Articles

Public lands takeover: How is this still a thing?

If you care about public land, get ready to fight for it

by Chad Love - Thursday, Oct 13th, 2016

Rocky Mountain National Park (photo: Andrew E. Russel).

One day this past summer during a family trip to the mountains of Colorado, my son and I parked at a trailhead, slipped into our backpacks, grabbed our fly rod cases, and began a seven-mile hike to a small, isolated subalpine stream high in the Rocky Mountain backcountry, into a land that seemed worlds away from our home landscape on the Oklahoma prairie. The goal - ambitious by our non-resident, flatlander standards - was to catch (and immediately release) native cutthroat trout.

Fishing the fall

In a perfect world, it would last a whole lot longer

by Todd Tanner - Wednesday, Oct 12th, 2016

Photo: Todd Tanner

Last summer, a buddy and I spent hours on the phone making plans for an autumn fly fishing trip. He was in Connecticut, which was dry as a bone and hotter than a bowl of Texas chili, and I was in Montana, which, if anything, was even worse. Our rivers were low and warm, the sun was an intimidating fixture in an endless blue sky, and the westerly breeze carried the constant acrid tang of distant forest fires burning in Washington and Oregon.

#NowOrNeverglades photo contest update: 2 months left, win a trip to Florida + the new Sage X

Less than 2 months remain to get your entries in for a chance to win a trip to the Everglades and Florida Keys

by Chad Shmukler - Tuesday, Oct 11th, 2016

A glades redfish (photo: Dan Decibel).

Over time, our annual photo contest has grown from a simple prize giveaway to a much more significant event that in recent years has allowed us the privilege of not only putting great gear in the hands of anglers-turned-photographers (or vice versa), but of sending those folks to a fantastic destination to ply its waters with that gear. This year, the contest has taken on additional importance as it has also become also become a vehicle for educating the angling public about important issues facing our fisheries.

BSU

The decline of one of America's most iconic game birds

by Johnny Carrol Sain - Monday, Oct 10th, 2016

Photo: Matt Turner (modified from original).

I’ve been angry at our state conservation agency for a while now. I’ve been holding back on the fury, but I can’t take it any longer. Conservation agencies are charged with ensuring populations of game animals and fish are kept at sustainable numbers. And they’ve failed miserably regarding my favorite game animal.

A day on the water

Connecting on Idaho's Salmon River

by Tom Davis - Thursday, Oct 6th, 2016

Photo: BLM

Verlon Herndon showed up at the put-in on the Salmon River wearing a hat with earflaps, a growth of dark stubble, and a faded vest with his name and phone number Magic Markered on the back. A haze of sleep deprivation clung to him like a scratchy cowl, although he was trying hard to shake it off with pulls from an oversized travel mug. It was as clear as the Idaho sky that the new was off Verlon, and off his driftboat, too.