Yellow Gold
Big congrats to Drake-reg Will Rice and Clint Packo, winners of the prestigious 2012 South Platte Pro-Am Carp Slam. Rice and Packo edged all competitors with three carp landed, measuring in at 83 inches—total.
Drake Magazine Florida Bay
Water, Florida Bay, and Bonefish
When sight-fishing as a sport debuted in the Upper Keys and Florida Bay, boat-makers modified their hulls, fishing companies developed faster and lighter rods, and tackle shops sprouted up all over the islands. By the 1950s an entire industry was formed around a specific shallow-water grassland habitat dominated by tarpon, redfish, permit, snook, and bonefish.…
Ride with Clyde: Part III
The Sacramento There’s a special kind of summertime heat reserved for the valleys of California. Even up north, triple digits are common in the Sacramento Valley, which is where I found Clyde parked in Ryan Peterson’s driveway, its black exterior soaking up every ray in Redding. With no AC and an afternoon departure, my first…
Deconstructing Dworshak
Waters of Idaho’s North Fork Clearwater River once flowed freely to the Pacific. Cayuse Creek dropped from a high-elevation meadow into Kelly Creek, which funneled into the North Fork, which melded into the Clearwater proper, then the Snake, and finally the mighty Columbia. Native steelhead muscled upstream through it all—massive populations of massive fish during…
Seven Fishing Presidents
George Washington Served: April 30, 1789 – March 4, 1797 America’s Founding Father was not only the Brits’ worst nightmare, he was also a badass woodsman, whiskey distiller, tobacco farmer, and once dabbled in spinning and weaving. We’re excusing the last two knowing that the First Prez also hauled in cash via commercial fishing on…
Defining Dude
The term “dude” first appeared in 1883’s The Home and Farm Manual describing an ill-bred and ostentatious city dweller. It was refined to describe the Easterners, decked out by Abercrombie & Fitch, who trekked west to hunt, ride, and play at ranching. Among its contemporary uses, my favorite describes the argot preferred by youngish flyfishing…
Trading Up
Can I return this reel? It’s brand new, never spooled up. Sure, do you have the receipt? No. Well, we can’t accept a return without a receipt. Why not?