The DrakeCast #68: A Dam Removed, A River Changed

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In 2021, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources completed the removal of a derelict dam from the Dowagiac River. For the first time in over 120 years, the bottom four miles of the Dowagiac were reconnected with the 150+ miles of water in the main stem and its many tributaries upstream, making this possibly the most dramatically changed river in the Midwest. But whether or not that change has been for the better is still up for discussion. This episode is about how the people, the water way, and the fish have adapted.

Something that looks sort of like a mayfly. PC: A.J. Swentosky

Summer Doldrums

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A sharp sun is pinned overhead, drilling into the back of my neck like a hot desk lamp. I’m alone in a rowboat on a lake, a shallow depression with the sort of soft marl bottom that squelches unpleasantly between the toes. Its shape is the result of glacial waves that once buried northern Michigan in six thousand feet of hard, gray ice. In late June, with a ring of leafy oaks surrounding the lake and the air hanging wet and heavy, the fact that there was even snow here three months ago seems unlikely, and a mile of ice, impossible. When it’s hot here it seems like it’s always been hot, and always will be.

Some GOAT flies for sure. Photo by Alex Cerveniak

Hex-Mania

Daily Drake, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2022, Flies, Freshwater Fly Fishing, Hatches and Bugs, Homepage Content, U.S. placesLeave a comment

If Hexagenia limbata isn’t the GOAT of all bugs, it’s at least squarely in the conversation, beginning with its sheer size and density. “Nothing in flyfishing even comes close to the spinner fall,” says the legendary Kelly Galloup in Chris Santella’s book, The Hatch is On! “I don’t care how big a salmonfly or Mother’s Day caddis or Hendrickson hatch you’ve seen, it doesn’t compare in pure biomass.”

Bass Fy Fishing

Let’s Go Bass’n

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Let’s Go Bass’nIt’s time to test the warmwaters By Beau Davis and Tom Bie Photo by Jeremiah Watt Want to avoid bumping elbows with ten million new trout-chasers this summer? Then consider a guided day on some warmwater. You’ll surely face a less-pressured fishery, and if the trip includes kicking around in a float-tube, you…

"HOW CAN I BE THE ONLY ONE OUT HERE FISHING?"

PHOTO BY NICK PRICE

Snook and Solitude

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2019, Lifestyle, The Put In, U.S. placesLeave a comment

Just another walk on the beach My primary tactic for snook in South Florida revolves around what my friend, Bear, calls “people avoidance.” It’s become a mantra that leads us toward, through, and past things—not only what river-section to float or campsite to choose, but when to pick up or set down certain hobbies, learn…

The Greatest Steelhead State that Never Was

The State Of Jefferson

Drake Magazine Back Issue Content 2011, Drake Magazine Back Issue Content Summer 2011, Humor, Lifestyle, Salmon/Steelhead, U.S. places1 Comment

STATE OF ARMS AS WOULD ANY GUY SPAWNED FROM THE gravels of Oregon, I had deep reservations about driving the backroads of my home state in a rig blasphemed by California plates. It was a red Tacoma with a watertight canopy and a rod rack permanently bolted to its hood, an otherwise brilliant fishing truck,…

Steelhead Highways

Photo by Tim Scott

Seven Steelhead Highways

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Hwy 101, from Northern California to Port Angeles, Washington. No stretch of highway in the country crosses more prime steelhead water than this one. Start on California’s Klamath or Smith, then head up to Oregon’s Rogue or the great Tillamook Bay rivers like the Trask and Wilson, and then finish up on the drippy Washington…