Articles

Not too many fences

Coastal cutthroat and salmon in Alaska's southeast

by Chris Hunt - Friday, Jul 24th, 2015

Photo: Chris Hunt

Jamie Eddy is the maintenance guy at the retirement home in Petersburg, Alaska. He’s one of about 3,000 souls who live on Mitkof Island, and only one of the few who chase trout and salmon with a fly rod.

“There aren’t too many fences here,” he says as he navigates two visiting anglers up into the Southeast Alaskan rainforest in search of coastal cutthroat trout. “For people who come here, it’s hard for them to grasp that this belongs to them just as much as it does to me. It’s your forest, too.”

Getting the most out of your fly shop visits

Tips from behind the counter

by George C Costa - Wednesday, Jul 22nd, 2015

Manning the counter at the TCO Fly Shop in State College, PA.

For many, a visit to the fly shop before heading out on the water has become routine. You pick up some flies, grab a new spool of tippet and maybe cast that new rod you've been pining for. Most importantly, you stop to get the information that will make your day on the water a success.

Simply relying on the hatch chart in your dad’s guide book from 1982 isn’t going to cut it. Weather conditions vary and stream dynamics change from year to year. Getting local intel can often be a necessity when fishing water you are unfamiliar with.

Heritage and nature

A story of cutthroat trout conservation

by Spencer Durrant - Tuesday, Jul 21st, 2015

If the West were to have a mascot, it’d be either the cowboy or the cutthroat trout. No two icons more accurately portray the fighting spirit — the true grit — that has defined the American West for all these years.

Both the cowboy and the cutthroat trout are emblematic of our great Western heritage, and while honest-to-goodness cowboys are a somewhat rare find these days, cutthroat trout are in even more danger of disappearing.

IFTD 2015 Best of Show winners, highlights

A look at the awards and notables from Orlando

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Jul 20th, 2015

The Sage MOD, winner of Best Freshwater Fly Rod for 2016.

A very busy and energetic IFTD/ICAST show in Orlando came to a close Friday. By and large, manufacturers continued the trend established over the last year or two: continuing to innovate new and improve existing products to perform better, meet niche demands and be more sustainable.

I didn't break up with fly fishing

Ticks, waist deep mud and nymphing rigs

by Amanda Monthei - Friday, Jul 17th, 2015

Photo: Jess McGlothlin / Jess McGlothlin Media

In February, I sat on the couch opposite of my boyfriend and muttered something vaguely resembling “This just doesn’t feel right. You know what I mean? I don’t know. You know?”

In the days that followed, through simultaneous feelings of regret and relief, I asked myself whether I had made the right move — would I ever find someone I feel even remotely as comfortable with as I felt with him? Would I ever feel okay seeing him with someone else? Would I ever be able to set up a nymphing rig without him?