The act of walking across a white-sand flat, knee-deep in endless shades of blue, is made much more interesting by bonefish. Especially if you’ve never caught one. After a few days spent searching empty water on the Bahamian island of Exuma, we drove down a twisted dirt road, past rotting cars and abandoned dishwashers, and…
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The Alaska Railroad winter train runs 360 miles between Anchorage and Fairbanks on the weekends, and it will drop you off anywhere along the track, much of it otherwise inaccessible wilderness. My fishing partner, Dan, and I used to work for the railroad in Anchorage, me as a PR flack and he as the chief…
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Clyde should be dead by now. He was pronounced dead. More than once, in fact. In February 2012, a Salt Lake wrencher put a $1,200 tranny in him and said, “He might make it through March.” In November of that same year, driver Steven Hawley emailed: “Clyde’s 460 is shot. Best quote for a rebuild…
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Rogelio Velasco has owned Yucatan-based Pesca Maya fishing resort for 19 years, so he knows the challenge of producing off-the-grid electricity, especially for power-hungry air conditioners. Pesca Maya, like all Ascension Bay resorts, sits inside the Sian Ka’an biosphere reserve, where power lines don’t exist and aren’t forthcoming. So instead, most lodges rely on diesel…
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Forget everything The Lion King ever taught you. The circle of life is actually a rainforest phenomenon that starts and ends with annual returns of wild Pacific salmon. According to Salmon Nation, at least 137 species rely on these anadromous fish populations as part of their diet. And when you add tiny soil critters, booming…
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The Fly Fishing Film Tour’s 2015 schedule is now live. From Mongolia taimen and Cuban bones to Icelandic Atlantics and good ol’ American carping, check out all the trailers online, as well the full list of city stops. Shows kick off in Denver on January 24. Here’s a sneak peek of official selection, “The…
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When Michael Hackney set out to build the world’s first biodegradable plastic 3D-printed fly reel his simple criteria included a low parts count, a click check, clean aesthetics, and it had to catch fish. Two years later, Version 5 designs not only look the part but have all the basic attributes—from foot to spindle to ported…
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Shallow Water Expeditions kicks phones to the curb and connects with tailing reds in “Out of Touch”—to be featured in the 2015 Fly Fishing Film Tour.
“A Homage to Winter Steelheading” marries the unchoreographed intricacies of steelhead fishing—timelapse-style—with some fancy-pants figure skating commentary. Double lutz vs. double spey? Tire iron vs. Nancy Kerrigan? Only Tonya Harding knows the answers. Winter steelheading the Oregon coast with Beulah Fly Rods
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Yuletide means Gift Guide, so without further ado welcome to The Drake’s Annual Holiday Shopper, 2014—a full assortment of staff-curated picks to wow the flyfisher in your family. Book: Crazy Sh*t Bamboo Fly-Rodders Say You may not know the subtle differences between a Leonard, Jenkins, Sweetgrass, or Suzuki, but don’t you wonder what the…
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90 miles is the physical distance between Cuba and the US. Culturally, and in many ways from a fisheries management standpoint, the two countries are lightyears apart. WorldANGLING’s “90 Miles” explores the relationship between the Florida Keys and Cuba—from a flyfishing POV. “Flats fishing for tarpon, bonefish, and permit is big business in the Florida…
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Proving once again that Europeans are some of the biggest pervs we know, behold the Carponizer 2015 Calendar. According to Google Translator: “From the photos available shows that the formula is more or less the same, (fine cover with minnow peeping caressed by the model, for the ‘ occasion dressed in a swimsuit that says…
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Watch the latest drizzly, bleak, and bright-at-the-same-time short from the kick-ass filmmaking contingent at BloodKnots. And stay tuned for more from the making of steelhead conservation feature, Our Two Hands.
Drop a few extra bucks on salmon conservation plates in Oregon, and you’d expect the money you invested was going toward the fish. But according to The Oregonian, a state agency that promised to use the cash “exclusively to undo roadblocks impairing salmon streams across Oregon” has failed to deliver. “Instead, drivers have paid the salary and…
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Martin Litton, legendary Colorado River outfitter and the conservationist involved in some of the 20th century’s biggest dam-busting battles, died on Sunday. He was 97. In addition to vehemently defending his beloved Grand Canyon, Litton pioneered wooden dory use on the Colorado and helped inspire the river subculture that spawned Kevin Fedarko’s award-winning book: The Emerald Mile:…
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We interrupt this Cyber-Monday spending spree—holster the Bitcoins—to bring you two minutes of inspiring, unadulterated tarpon. Enter the Florida Everglades and meet Leviathan!… courtesy of Chris Bamford and Captain Jeff Legutki.
In “Salt 365”, two lifelong surfers living in Orange County California forge a strong friendship through their shared passion for saltwater flyfishing. Peek behind the Orange curtain into the Southern California ocean lifestyle through the lives of Capt. Vaughn Podmore & Keith Munemitsu. SALT 365 is a collaboration between Tight Loop Media & Paul Pryor…
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Kevin McKay of maineflyfish.com started Flies for Kids to get more kids stoked on fly tying. Eldredge Bros. Fly Shop has since joined forces and, in 2014, the project raised enough money to buy 30 kits that were donated to young, aspiring bug twisters. How it works: Fly tiers from around the country donate flies…
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Filmmakers Travis Rummel, Ben Knight, and Matt Stoecker have been nominated for some stoke-worthy stuff lately. From academy-award consideration—wait, what?!—to National Geographic Adventurers of the Year contention, the trio and their award-winning enviro feature, DamNation, continue to kick ass. Vote for NatGeo’s People’s Choice Adventurer of the Year, 2015, here. >
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From its headwaters in the Rockies to its terminus in the lonely delta lying just short of the Sea of Cortez, the Colorado River, as described by award-winning photographer and filmmaker Pete McBride, is a system with “too many straws in the drink.” McBride’s film Delta Dawn chronicles his mission to reach the sea via the…
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OLYMPIA, WA—At its mid-Dec. meeting, Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission will explore regulations that would require steelheaders to bonk all hatchery steelhead caught on the Klickitat, Walla Walla, Snake, and Grand Ronde rivers. The proposed rule expansion is designed to reduce the negative impact hatchery steelhead have on local populations of wild steelhead—i.e. diluting gene…
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Featuring new footage from Mongolia’s Eg and Uur rivers, two taimen strongholds, this short from Beattie Outdoor Productions and Simms explores the budding culture surrounding this explosive fish. “With only a small window of time to pursue one of the world’s most elusive fish species, the taimen, anglers have no choice but to fish through the…
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One minute of proof why poppers rule, via “Just for Paul” by Lowcountry Journal.
From annual angler migrations to electrifying interruptions in the swing-step-swing dance, a world without wild steelhead would be a soulless expanse. That’s why this month Trout Unlimited is launching its Wild Steelhead Initiative, with the goal to protect and restore an iconic species and the fishing opportunities provided throughout its native range. “The heart of the…
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Watch Colorado’s Browns Canyon come alive on the façade of Denver’s McNichols Building. The recent event, called “Browns Canyon Live,” was sponsored by Sportsmen for Browns Canyon, a grassroots group committed to preserving this habitat-rich area on the Arkansas River. Check out the event recap. “Browns Canyon, on the Arkansas River between Buena Vista and…
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In Sept. 2013, along the east-side gateways into Colorado’s Rocky Mountain National Park, the power of water pocketed a decisive win. Biblical floods that fall gutted highway corridors, uprooting families and demolishing infrastructure. Trout in rivers such as the Thompson and St. Vrain didn’t stand a chance—other than pinning hopes to a river rehabilitation process…
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Browns, flannels, corkless grips, and Greenland’s mid-summer tundra all make appearances in this new short from ArcticSilver. Check it out.