Trout on Meth… thanks to this guy
Trout in Unicoi County, Tenn., are all hopped up on meth thanks to a large lab operation in the area and its accused chief cooker, Gerald Guin.
Colorado Roadless Reform
Earlier today the U.S. Forest Service released its final revision of the Colorado roadless rule, addressing some key concerns raised by the outdoors community. The plan will manage and help safeguard more than 4 million acres of in-state public hunting and fishing lands.
Running from the Man: Part II
Busses and studded boots Three days after returning from Mexico, I was on another plane. This time from Seattle to Vancouver, B.C. When we touched down there was standing water on the tarmac. It was raining hard.
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Montana Trout Rustling
From Mitchell Slough to the Blackfoot, Ruby and beyond, “Greed, insecurity and just plain old ‘I got mine, screw you’ bullshit…” continues to run rampant in Montana. So far the state’s ironclad Stream Access Law has waged a formidable battle against those who would like to see public access stripped for personal gain.
The Fishermen’s Spot
The Fishermen’s Spot has been serving the Southern California region for more than 40 years. Tenacity, exceptional customer service, and deft product know-how all play into such impressive longevity. But never discount dumb luck, stubbornness, and an unwillingness to face reality, says shop co-owner Ken Lindsay.
Judge Says, Drop Those Dams
The federal judge who presided over the court battle between Columbia River salmon advocates and hydropower supporters has made his thoughts on the matter clear, stating four controversial lower Snake River dams should be removed. During an interview for a documentary to air later this summer, U.S. District Court Judge James Redden said the government…
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Shoot Out People’s Choice
The 2012 Ice Out Shoot Out People’s Choice voting is live. Check out this year’s standout lineup of films and vote for your favorite before Sunday, April 29.
Damnation
The number of dams built in America since 1800 is staggering. This vid by James Syvitski accelerates the country’s 200 years of artery clogging construction into a telling 25-second clip.
Totally Iced Out
Majszak/Gregson bring home the bank at 2012 Simms Ice Out Shoot Out BOZEMAN, MT—Photographer Bryan Gregson and hometown filmmaker Ian Majszak of Detonation Studios captured first-place and $2,000 with their banger film edit “Untitled” at this weekend’s 2012 Simms Ice Out Shoot Out.
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Ol’ Dirty Gets Scrubbed Down
The ol’ dirty South Platte is about due for its annual spring clean-up. This Saturday volunteers will storm the Denver area carp mainstay to pick up trash along the riverbanks and its bike paths. Hit the link for more information on how to get involved.
Pebble Mine Precedent
The Environmental Protection Agency will release its draft Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment in just a few weeks. This precedent-setting scientific assessment will likely guide decisions about large-scale mining and other industrial development in the Bristol Bay region well into the future. If the EPA determines that waste from the mine would harm the surrounding clean…
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Big Oil Spills into Preservation
More than $40 million in big oil spoils have been directed toward national forest preservation, with the Land and Water Conservation Fund recently announcing its state-by-state list of land purchases spanning Alaska, California, Washington, Oregon, Colorado, Idaho, Tennessee, Montana, Utah, and more. The effort stems from Obama’s America’s Great Outdoors agenda, which taps into fees…
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Running from the Man: Part I
Planes, trains, and automobiles… and pangas, ferries, bare feet, hard boats, and catarafts I left the corporate world on Friday. I was on a plane to Mexico on Saturday. On Sunday morning I was perched high upon a spiny, jagged ledge looking down into the green Pacific Ocean looking for the rooster that swam between…
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IGFA’s Cash for Poons Program
DANIA BEACH, FL—The International Game Fish Association (IGFA) announced today it is awarding a $10,000 cash purse to the angler who successfully docks the Sunshine State’s last world-record tarpon.
Fishing the Cape
Cape Cod is a gnarly pine tree sandbar that sticks sixty miles out from Massachusetts into the north Atlantic. A fishing mecca from time immemorial—Vikings crossed the Atlantic in open boats called knarrs to fish the teeming offshore banks, and the native Wampanoag perfected clambakes there—up to today with one of the best bluefish and…
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VA Rivers Defense Fund
Dargan Coggeshallin is being sued for flyfishing on a public stretch of Virginia’s Jackson River. If he loses his May court case to River’s Edge developers—who claim to own the river bottom—you stand to lose, too. “You can be fishing in a public river that is marketed by the state—on a tailwater managed with taxpayer…
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Time’s Up for North Carolina
Gamefish status for redfish, speckled trout, and stripers would seem like a no-brainer for anyone outside of the commercial fishing industry. But in North Carolina, even mentioning such an unholy thought could get a gun drawn on you. This spring sights are set on House Bill 353, a state measure that would effectively ban gillnetting…
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Stanford’s Searsville Dam
You’ve never fished San Francisquito Creek. And if something isn’t done about Searsville Dam, you never will. Stanford University owns the dam, which was built in 1892. It buries the confluence of five redwood- and fir-shaded salmon creeks that now run salmonless out of the Santa Cruz Mountains. They all came together beneath what is…
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Gluttony in da U.P.
What’s up in the U.P.? Evidently bagging more brook trout thanks to a ramped up limit proposal. Michigan DNR is seeking public review for backward brookie regulations that would move catch-and-kill allowances from 5 to 10 fish per day.
(Not So) Foreign Films
Filmmaker Rolf Nylinder of the FrontsideFly squad keeps kicking out the joints. He’s producing six shorts about flyfishing the Vindelälven River, in northern Sweden, for consecutive Monday releases starting early April. They currently don’t have any english subs… but you might enyoy them anyway.
The Secret Lives of Salmon and Gangsters
My flight was delayed an entire day. My bags were packed for a two-week stay in Guatemala City, where I would accompany an underground cadre of ex-gang members who were now volunteer chaplains entering Central America’s infamous gang prisons. As a jail chaplain myself, working with Chicano gangs in Washington State’s Skagit County, these young…
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Ride with Clyde
In the fall of 2010, a 1974 Mercury Marquis by the name of Clyde joined The Drake ranks as part of Beattie Outdoor Productions’ film, When Guiding Goes Gangster. An instant hit with indy rap fans and female ex-cons—and more than 17,000 views on YouTube strong—Clyde’s entry into the flyfishing stratosphere was electric. Autograph signings…
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Why Hatcheries Suck
The trout hatchery at iDeath was built years ago when the last tiger was killed and burned on the spot. We built the trout hatchery right there. The walls went up around the ashes… The hatchery has a beautiful tile floor with the tiles put together so gracefully that it’s almost like music. It’s a…
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Pulp Fly V.1
Pulp Fiction gave us the Gimp, a royale with cheese, and more creepy John Travolta dance moves. Meanwhile, Smithhammer’s new brainchild Pulp Fly brings us pulp without the paper, featuring flyfishing writers familiar to this publication and elsewhere. Bob White, Michael Gracie, Alex Landeen, Kirk Deeter, and more. Keep your eyes peeled for the V.1…
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Underwater Dogs
The Drake was recently at F3T tour stops in Casper and Fort Collins. Among this year’s line-up of bulls, bones, punk rock scenesters, and arctic char, the lab vs. tarpon footage in Waterline Media’s Riding High was some funny shit. Seems the underwater dog genre is gaining teeth across the interwebs. Chopper doesn’t eat flies,…
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Monday Mirrors
This “House of Mirrors” has people seeing carp—gnarcore mirror carp sucking up flies in the soup. From Victor, Idaho, filmmaker Kevin Emery… with Smithhammer lurking somewhere in the mix.
The Fish Hawk
The Atlanta, Georgia, metropolis moves and shakes with more than 5 million people. It’s home to Coca-Cola and Rubbermaid, sweet red meat and BBQ, and crunk scenesters like Lil Jon and OutKast. What these entities have to do with flyfishing culture is hard to say. But beneath all the Hotlanta hype, a force has surfaced.