Articles

The West's far-swimming char

Will bull trout one day be the last of the natives?

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Jun 30th, 2020

Photo: Chris Hunt

Summer in the tall country of west-central Idaho is hot. Folks in the little river town of Riggins regularly watch the mercury climb into triple-digit territory, and more often than not, August skies are clear, but tinged with acrid smoke from surrounding wildfires. Some days, the sun looks like a distant orb — it’s easy to make out its edges thanks to all the haze its light must work through in order to reach the earth.

Review: Orvis PRO Approach wet wading shoe

Orvis' agile, warm-weather wet wading shoe is a no-compromise marvel

by Johnny Carrol Sain - Friday, Jun 26th, 2020

Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

Three off-the-top-of-my-head advantages to living in Arkansas: Chocolate gravy over biscuits is a breakfast option. You can absolutely wear your cut-offs to the fanciest restaurant in town. Wet-wading season runs April through October.

You may have never even heard of such a thing as chocolate gravy, but it’s real, and it is spectacular. Admittedly it’s a broad stroke, but if you’re not in the cut-offs crowd, well, we probably won’t have much in common. And around these parts, waders are for duck hunting.

Grouse Creek

Places that aren’t easy are precisely the places brook trout and ruffed grouse are supposed to live

by Tom Davis - Wednesday, Jun 24th, 2020

Photo: Rueben Browning

It’d been so long since I’d stumbled into a family unit of grouse that it took a moment for all the tumblers to click into place. I’d crossed the old hilltop farm field and come to the pipeline cut when, just as I reached the lip where the cut slopes down to the creek, a largish, brownish bird with thunder in its wings erupted from the shaggy grass, bore left, and vanished into the concealing green of the woods.

Chasing the drakes

A summer spent chasing the West's most important mayfly

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Jun 23rd, 2020

Photo: Chris Hunt

Several years back, I drove from my driveway in Idaho Falls all the way to Dead Horse, where I caught a glimpse of the Arctic Ocean, and then back again. It was a 10-week journey, and, when it was all said and done, I put about 20,000 miles on the new tires of my FJ Cruiser and my small camper I towed virtually the entire time.

Rise up: Understanding trout rise forms

Deciphering rise forms is the key to unlocking a hatch

by Spencer Durrant - Thursday, Jun 18th, 2020

Sippin' (photo: Jason Jagger).

Aside from a healthy dose of luck, a well-rounded education on aquatic insects is the most valuable piece of tackle for any fly fisher. Certainly a witless angler with a $1,000 fly rod might get lucky and catch a fish or two just out of sheer persistence, but a fly fisher with an old Fenwick Fenglass from the 70s and a studied understanding of how trout eat will always put more fish in the net.