Articles

Hurricane Maria killed mangroves months after the storm

An overgrown channel between a lagoon and the ocean on the Puerto Rican island of Vieques created a backup of freshwater, disrupting the delicate balance of salinity in coastal mangrove forests.

by Tess Joosse - Wednesday, Dec 16th, 2020

A mangrove swamp on Vieques (photo: Western Area Power / cc2.0).

When Hurricane Maria tore through the Caribbean in September 2017 as a category 5 storm, it destroyed livelihoods, infrastructure, and entire ecosystems. On the small island of Vieques, east of Puerto Rico, coastal mangrove forests were buffered from the initial onslaught of wind and seemed to survive. But after several months, huge numbers of trees died, leaving the coast more vulnerable to flooding and erosion from future storms.

Fishing lodges, guides, and travel operators face uncertain future after pandemic-spiked 2020

COVID-19 forced an overwhelming number of travel cancellations this year, will things get back to normal in 2021?

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Dec 15th, 2020

Photo: Stephen Longfield

I love to travel. A year ago this week, I was in far-flung Patagonia. The virus was still an embryonic annoyance in Wuhan, China, and I was about as happy as a fly fisher can be — tucked into the passenger seat of a Toyota Hi-Lux, bouncing along rural Andean roads in search of trout with guides who knew where the targets were, what they were eating and how to put a silly American just happy to be alive in the right places at the right times.

Net positive: 5 fishing nets that should be on your wish list

Nets for the wading angler that offer more than just fish scooping

by Chad Shmukler - Thursday, Dec 10th, 2020

The Orvis Nomad Mid-Length Camo Net (Photo: Chad Shmukler).

Nets tend to be one of those things that many fly anglers opt to do without longer than they should. Most often, this is because it seems like something the average trout angler (and most fly anglers are trout anglers) can do without—like an optional accessory. And there's some truth to this. Certainly not all anglers need nets, and those that do need them don't necessarily need them on every outing, but rare is the angler—especially the catch and release angler—that can't benefit from having the option to tote along a net when headed to the water.

Getting started with fly tying

The right stuff: Tips on tools and materials, plus other helpful advice on how to make the leap into fly tying

by George Daniel - Tuesday, Dec 8th, 2020

Photo: Chad Shmukler

With the cold season upon us and COVID cases soaring all over the country, it’s likely we’ll all be spending more time inside our homes over the next few months. The question is: what do you plan to do with that time? If you’ve been contemplating learning to tie your own flies, you’ve likely wondered where to begin. As an instructor for Penn State University’s Angling Program, one of my jobs is introducing fly tying techniques, tools and materials to students each semester. While teaching, I compiled this short list of tips that I hope will help get you started.

Rearranging deck chairs on the Olympic Peninsula

Fisheries "management" is pushing wild steelhead towards extinction

by Dylan Tomine - Thursday, Dec 3rd, 2020

Deep in the Olympic Peninsula rain forest on the Hoh River, angler Jessie Ball swings throughout the downpour (photo: Arian Stevens).

Olympic Peninsula wild steelhead—the luminous, iconic objects of our collective dreams—are nearing the bottom of a decades-long slide into oblivion. We are staring into the abyss. On our current trajectory, extinction is not out of the question.