A lot of people claim social media has killed flyfishing. But has it? In this episode of The DrakeCast we chat with parties on both sides of the divide as we suss out the positive and negative impacts social media has had on flyfishing. We’re pleased to announce that the Editor of The Drake, Tom…
Nearly two months after the Cypress Island spill sent more than 100,000 unasked for Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound waters, Washington’s salmon farming industry continues to blunder along—big time. Recent headlines reveal an attempt at bribery, evidence of another pen on the brink of collapse, and a permit approval from the state for juvenile Atlantic salmon to…
Nearly two months after the Cypress Island spill sent more than 100,000 unasked for Atlantic salmon into Puget Sound waters, Washington’s salmon farming industry continues to blunder along—big time. Recent headlines reveal an attempt at bribery, evidence of another pen on the brink of collapse, and a permit approval from the state for juvenile Atlantic salmon to…
The first places I explored as a kid, outside of my backyard, were the small creeks and wetlands near my home. They were full of tadpoles, salamanders, and, if we were lucky, turtles. I spent countless hours trying to fit various animals into Mason jars, but mostly I just covered myself in mud.
I’ve made a lot of trips between northern Minnesota and northern Michigan. Usually I’m fishing my way across, hunting hex-eating browns and flats-cruising smallies in July, and backwoods muskies in November. By far the fishiest route is U.S. 2 through the Upper Peninsula and across the Mackinac Bridge down into the top of the mitten;…
Booze consumed me as I sat listless in the upper bar of the Dogwood; a restored Mississippi riverboat docked a few hundred yards east of the Hopedale, Louisiana, boat launch. For the next two days and nights, the Dogwood would serve as home and headquarters to anglers competing in the 2017 Sheepy tournament—a tongue-in-cheek backcountry…
With hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon runaways swimming Puget Sound waters and threatening native Pacific salmon stocks, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is now blocking all permits for new net pens in the region.
With hundreds of thousands of Atlantic salmon runaways swimming Puget Sound waters and threatening native Pacific salmon stocks, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee is now blocking all permits for new net pens in the region.
Earlier today, Pacific NorthWest LNG—the controversial $11.4-billion gas export project looking to set up shop in British Columbia’s Skeena River estuary—was deemed dead in the water by the Malaysian state-controlled oil and gas giant Petronas.
Mike Dawes has a fishing problem. He’s been wading saltwater flats since the impressionable age of seven. He’s a veteran player on the permit tourney circuit. He’s even starred in couple of film tour flicks. But perhaps the biggest struggle he’s had to overcome in his flyfishing career didn’t involve a dour fish or a…
FROM THE SICKLE’S CURVE of Great Abaco Island’s eastern shore, the next piece of solid ground for 3,500 miles is the African continent. Between those shores lies ample room for inspiration. This is perhaps why noted American sporting artist Vaughn Cochran called a summit. “Years ago, when I managed fishing lodges, I had this idea…
ON MARCH 20, 2017, a canary-yellow A-star helicopter kicked up a cloud of sand while planting its skids on a tiny atoll off the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Years in the making, the landing at Faraway Cay was like a blindfold removed. According to satellite imagery, the island doesn’t exist. But minutes after landing, Steve…
Tommy Robinson remembered his moment of enlightenment. It took place in the ’70s, back when nobody believed you could catch permit on a fly. Robinson grew up in Key West, and began guiding before he’d even graduated high school. But on this day he was an angler, fishing from the back of the boat while…
IT’S 3:00 A.M. IN THE EVERGLADES AND TIM BORSKI IS LOOKING FOR SNAKES. I’m riding along with him as we drive very slowly down State Road 9336—the only four-digit road in Florida. It is 34 miles from Florida City to Flamingo, a distance we are currently covering at about 15 miles per hour. “Right up…
“Gaining a good network of supporters is critical to the life of any new NGO, and in this day and age people can be very leery of supporting any non-profit; not everyone out there is completely sincere in their fundraising efforts.” —Bucky Buchstaber, from the opening paragraph to his story, “Fly Fishing Collaborative in South…
Last we left you, Clyde was crashing shoddy motel rooms, pounding Coors Light silos, and scarfing large Hawaiians from Pizza Hut—clearly reveling in Peach State culture—as he meandered through Georgia’s Blue Ridge mountains. Where’ll Clyde curb-check next? Here, the Southern Revival Tour rolls on.
Bristol Bay, Alaska, is counting on an explosive year. At least when it comes to fish, with more than 40 million returning sockeye salmon in the 2017 forecast. But it could also be a big year for dusting off backhoes thanks to a new administration that, according to Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd., now has “a…
Alaska’s proposed Pebble mine hit a last-minute hiccup heading into the New Year as permits that were set to expire and be redrawn have instead been extended for ninety days—leaving the future of the project in limbo. The state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) called for the delay in order to field a flood of…
IN MARCH OF 2016, C1 films released a permit movie called t. Falcatus Ch. 1: Day of Days. The film opens with Nathaniel Linville, owner of The Angling Company fly shop in Key West, giving viewers advice: “I recommend anyone who’s watching this, turn the volume down; I got nothing interesting to say.”
FLOWING WATER, BY DESIGN, HAS A SANCTIMONIOUS way of pre-qualifying its clientele. Gentle riffles and wide gravel bars lure the false-casting masses, and boiling black holes rimmed with mossy ledge rock frighten them away. That said, I suppose there’s really no great mystery why the easy flows produce the fussy little degree-candidate fish, while the…
Texas is growing. Every month, thousands of people pack their bags and make the move to the Lone Star State, partly because it’s filled with opportunity and a thriving workforce. And as Austin spreads its arms, so spreads word-of-mouth about flyfishing in central Texas. In recent years, flyfishing has exploded in the heart of Texas…
Filming for Confluence Film’s new Providence project took place in the fall of 2015 with the FlyCastaway crew on Providence Atoll in the Seychelles. The soon-to-be released full-length movie chronicles FlyCastaway’s first trip back to Providence Atoll since the waters were closed to anglers and boats more than six years ago—due to the threat of pirates…
The IGFA calls Steve Huff “the most well-respected guide in the history of flats fishing.” In Andy Mill’s book, A Passion for Tarpon, he calls Huff “bar none, the best tarpon guide alive, the best there was and the best there ever will be.” Though he spent the first half of his career guiding the…
Anyone who’s ever spent a season working in a national park will relate to Fong’s heartfelt recollections. And for anyone considering it, this story helps illustrate how hard it can sometimes be to re-enter the real world. From the second issue of The Drake, Fong reminds us that fiction often speaks the greater truth.
THERE ARE MANY SLIMY and unappealing things in Washington, D.C.—politicians, attorneys, lobbyists—but flyfisher Austin Murphy is interested in just one: the northern snakehead, also known as the Potomac Pike or the fearsome-sounding Frankenfish, named for its seemingly unnatural ability to move on land, live for days out of water breathing air, secrete mucus from its…
This past winter, Frankie Marion at C1Films began shooting a video solely devoted to barracuda flyfishing in the Keys; A) Because it hadn’t been done. And B) Because these badass fish do it all from an angler’s standpoint.
Area waters expected to reopen to fishing soon OLYMPIA, WA—Following the stalemate that temporarily closed many Puget Sound fisheries, state and tribal leaders this week shook hands on a deal that should open specific summer salmon seasons for recreational fishing, “within a few weeks.” Co-managers agreed on this year’s Puget Sound salmon seasons after several…