Articles

Gear we love right now: November 2023

What's working on and off the water, right now

by Hatch Magazine - Tuesday, Nov 21st, 2023

Casting the Scott Swing (photo: Scott Fly Rods).

Fly anglers are overloaded with gear choices—rods, reels, boots, waders, lines, packs, bags, boxes, vests, apparel and more. It seems harder and harder to know what's worth coveting and what's worth ignoring. Gear reviews are a great way to explore in-depth what might be right for you, but not every piece of gear is suited to a full-length review and, even if it were, there's simply too much of it to get to. With that in mind, we periodically showcase what's working for us right now, to hopefully offer more helpful feedback on gear that's worth a second look.

Björk releasing ‘lost’ song to fight salmon farms in Iceland

Funds raised will go to legal fees for protestors and future action to stop the development of salmon farms

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Nov 20th, 2023

Open net pen salmon farming in Arnarfjörd, Westfjörds, Iceland (photo by: Paul Mayal/AP Images).

Iconic musical artist Björk is re-releasing a “lost” song to help fund the fight against open net pen salmon farms in Iceland. The release is part of a collaboration with Spanish singer-songwriter Rosalia. The two have agreed to donate all proceeds from the sale of the new release to AEGIS, an Iceland-based non-profit dedicated to eradicating open net pen salmon farming in Iceland’s waters.

Outdoor recreation economy surpasses $1 trillion mark

Growth of the outdoor recreation is outpacing the economy as a whole, new data shows

by Hatch Magazine - Saturday, Nov 18th, 2023

Photo: Chad Shmukler.

For the first time in history, the size of the rapidly growing outdoor recreation industry has eclipsed the $1 trillion mark, according to recently released data from the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA). This new data indicates that the $1.1 trillion outdoor recreation industry accounts for over 2 percent of the entire U.S. GDP and provides over 3 percent of the nation’s jobs. The analysis also shines a light on how significantly outdoor recreation is outpacing other sectors of the U.S. economy, more than tripling the economy as a whole in some metrics.

The old man, the kid, and the dumpling

It seemed only normal that the kid had followed me to Alaska to work summers at the lodge

by Bob White - Thursday, Nov 16th, 2023

Morning Light on Timmerman's Island (artwork: Bob White).

It was the kind of hangover I liked and often cultivated. Enough of one to remind me that I’d had a good time, but not enough to shy me away from the first evening drink. I sat in the shop among the ancient and broken-down outboards that needed repair, cradling a mug of coffee, and watched the morning fog lift from the lake and disappear. High clouds were beginning to take form; it would be a fine day.

Scientists 'refrigerated' a Nova Scotia salmon stream

Researchers explore whether active intervention is a feasible approach to saving coldwater fish species

by Chris Hunt - Wednesday, Nov 15th, 2023

Releasing an Atlantic salmon (photo: Camden Spear).

Scientists artificially refrigerated a salmon stream in Nova Scotia during last summer’s record heat wave. Hundreds of migratory and river-dwelling fish basked in the cold-water flows pumped into the river from a nearby groundwater well. The addition of cold water to the Wrights River was part of a Dalhousie University study conducted to determine if adding colder water to streams that become dangerously warm for trout and salmon during prolonged heat waves can help keep the fragile fish alive.