Daily Fly Fishing News

Tom's 100th podcast for Orvis focuses on streamer techniques and offers several ways to improve this "very active way of fishing." If you want to catch big trout, Tom says, fish streamers.

"Bear in mind that only a certain percentage of fish in a pool will take a streamer. And I'm not sure why. A streamer is usually not imitating an insect. It's imitating a baitfish, or a crayfish, or a leech, and in any given population of trout, there are a certain number of fish that kind of graduate from feeding on insects to the bigger prey. And they're usually the bigger fish -- that's how they get bigger."

Permit, one of Florida's most popular gamefish, will get a second look from state officials, who have been considering extended state law into federal waters and allow for spearing of the fish. As Kevin Wadlow quotes an FWC spokesman in the Florida Keys Keynoter, "The staff came up with some recommendations for the resources, and the public weighed in with the opinion that the recommendations do not go far enough," [Lee] Schlesinger said. "The commission asked staff to come up with some new ideas."

Jack Dennis Sports investors haven't taken kindly to the well-known guide and author's opening of Jack Dennis Fishing Trips a block away from their store, according to Amy Schenck in the Jackson Hole Daily. "Among other allegations, partners in the sporting goods store say a 1988 agreement gives it exclusive rights to the Jack Dennis name in retail sporting goods sales, and prohibits Dennis from using his name for any other business and promotional purposes."

Chris Rosenblum profiles trout master Joe Humphreys, who at 81 thinks of fly fishing as a fountain of youth. "'I’m 81, but today, I was 26,' he says after two hours with Spruce Creek, his old friend. 'I take that back. I was 16 today.' In Pennsylvania's Centre Daily Times.

• Come back as a river stone: in honor of her fly-fishing father, Kathy Presnell makes custom glass stones that contain a loved one's ashes.
• Bloodsports and danger: Young men learn about fire by playing with it, says "sports law professor."
• Renowned novelist and fly fisher Vance Bourjaily, who once advised hunting partner Kurt Vonnegut "The bigger the game, the more corrupted the soul of the hunter," died on August 31.

MidCurrent will be blogging live from the International Fly Tackle Dealer show in Denver, Colorado next week. The show runs Thursday through Saturday, September 9 through 11 at the Colrado Convention Center, and the fact that this will be the first retailer show run soley by AFFTA should make it an interesting event.

Mark your calendars and be sure to check in for our comments and photos (and perhaps even a video or two) on interesting new products landing on retailers' shelves in coming months.

Robert Merrill, and guide for the Three Rivers Ranch Orvis Fly Shop in Driggs, Idaho, is still missing two days after he and his clients were tossed from their driftboat on the South Fork of the Snake River Wednesday night. According to the story by Cory Hatch of the Jackson Hole Daily, "The clients escaped the river near the accident, but Merrill continued downstream.... 'They were up against the bank where [the river] goes right next to the road and hit a ... tree and capsized,' said Sgt. Karl Casperson, a member of the Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Aquatic Rescue Team."

Keys guides yesterday asked the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to postpone voting on revised rules for permit and African pompano, which include allowing divers to spear them in state waters.

In a related story, the Commission voted 7-0 to extend the ban on Gulf coast snook fishing until next September 1.

MidCurrent's Glenn Pittard recently had a chance to "cast on grass" at the only known fly fishing golf course in North America -- Orvis's spread on the Deschutes River in Bend, Oregon and covered it in detail last month.

The video below was produced at the 2010 National Casting Competition held August 12-15 and features TU and Orvis conservation efforts on the Deschutes.

Yesterday Simms announced a voucher program for anglers who want to trade in their old breathable waders (any brand) for a new pair of Simms waders. Bringing in those beaters will net you $50 towards a pair of G4Z, G4 Pro or G3 Guide™ Series waders or $25 on any waders from the Headwaters™ line.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

In a major setback for anglers and conservationists, last week the N.C. Supreme Court issued a ruling that virtually negates a state law requiring “undisturbed” buffers for trout streams. "The Court’s decision leaves vulnerable thousands of miles of designated trout streams across the state," said the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Fly Rod & Reel Magazine has announced the 2010 winners of the Robert Traver Fly-Fishing Writing Award, fly-fishing's only major writing award, co-sponsored with the magazine by the John D. Voelker Foundation.

First Place: "Two Men in a Museum," by Kent Cowgill

Second Place: "A Way Home," by John Larison

(The 2010 first- and second-place stories are published in the Autumn 2010 issue of the magazine.)

Rusty Gates Memorial: "The Marble Run," by Michael Doherty

2011 contest rules can be found here.

Fish and Game biologists Larry Barrett and Danielle Schiff along with pilot Perry J. Krinitt died yesterday when the helicopter they were using to count salmon nests on the Selway river crashed in downtown Kamiah, Idaho. "Resident Mick Landmark said it appeared the helicopter clipped the eaves of a U.S. Forest Service-owned house before colliding with the travel trailer about a block from his downtown insurance office in the north-central Idaho town." Rebecca Boone of the Associated Press.

Colorado pike fishing recovers from an August lull when temperatures begin to cool, says Karl Licis in this morning's Denver Post.

"Pike may be spotted cruising in the shallows; they might be lying nearly motionless near the edge of weed beds, waiting to ambush something smaller that happens to swim by. Either way, they're likely to be skittish, but when the presentation is proper, the fight is on."

As something of a follow-up to last week's mention of fishermen living dangerously, we note Lee Hill Cavanaugh's piece for McClatchy in which he quotes a USGS biologist on the terrifying damage that can be caused by flying carp. "'Someone could fall out and even be run over by his own boat. There are times when a fisherman doesn't come home, and who knows what happened to him out there on the river?'"

Personally, I have been hit by a flying ray, a spinner shark, a squid (serious ink), innumerable leatherjackets, and a client's sandwich that nearly knocked off my sunglasses. My own guess would be that far more lives are lost and limbs broken when insects land in the human eye and temporarily blind drivers, riders and those out for an evening stroll.

Be that as it may, we applaud the folks mentioned by Cavanaugh who are trying to figure out how to net silver carp, and the Louisiana State University students who have created the YouTube videos "Flying Fish, Great Dish."

We first featured artist AD Maddox last August, but her new paintings reflect a growing talent.

Far from being a traditionalist, Maddox is most recently working on "bug art ... a series called 'splat the hatch.' Strapping a wet canvas to her Ducati bike, she finishes the pieces with a touch of nature ... bugs landing on the paintings to complete the work."

This month we're happy to feature her new "Bend in the Stone" on our homepage.

• In The New York Times, Edward Rothstein writes about the $27 million visitor center that opened on the periphery of Old Faithful last week.
• Profile with video of feather-producer Tom Whiting: "a chicken farmer of a different feather."
• "EARTH FIRST: We'll Mine the Other Planets Later." Seattle PI staff writer Joel Connelly calls the proposed Pebble Mine the latest environmental battle for the ages.

Ever considered submitting your fly fishing photos to a Web site or magazine for publication? Phil Monahan, who spent many years as editor of American Angler magazine, says it's no longer a simple or straight path. Cameras that make the average photographer exponentially better are a fact of life, and editors have many more choices.

Read his suggestions on MidCurrent.

Karl Johnstone's article in the Anchorage Daily News about the pressure lodges feel to to get their guests out to fishing locations serves as a reminder that many accidents happen when you combine bad weather with financial incentives. You'll see parallels in heliskiiing, hang-gliding, and hunting -- just about any guided sport where employees can't prove their worth by sitting around and waiting for the weather to get better.

As Johnstone notes: "Pilots are sometimes under subtle but serious pressure to fly in bad weather and to load up the aircraft to avoid a second flight. If a pilot balks too many times, there will always be another who is willing to chance it."

So here's a quick bit of advice: if your guide or pilot seems uncomfortable about conditions, assure them that you are perfectly happy waiting it out. After all, your number one goal is to be around to fish another day.

How to take care of "the trout of the future?" Tom Rosenbauer suggests several tips for how to avoid disfiguring or killing fish that haven't yet grown durable.

First off, he says, if you want to take a picture, use a large rectangular net: "You can suspend the fish in the current, the whole body of the fish is still going to be visible because of the big opening of the net, and you can keep a fish suspended in one of these nets for a couple of minutes without harming the fish at all."

• Spruce Creek Fly Co. co-owner and sports trainer Tracy Stroup says fly fishing injuries are like any other: they often result from muscular imbalances.
• Keith Barton lists several tenets of workplace fly tying, including "Keep the dead stuff close to you" and "Only bring enough materials to tie a single pattern."
• Gear Junkie's Stephen Regenold says the new Mad River Malecite Canoe ($2,970) uses pigment-free gel coat to keep weight to only 43 pounds but can still carry 850 pounds of people and gear.

Friends say Tom Ross is the perfect choice to take over the 17-campus UNC presidency. "'Fly-fishing for native trout is a challenging endeavor, and it took him awhile to master it, but he never would give up,' [Wendell] Ott said. 'He kept right at it until he became quite a skillful fly-fisherman.'” Jonelle Davis in the Greensboro News Record.

"What’s more impressive about the Black Canyon is the river’s rate of descent within its 48-mile length. The river drops an average of 96 feet per mile within the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. The steepest drop is a two mile stretch where the river drops 480 feet." David Sikes writes about a late summer trip to the Gunnison for the Corpus Christi Caller.

"The late English poet Ted Hughes (1930 - 1998) was an avid conservationist and enthusiastic fly fisher. Moreover, he came to love fly fishing for salmon and steelhead in British Columbia after befriending Ehor Boyanowsky, a criminal psychologist and professor at Simon Fraser University." Robert Reid reviews Ehor Boyanowsky's Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts: In the Wild with Ted Hughes and Fishing Flies by Malcolm Greenhalgh and Jason Smalley.

Savage Gods, Silver Ghosts: In The Wild with Ted Hughes on Amazon.

Fishing Flies: A World Encyclopedia of Every Type of Fly on Amazon.