After shuttering coho and steelhead fishing on the Columbia River two weeks ago, the Washington-Oregon Columbia River Compact recently reversed course, giving the green light to fishing for the two species from Buoy 10 near the mouth of the river to the Highway 395 Bridge near Pasco, WA. The fall chinook fishery will remain closed.
Keys to surviving an extended camping expedition on the remote West Side of Andros Island, in the Bahamas? Beer and a love for bonefish. In the 4th installment of Xplor Andros, Frankie Marion, Jeff Rybak, and flats guide Solomon Murphy focus on the “capture”. Read more about the crew and their mission in flats-fishing minimalism at…
Washington steelheaders will have fewer options this fall, as the Upper Columbia River tributaries will remain closed. In recent fall seasons bombers and muddlers motored through classic steelhead streams like the Methow and Wenatchee. This year only about 6,300 steelhead are expected to make it upstream of Priest Rapids Dam on the Columbia. That paltry sum…
Iceland has the world’s happiest people, a hot tub in every town, and “WIND, WIND and fucking wind,” says Swiss angler/filmmaker Luc Malbois. In The Land of Endless Days Malbois and Romain Mettaz spend 10 days sight-fishing the country’s lakes and rivers for Arctic char and prehistoric-looking browns. “The first day the Varma was really low. The second day,…
Last week workers pulled the plug to a decaying diversion dam on Wyoming’s Shoshone River, near Cody, unleashing a trout-suffocating slurry careening 20+ miles downstream toward Bighorn Lake.
Xplor Andros is a multipart series from C1 Films, chronicling the adventures of Frankie Marion, Jeff Rybak, and flats guide Solomon Murphy as they embark on their first expedition to the Andros Island backcountry. In this second installment, tents are staked, tarpon are jumped, and it’s snapper for supper. Read more about the crew and…
Saying, “Hey, Siri…” will get you from point A to the local tavern and back. But if you’re searching for every stream spanning the 48 states of the contiguous U.S., look no further. The new river basins of America map, created by Imgur user Fejetlenfej—a geographer, GIS analyst, and the world’s most prolific hotspotter—shows the…
What is the Lowcountry and why is it special? Ryan Griffin, Paul Puckett and Doug Roland go straight to the source for answers, where they explain how the sight of a tailing redfish can take over your life. “This short film is about flyfishing for redfish in the salt marshes around Charleston, SC, “the Lowcountry.” Shown…
Washington legislators made steelhead the state symbol in 1969. But as contributor Jonathan Stumpf writes in “Chrome Plated” (Summer 2016), over the ensuing years anglers haven’t had a design to compliment their steelhead whips en route to the Olympic Peninsula and elsewhere. In March, Governor Jay Inslee changed that when he signed a law to…
Xplor Andros is a multipart series from C1 Films, chronicling the adventures of Frankie Marion, Jeff Rybak, and flats guide Solomon Murphy as they embark on their first expedition to the Andros Island backcountry. The rules are simple, and the supplies are scant: limited fuel, water and power, and all their protein must come from the…
The bad: Fall storms continue to hammer the Pacific Northwest, leaving 100,000 Oregonians in the dark and producing isolated incidents of flooding from northern California to western Washington. The good: Salmon like water. But how much is too much? New research published by the journal GlobalChange Biology provides a glimpse of how salmon rivers might…
Denmark is in for an unexpected, exceptional fall steelhead run. A cargo ship crashed into an ocean net pen this week dumping as many as 80,000 rainbow trout, averaging six and half pounds, into the Baltic Sea near the island of Funen.
Kenny Price accident. Earier this month, Tempe, Arizona-based angler Kenny Price sustained serious burns to his left hand while trying to keep a friend from falling into a campfire. You can help Kenny cover medical costs by making a donation to his GoFundMe page. “With Kenny’s bills stacking up and him not being able to work, we…
Feds ask for public input on breaching Snake River dams Back in May, a U.S. District Court judge in Portland sided with anglers, conservationists, the State of Oregon and the Nez Perce Tribe, ruling that the latest in a series of impotent federal plans for protecting endangered Northwest salmon was just as dubious as the…
B.C. salmon and steelhead advocates prepare to battle for Skeena River safekeeping When Canada’s new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was elected he was on a breakaway, staring down an empty net for the win. This Wednesday he shot wide right.
If Pautzke egg-colored pant suits and Mr. Sniffles memes have you searching for a quick exit, Patagonia’s here to help. This 4-minute clip from Patagonia River Guides covers three regions, dozens of rivers, several lodges and, not to be too braggadocios, one of Argentina’s premier flyfishing programs.
The Yellowstone said “good to be back” last week as Montana reopened 17 miles of prime trout water upstream of Livingston. The Emigrant to Pine Creek section was the last to see fishing reintroduced following the August 19 closure of 183 miles of river due to the microscopic fish parasite that wasted thousands of whities during…
Beetle mania is a season-long phenomenon on the glacial rivers feeding the river/lake systems of Chile’s Region XI. In large part thanks to a proliferation of cute Cantaria beetles (picture a crossbreed of Steve Buscemi and a scorpion). Here, a look at the dry-fly opportunities in the surrounding areas of the Cinco Rios and Estancia del…
Trudeau to make final decision on dangerous Skeena River development British Columbia’s Skeena River is a globally important wild fish stronghold home to some of the largest chinook and steelhead ever recorded. A liquefied natural gas cooling and export facility at the river’s mouth is currently awaiting approval. And by early October, Canadian Prime Minister Justin…
Sir Paul Puckett and Capt. Lawson Builder dodge rainstorms to find a few tailing reds in Charleston, SC, on the flood tide. “Just a few snippets of footage and a whole lotta fun.” Via: Flood Tide Co
We’ve heard a lot about this one lately. Montana’s Smith River is the edenic trout fishery that could turn cesspool if copper-hungry Tintina Resources gets a “please do” from DEQ to tap the mother lode and belch acid mine drainage into the system.
Filming for Confluence Film’s new Providence project took place in the fall of 2015 with the FlyCastaway crew on Providence Atoll in the Seychelles. The soon-to-be released full-length movie chronicles FlyCastaway’s first trip back to Providence Atoll since the waters were closed to anglers and boats more than six years ago—due to the threat of pirates…
Nicknamed the Nigiri Project (AKA salmon over rice), the Managed Agricultural Habitat initiative aims to demonstrate that California can have both its fish and its farms—all in one place. And in a state where wildlife abundance has been historically hammered by agricultural abundance, CalTrout has been busy working to put nature back on the menu.
Skeena system chinook. On the swing. This should be good. Via T-Motion theater: “The anglers on camera include none other than the talented Adrienne Comeau, who guides for Skeena Spey Riverside Wilderness & Lodge and Steve McPhail, owner of Nass River Steelhead Company out of Terrace BC. This tech-infused video includes some great insight on flyfishing…
Two sections of the Yellowstone were reopened last week due to improving environmental conditions following the parasite-caused fish kill that led to the shuttering of the river on Aug. 19. FWP crews will float the ‘Stone this week to asses damages and will decide whether fishing can resume throughout the river.
Follow along with Redington ambassadors Ben Kraushaar and Anna Ortega as they comb alpine lakes for some good cutts. “In this episode they live in the moment and absorb the beauty of the mountains, only to have this tranquility disrupted by the sound of a cutthroat breaking the surface to eat a dry fly.” Via…
Summer 2015 was record-setting across the Pacific Northwest. Low snowpack, soaring air temperatures, and low flows combined to create one of the most stressful summers for cold-water fish species ever. While some salmon and trout populations were able to find critical lifesaving stopping points in cold-water refuges along their upstream migration, others were exposed to…