A Year in the Business
From steelhead to permit and everything in between, we hope your year’s about to get as good as the one depicted in this little Vimeo gem making the interweb rounds.
Tom Bie is the founder, editor, and publisher of The Drake. He started the magazine in 1998 as an annual newsprint publication based in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He then moved it to Steamboat, Colorado (1999), Boulder, Colorado (2001), and San Clemente, California (2004), as he took jobs as managing editor at Paddler, Senior Editor at Skiing, and Editor-in-Chief at Powder, respectively. Tom and The Drake are now both based in Denver, Colorado, where The Drake is finally all grows up(Swingers, 1996) to a quarterly magazine.
Hatchery Trout on the Ropes
TENNESSEE—Say what you want about hatchery trout—inbred, three-eyed, lackluster competition for wild fish populations—in states such as Tennessee, they’re a staple. With new federal budget cuts coming down the pipe, national fish hatcheries run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service stand to lose $6.3 million related to fish hatchery mitigation operations. Six of…
Legalize It: Cuba
Those seeking legal travel to Cuba’s best flyfishing waters have been given a glimmer of hope thanks to a loosening of people-to-people tour regulations recently published by the U.S. Treasury Department. People-to-people contacts, designed for educational purposes to bring regular Cubans and Americans together, were approved in 1999 under the Clinton administration. They disappeared…
Box Wine a la Enviro-Friendly Bag
If you’re a fan of overpriced chocolate bars, camping, and the vino, you’ll be stoked to learn Clif Bar has gone alcoholic. A division of the company grows and sources grapes in Napa Valley and produces a line of red and white wines under the Clif Family Winery handle. According to a recent Outside…
A Fishing Dog: The Life and Times of Trask
Steelheading in Smithers was a little different fourteen years ago than it is today. For starters, there were very few spey rods. Also, a hotel in town was about $80—a week. But then, as now, as always, which river you fished was sometimes decided by the weather. We’d hauled a skiff all the way from…
Early Box Canyon Opening
A little drift boat tobogganning and ultra early Box Canyon love from your friends at the TroutHunter.
Rapture Tomorrow; Fish Today
Since you will likely be wiped off Earth tomorrow, May 21 being Doomsday and all, let’s take today to fish. Who’s in??
No. 1: Susquehanna River
American Rivers recently chose Pennsyltucky’s Susquehanna River (also coursing through parts of NY and Maryland) as its “America’s Most Endangered Rivers Of 2011” poster child. The river, once renowned for its prime smallmouth fishing flowing through Bob Clouser’s backyard has, over the last ten years, been reduced by ag runoff and other environmental cancers.…
Spring Steelvision
Some Spring Steel porn from the good peops at Country Pleasures fly shop. With 140 percent+ snowpack towering over them thar hills, we’re going to need a collection of similarly slutty vids to maintain wood through the run-off. Keep sending please.
Water Baliffs Vs. Carp Crimes
With so many hooligans up to their rogue fishing shenanigans, it’s amazing the Brits have time to focus on pressing matters such as making jelly molds and tea time. But nevermind all that, stealthy water baliffs are always up to the challenges posed by uncouth youth.
Selling Patagonia Hydro
Chilean officials in the city of Coyhaique are scheduled to vote on HidroAysen’s controversial Patagonia power project today. Approval would give stakeholders an environmental license for what’s designed to be Chile’s biggest power plant.
Horizontal | Sex in the Woods
If a casual boffing in the bush is your thing, have at it because who are we to judge. Steve Casimiro over at the Adventure Journal is on a search for scientific answers regarding the latter. He asks, “What’s Your Position on Sex in the Outdoors?” What we really want to know is, “What…
Hammer Time
South Andros guide, Sparkles, and his bonefishing client demonstrate the exploding push-pole technique, proving the Stiffy is no match for lusty hammerheads all hopped up on bonefish.
Iconic Flyshop Files Chapter 7
Sad news across the interwebs this week as Kaufmann’s Streamborn flyshop bolted its Tigard, OR, doors with little explanation to longstanding customers. According to the latest from Laura Gunderson at The Oregonian, shop owner Lance Kaufmann plans to file for bankruptcy protection next week.
Vermillion is Back
HELENA, MT—Earlier this week we learned that Livingston fishing guide, Dan Vermillion, would not receive a new four-year term as the Fish, Wildlife and Parks Commission’s vice chairman. Well, scratch that, yesterday the senate flip-flopped, renewing Vermillion’s standing.
Southern Culture On the Fly
Although a 10-piece bucket of the Colonel’s finest and reruns of The Real Housewives of Atlanta are amazingly delicious, we’ve always had a sneaky suspicion southern culture ran deeper. Enter Southern Culture on the Fly’s spring preview issue—”the thaw”—filled with grit, and grits, among other tasty morsels.
Opinion: Reason to Believe
Scott Willoughby is The Denver Post’s new outdoors editor. Evidently, covering quagmires of the day—climate change, access issues, energy development, et cetera—have stymied his cake-walk visions of weekly fishing excursions, honing his sporting clay skills, and spending more time outdoors. It’s something we can empathize with… for we, too, believe it’s time to go…
South Platte Scoop-Up
DENVER—Today marks the 41st anniversary of Earth Day, and if you’re looking for something to do other than rubbing patchouli oil in your dreadlocks this weekend, go help clean-up the dirty South Platte.
Drake x Simms | Ice Out Shoot Out
This past weekend The Drake dropped into Bozeangeles, MT, to sponsor the 1st Annual Ice Out Shoot Out component of Simms’ spring 2011 Ice Out shindig.
Faceless in Honduras
There’s been hype about Honduras flats fishing for years—so much so that we took it upon ourselves to investigate last February. Faceless Fly Fishing, as evidenced by this wicked edit, recently heeded the call, too. Check out some bone-friendly footage after the jump.
National Parks in Peril
America houses upwards of 394 National Parks—from Alcatraz Island to Zion. And Saturday marks the beginning of National Park Week (April 16-24). According to the National Park Service, this year’s focus is “Healthy Parks, Healthy People,” highlighting connections between human and environmental health “and the vital role America’s national parks play in both.” This…
New Permit Fishing Rules?
“They include allowing spearfishing for permit in federal waters but not in state waters, and banning South Florida anglers from keeping them during the summer spawning months. The proposals create and/or extend state rules into federal waters, where currently there are no regulations.” Source Link
Grande Ronde Access Secured
MINAM, OR—Access to one of the most beautiful river floats in Oregon was secured today, with Western Rivers Conservancy’s purchase of the Minam Store property.
Patagonia to Purchase Seaside NJ
NEW JERSEY—Patagonia Inc. recently pledged $2.3 million toward the purchase of Seaside Heights, New Jersey, as part of its Communities for Cultural Eternity initiative. “We’ve selected Seaside because we strongly believe it’s one of the final frontiers of contemporary Americana teetering on the brink of its last 15-minutes,” says company founder, Yvon Chouinard.
Opinion: Hook-And-Bullets
Classic “hook-and-bullet” titles such as Field & Stream have graced magazine racks for more than a hundred years, successfully cultivating readerships in the million+ range. Author David Petersen explores the wrinkled genre, operating along what he points to as a “triad of how-to, where-to and product hype.” Although The Drake does not make the…
Sinking Hopes for Colorado Stones
Annual Salmonfly hatches are calendar-marked events for good reason. Punch-drunk fish smashing massive bugs? Sign us up. But in the Upper Colorado River ecosystem hatches continue to be diverted to the brink, according to a recent article in The Denver Post.
Lingo: “Coat” Really Catches On
Being that we’re in the business of delivering pages lathered in words of various shapes, sizes and colors, keeping up with the constant evolution of contemporary vernacular is key. It’s shocking how quickly “coat” has recently caught on. (And we’ve found they’re great for foul-weather fishing, too.)