Articles

High light, low light

Tips for using the sun, or lack thereof, to your advantage when fishing
Photo: Pat Burke

Low sun angle provides a significant advantage to the angler. The shadows are deeper; they’re wider and longer. In the winter months, the sun sits lower in the sky, and that shallow arc creates more shadows with less direct sunlight. Trout love the dark areas and seek them out.

By contrast, the summer solstice has the sun directly overhead. The hard sunlight beats straight down, erasing the comforting shadows and putting trout on edge.

Vanishing Paradise III: Force of nature

The redfish doesn’t just live in the Louisiana marsh, the redfish is the Louisiana marsh
Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

The drag was squalling. There’s no better word for it. No staccato clicks at all. No crescendo. Just one long note of protest.

The protest began as gills flared after a nervous cast and one strip. I remember outfitter Ryan Lambert yelling at me to set the hook, then raw power transmitted from leader to line to rod. The reel took the brunt of it with a silky smooth confidence and that shrieking battle cry.

Review: Redington Sonic-Pro HDZ waders

Redington's burly new flagship waders offer supreme convenience and confidence
Photo: Spencer Durant

My first pair of “nice” waders were one of Redington’s early models. I forget the name of the product line but remember being so excited to own a pair of real, honest-to-goodness fly fishing waders that I used them as an excuse to fish more than I ever had before.

Unfortunately, they only lasted seven months before I had an unfortunate run-in with a rather large tree in Utah’s backcountry. Since then, I’ve worn a series of waders from other brands, many of which fell prey to similar foes (branches, rocks, cattle fences) as my original Redingtons.

Know your indicator

A guide to strike indicators, their best uses and setup
The Air-Lock strike indicator (photo: Chad Shmukler).

The modern indicator has become ubiquitous. Despite that technical-sounding name, let's face the facts, an indicator is little more than a bobber. You can call it an indicator, a flotation device, or a nymph suspender. Hell, you can call it Suzanne for all I care. But, in the end, it's just a bobber—just like the one you had on the Barbie pole that you took fishing for bluegills when you were six. Not that there's anything wrong with that, let's just be honest with ourselves.

Who's watching my water?

A look at the local law on federal lands concept
Photo: Kris Millgate

I’m cleaning another pile of fresh snow off the cover on my drift boat. It’s a chore I do almost daily this winter, but I’m not complaining. All this white translates into more water this summer.

My home waters are Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River, which is buried in snow, and the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, which is farther north and buried in even more snow.

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