Fly Fishing Industry News

St. Peter’s Fly Shops

Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Flyshop Friday, Homepage Content, TroutLeave a comment

In the late 1880s, a stone mason in Fort Collins, Colorado began building a home out of materials he had salvaged from the decommissioned county jail. After its completion in 1889, this structure would go on to house several mayors, serve as a hospital, and enter the national register of historic places before becoming a fly shop. The shop’s founder had a brother who was a Trappist monk so he named the shop after St. Peter, the great fisherman and disciple of Jesus. Since 1992, St. Peter’s Fly Shop has been servicing, outfitting, and educating Colorado’s Front Range.

Sunset over Hungry Trout Resort and the Adirondacks

Hungry Trout, Tasty Flies

Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Flyshop Friday, Homepage Content, TroutLeave a comment

Evan Bottcher grew up in the Hungry Trout Fly Shop located in the heart of the Adirondacks. The Shop is deep in upstate New York about 90 minutes south of Montreal, Canada. “I would get off the school bus at my dad’s fly shop and hang out until my mom got home,” Evan says. “In those days, it felt like it was full of old timers. It was all anglers older than 50.” Evan, who took over the shop from his father in 2011, explains that in the last decade the younger guides and patrons have given the shop a new, cooler spirit. “The industry has evolved. It is more affordable for people to get into the sport now with less expensive packages, new techniques, and new flies,” explains Evan. “But there is so much knowledge from the old timers that will be lost if it isn’t written down.”

Hilary Hutcheson and Ebon Robinson in Columbia Falls, Montana's Lary's Fly & Supply

Lary’s Fly & Supply

Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Flyshop Friday, Homepage Content, Trout1 Comment

“Are you Lary?” is a question Ebon Robinson, shop manager, gets asked often. He is not, but you can’t blame folks for asking the question. He is standing behind the counter of Lary’s Fly and Supply in Columbia Falls, Montana. And he is a dude. 

Deschutes Angler Fly Shop

Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Flyshop Friday, Homepage Content, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, Salmon/Steelhead, Trout, U.S. placesLeave a comment

Amy and John Hazel, owners of Deschutes Angler Fly Shop in Maupin, Oregon, are committed to consistency. “I’ve never had anybody fish a single-handed rod, and we’ve never had anyone nymph fish for steelhead,” says Amy. “It’s always been swinging, it’s always been a floating line, and it’s always been small surface-flies that are no deeper than a couple inches.” For more than twenty-five years the couple has guided the Deschutes the way they wanted to, mainly because they feel it’s the most effective way to target the river’s summer-run steelhead. 

Community Justice--Or the Result of Competition?

Firestorm

Conservation, Daily Drake, Destination travel, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2023, Fly Fishing Industry News, Homepage Content, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, Policy/Politics/LawsLeave a comment

The first email arrived on July 14. “Reaching out to pass along some fresh ‘industry happenings’ from the heart of Bolivia’s golden dorado region,” it began. “I figured the Drake might be interested in looking into it, as it seems on par with the prior articles investigating Deneki.”

Late summer over the Patoka River near the Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), Indiana, USA. Photo by Brent Waltermire

Op Ed: Questionable Criticism

Conservation, Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2022, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Opinion, Stream Access3 Comments

In the fall of 1993, then-President Bill Clinton signed Executive Order 12866, requiring all Federal regulatory agencies to publish a list of anticipated rulemaking actions for the upcoming twelve-month period. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) is such an agency, and its rulemaking process requires four steps: Publishing a proposed rule in the Federal Register; Inviting public comment; Considering the public comments received, and Publishing a final rule in the Federal Register.

Drake Magazine 2020 Winter

Photo by Corey Kruitbosch

End-Times Steelhead. Group therapy on the Oregon Coast.

Conservation, Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2020, Fly Fishing Industry News, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Humor, Lifestyle, Salmon/Steelhead, TroutLeave a comment

None of us guessed what was coming. Within hours of our leaving the river, the county would close all boat ramps and Oregon’s governor would implement stay-at-home guidelines. We were fishing on the last days of winter steelhead season 2020 and we didn’t even know it.

Photo Courtesy Rep. Simpson's Office. Idaho's 2nd District G.O.P. Rep. Mike Simpson, at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Stanley-to-Redfish Lake Trail. 

The Bold Effort. An Idaho Congressman shares his thoughts.

Conservation, Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2020, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2020, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Salmon/Steelhead2 Comments

In April 2019, Congressman Mike Simpson, R-Idaho, gave a somewhat stunning keynote address at an environmental conference hosted by Boise State’s Andrus Center for Public Policy. His comments were thoughtful, educated, and encouraging. But mostly, they were surprising, particularly his thoughts about what might be necessary to save Idaho salmon. Rep. Simpson and I discussed the topic in mid-December, and his quotes below come from his keynote and our conversation. Can Idaho salmon truly be saved? No one knows. But the Congressman has been down a similarly daunting path. In 2015, Mr. Simpson’s 15-year effort to broker a seemingly impossible deal resulted in the creation of Idaho’s Boulder-White Clouds Wilderness. (Which Mark Menlove covered in his 2014 feature, “A Fisherman’s Monument.”) If wild salmon and steelhead can indeed be saved, then Rep. Simpson is providing these essential fish the best shot they’ve had in decades.

Bobby Foster Chrome Winter OP

Commodities and Steelhead. An imperative shift on the Olympic Peninsula.

Conservation, Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry News, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Homepage Content, Salmon/Steelhead7 Comments

Wild Steelhead are not corn, wheat, or cattle. They are not oranges, apples, or anything that we can control with expected specific outcomes and pounds delivered to market. Put them in a box and they will swim right out of it.
Even among anadromous fish, steelhead are the least predictable of any salmonid swimming the North Pacific. They are never a species of multitude, like Kings, Coho, or even Pinks, that come home in a rush of biological delivery to the rivers spanning the West Coast. They cruise along the edges, arriving to their natal rivers in fits and spurts, with dozens of life histories across each watershed. In short, there were never that many steelhead to begin with.

March Madness - Finding calm amid coronavirus anxiety

Photo: Hansi Johnson

March Madness – Finding calm amid coronavirus anxiety

Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Homepage Content, Lifestyle3 Comments

It was a brisk and beautiful morning, the sky cloudless, the sunlight sharp. It was the kind of day that under different circumstances would have you looking forward to the coming seasons of warmth and splendor and carefree fun. We began packing the car. I’ll never forget the looks on some of my neighbors’ faces as I took the bags of groceries—canned goods, pasta, rice and yes, even some toilet paper—to the car. Those faces betrayed thoughts. Wait, should I be doing the same thing? Fear may be the only thing more contagious than this virus.

Alaska West Lodge

Photo: Tosh Brown

American Greed, Inc.

Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Winter 2019, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, Fly Fishing News, Homepage Content, Lodges, Outfitters, and Guides, Policy/Politics/Laws12 Comments

riter and historian David T. Courtwright calls them “limbic capitalists”—people or companies that target our limbic system, the part of our brains primarily responsible for emotion, especially as it relates to pleasure, motivation, and survival. Courtwright is author of The Age of Addiction: How Bad Habits Became Big Business. “Biological evolution shaped the limbic system,…

Howler IndyFly Collaboration.

Howler IndyFly

Howler Bros. X IndiFly: Golden Frog Collection

Conservation, Fly Fishing Industry News, The Put InLeave a comment

Kaieteur Falls is a superlative 800-foot single-drop waterfall located in the heart of Guyana’s Kaieteur National Park. And although the falls are heavily photographed by gapers from around the globe, the area is also home to another famous inhabitant that is equally quirky, cool. The non-poisonous Golden Frog (Anomaloglossus beebei) is endemic to a 600-hectare…

New Center Axis Rod and Reel.

A Difference in the Balance

Fly Fishing Art, Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry NewsLeave a comment

Feelings are part of it. That’s because our cherished fly rods, whether impatient laser throwers or deep-bending noodles, stroke emotions. When they feel right, we’re remarkable anglers. When something’s jacked, it’s a slippery slope from elitist to self-defeatist. Idaho-based Waterworks Lamson, with its new Center Axis Rod/Reel, is banking on recalibrating the way we feel…

Guide Pointer Booking and Reservation Software

Guide Pointer Booking and Reservation Software

Guide Pointer Tech Aims to Boost Your Flyshop Biz

Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry NewsLeave a comment

Mike Dawes has a fishing problem. He’s been wading saltwater flats since the impressionable age of seven. He’s a veteran player on the permit tourney circuit. He’s even starred in couple of film tour flicks. But perhaps the biggest struggle he’s had to overcome in his flyfishing career didn’t involve a dour fish or a…

Umpqua Feather Merchants collaborates to conserve habitat in Tongass National Forest.

Umpqua Marks 45th Anniversary with $45k Pledge

Conservation, Fly Fishing Industry News, U.S. placesLeave a comment

LOUISVILLE, CO — Forty-five years ago, Umpqua Feather Merchants opened its doors to anglers and shops in search of high-quality flies and unmatched variety. Now it’s wrapping its anniversary celebration around a good cause, collaborating with Trout Unlimited and the Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska to raise $45,000 to help conserve and restore key salmon and…

Drake Magazine Southeast Alaska Tongass

Photo by Corey Kruitbosch

Salmon in AK’s Tongass Catch a Break (Cue the Celebration)

Conservation, Daily Drake, Fly Fishing Industry News, Policy/Politics/Laws, Salmon/Steelhead, U.S. placesLeave a comment

The U.S. Forest Service this month finalized an amendment to its Tongass Land and Resource Management plan that will help conserve more than 70 salmon and trout streams within Southeast Alaska’s 17-million-acre Tongass National Forest. The decision helps safeguard fish thanks to provisions that transition the Tongass timber program from old-growth logging to one based on…

Simms launches special waders for benefit of Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation.

Simms Celebrates Veterans with WQW Wader

Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, LifestyleLeave a comment

This month, Simms is again honoring our nation’s combat veterans by donating proceeds from sales of its WQW Limited Edition wader. Simms launched the special G3 Guide™ Wader last year to help benefit the Bozeman-based Warriors and Quiet Waters Foundation (WQW). WQW helps reintegrate post-9/11 combat veterans into society by building hope and resilience, facilitating camaraderie,…

Russell Miller took him passion and made a career out of it.

Flyfishing Grind: How to Turn Passion into Pay Dirt

Fly Fishing Industry, Fly Fishing Industry News, U.S. placesLeave a comment

Scoring a paycheck to fish incessantly seems like a savvy career move—if you can find the right mix of employer (preferably a company churning out badass gear) and locale (somewhere near steelhead, or poon flats, smallies ponds, tidal redfish… a carp ditch). Insatiable flyfisher Russell Miller began the process in Boulder, CO, in the late…