Articles

Headwaters Matter: EPA Report Confirms what Anglers Have Known All Along

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Jan 21st, 2015

Photo: Andreas Olsson

Last week the EPA released the results of a study that confirms what anglers, thinking humans and other animals with basic common sense have known all along: what goes on in small streams and wetlands affects the larger streams, rivers and other water bodies they flow into.

Though it may seem nonsensical to suggest that any measure of investigation was necessary to demonstrate what anyone with a rudimentary understanding of gravity would take to be plain fact, the connectivity between headwaters and wetlands and downstream water bodies has been in dispute since a pair of Supreme Court decisions in the early 2000s claimed there was no proven connection between upstream waters and downstream waters, removing protections for small streams and wetlands under the Clean Water Act and making them vulnerable to development.

Allen Fly Fishing Introduces New Exterus Line of Bags and Packs

by Ben Kryzinski - Tuesday, Jan 20th, 2015

The Exterus sling and large sling packs.

Allen Fly Fishing introduced last week its new brand, Exterus. The new brand is an extension Allen Fly Fishing that will feature soft goods aimed primarily at anglers. Exterus debuts with 4 new fly fishing packs, including two sling packs, a chest pack and a lumbar pack.

According to Exterus, the "started with nothing but a sketch pad and ideas forged through a combined several decades of experience ... each nook and cranny, each subtle feature came together to create four packs that we all agree are the perfect arrangements to complement each style."

25 and Windy

by Steve Zakur - Thursday, Jan 15th, 2015

For the past few years I've fished Black Friday with a bunch of friends. It was one of those traditions that was easy. No one wanted to be anywhere near a shopping mall so the only real alternative was to be on a river, right? Most years the weather cooperated but the fishing was always a crap shoot. But we were there for something else. At least that's what we told ourselves. This year the trip didn't come together. I'm not sure why other than that maybe the ritual had run it's course.

Around that time, a fellow Trout Unlimited member suggested the chapter get together to fish on New Year's Day. It seemed slightly absurd. First, the morning of the first day of the year is one for nursing a hangover and contemplating the coming season. Second, I doubted anyone would want to join us on the first frigid morning of the coming year. I was assured it was done and that it was something that "we" should do. It might even become a "thing".

Crisp and clear is the best way to describe the dawn of the New Year, though I was still a bit foggy when we got to the water. "We" included myself and two other anglers bundled deep in layers and facing out of the wind. While the water was more than ten degrees warmer than the air, it still froze rapidly once it was stripped up the fly line onto the waiting guides. Five casts was about all you'd get before you started to feel the line vibrate against constricted guides. I long ago gave up on pastes and other additives for keeping guides ice free, they don't seem to buy you all that much time, so at ten casts I either cleared my guides or risked having to fish Tenkara style.

What's My Line?: The Evolution of Tenkara Lines

by Tom Sadler - Wednesday, Jan 14th, 2015

Winter small stream tenkara fishing (photo: Daniel Galhardo).

As the popularity of tenkara grows, tweaks and innovation are becoming the rule rather the exception. One area that has seen a good deal of change is the type of line being used.

If you are new to tenkara, the line is a key component in the setup. Like other forms of fly-fishing the line both loads the rod and delivers the fly but is not stored on a reel. It is a fixed length attached to the rod tip.

When I started with tenkara the line choices were pretty basic. You had a choice of furled lines or level lines. Today there are a variety of line options with more on the horizon. For example small diameter fly lines have recently become popular.
All are readily available and have their proponents, as you will see below.

January Thaw

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Jan 13th, 2015

Photo: Chris Hunt

When I first moved to eastern Idaho some 16 years ago, it was near the end of summer, and the guys at the fly shop were all atwitter about “Hopper Season.” A month later, the fly shop crowd splintered into two camps -- one was all worked up about steelhead on the Salmon River about four hours northwest and the other was dialing in on the fall brown trout runs on the South Fork and the Henry’s Fork.

As the year moved on, I heard about the blue-winged olive hatch on the South Fork during dark, unsettled days in November, and a second olive hatch sometime in the spring. Then the skwalas hatched on the Bitterroot and Rock Creek in March and April, and that was a drive worth taking.

I heard about an explosion of midge hatches on the Snake near Jackson that coincided with the cutthroat run up the river from the canyon, and if you could time it just right, it was the best time of the year to hook into a fat cutty on the river.