Articles

Winter fly fishing: Leave the cotton at home

On icy winter waters, always remember your ABC's (Anything But Cotton)

by Ben Kryzinski - Friday, Nov 14th, 2014

Photo: Uncredited

Anglers have no shortage of options for gear designed to help keep them warm when heading out into the typically frigid conditions encountered when fly fishing in winter. Products based on natural materials like wool and down have been available for as long as most of us can remember and advances in technology continue to make synthetic fabric, insulation and outlayers better and better. Many of the products on the market today, whether a baselayer, warmth-providing midlayer or an expedition-proof, damn-the-elements outlayer allow anglers to get out on the water and stay out longer in the worst of conditions. The best of these products don't come cheap, but anglers are noticing the true value of comfort and safety on the water, and more and more of them are ponying up.

Some of these anglers, however, continue to handicap their technical winter gear with the heartbreak of cotton. Those bomber waders and the $400 Gore-Tex wading jacket you saved up for all summer aren't going to do their jobs if you're donning blue jeans and a hoody underneath them. But they're not failing because they're over-hyped pieces of junk, they're failing because you crippled them with winter's worst fabric.

Cotton may indeed be the "fabric of our lives," but it has no place on any icy winter stream. Not in any amount. That means your favorite t-shirt stays home and your game-day sweatshirt gets stowed. And don't even think about wearing those old-school waffle-textured long johns. Cotton boxers or socks? Nope. And again, blue jeans? Stop it.

Review: Eddie Bauer Women's Immersion Wading Jacket

by Jesse R. Bussard - Thursday, Nov 13th, 2014

While not as numerous as the boys' choices, the wading jacket selection available to women in today's market is fairly reasonable. The usual suspects – Simms, Patagonia, Redington, etc. – all have at least one jacket option when it comes to fishing apparel of the female persuasion. In March of this year, long-time outdoors apparel brand Eddie Bauer (EB) launched its new Sport Shop fishing outerwear, apparel and gear collection among which were several women's fishing apparel pieces, including the new Immersion Wading Jacket.

I was glad to hear EB was throwing another option into the mix as I'd been in the market for a new wading jacket. I was having trouble deciding on which one was "just right" for me and jumped at the chance to field test the Immersion Wading Jacket.

2014 Fly Fishing Photo Contest: View the Entries

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Nov 10th, 2014

Thanks to our generous contest sponsors, in a few weeks we'll have the pleasure of awarding four anglers with some pretty killer holiday gifts. The grand prize winner of this year's contest will be taking his or her choice from the six-time award winning Orvis Helios 2 fly rod lineup, and pairing it with a pair of Smith Optics' ChromaPop sunglasses, a reel from Cheeky Fly Fishing and a SharkWave fly line from Scientific Anglers. And, there will still be plenty to go around this year's other winners (you can check out the full prize list on the official contest page).

This year's prize pool was the biggest we've ever featured and, unsurprisingly, that has resulted with the number of contest entries also topping any of our previous year's tallies. Though users have been able to share their entries individually since the contest opened in May, the entries are now available for viewing in a centralized location for the first time. There's a lot to wade through, but we bet you won't mind.

Review: Shadow Warrior Fly Rod

by Chad Shmukler - Friday, Nov 7th, 2014

Ask anyone involved in the business of fly fishing what fly rod price range sells the most and they'll tell you the same thing: mid-range. And mid-range, these days, means rods in the $300 to $500 price bracket. Some of the bigger brands in the industry are only just beginning to realize this and have started turning their focus more intently to the middle ranges of their lineup. It's not that they haven't long been selling less expensive rods than those at the pinnacle of their lineups; they just weren't selling ones that were all that good. Smaller companies and rod building upstarts, however, figured out the draw of the mid-range long ago. In fact, selling quality, high-performance fly rods at prices that most anglers could live with is what allowed many of these upstart companies to get a foothold in the industry.

Some of those fledgling companies have gone on to become household names in the industry (think Redington and TFO). Others continue to grow rapidly and are approaching household name status. And as they grow, more upstarts pop up, most of which are seeking to do what they did -- offer quality, high performance products at attractive prices -- to make their own name in the world of fly fishing.

Shadow Fly Fishing, out of Pennsylvania, is one of those companies. Started a little more than a year ago by Mike Skibo, an avid steelheader from Pennsylvania's northwestern reaches, Shadow has been offering two rods -- its "Stalker" and "Warrior" models -- to fishermen since its launch and has received positive feedback from anglers in the field. We've been fishing the a 7 weight Warrior for almost a year, everywhere from trout streams to frigid steelhead waters to sunny bonefish flats.

Trout Unlimited's 10 Special Places

by Ben Kryzinski - Thursday, Nov 6th, 2014

As part of an effort to highlight the potential impacts of natural gas drilling in the eastern states of Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia, Maryland, Virginia and Ohio, Trout Unlimited recently began revealing its list of "10 Special Places." These 10 places, found in the Marcellus and Utica Shale regions, offer some of the most unique and highest value angling opportunities in the eastern United States.

According to the Trout Unlimited report, "The longstanding sporting tradition in the eastern United States has been a part of the region’s history and culture since colonial times and this heritage still holds true. Today, the central Appalachians’ remote mountains, forest and rivers that have provided abundant fish and wildlife habitat, and attracted generations of sportsmen, are at risk."

TU calls the threat from natural gas development a "big deal," noting that the continuing rush to extract natural gas from far beneath our hunting and fishing lands could "fundamentally alter" these pristine resources.