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…
DetailsSummer 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…
DetailsTo whom it may concern: All fish need water. One doesn’t have to be a fisheries biologist to comprehend this simple point—in fact, any six year old would say so. The recent outbreak of Proliferative Kidney Disease (PKD) on the Yellowstone River, while tragic and devastating, has cast a bright and perhaps unwanted spotlight on…
DetailsThe Wild Steelhead Coalition, Patagonia, and award-winning filmmaker Shane Anderson have teamed up to produce Steelhead Country. The six-episode series explores the rise and fall of angling for wild steelhead in Washington State—from the heydey on the Puyallup River to other legendary rivers that are now closed throughout Puget Sound, including the mighty Skagit. Follow along…
DetailsFacing overwhelming opposition from the fishing community, the Coalition for a Sustainable Delta—aka, a group of irrigators hoping to divert more water—this week revoked its controversial petition for regulation changes on striped and black bass in the Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta.
Washington’s Olympic National Park is best known for iconic steelhead rivers such as the Hoh, Bogachiel, and Sol Duc. It’s also home to America’s largest dam removal project, which was completed on the now free-flowing Elwha River in August 2014. Here, contributor Brian Irwin recounts his days pouring drinks in the park and exploring a…
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In 2015, the Park Service opened all of what were once known as “red line” brookie streams in Great Smoky Mountains National Park. In doing so, it endorsed both anglers and trout. It is now the official policy of the United States to let these Appalachian natives be their own brookie selves. Contributor Zach Matthews…
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The IGFA calls Steve Huff “the most well-respected guide in the history of flats fishing.” In Andy Mill’s book, A Passion for Tarpon, he calls Huff “bar none, the best tarpon guide alive, the best there was and the best there ever will be.” Though he spent the first half of his career guiding the…
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Anyone who’s ever spent a season working in a national park will relate to Fong’s heartfelt recollections. And for anyone considering it, this story helps illustrate how hard it can sometimes be to re-enter the real world. From the second issue of The Drake, Fong reminds us that fiction often speaks the greater truth.
The Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks today implemented an immediate closure of all water-based recreation (fishing, wading, floating, tubing, boating, etc.) on the Yellowstone River and its tributaries from Yellowstone National Park’s northern boundary at Gardiner to the Highway 212 bridge in Laurel—stretches totaling more than 183 miles of river.
Whether packing an iPhone or a strapping multiple GoPros to your shins and elbows, capturing decent fishing footage these days is for everyone. Not just professionals. Recognizing that potential, the fly-line think tank at RIO products is launching its very own Amateur Fly Fishing Film Awards this month.
Earlier this week Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) actually did a solid for steelhead, designating the Elwha and Nisqually rivers as wild steelhead gene banks. That means these two formidable systems will no longer see hatchery steelhead dumped off the shortbus and into the mix. It also shows that the powers that be…
DetailsJunior fly-casting phenom, Maxine McCormick, 12, recently competed in the U.S. Casting Championships in Kentucky, where she became America’s No. 1 female fly caster for accuracy. Her score also bested world champion Steve Rajeff—aka the greatest caster in history. McCormick will now join three other members of the San Francisco/Oakland Casting Club to compete in the world championships…
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English rocker Eric Clapton, 71, is one of the most influential guitarists of all time. He’s also, evidently, an Atlantic salmon fishing boss. While on a flyfishing trip to Iceland last week, Clapton landed this 28-pound, 42-inch slab on the Vatnsdalsá River, setting the record for stroking the river’s biggest salmon of the summer. He…
DetailsRivers in the Rockies are heating up, which means you can either abide by hoot-owl restrictions and retire to your backyard kiddie pool, or—better yet—leave the Speedo at home and hit a cold spring creek full of hopper hammering browns. Here, filmmaker Todd Moen travels to cooler waters, capturing Montana’s annual hopper event in full…
DetailsIntroducing the Yakamas’ new steelhead rehab program Steelhead in Washington’s Yakima River are doubling down on spawning thanks to a reconditioning program run by the Yakama tribe—spelled differently than the river. A study published recently in North American Journal of Fisheries Management shows a successful pattern of repeat spawning in female steelhead during the decade-long…
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Montana’s iconic Smith River is facing two challenges to its unsullied flyfishing future: A proposed copper mine on a vital tributary that would endanger the entire river ecosystem. And mining industry blowhards who want to limit public sentiment in the decision-making process. That’s why Montana Trout Unlimited (MTU) is asking anglers to lean on the…
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THERE ARE MANY SLIMY and unappealing things in Washington, D.C.—politicians, attorneys, lobbyists—but flyfisher Austin Murphy is interested in just one: the northern snakehead, also known as the Potomac Pike or the fearsome-sounding Frankenfish, named for its seemingly unnatural ability to move on land, live for days out of water breathing air, secrete mucus from its…
DetailsA coral reef 639 miles southwest of Port Victoria—the capital of the Seychelles—Cosmoledo Atoll is home to some of the headiest, healthiest giant trevally flats on the planet. Not to mention prime habitat for triggers, bones, and milkfish. That’s why we love it… and it’s why you should too. Here, follow the Alphonse Fishing Company crew…
DetailsDutch John, UT—One fly. One full day of flyfishing. One great cause. The 2016 Green River Single Fly tourney takes place Aug. 25-26 on Green below Flaming Gorge Dam. Now in its 8th year, the event brings teams together from across the West to face off against the river’s biggest trout, while raising funds for…
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Four hundred miles is a significant feat, say for an electric car on a single charge. (Tesla is currently testing vehicles with a similar range.) It’s also a helluva push for a juvenile tarpon, a fish that would typically stick close to home until reaching sexual maturation. But according to findings from Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s…
DetailsSouth-central Alaska’s Susitna River is a 300-mile sweetheart home to all five species of pacific salmon, including the state’s fourth largest chinook run. The Susitna has also been pegged for its hydroelectric potential, contending with several dam proposals over the last 60 years. The latest threat called for erecting the country’s second tallest dam, upstream…
DetailsThis past winter, Frankie Marion at C1Films began shooting a video solely devoted to barracuda flyfishing in the Keys; A) Because it hadn’t been done. And B) Because these badass fish do it all from an angler’s standpoint.
category nominees: Tidewater by TwoFistedHeart Productions Chanos Chanos by Jako Lucus Marlin on the Flats by Jonathan Jones / Keith Webster Wide Open by Angler’s Eye Media Parallel Lines by Benny Godfrey Chasing Salty Dreams by The Endless Session t. Falcatus by C1 Films A Day In Nicaragua by Peter Christensen
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category nominees: Tie: 5WT Chronicles by Erik Estrada Terrace Chrome by Max Lowe Salad Days vol.4 by Blood Knots Zhupanova – Kamchatka by Matt Jones Find Your Water – An Artist’s Frontier by KGB Productions Tie: Carpology by Todd Moen Poonfecta by Dan Decibel
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