Articles

The dishonest caddis

If you can remember important lessons, you can fool trout anywhere
A plump, healthy, Patagonian brown trout (photo: Chad Shmukler).

It was our last day in Patagonia, and it might have been the best day, at least as far as the weather went. Furiously blue skies. Not a breath of the wind that had punished us the day before. Clouds? What clouds?

Some days, you just feel it, you know?

Review: Douglas Sky G fly rod

By virtue of cutting-edge technology and design, Douglas' new flagship offering is turning heads
Photo: Spencer Durrant

If you don’t count any of the newly-added sticks in my vintage rod collection, it’s been a long time since I picked up a new-to-me rod that elicited an honest wow. The Orvis Helios 3D was the last rod I reviewed that made me think, I need one of these for myself, in a few different weights and lengths, just for good measure.

Then, a new Douglas Sky G 9’ 5wt showed up in the mail, and I have once again found myself trying to cook my books to find the money to add one to my quiver. This rod is special.

Like most new, flagship rods, it was built using bleeding-edge technology—in this case, what Douglas calls "G-Tec" platelets (Graphene) added to the Sky G's resin matrix. If you're not familiar with Graphene, at ten times the strength of steel (but with only 5% of the density), graphene is one of the strongest materials known to man. In addition and partially due to its new technology, the Sky G also follows the recent design trend of a more minimalist build approach, in favor of putting more money into blank design and production. In other words, Douglas didn’t spend money trying to make the Sky G sexy, though I’m sure a lot of anglers will appreciate the rod’s muted, subtle craftsmanship.

What makes the Sky G stand out, though, is what the late Tom Morgan once told me all fly rods should do. Tom – who owned Winston and is responsible for them being in Montana – said that the best fly rods are the ones that fish the best. Never mind whether you can cast it to backing – a rod’s true measure lies in how it acts on the water. In that arena, the Sky G excels and separates itself from its peers.

So, what makes it that great? Let’s take a more detailed look.

For salmon and steelhead to survive, the dams must come out

Without removal of all four lower Snake River dams, salmon and steelhead are on the path to extinction
Photo: Matt Stoecker | DamNation Collection

Over the last 20 years, the federal government has invested nearly $17 billion into the recovery of Snake River Basin salmon and steelhead. Today, all stocks of salmon and steelhead in the basin are gravely imperiled and some are at the precipice of extinction.

RIO introduces new Fathom sinking lines for lake anglers

Innovative new sinking line series aimed at still water anglers seeking deep quarry
Photo: Aga Kubale.

To kick off the new year, RIO introduced a new series of sinking lines aimed at lake anglers. As the new series' name, Fathom, implies, the lines are aimed at anglers seeking quarry in deeper waters—whether fishing from a boat, float tube, pontoon, SUP, or from shore.

Each of the lines in the series is designed with a short, powerful head intended to allow casters to shoot long lengths of line with minimal false casting. Lines are multi-color to identify the load point and are also color coded to indicate sink rate.

Hotspotting

To share or not to share?
Photo: Chad Shmukler

“To share or not to share…”

If Hamlet were a fly fisher instead of just an angst-ridden 30-something pining for his dead father, this might have been what he uttered as he pondered the value of his own life. For, much like this Shakespearean dramatis personae, we anglers are often faced with this dilemma.

Not life or death, mind you. But, in the most dramatic of instances, the life or death of a great stretch of trout water.

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