Articles

Wilderness carp

Confessions of a carp bum

by Chris Hunt - Thursday, May 26th, 2016

Photo: Chris Hunt

I rested my river-chilled feet on the warm rocks of the small campfire, an iced gin-and-tonic spritzer in hand, helping me push the season as quickly as I could. The desert, lush and alive this time of year, cascaded my little camp with a chorus of wild tunes ranging from the shrill aria of the mud swallows to the cacophony of hoots, grunts and whistles from the waterfowl padding through the shallow waters just a few dozen feet away.

Of browns and bugs

Fishing through Colorado’s new national monument

by Kris Millgate - Wednesday, May 25th, 2016

Brown trout are abundant in the Arkansas River including the stretch running through Browns Canyon National Monument.

I’m in Browns Canyon National Monument. It’s Colorado’s corner of newly protected public land. The Arkansas River is its lifeline. I’m fishing that lifeline from a raft rowed by Colorado permit pioneer Bill Dvorak.

The river is running too low in my opinion, 300 cubic feet per second (CFS), but my opinion doesn’t count here. This isn’t my home water. It’s Dvorak’s.

Hidden hollows with dark pasts

Exploring marks left on West Virginia's Cranberry Wilderness

by Matthew Reilly - Monday, May 23rd, 2016

Photo: Matthew Reilly

I’ve always been drawn to wild places. It’s where the world makes the most sense. And when the beauty of wild trout—rising where they should, to a fly offered by one practiced in the art of grace and respect for such things—agrees with the surroundings, all is as it should be.

The many faces of the Malleo

Patagonia's Rio Malleo offers some of the finest and most diverse fishing in all of Argentina

by Chad Shmukler - Thursday, May 19th, 2016

The Lanin volcano, which seems ever-present on some sections of the Malleo, towers over the middle section of the river below (photo: Isaias Miciu).

As we toss gear into the truck and finish morning coffees, Santos, our guide from Patagonia River Guides, informs me that our planned day on the Malleo will be spent on the lower section of the river and I immediately start to pepper him with questions. Why the lower section? Why not the upper? Or the middle?

Review: Simms Waypoints Sling Pack

Thoughts on Simms' new featherweight sling pack

by Paul Snyder - Tuesday, May 17th, 2016

The majority of my missions are full on 8 hour days on foot often in challenging terrain. This typically necessitates a balanced, lightweight pack and storage configuration of more than 17 liters for the first aid kit, food, liquids, tackle and a rain jacket or insulated layer depending on conditions.