Articles

U.S. Forest Service Commercial Filming Directive Raises Concerns and Hackles

by Tom Sadler - Monday, Dec 1st, 2014

The Williams River, a trout stream in the Monongahela National Forest which was recently featured in a report as one of Trout Unlimited's "10 Special Places", which in a new report highlighting outstanding public fishing and hunting areas in the Central Appalachian region that are at risk from shale gas drilling-related activities.

You may recall reading something about a proposal from the U.S. Forest Service about commercial filming in wilderness areas on National Forest Service lands. An interim directive had been around for a few years and had garnered little notice. The Forest Service felt it was time to make the directive permanent so they started a rule-making process.

The rule-making caught the attention of many in the public who wrongfully assumed it would apply to them, apply to all public land and that they would have to pay to take pictures and videos on public land. While that was never the case, the organization I run, the Outdoor Writers Association of America, was very concerned because of the potential violation of our First Amendment protections from prior restraint.

In our statement, OWAA President Mark Freeman, outdoors columnist for the Mail Tribune in Medford, Oregon said, “Allowing forest supervisors to decide which journalists get to report in wilderness areas and what stories they can or can't tell smacks of censorship and prior restraint. Restraining journalists and their reports was not intended to be part of the act's restriction of commercialization of wilderness areas."

2014 Fly Fishing Photo Contest Results Postponed

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Dec 1st, 2014

We know many of you have been waiting a long time to find out who the winners are in this year's fly fishing photo contest, and with great prizes like the Orvis Helios 2 plus lots more from Cheeky Fly Fishing, Smith Optics and Scientific Anglers, we understand why. Unfortunately, the announcement of the winners, originally planned for today, is being delayed until later this week.

A few technical issues are preventing us from bringing the winning entries to you the way we'd like to, so we're going to hold off for just a little longer to make sure we get things right.

If you haven't already, be sure to browse through all of this year's contest entries. We'll only be able to showcase a small fraction of the many excellent entries we received this year, so you'll be missing out on some great fly fishing photography if you don't take the time to browse the entries yourself. Head to the the official contest page for details on all the prizes and or go straight to view this year's entries.

Yet Another Streamer Tip: The Jerk-Strip

This isn't a lazy man's streamer tactic

by Ben Kryzinski - Friday, Nov 28th, 2014

A streamer eating Beaverhead River brown trout (photo: A.J. Swentosky).

We've been talking a lot about streamer tactics lately, with an eye on improving on-the-water success while fishing streamers. Almost all of the tactics we've highlighted have been founded on the same basic premise: streamers are intended to imitate prey that swims, and getting better at fooling fish with them means getting better at making your streamer look and act like the real deal, being an active predator and doing more than just covering water with a swung fly. And while we've relayed many ways to get better at doing just that, we've yet to talk about what many seasoned streamer anglers consider the most deadly streamer tactic of all: the jerk-strip.

Steamer experts like Kelly Galloup and Gary Borger have been talking about the jerk-strip for years, noting its effectiveness above all other tactics and its penchant for producing the most feverish of strikes from the biggest of trout. If that sounds good, then its time you made yourself familiar with the jerk-strip. Along with its effectiveness also comes difficulty, however. The jerk-strip retrieve is a very active retrieve that requires precise timing to master in order to produce the most accurate imitation of a fleeing baitfish.

Anglers, Conservation Organizations Urge Florida to Halt Barracuda Decline

by Ben Kryzinski - Wednesday, Nov 26th, 2014

The Bonefish and Tarpon Trust, the Lower Keys Guides Association and KeysKeeper recently joined together in urging the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to address ongoing issues surrounding the state's barracuda population. According to a press release issued by the three groups earlier this month, "there has been a slow but steady realization by many South Florida fisherman that the Keys barracuda population is in decline." The perceived decline is supported by data from a survey of keys scientists, anglers and fishing guides.

The release notes the importance of barracuda as a keystone predator species, the decline of which can lead to a domino-effect of consequences through the marine ecosystem, some of which may be irreversible.

The message delivered by the groups cites the unregulated commercial harvest of barracuda in Florida as a likely cause. According to the release, recent years have shown a 65% increase in commercial harvest, a figure that is derived from limited data published by the FWC. Also highlighted were potential health concerns with the commercial harvest of barracuda, which are known to carry ciguatoxins, and their presence in the seafood market where they are often marketed under other names which conceal their identity to consumers.

The Accidental Snook

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Nov 25th, 2014

It’s literally a 10-minute boat ride from the Westin at Cape Coral to the public boat launch where Jim Bandy’s truck and trailer needed to be. We’d planned a full afternoon of fly fishing, but work got in the way and all I could do was offer Jim a hand getting his boat from one place to the next.

It was the least I could offer after cancelling the fishing, right?

So we shuttled the trailer over to the launch, and then Jim hopped in with me for the ride back to the Westin. There, at the marina, his boat waited for the quick trip across the bay to the launch.

“We should at least bring a fly rod,” Jim said, maybe trying to salve my disappointment. “There are some mangroves we could hit on the way.”

I cracked a quick grin, opened the trunk of the rental car and quickly plucked the strung-up 7-weight out of “temporary” storage.

“Like this one?” I asked.