Hang around with guys who work with machine tools and you quickly learn that they are a different sort. They tend, for example, to take their work very seriously. That's why we weren't surprised that Steve Fournier, who manages Dr. Slick's fly fishing tools business from a small shop in Belgrade, Montana, knows his business inside and out. Whether it's Chinese steel vs. French steel or the likelihood that plier grip materials will grab a fly line, Fournier knows the numbers.

We got a chance to talk with him recently about the challenges of running a niche fly fishing business, about outsourcing, and about how things like catch-and-release fishing and synthetic materials have changed the design of tools for fly fishers.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"Waters that will close to fishing 24 hours a day to protect bull trout include portions of Rattlesnake Creek, Rock Creek and Fish Creek. Portions of the Clark Fork and Little Blackfoot rivers will close to fishing from 2 p.m. until midnight." In The Missoulian.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An Associated Press profile of Tom Morgan and his wife Gerri Carlson includes some fascinating insight into what turned Morgan from a small-town Montana fishing guide into one of the most skilled rod builders in the world. Turns out he and Gerri had a few things to work out in their partnership (Carlson: "I don't want to be your hands."). "'What I like best about a rod is smoothness,' Morgan said. 'If your timing is right, it doesn't take any power at all to get the line out. You can shake a rod and know instantly if it is going to cast nicely or not.'" In the Billings Gazette.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Empty, that is, unless you are looking for fish. "The big rivers are the St. Joe, the three forks of the Clearwater, the Lochsa, the Selway, the three forks of the Salmon and a half-dozen or so feeder streams, any one of which would be a national attraction if it were in, say, Texas. These rivers drain an amazing swath of real estate owned by every American - a public land inheritance unseen by most of its owners." On TwinCities.com, Timothy Egan describes the riches to be found in the panhandle of Idaho, where there are no national parks, only the reality of untended wildness.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"In the Firehole River that slashes through the wild grasses and woods of Yellowstone's west side, the trout began to take notice. As the water warmed on that early July day, the levels of dissolved oxygen dropped. The fish - rainbows, with their bright crimson lateral slash, and brown trout, with their multicolored spots - began to panic." Rick Tosches paints a gloomy but detailed picture of what an over-warm summer is doing to the fish of Yellowstone National Park. Of course what is not being talked about as often are the thousands upon thousands of miles of trout streams outside of the park where trout are also being decimated by heat. In the Denver Post.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

“'I still want to puke when I look at an outdoor channel and see guys grabbing a fish out of a tank and running it across a stage like they’ve just won the Boston Marathon,' [Dave] Zentner said. 'It just turns me off.'” Anyone looking at fishing tournaments from the outside know they are a mixed blessing: they draw attention to the sport, but they also drive anglers into frenzies that are not always resource-friendly. One has to wonder if the reaction of Minnesota's Department of Natural Resources is not a sign that states are becoming more aware of the downside. Article by the Associated Press in The New York Times.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"As Heinlein soothed his sore knees with a washcloth, he felt something funny in the water. When he looked down, he saw the speckled back of a cutthroat brushing against his leg." Ben Pierce and friends discover that the cutthroats in the Bob's White River are a bit more naive than most, as all it takes is a some tippet material and nymph to find success. In the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Denver chapter of Trout Unlimited chose downtown Denver as the location of their new carp fly fishing tournament next weekend. Why? Because the South Platte as it flows through the city is one of the best places to go to stalk these difficult fish. "The best time to fish flat water is in spring, just before and immediately after spawning. They spend much of the day in the cool shallows, where they root and tail like bonefish. Midsummer heat sends carp to deep water, no longer available for sight fishing except very early and late in the day. But they're always ready in the river, where the only variable is flow." Charlie Meyers in the Denver Post.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I saw a thousand permit caught on live crabs before ever throwing a fly to one. Does it help? Yep. Andrew Steketee confirms the teaching value of fishing with bait in part three of his series on young Keys guides on Gillraker "I even muster the humility to inform Eric of my newfound respect for spin and bait fisherman, to which he responds: 'The best fly-fishermen I know still throw plugs and bait, because it teaches them hundreds of unseen variables. I’ll never tell a client, or myself, that we can’t learn more. Most fly-fisherman who step foot in my boat are horrible anglers, because they’re close-minded. My job is to correct that.'”

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New England stone is rare, especially if you are a businessman living in Manhattan. So what's wrong with pilfering a few pieces from a local landmarks to line your trout pound? "A New York City businessman served prison time after admitting in court that he stole stones from walls, cemeteries and church sidewalks in 2001 and 2002 so he could build a patio and line his trout pond." Article by the Associated Press on Boston.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bluelining is one of those fly fishing side-pursuits that has a loyal and very quiet following. Hey, if you've gone to the trouble of preparing, hiking in, then discovering a special spot, the last thing you want is unwanted company sullying your image of a return trip. Besides, getting or giving a handout is not the point. Ed Dentry offers tips for those wanting to wander in what is one of the richest bluelining states in the U.S., Colorado, starting with picking up Kip Carey's Official Colorado Fishing Guide and ending with USGS 7-minute quadrangle topo maps. Kip Carey's Official Colorado Fishing Guide, 2nd Edition on Amazon.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's the time of year when fly fishing product manufacturers first announce their lineup for 2008, and Dr. Slick looks to be first out of the gate with products designed to increase angler convenience and decrease fly tier fatigue. "Our bamboo handle tying tools are the most comfortable instruments we have ever produced – you can tie longer with less hand fatigue . . . and, they look great,” says Dr. Kenneth A. High in their press release. Other cool stuff from Dr. Slick:

-- Self-closing extra-hand fly tweezers.
-- 6 1/2" Pisces stainless straight pliers, with anvil cutters and rubber handle grips
-- Bead tweezers
-- New all-purpose and hair scissors in their Eco (economy) line

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

July 25, 2007

Dr. Slick Instruments for Anglers
105 Pollywog Lane
Belgrade, MT 59714
(800) 462-4474
drslick@bresnan.net

BELGRADE, Mont. – New fly-fishing and fly-tying products ranging from a tool that picks up tying beads to a series of tying tools that “simply feel good in your hands” are on tap for 2008 from Dr. Slick Instruments for Anglers.

“Our bamboo handle tying tools are the most comfortable instruments we have ever produced – you can tie longer with less hand fatigue . . . and, they look great,” according to Dr. Kenneth A. High, president.

Dr. Slick will also introduce a remarkable “extra hand” fly tweezers that enables an angler to lift a single fly from a box or compartment without the danger of dumping everything into a river; and 4-inch bead tweezers that allows the fly-tier to pick up a single brass, tungsten, glass, round, or dumbbell-shaped bead.

Other new for ’08 products include the stainless steel Pisces Pliers, with anvil cutter with rubber grips; and economy-priced all-purpose and hair scissors.

The Dr. Slick – perhaps Dr. Feel Good might be more appropriate – bamboo-handle tools include a bodkin with half hitch tool; bobbin threader with half-hitch tool; rotary whip finisher with half-hitch tool; and both small and large rotary hackle pliers.

NEW for 2008 Dr. Slick Tools
Bamboo Handle Tying Tools
Bodkin with half hitch tool;
Bobbin Threader with half hitch tool;
Whip Finisher, Rotary, with half hitch tool;
Rotary Hackle Pliers (small), with rubber tubing on one jaw;
Rotary Hackle Pliers (large), with half hitch tool and rubber tubing on one jaw.

$8 each

Bamboo handle tools are also available in a gift set that includes
Medium hair stacker
4-inch ceramic bobbin
4-inch all-purpose scissors

$52

Bead Tweezers

4-inch self closing in gold and satin finish. Designed with a straight arrowhead (pointed) jaw enabling the tier to pick up a single bead from a tray, plastic bag or table. One jaw is coated with plastic to keep glass beads from breaking. Suitable for brass, tungsten, glass, round, dumbbell or chain beads.

$7

Extra Hand

Fly tweezers for lifting a single fly of any size out of a box while streamside. The 2-1/4-inch tweezers are self-closing. Hangs from any fly-fishing vest or jacket. In gold and satin finish.

$7

Pisces Pliers

6-1/2-inch, stainless steel pliers with double pocket holster and lanyard. These are straight pliers with an anvil cutter blade and rubber handle grips. For all fresh and saltwater fly-fishing, bass fishing and general home use. A satin finish.

$35

Eco (economy) All Purpose Scissors
4-inch straight serrated blade. Satin finish

$7

Eco (economy) Hair Scissors
4-1/2-inch straight serrated blade. Satin finish.

$7

Improved/Modified Dr. Slick Tools for 2008

Necklace now comes with waterproof fly box
Hook files now have rounded bottoms
Pliers have upgraded holsters
Eco clamps have improved ratchets

Editor/Writers Note: A limited number of new Dr. Slick tools will be available after the Denver Dealer Show.

For a CD of product photos, please contact Bennett Mintz at 818 718 8566 or bjmintz@socal.rr.com after the show.

BENNETT J. MINTZ PR/ADV.
22370 Mission Circle
Chatsworth, California 91311
818.718.8566 718.1958 Fax
bjmintz@socal.rr.com

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I first saw the other Montana while helping my friend, a beekeeper, collect honey from hives an hour or two north of Big Timber. As we drove his flatbed into the plains, the houses dotting the landscape became fewer and fewer, the landscape more skeletal, and the sky, of course, bigger. If you spend most of your time in Montana fishing the southern or Western ranges or around the park, you never see this stark and incredibly beautiful expanse, where a tractor-trailer hauling cattle toward any semblance of grass looks like a tiny, shiny ladybug in the distance. Bill Schneider writes about it in New West: "Montana has been known as Big Sky Country since The Big Sky, a best-selling book by A.B. Gutherie, Jr., came out. And if he were alive today, I bet Gutherie would agree with me that the sky is especially big out in eastern Montana, bigger than it is west of the Continental Divide." Don't be fooled, either. There are plenty of fly fishing oases in the middle of all that emptiness. They just never get written about, and are that much better for it.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

RIO just announced the delivery of a new series of two-tone shooting heads with tapers especially designed for accurate presentation. The AFS (Advanced Flight Spey) heads are available for rod sizes 4/5 (300 grains) to 10/11 (640 grains) and feature welded loops on both ends.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

RIO Products Intl., Inc. introduces the AFS (Advanced Flight Spey) shooting head.

IDAHO FALLS, July 2007 – RIO Products is pleased to announce the launch of a new range of fly lines for the spey and switch caster.

Advanced Flight Spey Shooting heads have a very unique taper design that easily loads up a spey rod either for overhead casting, or for spey, or the underhand casting style. The short body section and long, fine front taper efficiently transfers energy down the length of the head and results in great turnover and a precise presentation of the fly. Incredibly tight loops and effortless casts of easy distance are a result of this unique taper design.

Each AFS floating shooting head is two-colored with the majority of the line being a subtle green color to avoid spooking fish in low and clear water. The rear 15 ft is a visible yellow, allowing the angler to track the line and control how it fishes as it swings through the current. Both ends of the AFS head feature a small, neat welded loop. Attach a suitable shooting line to the rear loop – either SlickShooter or one of RIO’s Powerflex core shooting lines for the best in performance – and one of RIO’s Powerflex core leaders to the front end for complete depth control. The rear loop is bar-coded for easy recognition.

The heads range in size from a 4/5 with a head of 31 ft, 300 grains (9.5m, 19 grams) to a 10/11 with a head of 42 ft, 640 grains (12.8m, 42 grams).

RIO’s AFS heads are available from all authorized RIO dealers from the 23rd July and have a recommended retail price of $44.95.

Contacts: Simon Gawesworth, Zack Dalton
Email: simon@rioproducts.com, zack@rioproducts.com

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While it may be true that salmonflies share something in common with cinder and palolo worms, pass crabs, guppy hatches, and trico spinner falls -- namely the ability to thrash us into a Quixotic frenzy -- it's also true we'd rather be there than not. "Trouble with big, juicy flies is that they're like all those other larger-than-life events we dream about, yet only seldom are allowed to touch. Something generally gets in the way: Too much sun, howling wind, water the color of a mocha milkshake. We get there too early or too late, or find a small army bivouacked in the only spot where there's real action." Charlie Meyers in the Denver Post.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The first thing is small hooks require small tippets. The weakest link in your tackle is not the small tippet but the knots in the tippet. Carefully form your knots and lubricate them with water before pulling them tight. Test them to ensure that they will hold." Guide John Berry offers four or five good tips on equipping yourself properly to fish for big fish with small flies in the Baxter [Arkansas] Bulletin.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Bartender-gearhead-fly-fishing guide Ryan Friel and writer Brian Schott live and ski in Whitefish, Montana, a once-unsullied logging town in the western part of the state. Apparently no one got the word out there that literary journals don't work, so they decided to start publishing the "Whitefish Review," a "decidedly lowbrow" collection of writing from an eclectic community. "Let's call up retired NFL quarterback and sometimes Whitefish resident Drew Bledsoe and talk about the art of football. Then let's sandwich the interview between solid bookends - powerhouse Tim Cahill up front, Missoula's own William Kitteredge out back." Michael Jamison in The Missoulian.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We see a fair number of fly fishing videos each month, and after a while we become a little numb to the endless repetition of cast-hook-shout-and-release segments that pass before our eyes. This month was different though, because we had a chance to see a master angler talk about fishing a river in a way that made you realize his is far from a momentary infatuation. In reality, Craig Mathews has been fishing the Madison — month in and month out — for far longer than many of us have been fly fishing. Perhaps that helps explain the notion I got as I listened to the narration that Mathews sounds a lot like the river, or at least like a person who has spent a long time in conversation with it.

Read the MidCurrent review of "Fly Fishing the Madison River with Craig Mathews."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

From personal experience I can tell you that having a large face is not helpful when you're trying to find sunglasses that fit. Thankfully not every sunglass maker takes the one-size-fits all approach to product design. Similar to the Frigate and Osprey sunglasses released last year, Costa Del Mar's new Man o War line features a slightly larger frame size (it's actually the largest of the three). The new sunglasses have removable side shields to block backlight and nose pads prevent slippage due to perspiration and are available with 400 or 580 glass or optical-grade CR-39 polarized lenses. For more information on the Man o' Wars, visit the Costa Del Mar Web site. And while you are there, see if you can avoid playing with the wicked-cool little navigation compass in the upper right.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Felt Soul Media's Travis Rummel and Ben Knight are keeping a journal on their newest project, a documentary about the proposed Pebble Mine project in southwest Alaska, near Lake Iliamna. Tons of excellent photography and fine writing here, as might be expected from the filmmakers who produced "The Hatch" and did the shooting (I think) for "Running Down the Man."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Simon Gawesworth began teaching casting on the River Torridge, in Devon, England, but he lives and works now in Idaho, where he designs fly lines for RIO Products. We just got a copy of his new edition of Spey Casting and are happy to see the addition of Skagit casting to the chapter list. If you cast two-handed rods and hadn't seen the first edition, you've been missing out on what we think is the best-written book on the subject, not to mention the best-illustrated. Spey Casting, Second Edition on Amazon.

Also, if you're a two-hand practitioner or thinking you might give it a try, listen to Gawesworth talk about the techniques he teaches in our podcast.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Charlie Conn and Zach Pierce of Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston scramble down steep trails to reach the salmonfly hatch on the upper river in Yellowstone National Park. "After stashing their hiking boots behind a boulder and assembling their rods, the two hopscotched their way upstream, dapping large, hand-tied, imitation salmon flies with names like 'Terranasty,' 'Cat Puke' and the 'Foaminator' into the eddies behind rocks." Article by the Associated Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A U.S. company named E21, which has been making golf clubs from scandium alloy for some time now, has licensed Curran from the Scottish firm CelluComp to create new fishing rods made with the carrot-based fiber. The rods happened to win the best-in-show award at the recent American Sportfishing Association's international trade show (ICAST). And yes, you can see pictures of their new fly rods, and they are not all orange. Just go to this link, click on "Catalog" and then on the page for Carrot Stix Fly Rods in the lower left.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Despite the fact that pure yellowstone cutthroat populations continue to decline, a U.S. Fish and Wildlife study shows that the rate of that decline has decreased in the past five years. But according to Matthew Brown of the Associated Press, "Of 383 distinct populations of the fish, more than half were at a moderate to high risk of being hybridized, the study found."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Catching a total of eight permit on fly won Doug Berhman the top spot in the 2007 Del Brown Invitational Tournament, which was held July 16, 17 and 18 in Key West, Florida. Berhman fished with Little Torch Key guide Deigo Roullye. Warren Hinrichs, the defending champion, and guide Kris Suplee came in second with six permit. Warren and Kris also caught the largest fish, which was 31 inches (pictured at right); they lost a much larger fish on the afternoon of the third day. John Abplanalp was third, catching four fish with guide Jeffrey Cardenas. (Thanks to readers David Dalu and Warren Hinrichs for providing these results.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At least part of the inspiration for MidCurrent was a desire to see more good fishing writing reach the Web, and it's been satisfying to watch newer and better writing appear year after year. The latest is Gillraker, which was brought to our attention yesterday. Gillraker could be called a blog, but on the other hand it is obviously more concerned with fine writing than with entry-making. I spent about an hour there yesterday and read writing by author Andrew Steketee (Tidelines), novelist Robert Abel (Ghost Traps), author Greg Keeler, and William Comstock (a 19th century whaler). The Gillraker filter is drawing out some very good stuff so far, most of it thought-provoking, like Steketee's take on fly tying in "Tying Inappropriate Flies:"

"Appreciating images of Dan Fink’s fly-tying nihilism (rattlesnake anatomy, hunting rounds, political hyperbole, etc. appended to fish hooks), I’ve concluded the fly-tying universe has missed the point around imagination. Not some compromised blend of utility, biology, and inspiration, but tying for tying’s sake — flies that sound less like the Fray, and more like Wilco or The Cold War Kids when played … DanBob’s Diamondback, Worm Ball, the Greedy George."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We get our casting knowledge from a variety of sources -- friends, guides, videos, books and magazines, and Web sites -- and it doesn't always fit together neatly. No one is whispering in our ear as we practice, typically, and telling us that knowing the roll-cast pickup is more important than learning to haul. Here are 28 simple tips to help you cast more accurately, farther, and with better results once your fly hits the water. Read "Fly Casting Tips" on MidCurrent.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I remember the first time I saw someone -- in this case one of the great trout fisherman of our time -- use a stomach pump on a trout. My reaction, if I remember correctly, was to swallow the word 'gross' as it started out of my mouth. Somehow it grated against my sensibilities, and it still does a little. But there's no question that, short of killing a fish, using a stomach pump is the only foolproof way to find out what a trout is eating. John Berry describes the right technique in Arkansas's Baxter Bulletin: "To pump the fish's stomach, I fill the pump by inserting the tube in the water and squeezing the rubber bulb. Then, while securely holding the fish, I gently insert the tube down the fish's throat as far as I can. I take particular care not to injure the fish during this process. I gently squeeze the rubber bulb, forcing the water into the fish's stomach. Then I gently remove the tube from the fish. The suction created by the pump extracts the stomach contents."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

This morning Finlay Wilson lists his favorite five Scottish fly fishing venues on Scotsman.com. Among them are salmon fishing on the River Tweed, sea trout on the Spey, and fly fishing for pollack along the cliffs of the Mull of Galloway. "Not easy, and you'll be relying on the expertise of the boat's skipper to put you in the right spots, but catching hard-fighting pollack on a fly rod with sheer cliffs, racing tides and the Horn of Galloway as a backdrop provides a truly unique experience."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Introduced at ICAST in Las Vegas last week, Costa Del Mar's "Channel C" hosts a variety of outdoors films that cover everything from surfing in the Galapagos to Nile crocodiles to Rick Murphy tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys. Of course Costa wants the wider audience, so you'll find only nominal amount of fly fishing here, but I have to say the platform looks nice. Check out the Trout Unlimited video in the Conservation tab for a little inspiration. Also check out the 1946 footage of lift-pole tuna fishing off of the Galapagos, in the years before long-lining became the commercial fisherman's dream.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

What better place to get over jet lag before playing in the British Open than on a Irish trout stream?

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Boating magazine interviewed me a couple of weeks ago for their FishBoat blog and released the podcast this morning. The interviewer wanted to know about techniques for fishing for heavily pressured fish and the resulting 4 minutes of talking on my part includes some very general tips about how to get difficult fish to eat. You can hear the streaming podcast on the FishBoatMag site, or download it from this link (3.9MB).

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

There's some pretty interesting work being done on fish vision by Andrij Horodysky, a PhD. candidate at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science. Horodysky is studying not only the affects of different light conditions on fish's ability to see potential prey, but on how various combinations of color stimulate feeding behavior. For example, striped bass see and respond differently during bright daylight hours than they do at night. "His studies of striped bass found that during the day they need light and shallow, clear water. They can see blue, chartreuse (green-yellow) and even some red. At night, striped bass become 100 times more light sensitive and adjust their eyes to diminish the amount of red colors absorbed, which means they focus more on the blues and greens." Horodsky also happens to be a contract fly tier for Umpqua. Norm Wood in the Hampton Roads, Virginia Daily Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Google Earth store just came out with a fancier version of their Trackstick device, which allows users to record location and other variables in a format that is easily imported into Google Earth. The Super Trackstick GPS Tracking System has 4MB of rewritable memory (as opposed to the Trackstick II's 1MB) and built-in mounting magnets so you can slap it on the hood of your car. But we guess the most popular use would be for blueliners exploring new trout streams, or for saltwater fly fishers who want to keep a log of their movements as they find new fishing spots. Of course, tracking your teenager's driving habits is not a far reach either. There are a bunch of other devices in the Google store with similar capabilities, not all of them quite so pricey.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the New York Times, Harry Hurt gives an honest assessment of his fit with the sport of fly fishing. In spite of the deluge of information brought forth at Orvis's Millbrook campus, even a 10-foot cast is Sisyphean: "Unfortunately, I was too clumsy to tie a basic clinch knot, much less a barrel knot, a perfection loop, or a loop-to-loop connection. I was even worse at basic casting. The trick was to move the rod back and forth with your forearm and a couple of flicks of your wrist without adding bicep or shoulder thrust. When done properly, your fishing line shot out on the water in a straight line about 10 yards long." (Thanks to reader John DeVault for this link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

As we first noted back in February, a Scottish company has been working with carrot cellulose to produce fly rods that are even lighter than graphite. Now some more details are out, including the fact that the new rods, which are 70% Curran fiber (the carrot stuff) and 30% graphite, have actions more similar to fiberglass rods, since the fibers have the ability to stretch further before they fail.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Rick Cannon didn't bargain on falling in after hooking a 90-pound tarpon in Florida's Pine Island Sound. Nor did he think much of the electric trolling motor blade touching his arm as it passed -- until he climbed back aboard and saw blood draining into the boat. "'It was so stupid of me to even think of catching this fish. I sat there and pondered the situation. "How am I going to do this?" I'm seeing blood go in the bilge. It looked like a knife fight had happened on the boat. I thought, "My wife's going to be really mad if I die out here fighting this fish."' '' Del Milligan in The Ledger.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Mustang Survival has a new inflatable vest for fly fishers that may provide a great solution for anglers wading or boating in unpredictable situations -- downstream of a major dam where the water release schedule is not well understood, for example. Their new F³ vest has, among other features, a front table pocket, a hydration pack pocket, and a mesh back. Lots of stuff in small package.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As much as anyone can say that big box retailers are beating the small store in the pricing of products, they're a long way from providing the sense of privilege that is communicated in a hand-drawn map. "So, too, in the tradition of these original handmade MapQuests, the ones GPS and the Internet have yet to force into extinction, is the corner store and unnamed and unmarked dirt road that leads to a dam on the Kennebago River in Oquossoc which Dionne wants you to find." Travis Barrett in Maine's Kennebec Journal.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the idea of removing dams, rather than repairing and maintaining them, takes hold in the U.S., scientists are using increasingly sophisticated models to envision the impact of freeing up the waters. Interestingly enough, much of the best work in this area was provided by the son of Albert Einstein, who was a specialist in modeling sediment movement. That research is now being put to work as engineers try to figure out what to do with 6 million cubic yards of sediment that will be released on removal of the 60-year-old Matilija Dam on California's Ventura River, which was once home to an enormous population of the now-endangered southern steelhead trout.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As the summer heat rages on and dailly reports of stress on rivers and streams seem to increase, it's a good time to remind ourselves about what responsible fishing is during periods of high water temperature. Here are a couple of guidelines. Always play and land fish as quickly as you can, but especially in warmer water, when additional stress may prevent a released fish from surviving. Most trout prefer water that is 50-68 degrees Fahrenheit, and brook trout and cutthroats prefer even colder water. If you know that the water where you are trout fishing is 70 degrees, pay particular attention to releasing fish quickly, and if the water is 75 degrees or higher, simply don't fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I might think Bill Schneider's suggestion of a 12-Step program for fishermen is a good idea, except that it would impossible for me or any of my friends to follow. For example, Step 5: "Admit first to yourself, then to the Fishing God and then to a loved one or close friend, the exact nature of your wrongdoings, out loud, shamelessly, unrestrained. That means all the laughable exaggerations about the length of your fish, the lame excuses to your spouse about why you needed a new boat or rod, and those reprehensible lies to your boss about why you weren’t coming into work." In New West magazine. (Thanks to TroutUnderground for digging this one up.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The next time you face the stinging rebuke of an animal rights activist who describes your fly fishing as trout torture, try Dr. John Burk's rebuttal: trout can be monsters, and we are the only ones standing up for the insects.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We often get inquiries from readers who are looking for advice about what they should put in their fly box for a specific region of the U.S. If they are planning to fish in Idaho, Oregon, Washington or Montana, we almost always include a suggestion to look at Westfly.com's detailed hatch charts. Although they provide the most detail for Oregon waters, the Westfly charts are a good start if you want an overview of the insects and associated patterns in each state. To get to the charts, click on the opening photo, then on a state, then on "Hatches" in either the top navigation or the text.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are planning a trip to the Park this summer, be advised that many major rivers and streams are being closed to afternoon fishing because of excessively high water temps. "The fishing advisory in Yellowstone asks anglers not to fish between noon and 6 p.m. on most streams below 7,000 feet. The advisory includes Gardner River below Osprey Falls, Lava Creek below Undine Falls, Lamar River below Cache Creek, all of Slough Creek, Soda Butte Creek below Amphitheater Creek, the Yellowstone River below Seven Mile Hole, Madison River, Firehole River and the Gibbon River below Gibbon Falls." Mike Stark in the Billings Gazette.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Perhaps as proof that high mountain air is likely to induce euphoria, Charlie Meyers waxes on about hiking in to Colorado's hidden trout lakes in the Denver Post. "Upon further review, this one appeared on the map just south of Cottonwood Pass where a thin ribbon of blue squiggled down from the Continental Divide. It is an intimate little lake with a granite island in the middle, a perfect place for emptying the ashtrays of the mind. When the surface is calm, it glistens like an eye into the earth."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The International Federation of Sport Fly Fishing (Fips-Mouche), at the 38th Congress of The Confederation International of Sport Fishing (CIPS) in Prague, has announced Scotland has won the rights to host the 2009 World Fly Fishing Championships."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While didymo is certainly a large threat to trout rivers in the U.S. west, its discovery in the Connecticut River in Vermont a couple of weeks ago is even more alarming, given the already perilous conditions of many rivers and streams in the northeast. "Lawton Weber discovered didymo while fly-fishing the Connecticut River with a friend off his waterfront property in Bloomfield, in the Northeast Kingdom, on June 21. 'I put my raft in the water and within a hundred feet I took a look at the rocks and said, "It's didymo. We're screwed,"' he said." Dennis Jensen in the Rutland Herald.

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Tom Chandler proved that you could write about anything even slightly related to fly fishing -- including slaw dogs and the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park-- and make it interesting. Now one of his regular commenters has jumped in the river of good words with Ripefish. "I am going to wade stupid repeatedly, and the bigger the fish - the more likely I will wade agressively," he says in his evaluation of fly fishing vest alternatives. "I will get wet, I need the vest to drain quickly. Extra lining means additional drying time…no issue in August, but a big issue in January."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The upper Big Hole is already closed, the Jefferson has set a new record for low flows, the Smith is flowing at only 100 cfs, and Yellowstone levels may soon reach their 1931 lows. Now Montana officials are considering a new round of "hoot owl" closures that will shut down any fishing after 2PM on several rivers. Scott McMillion reports in the Bozeman Chronicle.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

California fire fighters made a special effort to protect the facilities at the Mt. Whitney Hatchery on Saturday, and although valuable rainbow trout brood stock were lost, the facility itself survived. "Nine firefighters, after evacuating an elderly woman from a residence just above the hatchery, were over-taken by the fire and survived by jumping in nearby ponds. 'There was 20 minutes where they were surrounded by fire and hollering on the radio,' [fire information officer Jim] Wilkins said. Water drops were made around them. They suffered minor burns, and six were hospitalized with respiratory problems." Dave Strege in the Orange County Register.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Canadian fly fisher drowned last Friday on Idaho's Clark Fork when his float tube overturned. Apparently he was belted into the U-shaped tube and was unable to release the belt or right himself. It's something to think about if you are a float-tuber and are not thoroughly familiar with your gear.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The death of George Melly put most of England into mourning last week, and not least because he was the prototypical British bon vivant, drinking himself silly while fashioning an enduring contribution to jazz, art and literature. Surprisingly, he was as loud about his love of fly fishing as anything else. Jenny Booth gives a complete biography in the Times Online.

Keith Elliott writes about Melly's fishing in The Independent, and Michael Bywater offers this portrait. "Melly, not just for his music (that oracular orotundity, a black woman in the body of a white man), but for his strawberry velour fedora, his zoot suit, his strange and flagrant intellect in which even fly-fishing seemed an exercise in Dadaist performance (surely he couldn't just be fishing?); indeed, his very existence. As long as George Melly was out there, we knew that the accountants, the conformists, the bottom-liners and the health-and-safety sociopaths hadn't entirely won." Michael Bywater in the UK Independent.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This article in the Denver Post is most notable for its excellent map of the area, including the South Platte from it's middle Fork down to Deckers and the host of other feeder rivers coming off of the front range. If you are headed to Denver this year, this is as good a picture of the angling opportunities and their distance from the city as you're likely to find.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Adams escapes Savannah, Georgia for the equally urbane south of France, where he is guided to grayling and brown trout by local Cyril Ponce. "The river Sorgue is spring and snow fed, and has a hard bottom, making the water gin clear. We began to see fish immediately. Cyril pointed out that they were grayling. We were after brown trout, not grayling. Cyril relented and soon caught a few grayling to show me the proper technique." In the Savannah Morning News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alastair Robertson manages to throw in a bit of comic relief as he rails against the new Scottish law prohibiting fly tiers from using the fur from endangered animals. "If the rule extends to badger sporrans then I can tell you that Billy Connolly is in trouble. I once saw him narrowly avoid castration at a Highland games when a Dandidinmont, a breed of dog bred to kill badgers, had to be hauled back into the crowd before it savaged Connolly while he judged the junior Highland dancing in his kilt and badger." On Scotsman.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The stars finally align for Bob Gwidz, fishing the hex hatch late one evening on Michigan's Pere Marquette. "It was a steelhead, the biggest rainbow trout that I'd ever taken (by far) on a dry fly. An armchair fish biologist would have dubbed it a Skamania (summer-run), as it was as sleek as a torpedo and shiny as a freshly minted coin." On MLive.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ever since dermatologist Brian Harris caught a Florida-tagged 28 ½-inch long bonefish on Andros Island in the Bahamas, scientists have been wondering how common it is for bonefish to travel long distances. Susan Cocking joins University of Miami researchers in the Bahamas, where they hope a new tagging program will yield more valuable data on bonefish behavior. "The question is important because of the species' economic value. Based on four years of bonefish counts from Miami to the Lower Keys, and an economic breakdown of Florida's $5 billion sportfishing industry, Ault and Larkin figure each South Florida bonefish is worth about $3,500 -- or $75,000 in its lifetime." In the Miami Herald.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

For almost one hundred years, the Demarest family has been a leading importer of Chinese bamboo for can rod builders in the U.S. Harold Demarest took over the business from his father Charles, who by 1911 was supplying 'Tonkin' and Calcutta cane to most of the major bamboo rod builders, including William Mills (a buyer for Leonard Rod Company), Montague, South Bend, and Devine (you can read more on the history of Charles H. Demarest, Inc. on their Web site).

Harold Demarest died on Tuesday, July 3, one day short of his 96th birthday, which his family had gathered to celebrate.

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In New West, David Nolt expertly covers the fascinating history of attempts by irrigators and energy companies to dam what remains the longest un-dammed river in the lower 48 states. "Several times throughout the 20th century the possibility of large-scale, river-changing dams loomed over the Yellowstone River. Eager irrigators proposed a dam at the outlet of Yellowstone Lake within Yellowstone National Park in the early 1900s, and during the drought of the 30s and the hydroelectric heydays of the 50s, 60s and 70s, sustained efforts threatened to dam the Yellowstone River in five different places, four of which are in Park County."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

These days, an attempt by a state legislature to control lying is worthy of the evening news. Still, we could guess that a bill to prevent lying in fishing tournaments might be seen by some politician with higher authority as an attempt to stifle enthusiasm.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:09 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Though it hosts no reproducing trout, the stretch of water on the upper Rogue River between Lost Creek dam and Cole Rivers Fish Hatchery in Oregon became home to a devout congregation after hatchery fish were occasionally released there in the 1970s. And although two years of high water and no stocking have led to the disappearance of big fish, worshipers are hoping for a return to the good old days. "Fly-casters Phil Henning and Gary Warren consider Sunday mornings catching hatchery-bred rainbows here as services for the Church of the Leaping Trout. 'I told Gary up there one day that we should feel guilty that we're not in church, but every time I'm up here I think the purest thoughts I ever do,' says Henning, 72, of Medford." Mark Freeman in the southern Oregon Mail Tribune.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"'I would rather be in the river somewhere where I know the hatch is going off and the fishing is phenomenal than in a hotel somewhere playing any event, Champions Tour or regular Tour, and thinking, "Why am I not doing that right now?"' he said." In USAToday, AP writer Colin Fly writes about Mark O'Meara's not-so-difficult choice between golf and fly fishing.

In another article, Fly also notes that O'Meara didn't let his buddy Tiger Woods's struggles at the U.S. Open preoccupy him: "'I was in the river fly fishing pretty much every day and I didn't watch much of it,' O'Meara said. 'In fact, I didn't watch it at all.'"

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:26 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since anglers assume that tribal waters are off-limits, Sheila Grant suggests that there's great opportunity hidden in the lakes and streams of Maine's tribal lands, where many waters are fly-fishing-only. "Armed with a valid Maine fishing license ($21 for residents; $52 for non-residents) and the same common courtesy that anglers would show to any landowner, all Maine’s tribal trout waters might be fished by anyone willing to make the effort." In New England Game & Fish magazine.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It could be called a lesson in family dynamics: we focus on our fellow anglers as the likely source of abuse of pristine or secret waters. In reality, the biggest dangers to public angling resources are the folks who care least about them, like those who treat the backwoods as a high-speed dirt track for their off-road vehicles. A coalition of former public land managers and rangers has begun calling attention to the problem, according to this Christian Science Monitor article. As Jim Baca, of Rangers for Responsible Recreation, says, "These things are just crawling all over the place, unregulated, damaging the environment and wreaking havoc — there's no teeth in any law enforcement."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

"I admit that I'm one of the western anglers who has a bit of an attitude about the eastern states. There isn't much to offer the avid fly caster, right? And whatever there is suffers from overcrowding by the eastern masses, no doubt." On New West, Bill Schneider's western bias is exposed to the solitude and good fishing for smallmouth bass and even rainbows in Virginia.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Massachusetts fishermen covet big stripers -- those elusive 50-pounders that lure anglers from their warm beds to ply the surf in the dark of night. Some guys want a big trophy for the bragging rights or just the pure excitement of landing a giant striper." John Gribb organizes the top New England coastal striped bass fisheries from north to south in New England Game & Fish magazine.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In an article about anglers' odd obsessions in London's Times Online, author Brian Clarke explains how his research for his book The Trout and the Fly led him to discover the reason that surface insects are easily visible to trout at night. "We had our answer at once. It was that wherever part of a fly — feet, body, wings — touched the surface tension, they dented it slightly. This distortion, when viewed from below, acted rather like a lens — it gathered and concentrated any light remaining in the night sky. The result was that, from the position of a trout looking up, each fly on the surface was brightly outlined against the darkness all about it."

The Trout and the Fly on Amazon.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)