' by Stu Hastie is seen above.

It has only been around six months since last year's contest closed but it already seems like ages since we got to pore through your fly fishing photos, picking out our favorites as we go. So, we're very pleased to kick off our third annual fly fishing photo contest. Each year the contest brings together some amazing fly fishing photography from across the globe and gives us the privilege of showcasing it.

And we've done our best to motivate even more of you to send your photos in this year. The 2014 grand prize winner will walk away with more prizes than the entire field of winners from last year. Led by the Orvis Helios 2 fly rod, the grand prize package also includes a reel from Cheeky Fly Fishing, Smith Optics' new ChromaPop sunglasses and one of Scientific Anglers new Sharkwave fly lines. The first place winner (runner up) will take home everything the grand prize winner does, minus the Helios 2, and the prizes taper down from there. In all, four winning photos will be selected.

Muddy Waters

by Steve Zakur - Thursday, May 29th, 2014

Muddy Water

The sound of rain on the roof is a sweet sound that I desperately miss during the time of year when all that can be expected from the sky is something frozen. That said, there's a time and place for everything and Wednesday is never a good day for rain. Neither is Thursday or Friday for that matter. All rain should fall on Sunday or Monday. Tuesday at the absolute latest. In that way all that water can run downhill by Saturday morning and the weekend, the blessed weekend, will find the streams well behaved and the trout in their usual spots.

The Hendrickson's have already been missed and the later hatches are getting started. There's an anxiousness that fills the mid-section as one looks for the intersection of flows and hatches and time off and sees little to be excited about. When a day free from labor hits and the water is the color of chocolate milk the rational mind says to tend to undone chores. In the grand scheme of things missing a day of fishing isn't the end of the world, but it's a Sunday afternoon and there's that bile that has accumulated and it has to be dealt with.

Review: Simms G3 Guide Boot

by Steve Zakur - Wednesday, May 28th, 2014

A few years ago all the manufacturers changed their wading boot soles from felt to rubber. This seismic moment in the industry was not prompted by new materials or consumer demand but rather by a threat to fisheries; Didymosphenia geminata. The assumption that didymo was being carried from far off places to domestic streams via angling equipment -- felt soles were the great demon -- prompted the action. It turns out that greater forces than anglers may have had a larger effect on the increased presence of this nuisance diatom. According to recent research by Queen's University in Ontario global climate change has a hand in didymo blooms. Climate change induced changing ice cover and nutrient loads both create more favorable conditions for the blooms. I don't think this lets anglers off the hook, but it's worth considering for many reasons.

I first started using Simms wading boots when the last generation of G3s were introduced. I purchased them originally as my fair weather boot, wearing a boxier alternative during cold weather, but the fit and features of the G3 soon made it the boot that ruled my wadered foot. When that pair needed to be retired this year I didn't hesitate to pick up the newest incarnation of the G3. I've fished it about twenty times in the past few months and am pleased with the purchase.

Understanding Leaders and Tippets

Confused by "X" sizes, pounds test, leader vs. tippet and more? You're not alone.

by Todd Tanner - Friday, May 23rd, 2014

Scientific Anglers Tippet Spools

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but leaders and tippets confused the heck out of me when I first started fly fishing. After all, if you were a spin fisherman, as I was back in the mid 80s, your terminal end tended to be pretty basic. You either tied your lure directly to your line, or, if you wanted to get fancy, you used a snap swivel to add flexibility to your rig. By comparison, fly fishing was rocket science.

New Rod & Reel Company Douglas Outdoors Announced

by Chad Shmukler - Thursday, May 22nd, 2014

Jim Murphy, the founder of Redington and former president of Hardy North America has teamed up with Barclay family, owners of the Douglaston Salmon Run on New York's Salmon River, to bring a new name to the worlds of fly and spin fishing. The new company, called Douglas Outdoors, will debut their lineup of new fly rods, fly reels and spin rods at this years IFTD/ICAST show this July in Orlando, Florida.

The Douglaston Salmon Run (DSR) is a privately-held 2.5 mile stretch of water on the lower reaches of the Salmon River, managed primarily as a catch and release fishery, where the number of fisherman admitted via the DSR's pay-to-play admittance system is limited each day. The run is one of the bright spots on the Salmon -- an amazing fishery with dizzying counts of salmon, steelhead and big lake-run brown trout -- which is persistently prevented from becoming one of the true jewels of the lower 48 by the massive hordes of rod-wielding dimwits that descend on the river each autumn to drink, litter and "fish" in often elbow-to-elbow conditions, snagging and lining the vast majority of each day's "catch", all the while generally balking in the face of conservation-minded principles and ethical outdoorsmanship. The DSR, for the last several decades, has offered a respite from these conditions and a chance to experience the Salmon River's true potential.