Articles

Review: LaCrosse Aerohead Sport boots

The latest incarnation of LaCrosse's Aerohead line is a go-anywhere workhorse
Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

I wasn’t so much walking through the flooded timber as I was sliding. It was by choice and predicated by caution. Sometimes I could see fallen leaves resting under the surface, and in those places I did walk. But sometimes the coffee-colored waters hid the bottom, and there is where I slowly scooted each booted foot in the packed mud. As I searched for solid footing, I tried to keep my weight shifted toward the back because with every tense, tentative toe feel there was a chance that that foot could slide off into a channel or flooded critter hole.

The magic of Andy's Acres

The center of my sporting universe
Photo: Tom Davis

The center of my sporting universe—the place where all roads lead, come grouse and woodcock season—is a nondescript former farmhouse tucked into a seldom-visited corner of far northeastern Wisconsin. It stands on the west side of a north-south gravel road that, on a busy day, might see four vehicles an hour.

Review: Orvis PRO wading boots

Orvis' new Michelin-soled wading boots are are an ideal combination of agile and burly
Photo: Chad Shmukler

I’ve used the same pair of wading boots for more than four years. Aside from the half-dozen boots I’ve worn for reviews in that time frame, I haven’t changed boots because I haven’t needed to. Even a yearly average of 120 fishing days hasn’t pushed me to the boot section of my local fly shop.

A brown trout quirk

This habit, or lack thereof, of feeding brown trout is unique among all species
Photo: John Juracek

For the past several seasons I’ve been spending most of my fishing time pursuing brown trout. Free-rising brown trout. While so engaged, I’ve been reminded countless times of a feeding quirk particular to this species. It’s this: Brown trout react to food according to their own whims and fancy, completely independent of its presence and abundance. Surround them with a good hatch, spinner fall, or stonefly flight, and brown trout might feed readily, might feed haphazardly, or maybe not at all.

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