If you get some time...Check these out!
Colorado Trout ForecastTom Behrens covers the South Platte, Arkansas, and the Colorado Rivers in this annual review of prospects for Colorado anglers in Rocky Mountain Game & Fish magazine. "Habitat improvement has coaxed cutbows to make
spawning runs upriver from Elevenmile Reservoir. 'Twelve- to 18-inch cutbows used to run up the river in a spawning run. Whether or not they were very successful at spawning -- probably not -- they were thinking they were going to do that.'"
Fly Fishing Russia's PonoiNick Karas writes of a recent expedition to float the Ponoi River, on Russia's Kola Peninsula, and of the big, slow river's
startling fecundity. "The Volga’s position in the international imagination has been usurped by the Ponoi and its fantastic largess of Atlantic salmon. Measured by sheer numbers of fish, the Ponoi is probably the best salmon river in the world." In Gray's Sporting Journal.
Andy Mill on Tarpon, Big Reels and Gel Spun"'You want to know what that fish wants before the fly ever leaves your hand,' Mill said. 'Tarpon want to be caught. You just have to understand the language.'" Orlando Sun-Sentinel columnist Steve Waters talks with the expert tarpon angler and uncovers one or two things that some might consider idiosyncrasies, like Mill's use of Tibor's big "Pacific" fly reel and 650 yards of 50-pound Gel Spun backing.
100 Yards of CourtesyDon't we all wish. New York fly shop owner Wayne Walts offers up guidelines for what are considered
good manners on the state's often-crowded trout waters. "Proper etiquette calls for boaters to row or walk their craft behind wading fishermen. Unfortunately, many rookie boaters barely know how to row and thus float out of control." J. Michael Kelly in the Syracuse Post-Standard.
Hatch Worship
Pat Wray writes about the coming of the spring hatch and the concurrent emergence of awareness in the minds of fishermen. "News of hatches and bites requires no technological assistance; it transcends electronics,
traveling directly from the mind of one fisherman to the heart of another. Oh, we’ll call friends and acquaintances for confirmation; we’ll check river levels and weather forecasts, but the decision is already made." In the Corvallis, Oregon Gazette-Times.
"Tag-and-Release" TripsPointing to fly fishing as the likely origin of most catch-and-release fishing, Ed Zieralski describes a new type of high-end fishing trip: where the participants pay big bucks to tag and release large numbers of pelagic fish. "'It was a pretty enlightening trip,' said Greenberg, a director of operations for an investment company, one of the 15 anglers, each of whom not only paid the usual price of $4,000 for the long-range trip,
but another $1,500 (tax-deductible) for a retrievable archival tag." In the San Diego Union-Tribune.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Double-Checking Fly MaterialsAs Canadian fly tier Warren Duncan, the "The Highness of Hairwing," recently found out, shipping flies across the U.S. border is likely to become more of a challenge. (You may know Duncan as the tier who popularized a fly called "The Undertaker" in the late 1970s.)
Despite the fact that most of his materials come from the U.S., he had to account for the origins of every bit of content. "The flies are made mostly with the hair and feathers of animals, so Duncan had to research and list the country of origin and Latin name of every
last bit of turkey, caribou, cow and rooster that ended up as part of his creations." From CBC News.
A $2 Level Line and a Clinch-Knot LeaderA story in the Houston Chronicle today reminds me of when as a boy Phil Gonzalez, later one of the first lodge owners on Montana's Bighorn River, wanted to go fish Yellowstone Park for the first time. He walked into Dan Bailey's shop in downtown Livingston, Montana and told Dan what he wanted to do. Dan gave him a rigged fly rod and box full of flies and said, "Just bring it back when you're done."
In the Chronicle, Joe Dogget describes how learning to fly fish has changed in fifty years. "The concept of a tapered leader was awfully sophisticated. Angling greats Joe Brooks and A.J. McClain recommended a '60-20-20' system graduating from butt to tippet, but such refinements seemed unnecessary on the duck pond."
New Cutthroat Trout VideoThe TatteredFly.com Weblog turned up an excellent 27-minute streaming video produced by the Idaho Chapter of the American Fisheries Society. "
Rising from the Shadows: The Return of the Cutthroat Trout" includes some wonderful underwater photography and plenty of footage of cutthroat trout in their native habitat. While you're at it, check out
Tattered Fly, a well-designed blog with lots of stuff of interest to fly fishers, including a recent photo essay on Idaho's
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