Articles

RIO intros free fly fishing 'How To' video series

New instructional video series tackles a diverse range of subjects

Over recent years, a number of fly fishing brands have gotten into the video gig producing videos that introduce customers to their products or provide instruction on a wide variety of fly fishing topics. RIO has been no stranger to video, releasing video tutorials on topics ranging from knot tying to welding your own sink tip loops, with a focus primarily on products like fly lines, leaders and tippets which RIO makes.

'Teddy's turning in his grave'

Malheur acquittal handed down on Roosevelt's birthday
Mark Heckert, a sportsman from Washington, traveled to Oregon during the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge takeover in January to show his opposition to the movement (photo: Kris Millgate).

Garrett Vene Klasen has Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday in his calendar. He receives annual alerts for Teddy’s special day just like he does for his daughter’s birthday.

“If you’re an outdoors person, Roosevelt should be a central figure in your life,” says Vene Klasen, New Mexico Wildlife Federation executive director. “He created our lifestyle.”

Gold rush

Restoring redds 850 miles from the ocean
The Yankee Fork gold dredge still sits in the Yankee Fork of the Salmon River. It turned the tributary inside out in search of gold seven decades ago (photo: Kris Millgate).

I feel small in this landscape. The gravel piles bury my shadow. The dark canyons swallow my sight. And the fish. Oh, the fish. Chinook salmon far bigger than anything that’s ever taken my line, but I’m not here to hook up. I’m just here to look with my lens.

“Fish are such an important part of our heritage,” says Cassi Wood, Trout Unlimited central Idaho project specialist. “Without them, I don’t really think we’re complete.”

Shoshone River smothered by sediment release causing massive fish kill

Dam maintenance has choked out miles of Wyoming's prized wilderness river
Anglers throwing line on the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming in July. Dam maintenance downstream in mid October smothered the Shoshone in sediment killing thousands of fish (photo: Kris Millgate).

I worried more about grizzlies than sediment when I fished the Shoshone River in July. The clear, cold water I expect in the West looked right as can be near Cody, Wyoming. Fly-fishing guide Tim Wade of North Fork Anglers told me the river hosts native Yellowstone cutthroat trout and he was telling the truth. I caught a few. I also believed his statement about the area being a grizzly bear hotspot. I kept bear spray clipped to my waders.

“Makes it more interesting. People are afraid of bears,” he’d said. “They’re good for my business because people don’t want to be alone.”

A waypoint towards Atlantic fisheries recovery

ASMFC must stay the course on menhaden management
Big bass eat big bunker (photo: Captain John McMurray).

Somebody once said that sound, science-based fisheries management amounts to “addition through subtraction.” When confronted with dangerously low numbers in a fish population, managers may reduce short-term harvest levels so that populations rebound. When that population is forage fish such as the Atlantic menhaden—one that is vital to predator health and one which has nearly disappeared from a large part of its historic range—management action provides cascading benefits to both marine ecosystems and coastal economies.

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