More than rods, reels, and toenail clippers… the most essential piece of fishing equipment might be your hat. Bad hats don’t fish. Austin, TX-based apparel brand Howler Brothers makes good ones. In addition, their Spring 2015 collection features five new shirts, four new styles of shorts and boardshorts, and a pile of fresh t-shirts designs.
Alaska’s Chuitna River watershed—bookended between Cook Inlet and Anchorage—is rich with salmon. It’s also a potential cash conveyor belt for developers who plan to tap its coal-laden underbelly and build export terminals to feed overseas demand. (Namely, to China.) The short film Chuitna chronicles the journey of conservation-minded anglers fighting to put pristine wilderness and anadromous…
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This short film by photographer Scott Nelson highlights the highs and lows of Deschutes River waters. Before the dams went in, the Deschutes flowed a fairly consistent 700 to 800 cubic feet per second (cfs) year-round, said Brett Hodgson, district biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Bend. There would be occasional increases…
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There’s gold in them thar waters. And Idaho miners and politicians aim to suck it. Last week an Idaho House committee advanced a bill to permit suction dredging in some of the most pristine rivers in the west. The Middle Fork of the Salmon, Clearwater, and Lochsa rivers are among the waters with protected salmon, steelhead, and…
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Barracuda, not known as a wildly popular dish on local dinner menus, have seen a fivefold increase in commercial catch rates in Florida Keys waters. Which begs the question, why the sudden spike in demand? Harvest is unregulated and, according to area guides, the hit is taking a toll on this once prolific gamefish. In response, members…
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Xboundary explores British Columbia’s open-pit mining craze and the potential for lethal shit to move downstream. “The massive size and location of the mines—at the headwaters of major salmon rivers that flow across the border into Alaska—has Alaskans concerned over pollution risks posed to their multi-billion dollar fishing and tourism industries. These concerns were heightened…
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A #keepemslimy photo essay Since Erin Block’s piece a year ago in Trout Magazine, the flyfishing community’s conversation on the negative impact of grip-and-grin photos has grown louder. The Internet has been saturated with pictures of exhausted fish held high and dry for your viewing pleasure for too long. And the #keepemwet backlash continues. In…
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Since PacifiCorp’s crusty Condit Dam fell in 2011, Washington State’s White Salmon River has seen small but escalating returns of steelhead and chinook to spawning areas upstream of the deconstruction zone. According to WDFW fishery biologists a total of 88 spring chinook spawners were estimated to have entered the river in 2013, and another 216 last…
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To all the fisher ladies in the place with style and grace… here’s a little Thursday stoke from the crew at Frontsidefly.com. Respect.
With digging underway, Canada’s latest mine has become the newest concern for Alaska’s wild fish advocates. Last week, an open-pit gold-and-copper producer called Red Chris began operating in the British Columbia headwaters of the Stikine River, an undammed waterway that flows more than 400 miles, crossing borders and spilling into an 11,000-hectare delta near Wrangell, AK.
In a bid to save embattled Columbia River fish populations, the feds have devised a plan to kill 11,000 double-crested cormorants—black seabirds with a bad hankering for juvenile salmon and steelhead. Pending final approval, state agriculture workers would shoot the birds, as well as spray their eggs with vegetable oil to prevent hatching. The U.S. Army…
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With chopper rentals running upwards of 10k a day, drones are seeing increased use in the photographer/filmmaker’s toolkit. Photographer Matt Jones tells us he logged long hours on the simulator to dial in his flying skills, but still dunked one camera on this last shoot… making it more spendy than planned. These top-to-bottom views of Ascension…
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Utah Stream Access Coalition’s Weber River Navigability Case goes to trial this Friday, February 6, at the Matheson Courthouse in Salt Lake City. And if flyfishing on public waters without the fear of being harassed sounds good, this is an important and potentially precedent setting case. For instance, by demonstrating that the Weber River was used…
DetailsFrom meth smuggling escapades and crash landings at the White House to this eagle’s-eye view of B.C.’s Skeena Country… welcome to the dawn of the drone.
FORKS, Washington—On the eve of Super Bowl XLIX, three Seattle-area residents—two steelhead fishermen and their guide—were detained from a stretch of the Hoh River on Saturday after Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife officials discovered that 11 of their 12 Thingamabobbers were drastically over-inflated.
Convincing a permit to eat your fly is similar to doing business in a foreign country in that success in both is hard-won. Guide and Tres Pescados Fly Shop owner, Wil Flack, can relate.
From coast to coast the deadbeats continue to drop. According to American Rivers’ latest report, communities in 19 states in partnership with non-profit organizations and state and federal agencies removed 72 dams in 2014—restoring more than 730 miles of streams for the benefit of fish, wildlife, and people. California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois,…
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Meet Montana-based graphic artist Dave Hartman, the creative engine behind the Strip’n Flywear brand. “First Light explores the connection between Art and Fly Fishing while finding comfort in something that you love.”
Shallow Water Expeditions’ film Out of Touch hits the F3T with overstuffed reds and a special alert Out of Touch is one of several films premiering at this weekend’s F3T launch. It’s also one that doesn’t open with sweeping aerials of Caribbean flats or dip-in-lip anglers fondling 30-pound browns. Instead, the audience crowding Denver’s City…
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Outdoor photographers fight Forest Service for First Amendment rights Sketch a line around the pristine and safeguard its natural integrity against human missteps and, in a nutshell, you have the foundational elements for wilderness. In 1964, Congress staked those perimeters with a Wilderness Act designed to preserve millions of acres in perpetuity.
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Shake, rattle, and slo-mo with a sumo-sized Glades tarpon. And stay tuned for more from the Shallow Water Expeditions film squad. Their topwater redfish-heavy edit Out of Touch hits F3T venues across the country beginning this month. Read More
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Despite what you may have heard, it’s not all a perpetual toilet swirl for the wild fish rivers of the Pacific Northwest. Case in point, the Native Fish Society’s optimistic look at the “11 Most-Improved Wild Fish Rivers 2014”. The list, which includes the John Day, Rogue, Skagit, and Sol Duc, focuses on watersheds that…
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Hatchery vs. wild salmon and steelhead fisheries management is a lightning-rod issue for anglers and the science community alike. On January 22-23, in Portland, the Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society is hosting a public symposium on the topic, focusing on research, management, and potential reform. Four sessions will include: Hatchery Fish Performance and Genetics,…
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Guides live in the zaniest places: condemned double-wides, basements, backseats, and broom closets. Meet the enviable Cameron Blacksock and loiter in his lux GT Destroyer digs for an afternoon. Via Cpt. Jack Films: “Guides Cribs goes to the Seychelles to meet Dr. Blacksock and see his crib!”
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Drake contributor Tim Romano has had a rough year. It started with the tragic river death of his younger sister, Kathryn Walker. And it ended in a car crash that saw the wooden dory he rebuilt and named in her honor smashed to pieces. “Just before Christmas, I took advantage of some very warm weather…
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This looks legit. According to fisherman John Rodriguez, northern Tampa’s Hillsborough River is a great place to fish for gar and snap pictures of birds. On Dec. 26, however, shit got real when the 66-year-old retired electrician says he heard squishing sounds, looked over and saw this “thing” walking through the water and crouching down for a…
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Standing in the Wally Dog parking lot in Greenville, South Carolina, I swear I can hear the ocean. The coast is at least three hours away, yet the sound of surf fills my ears. I glance over my shoulder: nothing but cars and trucks along Poinsett Highway.