September 2007 Archives

As we noted a couple of weeks ago, U.S. Senator Larry Craig, who is in the news for pleading guilty then not-guilty to soliciting bathroom sex, is known for a fact to see salmon protections as bad for business (see "Larry Craig's Parting Words?"). Now the Associated Press's Matthew Daly has picked up on the story and talks in detail about how conservationists think Craig's ouster is the best thing that could happen to northwest salmon stocks. "The surprising fall of Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, removes a longtime obstacle to efforts by Democrats and environmentalists to promote salmon recovery on Northwest rivers. Craig, who was removed from leadership posts on the Senate Appropriations and Energy committees after a sex scandal, is known as one the most powerful voices in Congress on behalf of the timber and power industries."

Charlie Meyers gives the schedule for this week's US Fly Fishing Championship in Boulder, Colorado, which includes a final day of instruction and fundraising to benefit the Colorado chapter of Trout Unlimited. "Fundraisers at Sylvan Dale Guest Ranch. A full day of stream and pond fishing instruction with team members, including lunch and gifts, $375. Also, five hours of Polish Nymphing System instruction with Vladi Trzebunia and Jay Buchner, $275." A chance to learn Polish nymphing from these guys for $275 sounds like quite a deal. In the Denver Post.

"The Snake River Fund is calling on river users to wash their fishing and boating gear before entering the water, following the discovery of a destructive algae called didymo in Lake Creek last week." In the Jackson Hole News and Guide.

In The New York Times, Bill Becher notes that getting to the places where golden trout thrive usually requires either strong legs or a good horse. "Describing golden trout — California’s official fresh-water fish — requires reference to the colors on a painter’s palette. The trouts’ bellies are brilliant cadmium yellow shading to orange, their midsections are marked with a slash of vermilion, and their backs are speckled with burnt-umber dots. Rainbow and brook trout also thrive at sea level, but golden trout are generally found in waters above 7,000 feet in the Sierra."

On my flight to Denver for the FFR show, I sat next to an older couple who sang the praises of the Y.M.C.A. retreat in Estes Park, Colorado. "Right," I thought."Probably too tame even for my 7-year-old." But as Bonnie Tsui points out in this morning's New York Times, the Y has a long history of not only inventing or promoting all kinds of sports (volleyball, basketball, racquetball), but of doing it in some of the most beautiful parts of the United States. Estes Park, abutting Rocky Mountain National Park about 65 miles northwest of Denver, just happens to be one of those places. "The retro-cool appeal of these Y's today is helped by modern amenities that attract vacationing adults and families, including new lodges, upgraded facilities, wireless Internet and business centers. At Trout Lodge, a 5,200-acre Y.M.C.A. in the Missouri Ozarks, a new golf course, horse trails and an equestrian arena are among recent additions to the resort; a fly-fishing school at Frost Valley Y.M.C.A. is set in a renovated turn-of-the-century country estate in the Catskills."

"If you only have one fly line, it should be a weight-forward floating line. If you buy a second line it should be a sink tip. The sink tip is basically the combination of a floating line (on the rear of the line) and a sinking line (on the front of the line). The major advantage of the sink tip is that it will be easier to cast than a sinking line and still be able to deliver a fly deep into the depths of the body of water you are fishing." Guide John Berry gives more good advice, this time on the versatility and effectiveness of sink tips. In the Baxter (Arkansas) Bulletin.

Dieter Bradbury notes in Maine's Morning Sentinel that a very popular parody Web site is having some fun at L.L. Bean's expense. The Onion video is of course arousing all kinds of angst among social activists. "The Onion, arguably the most popular news parody site on the Web, is having some fun at the expense of L.L. Bean. A two-minute 'special report' went up Monday on the Onion News Network about a fictional African-American boycott of L.L. Bean products that has been in effect for 80 years." Suffice to say that The Onion sees every demographic as an opportunity to make fun.

Columnist Dave Buchanan takes an insightful look at the controversy surrounding the discovery a few weeks ago that the greenback cutthroat used to replenish populations in the U.S. west weren't quite as pure as they were thought to be (see "AP Covers 'Wrong Fish' Story"). Not surprisingly, some enterprising legislators jumped on the story and cited it as evidence of yet more wasteful wrongdoing by environmentalists. "But the story that today’s latest scientific advances overturn earlier, less-sophisticated methods (one researcher said Metcalf’s methodology was unavailable less than two years ago) has brought out the bottom-feeders interested more in denigrating the DOW’s science instead of ferreting out the real question — what do you do with the trout populations now?" In Colorado's Grand Junction Sentinel.

Once again a large contingent of competitive fly fishers will be in Boulder, Colorado next week. The 55 U.S. anglers all hope to draw a good beat and land one of the 15 spots on 2008's Team USA. "Five-member teams from the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Ireland will assemble in Boulder for the championships, which are being held in northern Colorado for the second consecutive year. The competitors will fish for three days on the Big Thompson River, the Poudre River, Dowdy Lake and Parvin Lake." Zak Brown in the Boulder Daily Camera.

"He almost never wrote about it but, for the last 20 years of his life, Ernest Hemingway made his home in the rugged Idaho mountain town of Ketchum in a 1950s-era house made of poured concrete and painted to make it look like wood." Leonard Doyle writes about the local controversies surrounding attempts to open the scene of Hemingway's death to the hoi polloi. In the U.K.'s The Independent.

"In my first two days as fishing columnist for The Tico Times, I was nearly struck by lightning, washed to sea while crossing a jungle river at night, and carried away in a flash flood. I didn't catch anything, either." Author, photographer, and former Maine guide Dave Sherwood, now "stationed" in Costa Rica, leaves us wondering: What will he do next? His first assignment is covering a club event in Sámara, on the country's northern Pacific coast, where it seem everyone goes nuts for fishing tournaments.

Charlie Meyers lists the top spots to go after Colorado brown trout -- which by most counts are doing quite well in the state -- during the pre-spawn fall season. "A middle linebacker on a top-rated defense, one might suppose? Stream fishermen certainly would offer a different nomination. When it comes to pure pugnacity, few creatures measure up to a brown trout on the cusp of spawning." In the Denver Post.

Then Meyers follows the Colorado River where it departs from the pavement at McCoy on its way down to Dotsero and discovers a rarely fished portion.

It was hard to miss the troop of videographers and editors from American Angler and other Morris magazines bounding from one vendor to the next at the Fly Fishing Retailer show in Denver last week. There was barely time to simply converse with each product manufacturer this year; I can't imagine trying to get the stage set for video. Fortunately they managed to get 17 interview clips, and they even managed to get them all online in only a few days. Editor Phil Monahan and others got the scoop on a variety of new products and even the efforts of Casting for Recovery. If you've ever had a hankering to see Joan Wulff or Tim Rajeff or Simms's K.C. Walsh talk about new product, here's your chance.

"While a pilgrimage to Yellowstone usually focuses on how many trout you can catch, or how big, this year the challenge became: Where can I catch something?" Ed Dentry notes that many of Yellowstone's classic waters -- Buffalo Ford, the Gibbon, Slough Creek -- were tepid vestiges of themselves this summer. Not sure about the truth of "the Firehole fishes well year-round" comment though; it is always a challenge in summer. In the Rocky Mountain News.

Steve Faris writes in the Lone Star Outdoor News about fly fishing for red drum, or redfish, on the barrier islands east of Rockport, Texas. Despite the copyediting, the piece captures the flavor of sight-fishing for redfish in one of the prettier parts of the U.S. "The short ride across the bay brought us to what are called and labeled “lakes,” but in reality are mostly skinny waters that are all interconnected to the bay. Since this is about fishing I won’t try to describe the plethora of waterfowl we saw on our ride and throughout the day. Nor will I mention the porpoises, nor the numerous baitfish that jumped and splashed and served no purpose other than to distract us from our quest."

For the second year in a row at the Fly Fishing Retailer show The Drake magazine and other sponsors presented an award to the top short film shown in the overcrowded ballroom of Denver's Oxford Hotel. As usual, the entries were eclectic, copyright-agnostic (at least when it came to music), and great fun. The beer, we are sad to report, was in short supply and a bit sour. But at least the air conditioner was working.

Travis Rummel and his team at Felt Soul Media once again got top honors. Last year it was for an abbreviated segment of "Running Down the Man." This year they produced a trailer from their recent carefully crafted film work on the controversy surrounding the planned Pebble Mine in Bristol Bay, Alaska. It contains brief interviews with some of the protagonists in the drama, including Bruce Jenkins, COO of Northern Dynasty Minerals, Tim Bristol of Trout Unlimited Alaska, and Brian Kraft, proprietor of Alaska Sportsman's Lodge, who like many others is asking the question "Why screw this up?"

You can see the trailer here. (Note: We were unable to get the trailer to play in Internet Explorer; you may need to use a Mozilla-based browser like Firefox to view the Quicktime movie.)

"Former Secretary of the Interior Bruce Babbitt is urging Washington communities from both sides of the state to consider removal of the four lower Snake River dams as a necessary solution to the Columbia basin salmon crisis, and one that will ultimately benefit both fishermen and farmers." From YubaNet.com.

Carl Hiaasen and guide Tim Klein won the Islamorada Fall Fly Bonefish tournament with three weight fish and ten releases, including the largest bonefish, an eleven-pound, twelve-ounce fish caught on day three. Mitch Howell and Dave Denkert were runners-up in the tournament, which ended Friday, with two weight fish and a release. Rick Orcutt with Duane Baker took Best New Angler with two weight fish and two releases.

As David Dalu, this year's Hawley tarpon tournament winner and a participant in the Fall Fly, commented, "It is clear that TK and Carl are THE team in bonefishing. I suspect that they are doing something different than the others, as even the good guides and anglers up there cannot hang with them." (Thanks to David for reporting the results.)

Want to see what Hiaasen and Klein might have been using for flies during the tournament? Check out Carl's fly box on MidCurrent.

As an example of how the situation and not the fish determines gear choice for some fly fishers, Casey Cox goes after an eleven-pound fish with a 15-weight, trying to break the Texas state red snapper record. Even the hook is carefully considered: "It's basically a super fine wire circle hook with a very long shank that makes it easier to tie material to. It doesn't take much force to get a good hook set with this hook, and that's important when you have 90 feet of line out." Ray Sasser in the Dallas Morning News.

"The day is cool but warmer than a crisp fall day. It’s sweater weather maybe, depending on an individual’s comfort level. Wading brought the reality of the cold-water temperatures closer to mind, and the thoughts of early loss of light made me shiver more than the chilled waters." A contemplative Dave Wolf considers fall fishing, drought, and another passing of seasons in the Lebanon (Pennsylvania) Daily News.

Dale Bowman takes author Robert Tomes to his home waters: the Chicago River system, where a good day may mean as much as having enough quarters for the parking meter. "Considering the heat last week, I focused on spots by discharges from the near north suburbs to downtown. From his end, Tomes had selected a mix of hair bugs and foam bugs for topwaters and streamers and weighted streamers for deeper areas." In the Chicago Sun-Times.

If you have a spare £925,000 you can pick up Byleat, the quintessential English country house built in the 1920s by the wealthy wine merchant Francis Clark, who used rather immoderate prizes to reward himself and guests for accurate fly casting: "When Clark owned it, he liked to practise precision fly-casting from the first-floor balcony, casting his flies on to circular wooden discs that his butler would place on the lawn and then awarding himself a bottle of fine wine according to his score. As for skilful visitors, they were given a bottle of Hawkers sloe gin if they won." In the London Telegraph.

"It's like a very hungry person sitting at a table in front of two platters, one mounded with raw celery and carrot sticks and broccoli heads and the other with shelled Maine shrimp accompanied with melted butter. Even though the veggie pieces are much larger, most of us would start on the high-protein shrimp to satisfy our hunger and pop them into our mouth one at a time, each morsel dripping with butter." Ken Allen explains why the superabundance of tiny bugs during a blue-winged olive hatch makes trout key in on the small but nourishing flies. In the Kennebec Journal.

A fifteen-year effort to bring brown trout populations back to self-sustaining status on England's Wandle, which runs through several urban areas and into the Thames, met a rude end Monday afternoon as Thames Water released large quantities of industrial cleaner into the river. An estimated 20,000 fish have died so far. "Botanist David Bellamy, who spearheaded the campaign to reintroduce brown trout, said: 'I'm absolutely devastated. When I heard, I just wanted to sit down and cry. The entire local community has been involved in getting this river into a great state, and now that work is all gone.'” In London's Daily Mail.

Ed Dentry notes that this summer and fall the Gallatin is getting more than its normal share of attention as fishing restrictions and river closures bring anglers to its normally fast-running waters. Despite lower water levels that make it "bonier" than in past years, the Gallatin has managed to deliver something for everyone, even if many locals hope it is not an annual occurrence. "The angling exodus from other destinations boosted the tourist trade along the Gallatin. But it wasn't necessarily good for Gallatin trout, which bore the brunt of Montana's fishing traffic." In the Rocky Mountain News.

Next week MidCurrent will publish its annual "Four Feet of Anything" review of 2008 products revealed at the FFR show, but I thought it would be worthwhile finishing our on-site coverage by mentioning a few items and updates that haven't gotten tons of press.

Ever since we had a chance to test a pair in Jackson Hole last year, we've liked what Kaenon is doing in turning their advantage in the sailing market into smart products for fly fishers. Their Rhino models make a great "full-coverage" choice, especially in saltwater. And of course their patented SR-91 lenses -- which we discovered at the show can be ordered in prescription from any optometrist -- are knock-your-socks-off good.

With travel not being the la-la land that it was prior to 2001, I continue to be amazed by the level of service delivered in the fly fishing destination business. A great example is Yellow Dog Fly Fishing Adventures. We spent some time with owner Jim Klug at the show and were very impressed with the energy behind his endeavor. Take one look at the printed trip guides he provides clients prior to their journey and you realize that this is a company that really cares about the quality of the experience.

While not having anything particularly new design-wise, Cloudveil upgraded both their 8X and Crystal Creek boots, jackets and waders. After changing owners last year and being one of those outdoor companies that tends to draw the attention of "equity groups," I will be curious to see whether Cloudveil can continue to innovate and hold the attention of the high-end market. So far, so good.

Dr. Slick has a few cool new items for '08, among them their Extra Hand Tweezers, meant to be attached to a retractor, and a sensible new pair of large pliers, which at $35 were one of the best values we saw at the show.

As expected from a company that operates out of the limelight but continues to deliver utility year after year, L.L. Bean's 2008 plans are to offer a handful of new items to interest both regular customers and catalog buyers alike. For example, they have a new 8-piece travel rod that will retail for only $179-199, and a swordfish-bill fishing cap with two LED lights built into the forward edge.

Hodgman has a new men's breathable stockingfoot wader and wading shoe for the extraordinary price of $109.95 and $54.97 respectively.

Fishpond will introduce a very sharp-looking new vest for women in the form of its $129 Firefly. Their new Wildhorse Tech Pack and Pawnee Gear/Boot Bag also caught our attention.

We played around with the light-weight graphite flybox made by Carbon Flybox Co. and were pleased to hear that they will be adding both a larger and smaller size to their product line in 2008.

And last but definitely not least we noted that Monic Fly Lines has four new taper designs planned for their clear saltwater lines, which are being used by most of the top anglers -- especially the folks fishing tournaments -- in the Florida Keys. They also have very cool low-melting-point shrink tube that can be used to instantly create a butt section loop or attach a butt section to a fly line.

Of course there are many more new products worthy of attention, and we'll be sure to list them in next week's review. Meanwhile we have to figure out how to fit 50 pounds worth of catalogs in our duffel for the plane ride home.

In the Miami Herald, Susan Cocking profiles Jay Grant, a homeless woodworker who lives to fish and typifies the holdover hippies who manage to find a paradise in Key West. "Grant, 61, spends most of his time tying flies (using the Toyota's steering wheel to anchor the vice); poring over tide charts and aerial maps; and fishing from a secondhand yellow, plastic Prism kayak that he carries atop the truck. When he needs money for fishing supplies, he builds trophy cases, boxes, and tables from fine wood crafted Japanese-style at a friend's shop on Stock Island."

"Here the problem is that you often see the trout approaching. The idea is to patiently wait until the trout rises and actually takes the fly, closes its mouth and begins its return to the bottom. I call this the longest second in fly fishing. The tendency is to give in to the adrenaline kicking in and set the hook as soon as you see the fish." Guide John Berry lists the four different ways hook setting can be done wrong: not setting the hook at all, setting the hook too late, setting the hook too quickly, or setting the hook too hard. In Arkansas's Baxter Bulletin.

Bruce Richards, lead product designer for Scientific Anglers and a MidCurrent editorial board member, had a pretty cool piece of fly line hanging around his neck during the last day of the show. It had sections with a standard fly line coating alternating with sections of Sharkskin. Run your fingers down the line and every time they hit the standard coating you felt like someone applied the power brakes.

Every company at this year's FFR wanted to think that they might have a product that broke out of the pack and allowed them a respite from an industry imperative that every year's product line be just a little more clever than last year's. SA, like a few other companies, will no doubt ride the coattails of Sharkskin for a few years, as well they should. Being in a great position to create and build new product doesn't guarantee that the brains behind the ideas will ever come up with major improvements, and even a company like SA -- owned by 3M and the original manufacturer for the lines of many other brands -- usually has to be happy with a few well-executed but relatively minor improvements to their product line. End the end, we are all looking for a product that makes us want to string up the rod a little more often, and Sharkskin may just be this year's best incentive.

We get requests all the time for sunglass recommendations. If you've worn sunglasses enough, though, you know that beyond getting the best quality lens you can buy, fit and style are the next most important considerations. Costa Del Mar is among the few sellers of top-quality lenses, and their style and fit combinations are as good as they come, as evidenced by the new Man o' War sunglasses which fit larger faces extremely well.

We were very happy to find out at the FFR show that Trout Unlimited gave Costa their Trout Conservationist of the Year award for work on the new film "Why Do We Fish?," which TU has been able to use to help motivate and excite local volunteers all over the U.S. this year. Costa Del Mar has also worked extensively with Trout Unlimited’s “Embrace-A-Stream” program, supporting stream re-building projects across the country. The award was presented at Trout Unlimited’s 48th annual meeting held in Boise, Idaho this past weekend. If you haven't seen the film, you can find it on Costa's Channel C Web site.

Anyone who suggests that Patagonia isn't constantly at work trying to do it all better has never met Steve Stracqualursi, their fly fishing product line director, or seen the work of the young crew who are out trying to bend new media into something that captures the essence of the sport. I'd hate to have to be the one who has to drag these guys off the river or tells them they have to ignore the dynamite blitzes going off on the horizon and get to work selling gear.

The standout among Patagonia's new offerings this year is undoubtedly their redesigned fishing vest, which departs almost entirely from the classic design that has gone untouched -- in concept at least -- since they first introduced their vest in 1985. The dangle and swing are gone. In place is a vest that conforms more comfortably to the chest and a brand new pocket design that may change the way many fly fishers look at fly boxes and vest organization in general. The new Guidewater Vest has two large front pockets with unique zipper configurations that allow one-handed opening and large interior spaces designed for easy customization. These pockets, and the several smaller ones, place the storage space against the body rather than forcing it out in multiple protrusions. There are several more intelligent features here, but the best way to describe the overall effect of the new design is that when you zip the vest on, it now feels more like a part of your body than like a set of bags strung over your shoulders.

And we couldln't mention Patagonia's '08 lineup without noting that they have FINALLY reintroduced their Sun Mask, which we've been nagging them about for years. Though Steve Huff and other guides were wearing bandanas instead of sunscreen for sun protection for years before I began guiding, I believe I was the first to search out some sort of full face coverage that was both breathable and effective in blocking UV radiation. (Sure, it didn't hurt that customers were OK with me wearing a mask.) There was plenty of derision floating around the Key West docks when I first began wearing Patagonia's silkweight Capilene balaclava in the late 1980s. Now it's de rigeur for guides, and the trend is making its way inland. The new Sun Mask is tube-style rather than balaclava-inspired, and after testing it for several months now I can report that it works extremely well.

Forbes taps Frontiers for help with listing its ten favorite fly fishing destinations in the world, including the Ponoi River on Russia's Kola Peninsula (Atlantic salmon), the John Day River in Oregon (smallmouth bass), and the Bahamas' Andros Island flats (bonefish). Not sure why they feel Cost Rica's Rio Colorado exemplifies fly fishing for tarpon, or why Patagonia is nowhere to be found, but hey, Forbes probably sells more advertising on their Web site than all Time/Warner sites combined.

Certainly it is only a small part of the story behind Simms's 2008 product offering -- each year I am amazed by the number of interesting new products and tweaks they seem to be able to come up with -- but no doubt there will be many fly fishers happy to hear that retail prices on most of Simms's top waders are $50 or more lower than last year's high end models. Some of the price reductions come in redesigns -- the new G4 model discards the $79 waterproof zipper, for example -- but my general impression after yesterday's product tour is that Simms knows that simplifying design and putting their energies into the technology to make gear lighter, more comfortable and more durable is where the secret to growth lies. Case in point: Simms is the only company to be using the next generation of Gore Tex fabric in their breathable waders and jackets this year. The fabric has enabled them to upgrade their bullet-proof high-end rain jacket (still pricey) as their budget waders with a serious reduction in weight. We will share more specific product details when our head stops swimming from all of the numbers and respun product names, but in short Simms fans will find some logical consolidation in product offerings -- one redesigned women's wader replaces both of last year's models, for example -- along with the leading-edge technology that seems to keep the company leap-frogging to the front each year.

You never know what an industry party might reveal in the way of product design insight. We were talking with Dave Perkins, Rick Ruoff, Fitz Coker and Orvis chief designer Jim LePage at the Simms party last night and I was trying to change the subject from fly fishing for carp and gar (Dave Perkins: "Everyone needs a good carp story in their back pocket."). Not that fly fishing for carp isn't fun, it's just that the aficionados of the sport tend to enter a sort of extended rapture in the process of recounting the difficulties and glories of their pursuit. With the unassuming Mr. LePage at my side, it occurred to me that it might be a chance to get the real story behind the beginnings of the Orvis's new ultralight Helios series.

"Were you responsible for the Helios, Jim?" I asked. "Well, I suppose so," he said. "I actually starting building a rod about two years ago with the idea of creating the lightest rod out there, and I knew that we would need to start with superlight components. Then a few months into that search we discovered that a new process allowed the manufacture of scrim at half the weight of the stuff we were currently using." From there, LePage launched into a monologue on resin application and curing processes that deserved an audience of aeronautical engineers but which left me in a typical state of befuddled wonder. It reminded me, as these conversations always do, of how lucky our sport is to have folks of such high levels of knowledge and enthusiasm among its product design ranks.

"So when the first finished prototype was ready for testing, even I was blown away. I knew it was light, but I hadn't guessed it was going to be 35% lighter than anything we thought we could build. Of course, I started doing fulcrum-point weight testing to be sure we had achieved the right 'hand weight' for the taper and build and just got a big smile on my face."

Although I was mildly disappointed that in the production rod the light olive-yellow finish has been darkened to a deep olive (rod colors always seem to be committee decisions), everyone we've talked to at the show agrees that the Helios is one of the best rods they've cast. We got a chance to test the 10-weight on the casting pool, and though we won't know for sure until we tie on a fat crab fly, we already want this rod in our hands in the Keys next spring.

Maybe they should just go ahead and rename the experimental Atlantic salmon season on Maine's Penobscot after the angler who seems destined to prove the naysayers wrong. Beau Peavey has caught and released the first salmon there for the second year in a row. Perhaps it has something to do with beginning salmon fishing at age 3. "'[The first fish] was just too big. It was a 12-pound fish and I was not much bigger myself, so it didn’t pan out,' Peavey said with a chuckle." John Holyoke in the Bangor Daily News.

If the Fly Fishing Retailer show is any measure of the health of the fly fishing industry, the patient comfortably endured its physical yesterday. Though we had heard from organizers that the show was larger this year, there seemed to be only a few more booths in the Denver Convention Center exhibit hall. And by 9:30 AM, we wondered if the show might see lower attendance than in years past. But by 11, the coffee lines were growing (even at $3.50 a cup) and by lunch time Mountain Dew became the best available option for a jolt (business note to food vendor for 2008: be sure you don't run out of coffee, especially at those margins). All the anglerati seemed to be in attendance this year too: Lefty Kreh, Dave Whitlock, Gary Borger, Flip Pallot, Simon Gawesworth, Steve Rajeff and others. The top new products -- excepting some new rods from Orvis and Sage and new lines from Scientific Anglers and RIO -- might well be sleepers this year. We noticed, for example, some sweet new "Extra Hand" nippers from Dr. Slick and some well-thought-out apparel in Redington booth. But there are many more miles of exhibit carpet to walk before we have a good count of the standouts.

After getting the tour of Redington's extensive lineup of products for 2008, the thing that stuck in our minds was that they continue to make smart decisions about mid-priced products. Beyond giving what is probably the largest number of options in fly fishing ready-to-fish outfits (I mean, come on, 4 packages including an outfit that includes a large-arbor rulon-drag reel, backing, a Crosswater rod, and a weight-forward line with pre-attached leader for under $150), they show design wisdom that seems to be missing in many high-end products. Two good examples are their choice of black felt for wading boot soles and their elegant detailing on products for women. The women's waders and boots are distinctively feminine without being over-the-top -- examples of those rare items you could buy for your wife or girlfriend be fairly sure they wouldn't be returned. And although their $130 breathable Stratus II wading jacket might be their top seller, we liked the $65 stretch PVC Hunter River just fine. We'll pick the double-front storm flap in a wicked, wet blow any day.

For more info, visit the Redington Web site.

Back in the day when we thought it was pretty cool to drive 65 miles per hour to get to our favorite tarpon spot before anyone else, nobody was thinking much of polarized eyewear whose chief design feature was eye protection. A few folks thought ski goggles perfect for an early morning rocket ride, but they weren't polarized and they looked dumb. Many guides went without eye protection because they couldn't see in the dark. Even dumber. Panoptx would have sold a bunch of their Windless Eyewear products to us, and we would have been endlessly thankful. The biggest problem with full-enclosure eyewear has always been that it has been impossible to adjust the amount of air flow reaching the eyes (this is as true of side shields and wide, wrap-around frames as it is of foam linings). Panoptx has solved this problem with a removable vented seal in their Velocity series. The lenses we tried on yesterday were also photochromatic -- just the ticket for pre-dawn patrolling.

You can get plenty more information about Panoptx eyewear on their Web site at Panoptx.com.

After catching a nice landlocked salmon on a wet fly last week, Maine blogger Nick Mills asks why wet flies are so often overlooked. A bit of political trivia is attached to his sample fly, the "Parmachene, named for the secluded and very private water where President Dwight Eisenhower cast into the waters below Little Boy Falls to catch one of the many trout that had been dumped there in advance of the presidential rustication." On Mainetoday.com.

At the opening of the annual FFR show, I'm as feverish as I ever get about looking at new gear. There is plenty of rumor and prejudgment in the air, but I always arrive convinced that I will uncover one or two overlooked ideas that will make our fly fishing lives better, or even find something in a product test that escaped the attention of the hyper-imaginative PR firm. Everyone at the show is pumped on Day One too: the retailers because they know the season of having to do too many things at once is behind them and that a vacation is in the offing, the manufacturers because the questions of whether the product packaging will be done and whether their competitors have delivered on their promises are mostly settled. Of course everyone is there to share a few stories and catch up with folks that they get to see less than they would like to. Tonight the beer will flow at the short film contest. And hey, we're in Denver, too, which to the trade-show-weary is a welcome respite.

Starting today we'll be sharing reader feedback with product designers, most of it to the tune of "Why not give us some simple products that work well rather than worry about how cutting-edge the next media campaign sounds?" We got a suprising number of emails requesting that manufacturers consider "retro" technology in their product design plans: fiberglass rods were on a lot of lists, among the overall hope that the big companies would focus their experience on delivering products that did simple stuff better.

Do common sense and utility stand any chance when tied to the railroad tracks of hype? We'll let you know.

Using the work of Japanese scientists who wanted to boost the population of bluefin tuna, Idaho researchers will begin experimenting with "surrogate broodstocking" to see if they can use the techniqe to replenish stocks of sockeye salmon and other endangered salmonids. "The new method is 'one of the best things that has happened in a long time in bringing something new into conservation biology,' said University of Idaho zoology professor Joseph Cloud, who is leading the U.S. government-funded sockeye project." Lauran Neergaard of the Associated Press. (Thanks to reader Wayne Hadley for this link.)

With their proximity to the Washington-Baltimore corridor, the tailwaters of the Gunpowder provide a the closest thing to a fantasy that trout fishing politicos and executives can find. They are home water for Washington Post columnist Angus Phillips. "Twenty-five years ago, it was just another mid-Atlantic gully connecting the bottom of Prettyboy Reservoir with the top of Loch Raven Reservoir, Baltimore's main freshwater supply. In 1986, local trout fanciers came up with the idea of regulating the flow out of Prettyboy to encourage trout survival."

With the inspiration of Kerouac's frenetic On the Road and a classic excerpt from Hemingway's Big Two Hearted River, Rex Turner explores the ways a good book can heighten enjoyment of the outdoors. "He felt a reaction against deep wading with the water deepening up under his armpits, to hook big trout in places impossible to land them. In the swamp the banks were bare, the big cedars came together overhead, the sun did not come through, except in patches; in the fast deep water, in the half light, the fishing would be tragic." In Maine's Kennebec Journal.

In addition to brand new designs for 2008, Abel will offer a collectors’ edition of 100 numbered 1988-style Big Game #2 reels, the first big reels that Steve Abel made 1988. (Kinda cool when I think about it; Steve was using one when he caught his first tarpon, which was with me on the south side of the Marquesas.)

The new designs -- the Bass Super 8, the Super 12 Wide, and the Super 12X Extra Large Arbor Rapid Retrieve -- bring more diversity to Abel's extensive lineup. The Bass Super 8 is a custom-colored and -finished limited edition inspired by James Prosek's very nice artwork. The Super 12 variations are meant for much larger fish, of course, with the Extra Large Arbor Retrieve designed for very fast line retrieval and Gel Spun backing.

Read the extended intro for the full press release.

Morris Communications, which publishes both American Angler and Saltwater Fly Fishing magazines, announced yesterday that they will cease publication of their bi-monthly saltwater print magazine and reintroduce that content in new forms. Plans are in the works for an annual publication for saltwater fly fishers, along with an entirely new Web site under the domain SaltwaterFlyFishing.com. Additionally, American Angler will expand its coverage of saltwater fly fishing.

Steve Walburn, who has served as editor of Saltwater Fly Fishing and who is now general manager of Morris's sporting group, spoke to us yesterday and sees great opportunity in changing the way saltwater content is presented: "It gives us a repository for 12-13 years of print publishing history, plus searchable archives, a chance to be more video-intensive, and a new channel for expert bloggers, contributors and guides. The saltwater Web site will change dramatically and become much more than just a reflection of a print product, while the annual will give us a chance to address the needs of the dedicated saltwater fly fisher. And of course I'm also excited about the redesign of American Angler in January 2008."

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

Fewer fish and fewer anglers doesn't mean that the recovery of Atlantic Salmon in the Penobscot is a lost cause, as Kevin Miller reports in the Bangor Daily News. The Saturday opening of a second season in a row that fly fishers can purchase special permits for Atlantic salmon is a sign that something is working, despite the fact that more salmon seem to be unable to survive their ocean journeys. "As of Wednesday, 877 adult salmon had been counted at the fish trap on the Veazie dam, the majority of which were shipped to the Craig Brook National Fish Hatchery in East Orland to become part of the hatchery’s brood stock. That is nearly 150 fish fewer than this time last year and 90 fewer than in 2005."

Long-time Fly Rod & Reel editor Paul Guernsey resigned from his position as editor and associate publisher recently, according to a letter we received from the magazine staff this week. It seems former editor Jim Butler and associate editor Jim Reilly have assumed editorial duties.

I was chatting with Ray Schmidt, owner of Schmidt Outfitters, one of the oldest fly shops in the Michigan area, yesterday, and he had a lot of good things to say about the new boot-foot wader from Simms. According to Schmidt the ExStream finally fits the bill for steelheaders and other anglers looking for a warm, breathable boot-foot wader with a lug sole -- a category of product that hadn't got the attention it deserved from wader manufacturers in the past. They are not summer waders, to be sure, but Schmidt described them as "an important step for fishing warmth in cold climates." Not a bad price-point either, at $399.95, given the fact that these waders are likely to last a long, long time. You can read more details on the new waders at Schmidt's Web site, SchmidtOutfitters.com.

We received a sample of Scientific Anglers' new high-end fly line a few days ago and were struck immediately by the texture of the coating, which feels like, well, shark skin. The line, which is coming out this fall for 3- through 8-weight rods and in the spring of 2008 for higher weights, uses what SA is calling a "structured pattern" process on the finish. That accounts for the texture, and according to SA it also does two other things: it reduces the friction of the line in the guides and increases its hydrophobic qualities. The result is a line that, according to our sources, produces about a 7% increase in casting distance. The line is also reportedly 3 times more durable than those made with previous coatings. That's a good thing, since the suggested retail price is going to be just under $100.

We cast the sample line on our favorite 6-weight rod and, yes, we were very impressed. The line does indeed seem to float higher on the water surface than any other line we've fished. And it reminds us of some of the original pebbly-finish tarpon lines that SA made in the early 90s in terms of increased line speed. (Those lines were a bright orange; our test Shark Skin line is a chartreuse.) There is one thing that might annoy some anglers: the line makes an audible "zip" as it passes through the guides. But we are betting at this point that the increase in line performance will make folks forget about that issue.

Sunday marks the beginning of the annual Fly Fishing Retailer show in Denver. It's where manufacturers and product developers do dog-and-pony shows for retailers, so it's a great chance for us to get a look at all the new gear that will be introduced for fly fishers in 2008. It's also an opportunity for us to give feedback to the products gurus on what our readers want, so we'd love to pass along your needs, questions, quibbles and comments. If you have anything you think manufacturers should hear about, or want to know something in particular, send us your request: info@midcurrent.com. We'll be at the show all week, and we'll give our full report shortly after we return.

As most readers know, we studiously avoid political discussions (it's something we learned while guiding people in small boats), but it's plain bad news that senator Larry Craig of Idaho added language to a new appropriations bill that would force the Interior Department to ignore a court ruling favoring salmon recovery. The provision, Sec. 127, directs that “The Secretary of the Interior should seek to carry out without further delay the provisions identified in the Upper Snake River Basin Biological Opinion released by the National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Region dated March 31, 2005 for the conservation of salmon and steelhead species in the Columbia and Snake River Basins and the Upper Snake River Basin Biological Opinion issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service dated March 31, 2005 for the conservation of various species in the Pacific Northwest.”

According to Save Our Wild Salmon, at least 20 national environmental, conservation and outdoor groups say the action to include the language was in very bad faith: "'Salmon and salmon-based communities are fighting for their lives throughout the Northwest, including Idaho, where Pacific salmon are most imperiled. Now is not the time, and a congressional spending bill is certainly not the place, to risk derailing salmon recovery.'"

Carl Hiaasen is not your typical bonefish fanatic. For one thing, he is best known as a fiction writer, not a fly fisher. His name often appears when something ludicrous happens in Florida environmental politics, because he is outspoken about preserving what remains of the state's resources. But backstage he is, as one top guide noted, "one of the fishiest anglers out there."

This week Hiaasen shares the contents of his fly box with MidCurrent readers. How he describes his collection -- as a "horrendous mess" -- says a lot about how he manages to catch so many fish: he refuses to obsess over details, and he picks fly patterns based on experience and instinct rather than their popularity.

Forget about the San Juan below Navajo Dam and think about fishing the marvelous rivers within the Ute indian reservation in southern Colorado, says Karl Moffat in the Sante Fe New Mexican. "This long, lonely stretch of road eventually passes through the abandoned railroad town of Pagosa Junction where a magnificent, whitewashed, adobe church still stands upon a hill overlooking the town’s ruins. Here one can wander among several still standing buildings and a great stand of cottonwood trees and wonder about the history of this formerly bustling town."

"The fly floats like a cork because its underbody is a loosely bound clump of elk hair. A vertical elk hair post makes it highly visible and is wrapped with brown or grizzly hackle. The fly's outer body is dubbed with glittery 'Ice Dub.'" CMO author Charles M. Obermeyer, of Highlands Ranch, Colorado, describes the durable, high-floating caddis fly that uses synthetic and natural materials to make it a standout in swift mountain waters. Ed Dentry in the Rocky Mountain News.

John Pittaresi discovers the hard way -- during a particularly challenging white fly hatch on New York's West Canada Creek -- that using old tippet material is penny wise and pound cheap. "I started popping the stuff. It all broke like al dente spaghetti. Then I went into my vest and tested every spool of material I had – 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X, 6X, 7X, Orvis, Scientific Anglers, Umpqua – it all was worthless. The only thing that held up was an ancient spool of 3X Nylorfi that has been hiding in the back of the vest for 20 years or so."

World Youth Fly Fishing competitor Wesley Congdon, a freshman at Penn State, comments on the variations in strategy displayed by international teams at the recent event. "'The French and Czechs were very meticulous and covered every inch of water,' he said. 'The English were totally different. They ran in, caught fish and ran out to the next spot. They weren’t worried about spooking them.'" Tom Venesky in Pennsylvania's Times Leader.

It's one of the most worthwhile causes that fly fishers can be connected with, and one for which the potential benefits are enormous. Hooked on a Cure was founded in 2002 for the sole purpose of benefiting St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and each year the annual event raises tens of thousands of dollars to aid pediatric cancer research and treatment. This year the event runs September 18-21 and includes a special gala dinner and live auction on the 19th. For more details, see the Hooked On a Cure Web site.

"I learned a lot from fishing. A good fisherman looks for patterns. When there are changes, good fishing or bad, he seeks the explanatory variable: Is the water low, cold or cloudy? Is the sun bright? Are insects rising from the surface? Are green worms falling from the trees? Does the bait work best when stationary or retrieved? Fast retrieve or slow retrieve? Fishing gave me lessons in the value of observation, experience and practical memory. I was abstract and dreamy in the rest of my life, sometimes dangerously so, but as a fisherman I was an empiricist, grounded in fact." Lou Ureneck, author of the excellent new Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska (St. Martin's, September 2007, 304 pages), recounts a fishing childhood in The New York Times.

Ken Allen writes about windows of opportunity, both literal and figurative, happening now on the West Branch of the Penobscot, where the fly-only season lasts but a few more weeks. "My favorite dry-fly presentations on the Ripogenus stretch takes advantage of a characteristic of the river. Tiny, bouncing wavelets cover the surface in places, but astute observers notice flat, surface patches 3 to 5 feet long that float downstream on this undulating meniscus, windows for the fish." On MaineToday.com.

With the annual fly fishing gear fest called the Fly Fishing Retailer Show starting next Sunday, most manufacturers are beginning to release details of their 2008 lineup. Temple Fork Outfitters is among the first, talking up their new Axiom rods. Axiom series fly rods apparently use a new technology that prevents the "ovaling" of the rod blank when under stress, something that TFO claims will be a huge help to distance casters. The patent-pending manufacturing process involves sandwiching Kevlar between two layers of carbon fiber "pre-preg."

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

New Eddie Bauer CEO Neil Fiske plans to recover the company's rugged outdoorsy image as he brings the business back from years of falling sales. Perhaps his experience as a fly fisher will help him reshape the brand, which some might say suffered from slogans like "Foxy Tackle for Frisky Fish." Craig Harris on SeattlePI.com.

The Associated Press covers a story we mentioned in yesterday's news: the mistake made by scientists hoping to replenish greenback cutthroat populations in the U.S. west. As Judith Kohler notes, prior to the new findings, "The greenback were believed to be in 142 miles of waterways, including in Rocky Mountain National Park, Rosenlund said. The new study, based DNA test results, found the greenback cutthroat trout's range is only 11 miles of streams."

OK, they did put it in their Fashion & Style section, but we'll try not to hold that against them. David Ellerstein, the owner and head guide of Jackson Hole Anglers in Jackson, Wyoming, field-tested five new models of fly fishing vest and New York Times writer Jessica Cassity delivers the results in slide-show format. "In a sport where stillness, patience and deftness count, having tools within arm’s reach is a must. Yet fly fisherman have been wrestling with backpacks, dropping rods and wading back to shore for years, all in the name of performing simple tasks like tying on a new fly. No wonder so many anglers wax on about the one that got away."

As summer hatches on freestone streams trickle into memory, many anglers start thinking of the potential of tailwater fisheries, which can provide excellent fishing regardless of season. New Mexico's San Juan River is a prime example, and Pete Grathoff profiles it for the McClatchy Newspapers. "'You want to have a dead drift here with an S curve and slack in the line. ... A lot of rivers you'll have a guide tight line, and you'll feel the fish nibble. Here, the fish don't grab it like that. All they're doing is staying in one spot, opening their mouth, grabbing the fly.'"

After a trip to Ted Turner's extravagant Vermejo Ranch in northern New Mexico, author Gordon Wickstrom presents the argument that the only sustainable outdoors experience may be one we have to pay for. If true, it doesn't resolve class differences, and in reinforces the fact that our recreation is no longer a part of our sustenance. "The argument we have felt so deep down in our bones for so long, that the wilds are there to sustain us, is no longer tenable. Our fishing has become purely recreational, a diversion. Some will argue cheapened. And, hunting, only because the kill is always dead and must somehow be used, is not far behind. It's all only recreation, no longer necessity." In the Boulder Daily Camera.

Talk about imperfect science. Researchers recently discovered that the fish being used to replenish stocks of endangered greenback cutthroat in the U.S. west were in fact a different species, the Colorado cutthroat. According to this piece in Conservation magazine, the mistake may mean that greenbacks are even more endangered than before.

Meanwhile, you may remember that a few years ago California's Department of Fish and Game suspended planting high country waters with hatchery-reared trout, believing the trout were responsible for the decline in red-legged and yellow-legged frogs. Now scientists at two California universities believe that a fungus is the actual culprit.

Many long-time fly fishers will agree with Arkansas guide John Berry that orderliness is the single most important ingredient in any fishing trip. John's methods could be adopted by just about anyone wanting to make sense of their carry-along gear. "In the dry side, I carry my fishing vest, a rain jacket, a pair of fingerless gloves (in the winter. I carry wool gloves and in the summer, I carry sun gloves), a hat, a net, a digital camera in a waterproof case, a walkie-talkie in a waterproof case and a small rigging bag. In the rigging bag, I carry a back up of everything that I carry in my vest. This includes tippet spools, leaders, forceps, nippers, etc. In addition, I carry a wader repair kit, a reel repair kit, super glue, a Swiss army knife and a leatherman." In the Baxter Bulletin.

Turneffe Flats Lodge escaped damage from the second major hurricane of the season yesterday, but the lodges around Roatan and the Bay Islands off the north coast of Honduras may not have been so lucky, as hurricane Felix made landfall on Nicaragua's northeast coast as a category 5 storm.

The head of Boston University's journalism department has authored a book that tells the story of regaining a son's trust while fly fishing in the wilds of Alaska. Out on September 18, Backcast: Fatherhood, Fly-fishing, and a River Journey Through the Heart of Alaska (St. Martin's, 304 pages, hardback) recounts Ureneck's "own fatherless childhood, the influence of his mother’s boyfriend who helped him learn to fish, and the realization that he himself had done the one thing he always promised himself he would not do: He ended his marriage in divorce."

Preorder Backcast on Amazon.

Dropping cutthroat fingerlings into high mountain lakes is not for pilots who are faint of heart. But every year, Colorado and other states benefit from the effort, which not only protects native species, but encourages anglers to venture away from crowded waters and into the backcountry. "When they are a few feet over the water, a canister bearing a prescribed number of 2-inch and shorter trout fry opens and releases the tiny fish. In some tight spots, the real trick is for the pilot to climb out in one piece." Ed Dentry in the Rocky Mountain News.

Hurricane Felix is gaining strength and making a beeline for Belize, where several lodges narrowly escaped the wrath of Dean. (According to reports, Dean demolished Paradise Lodge, which plans to rebuild and reopen in mid-2008.) Felix, now a category 5 storm, is tracking south of where Dean made landfall, which is better news for Yucatan lodges but not such good news for Belize. Current models place Felix off the northern coast of Honduras on Tuesday.

One insidious feature of the 1872 mining law in the U.S. is that it allows mining underneath designated wilderness. With a loophole like that, it takes folks like Revett Minerals about two seconds to see opportunity in places like the Cabinet Mountains in northwestern Montana. Revett, predictably, has a long record of contaminating public land. "Their leaders launched the Zortman-Landusky mine, which leaked acids, cyanide, arsenic and lead, only to declare bankruptcy and leave Montanans with a tidy $204 million cleanup." Now they want a new mine that will discharge mining waste into the Clark Fork. Jim Costello of the Rock Creek Alliance writes about it on New West.

Cigars at 6:30AM, a little Hank Williams and a cappuccino: it's what fuels famed British designer John Rocha, who spends his non-work days dreaming of Icelandic salmon streams or Argentinian trout and studying his latest favorite book: "My bible is The World of Fly Fishing, which my son bought me. In terms of novels I am just finishing Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, an amazing book. It’s a quite tragic story, but with humour." In the London Telegraph.

On New West, Matthew Frank rounds up the news on fires that have made much of Montana a smoky mess in the past two months. Amazingly, 58,000-acre the Sawmill Complex fire, which has made life around Rock Creek miserable, is still only 22 percent contained. But the Hicks Park Fire in the main Boulder River drainage, which had combined with a fire in the Mill Creek drainage, is mostly contained.

It took a while for the Pebble Mine project to appear on the Los Angeles Times' radar, but when it did they delivered their typically thorough coverage. Even the graphic does an excellent job of showing the massive scale of the proposed project and the watersheds that are likely to be affected. "For more than a century, the wealth of this southwest Alaska watershed has sprung from the astonishing volume of salmon nurtured by those wild rivers. Bank-to-bank, gill-to-gill, tens of millions of silver-hued fish thrash upstream to spawn each year, unrestrained by dams, untainted by pollution. It is the largest sockeye run in the world, accounting for more than a quarter of wild salmon harvested in the United States, feeding millions at a time when fisheries are dwindling across the globe." Article by Margot Roosevelt.