Articles

Does the 'discovery' of salmon in the Arctic forecast a shift in habitat?

Scientists are exploring whether climatic and other changes are leading to new ranges for Pacific salmon

by Chris Hunt - Thursday, Oct 12th, 2023

The Colville River Bluffs on Alaska's North Slope (photo: Paxson Woelber / cc2.0, modified).

As Pacific salmon stocks continue to decline in their native ranges thanks to a toxic environmental cocktail that includes everything from poor fish management practices, fish migration barriers and climate change, it appears some salmon are finding and colonizing new habitat.

Fresh research from the University of Alaska-Fairbanks shows that chum salmon were discovered spawning in the Anaktuvuk and Itkillik rivers on Alaska’s North Slope this year. Both rivers are tributaries of the Colville River, which flows into the Arctic Ocean some 60 miles southwest of Prudhoe Bay.

Angry

When hidden places become found

by Chris Hunt - Sunday, Oct 8th, 2023

Photo: Chad Shmukler

He sat comfortably in his favorite camp chair, perched above what he always called “the swimming hole,” a deep pool formed by a sheer granite cliff that pushes the creek north into a sprawling meadow. He didn’t move or make a sound. Instead, he just watched.

It was meditative. Super chill. And he sat there for what seemed like hours. Just watching. Not moving much.

Whither the double taper?

Why are so few anglers fishing double taper fly lines?

by John Juracek - Wednesday, Oct 4th, 2023

Casting a double taper fly line on the Firehole River in Yellowstone National Park (photo: John Juracek).

While scanning the internet recently, I happened across an article titled “Why Fish Double-Taper Fly Lines?” A website reader wondered what these lines were for, noting that he didn’t know anyone that fished one. The article’s author then opined that he himself had never fished a double-taper either. Seeking an answer, the question was passed on to some other folks.

River Rules

How to avoid unforced errors when fishing

by Todd Tanner - Tuesday, Oct 3rd, 2023

Photo: Todd Tanner

Doug and I were visiting the Elk River in British Columbia last weekend when a fellow in a drift boat opted to ignore the open channel on river right and float down the small side channel I was fishing. I was a little bummed — the oarsman could see me standing mid-channel from quite a ways away — but I assumed that he’d have the angler in the bow stop casting when they got close, and that they would slip behind me and scoot downstream a fair distance before they started up again.

Nope.

Fly out Alaska

Chasing trophy trout and more in the Bristol Bay wilderness

by Chris Hunt - Saturday, Sep 30th, 2023

A Bristol Bay rainbow trout (photo: Earl Harper).

In the battle to protect Alaska’s Bristol Bay from the horrors of a vast, open-pit mining operation which would have put the world’s largest sockeye salmon run in peril, I was, at best, one of the good soldiers who loaded the cannons.