MONTANA—Tomorrow, Montana’s State Senate Committee meets to decide on controversial HB 309 legislation, which could threaten recreational stream access based on what constitutes irrigation ditches vs. natural waterways. Fishing Outfitters Association of Montana (FOAM) is encouraging all interested parties—in state and out—to voice their collective concerns.
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Words shape how we as enthusiasts perceive our outdoor environs. Here, Drake contributing editor, Bruce Smithhammer, pits the lexicons of wildlife bureaucracy against visceral experience in a personal quest for true meaning.
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Since everyone’s already weighing in on hair hackle madness (see: here), thought we’d share an excerpt from the current issue.
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Field & Stream editor-at-large, Kirk Deeter, argues today that the future of flyfishing depends on access. It’s simple: By pulling the public resource plug, we drain the opportunity pool. Montana’s “ditch” redefining House Bill 309 is cited as an example of poisonous back-pedaling into barbed-wire territory.
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Savage shred/flyfisher John Jackson, featured “Emerger” in the spring/summer 2010 issue, continues to blow it up on the Big Mountain freestyle scene. Last month he collected Rider of the Year and Video Part of the Year from both TransWorld and Snowboarder magazines. See his full “F—K It” video part and ESPN interview after the…
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Bats, peeper frogs, night birds, lizards, snakes, scorpions, and giant night beetles—those are the jungle sounds I had identified in my fevered brain. As I lay on my back in the inky darkness, they were the only audible sounds next to the distant crush of ocean 400 feet down the mountainside. My eyes blinked against…
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THE WEST—Opinion on Obama’s Western environmental track record has been hamstrung by hyperbolic expectation vs. the realities of glacial-paced, often under-the-radar policymaking. According to Judith Lewis’s in-depth reporting on the subject, so far, the verdict remains awash in indecision.
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When a 19-year-old Carmelo Anthony arrived in Nuggets territory back in 2003, one of his first assignments before stepping onto the court involved shuffling his 6-foot-8, 230-pound frame into a pair of waders on Colorado’s White River.
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Fish hatcheries—love ’em or leave ’em—are in a state of funding paralysis across the U.S., especially in the Southeast. Tennessee’s National Fish Hatchery, in Erwin, is one of nine federally-operated hatcheries slated for elimination in 2012.
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Ice clogging our rod-guide arteries can kill a good day of fishing, but most of the time we will live. Xavier de la Rue takes icy punishment to the level of mega burl, straightlining a 50-degree pitch into a 60-meter ice-fall ending.
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MIAMI—If this weekend finds you in south Florida without a mullet, better procure one quick. The 20th Annual Mullet Tossing Competition in Matlacha, just north of Cape Coral, kicks off on Saturday. Any midget or cat chucking experience should bode well for competitors going for the distance.
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MAINE—Last summer, Trout Unlimited and its Penobscot River Restoration Trust partners raised $25 million to purchase three dams on the Penobscot River in order to restore more than 1,000 miles of anadromous Atlantic salmon habitat. In his in-depth piece, Bangor Daily News guest columnist and flyfisher, Joe Bertolaccini, argues the value of the expenditure vs.…
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Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R, Wyo.) sparked a minor media kerfuffle when he whipped out the words “Green Weenie” during a recent CNN interview. If you’ve ever fished PA’s Little J, you’re likely familiar with the GW—and its aphrodisiac-like charms on resident browns. For those who live in Green Bay however, the green weenie warmer…
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No doubt, Johnny Cash is/was the man. But when Jack White’s face-melting guitar riffs meet The Secret Sisters’ southern-fried vocals, this bastardized “Big River” goes massive.
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Brazilian, Bruna Schmitz, kills it on a surfboard. In a stroke of genius, her recent Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot involves a fly rod, bikinis, and wading into Banff’s icy Lake Louise. Video of Bruna’s casting session after the jump.
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Portland and hipsters go together like flip-flops and foot fungus. Emotionally detached. Ironically awesome. Wrapped snug in circa 1990s flannel. Pack your scarf collection, skinny jeans, single-speed bike bedecked with Spey rod and you’ll fit in fine. (Prime example: Portland-based Drake contributor, Chris Santella.)
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MONTANA—In the pantheon of fishy states, Montana remains Boss because of its well-defined, populist-minded stream access laws. But a recent bill carried by a Dillon lawmaker is raising angler red flags with its redefinition of what constitutes a “ditch,” potentially sidelining the public from any waterways that receive natural stream-water diversions.
—With Charlie Sheen For many of us Valentine’s Day is a three-headed monster whereby we, A) either F it up royally; B) nail it on the head and proceed to F it up royally; or C) spend time alone, pining and pathetic, getting F’d up royally. In light of these no-win scenarios, The Drake recently…
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OREGON—Full disclosure: We have not worn felt on the soles of our fishing boots for the past several seasons. Do we miss it? Meh, not so much mostly thanks to studs. Across the country, Alaska and Vermont have outlawed felt soles in the name of curbing the spread of invasive species such as Didymo…
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HELENA—The Alliance for the Wild Rockies and the Native Ecosystems Council are suing the U.S. Forest Service in order to halt a timber sale in the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest near Butte.
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Angling Trade Magazine is reporting that a group of fucks pillaged thousands of dollars in loot from several Colorado specialty flyshops. “A well-orchestrated group of thieves is targeting Colorado fly shops. So far they have made off with several thousand dollars in merchandise. The group is stealing high end product. Among the shops hit thus far: Laughing Grizzly,…
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ANCHORAGE, AK—The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced today it will conduct a scientific assessment of the Bristol Bay watershed to better understand how future large-scale development projects may affect water quality and area fisheries.
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1) Because when I don’t use 5 minute epoxy my flies end up looking like this. 1.5) Or this… 2) I have a better chance performing successful Lasic surgery on your retina than I do whip finishing my own clouser minnow. 3) When my bug slams into the hull of the panga during an eighty…
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Steamboat Flyfisher has traversed several storefront locations over its more than a decade long morphology. From its Old Town Square digs to its newer, plusher location on Yampa Street, the shop today sits a rollcast away from the Yampa River, where across the street you can peer over the bridge railing, break out your rod,…
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Yellowstone Lake’s native Yellowstone cutthroat population has been decimated by nonnative lake trout. Park planners recently released a Native Trout Conservation Plan and Environmental Assessment that proposes a long-term strategy to protect and restore cutthroat trout and other native fish. Jan. 31 marks the public commentary deadline. For more details hit Smithhammer’s latest blog…
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According to today’s Denver Post, Colorado’s Estes Park—home to the headwaters of the Big Thompson River—houses one of America’s Top 10 Dirtiest Hotels. Its Super 8 ranked No. 8. (Uncanny!) No word on whether this is directly correlated to area flyfisher traffic. But we have a hunch….
DetailsBackground: Yellowstone cutthroat are in serious decline in Yellowstone Lake largely thanks to predation from an exploding population of invasive, non-native lake trout. Numbers of cutthroat in the Yellowstone Lake ecosystem have dropped to less than five percent of the historic population. 25 years ago, spawning returns in the Clear Creek tributary were 50,000 fish per…
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