Drake Magazine Daily Fly Fishing News and Blog
Big brook trout and landlocked Atlantic salmon get all the press in Maine, but there’s an underappreciated striped bass fishery in the easternmost state. So before you load your drift boat and head inland, consider expanding your angling opportunities this spring by attending Striper School.
There are a few ways to see and swing northern British Columbia’s legendary Babine River this fall. And while most of them involve a mortgage-size down payment followed by a heli ride to your majestic riverside digs, there’s now a glimmer of hope for the budget-oriented dirtbags in the crowd—assuming we can scrounge up a…
While steelhead and chinook salmon fisheries remain a question mark across the Columbia River Basin, a bronzeback boon will keep anglers in the hunt during this raging high-water season. And an extra cooler, along with some eggs and flour, should feature prominently in your kit.
Clear rivers and one’s right to wade them in search of swirling trout have always been, in the great state of Montana, prerogatives worth fighting to keep. Now more than forty of Montana’s best writers have unholstered their pens to bring original essays and testimonials to the battle, advocating for the protection of public lands…
A new forecast halving the expected return of spring chinook to the Columbia River and its tributaries led Washington to close Snake River salmon fishing earlier this week. The spring chinook return to the entire Columbia-Snake River Basin this season was predicted to be 160,800. It’s now been cut to 83,000 and recreational fishing has…
From our friends at Simms: “Born and raised in Montana, first and second generation Wader Makers Leona and Michelle Helvey reflect on family, fishing, and a mother/daughter bond that continues to help them get through sad times.” Watch the vid, then go give your mom a hug.
After months of negotiations, this week Florida Gov. Rick Scott signed into law a bill that could help reverse the 40-year ecosystem decline occurring in the Florida Everglades. SB10, sponsored by Sen. Rob Bradley, will fund the creation of a 78-billion gallon deep-water reservoir (enough water-holding capacity to fill 120,000 Olympic-size swimming pools) south of Lake…
Colemann this week announced its bid to construct President Trump’s long-promised southern border wall out of a surplus of unsellable coolers. Company spokesperson Steve Bingham said, “You won’t see us in many drift boats this summer, but a 1,900-mile-long Colemann barricade could be the comeback we’ve all been praying for.” The Colemann WALL®—currently banned in California—would…
President Trump’s favorite assembly of federal judges, the 9th Circuit Court, backed a lower court’s decision last week, approving hatchery fish to be dumped into the Olympic Peninsula’s Elwha River—once again.
Grip & grins, screaming reels, and airborne salmonids are the bread, butter, and bacon of flyfishing media. It sure gets the heart thumping to see that tarpon thrash its head side-to-side in midair. The film tours capitalize on this adrenal desire and know how to deliver. But there are times you don’t want your heart to…
The Big Year is back. And for the next 12 months, it’s not about the biggest fish, it’s about the most species caught on a fly rod. Now through April 21, 2018, post a picture of you with your fish on The Drake’s Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter page. Whoever posts the most different species, that they caught starting…
As spring runoff works its way out of the nation’s river systems, many underemployed, overfished trout bums fear that their favorite Forest Service campsites will be closed this summer due to President Trump’s proposed budget constraints. As a result, Walmart parking lots across the country are now filling up with tailgating anglers. “It’s cheaper than…
Facing a record-low Klamath River salmon forecast, the Pacific Fisheries Management Council has moved to close 200 miles of coastal fishing in northern California and southern Oregon. Fishery managers expect to see less than 12,000 chinook returning to the Klamath this season.
Castaway Films’ latest trailer for Atlanticus travels deep up northern Costa Rica’s jungle river systems in search of triple-digit tarpon. The freshwater fishery, fed by seasonal rains, is also stomping grounds for garfish, sawfish, bull sharks, and cute, cuddly caiman. The feature length film is due Jan. 2018. Meantime, here’s a snippet of what’s cooking.
Florida-based captains and anglers are traveling to Tallahassee this week, urging state lawmakers to follow what was outlined in the Comprehensive Everglades Restoration Plan in 2000. In other words, to build the reservoir south of Lake Okeechobee that would store, clean, and properly convey fresh water, sending more of it south to Florida Bay.
President Trump on Monday donated his first-quarter earnings as leader of the free world to the cash-strapped National Park Service—a total of $78,333. The check was presented to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, who said, “I’m thrilled,” and noted that the wad would go toward maintaining historic battlefield sites under the NPS domain.
Columbia-Snake River salmon and steelhead, thanks to a ruling this week by U.S. District Court Judge Michael Simon, will see increased water releases over spillways at eight Columbia and Snake dams, helping ocean-migrating smolts navigate the concrete cluttered basin.
Redington’s Find Your Water series kicks off a new year with the short film Contradictions, introducing us to a Billings, MT-based angler who’s mastered both his mine and fishing crafts. From a mile underground, drilling and blasting, to miles of open water on the Bighorn River, drifting and casting, Rich Schwend navigates the contrasting elements…
The Balance, a new film from Orvis, traverses the Everglades ecosystem and explains how increased storage, treatment, and conveyance of water south of Lake Okeechobee would benefit fisheries across southern Florida. Text WATER to 52866, and tell Florida’s leaders to support SB10 and HB761 and to build the EAA Reservoir, which would restore the flow…
T-Motion theater’s latest vid fires up the chopper and points it toward the remote reaches of British Columbia’s Skeena River system to search for big kings (10 to 90+ pounds) on the swing. “Steelhead are the most sought-after fish in this province, but by far the chinook pull a lot harder.” Anglers on camera include…
This week Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) shared the results from its two-year Tarpon Genetic Program that, thanks to the efforts of anglers, guides, lodges, and researchers, saw more than 23,000 scale samples collected from across the world. Nice work people.
How Washington’s Hoh River Steelhead Project could become the new Pacific Coast standard Wild steelhead management is one of the more volatile issues among anglers, guides, conservation groups, and fisheries managers in the Pacific Northwest. But on Washington’s Hoh River, a hallowed 300-square-mile Olympic Peninsula watershed, a diverse group of stakeholders has built an uncommon…
Dismantling the water rule you (and your favorite fisheries) always wanted This week the Trump administration continued its undo-a-thon against all things labeled “Obama”, firing its latest rollback at the former president’s controversial 2015 Clean Water Rule.
Five years of California drought have been erased in a couple months as a conveyor belt of storms continues to punish the state. The wettest winter in decades is also piling snow in the Sierra Nevada, filling reservoirs, and thwarting anglers and fish.
Shot on location in Canada, Argentina, Montana, California, and Florida, Finding Fontinalis investigates the suspicious rumors of a world-record brookie said to be caught by John William Cook in 1915. That year Cook disappeared into the vast boreal forests of northern Ontario, eventually emerging with a 14.5-pound superlunker. A century later, three anglers descend upon the…
With Bristol Bay sockeye salmon stocks on the upswing, the mining company that would potentially be their demise took a stock-market thrashing this week. Canadian firm Northern Dynasty Minerals saw its value skyrocket after Trump’s victory thanks to frothing investors championing the company’s prospects under the new regime. On Tuesday, however, New York-based Kerrisdale Capital Management…
Corazón, from filmmaker R.A. Beattie, starts with Mike Dawes telling the story of donating half his liver to save his father’s life. But mostly it’s about Mike’s friend—well-known Mexican flats guide Sandflea—a man whose physical heart is damaged, but whose symbolic heart is flawless. Through Mike and Sandflea, we get a glimpse into the best parts of friendship:…