Articles

The dead drift

It is the ultimate challenge in all of fly fishing

by Mike Sepelak - Thursday, Oct 17th, 2019

Photo: Joe Cummings

A shadow moves slightly as the trico imitation rides the currents towards its holding place. The trout lies suspended in a pillow of water that’s eddying in front of a mid-stream boulder, watching for food in the faster flow on either side, ready to eat. It starts to rise as the fly approaches the soft spot but at the last second the leader tightens and pulls the tiny mayfly a fraction of an inch off-line, perpendicular to the flow. Startled by the unnatural movement, the fish spooks, turns into the faster water and is gone.

Boulder Boat Works marches on

Dedication to innovation continues under new ownership

by Matthew Reilly - Wednesday, Oct 16th, 2019

Photo: Drew Stocklein

Boating technology has been evolving for as long as people have been taking to the water—the materials, hull designs, propulsion methods, and interior layouts products of the boats’ intended utilities. For the modern fly angler, these centuries of technological evolution have culminated in the form of the dory-style drift boat, crafted from wood, then metals, then the current, industry-favored fiberglass. But innovation and evolution are ongoing.

The nature of things

Why do some people never seem to catch a break?

by Todd Tanner - Tuesday, Oct 15th, 2019

Photo: Julien Pouille

I just got back from the river a few days ago. A friend and I spent an evening on the quiet stretch near Last Chance and, through a quirk of fate, nobody else was around. Still, the fishing was tough — insects blanketed the water's surface as if someone had spilled a giant bowl of aquatic mixed nuts, and the trout were sorting through the smorgasbord, picking out whatever caught their fancy.

Trout Unlimited sues Trump administration over Pebble Mine

Group poses legal challenge to the EPA's attempt to strip Bristol Bay of mining protections

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Oct 9th, 2019

Sockeye salmon make their way up a tributary to the Kvichak River in Alaska, near the location of the proposed Pebble Mine (photo: Pat Clayton / Fish Eye Guy Photography).

Trout Unlimited is taking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to court over the removal of protections granted to the Bristol Bay region of southwest Alaska from the impacts of the proposed Pebble Mine.

Up in smoke

Decades of forest mismanagement has led to perilous conditions in our nation's forests

by Spencer Durrant - Thursday, Oct 3rd, 2019

Photo: USDA

I’d been optimistic. Maybe, I thought, ash from the fire, and subsequent flooding, didn’t destroy the river completely. Perhaps a few stretches were spared, leaving just enough water for a handful of the river’s wild rainbow trout to survive.

The fire spared nothing. Usually, I fish the river year-round. Save for a few weeks of runoff, it fishes well and few other anglers ply its shallow runs and medium-depth pools. It’s brushy, tiny water that most anglers would write off as more work than it’s worth, and they’d probably be right.