by Domenick Swentosky - Tuesday, Feb 21st, 2017
Low sun angle provides a significant advantage to the angler. The shadows are deeper; they’re wider and longer. In the winter months, the sun sits lower in the sky, and that shallow arc creates more shadows with less direct sunlight. Trout love the dark areas and seek them out.
By contrast, the summer solstice has the sun directly overhead. The hard sunlight beats straight down, erasing the comforting shadows and putting trout on edge.
by Johnny Carrol Sain - Monday, Feb 20th, 2017
The drag was squalling. There’s no better word for it. No staccato clicks at all. No crescendo. Just one long note of protest.
The protest began as gills flared after a nervous cast and one strip. I remember outfitter Ryan Lambert yelling at me to set the hook, then raw power transmitted from leader to line to rod. The reel took the brunt of it with a silky smooth confidence and that shrieking battle cry.
by Spencer Durrant - Wednesday, Feb 15th, 2017
My first pair of “nice” waders were one of Redington’s early models. I forget the name of the product line but remember being so excited to own a pair of real, honest-to-goodness fly fishing waders that I used them as an excuse to fish more than I ever had before.
Unfortunately, they only lasted seven months before I had an unfortunate run-in with a rather large tree in Utah’s backcountry. Since then, I’ve worn a series of waders from other brands, many of which fell prey to similar foes (branches, rocks, cattle fences) as my original Redingtons.
by George C Costa - Monday, Feb 13th, 2017
The modern indicator has become ubiquitous. Despite that technical-sounding name, let's face the facts, an indicator is little more than a bobber. You can call it an indicator, a flotation device, or a nymph suspender. Hell, you can call it Suzanne for all I care. But, in the end, it's just a bobber—just like the one you had on the Barbie pole that you took fishing for bluegills when you were six. Not that there's anything wrong with that, let's just be honest with ourselves.
by Kris Millgate - Friday, Feb 10th, 2017
I’m cleaning another pile of fresh snow off the cover on my drift boat. It’s a chore I do almost daily this winter, but I’m not complaining. All this white translates into more water this summer.
My home waters are Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River, which is buried in snow, and the Henry’s Fork of the Snake River, which is farther north and buried in even more snow.
In much of rural America, the town dump remains the great equalizer. Sometimes known as the more sanitary sounding “transfer station,” it’s the place that virtually...
It felt like a slower-than-usual day. But then, on the morning after, I noticed a tender area a few inches to the right of my belly-button—not coincidentally, the place...
Killing native wildlife, defined by the ecologically challenged as “varmints,” is a popular American tradition, especially when organized into social events in which...
Korkers new Stealth Sneaker is a hybrid of the wading shoes we’ve seen grow in popularity lately and the tried-and-true wading boots...
There’s a creek freak in every fly fisher, even if it's compartmentalized away, deep in the emotional recesses of our psyches. Most of us who have fly fished for years —...
Fall is officially upon us, and fly-fishing gear manufacturers are pushing new rods, reels and other goods out to consumers this month. From a handful of new reels — both...
