While the international farmed fish industry is congratulating itself every time it cuts the number of fish that escape from pens in half, we wonder just how many fish it takes to spread a virus or a sea lice infestation into the wild. Surely it is less than 404,000.

Meanwhile Canadian author Taras Grescoe has penned a new book on the subject of which fish are good -- and which are not so good -- for your stomach and for the planet. Bottomfeeder (Bloomsbury USA, April 2008, 336 pages), which will be released on Saturday, suggests that sticking to sardines and anchovies is healthier and preserves fish stocks. "At the core of his book is the notion that humans would be healthier and fish stocks in better shape if we ate more oceanic bottom-feeders - small fish and crustaceans such as sardines, anchovies, mackerel, squid and octopus - whose stocks are thriving in the absence of their overfished predators, big fish such as tuna, cod and sharks." Heather Sokoloff in The Globe and Mail.

Bottomfeeder on Amazon.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I first met Nick Lyons in his Manhattan offices about 25 years ago. At the time, he was building -- book by book and quite humbly -- the most impressive list of sporting titles ever assembled by a publisher. So it is a pleasure to see him in the new DVD "Why Fly Fishing" expressing as much enthusiasm as ever for the masterpieces of the sport.

This week you can see the first part of the DVD's chapter on fly fishing literature. In a couple of weeks we'll show the second part, which includes extensive footage of John Gierach.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sunglass maker Costa Del Mar will host the Fly Fishing Competition at the Teva Mountain Games, which take place from June 5 - 8 in Vail, Colorado this year. The competition itself takes place on June 9 and 10 and starts with a qualifying round on Gore Creek for 50 registered anglers. The finals will consist of a timed float trip on the Eagle River with two competitors per boat. Anglers will only be able to use one pattern in one size for their fly, but will be allowed six of the same pattern.

For more information and the full press release, read the extended entry.

TEVA MOUNTAIN GAMES CALLS FOR TOP FLY ANGLERS TO TEST SKILLS IN COSTA DEL™ MAR FLY FISHING COMPETITION

VAIL, CO - April 28, 2008 - The Teva Mountain Games, the largest outdoor adventure sports festival in the world, announced the open registration for the Costa Del Mar™ Fly Fishing competition to take place Saturday, June 7 through Sunday, June 8. Both professional and amateur anglers are invited to compete head-to-head in various fly fishing events, including a combination distance and accuracy challenge designed to test the best of the best.

The competition is open to the first 50 fly anglers to register. The qualifying rounds on Saturday will include fly distance and accuracy events, with Sunday's finals testing fly fishing skill and acumen. The semi-qualifiers will narrow the field to 20, with the top eight competitors moving into the final round on Sunday.

During the finals, anglers will only be able to use one pattern in one size for their fly, but will be allowed six of the same pattern. The angler with the most total points, based on fish count and size, will win the grand prize - a cash purse of $2,250. Prizes will also be awarded for second and third place finish, as well as for the angler who lands and releases the largest fish.

The entry fee is $25 per person. To register, visit www.tevamountaingames.com.

"We are extremely excited to add Costa Del Mar's energy and authenticity to our fly fishing competition. Costa Del Mar has a long history of working with the best events and athletes and we are honored to be working with them to take this event to the next level," said Joel Heath of Untraditional Marketing, the owner and operator of the Teva Mountain Games.

Costa Del Mar Fly Fishing Competition

Saturday, Jun. 9 - 9 a.m.

Fly Fishing Qualifier Gore Creek Drive, Vail Village

Each of the 50 registered fly anglers will attempt casts at targets for accuracy and judged distance. The top 20 move on to the semi-qualifiers.

Saturday, Jun. 9 - 2 p.m.

Fly Fishing Semi-Qualifier Gore Creek, International Bridge

The semi-qualifier contesters will move to the Gore Creek Bridge and cast again for accuracy. The top eight scoring casters will move on to the Fly Fishing Finals.

Sunday, Jun. 10 - 8 a.m.

Fly Fishing Finals Eagle River from Edwards to Wolcott

The Finals will consist of a timed float trip on the Eagle River with two competitors per boat. Anglers will only be able to use one pattern in one size for their fly, but will be allowed six of the same pattern. The finalists will fish for three to four hours. The angler with the most total points, based on fish count and size, will win the grand prize - a cash purse of $2,250. Prizes will also be awarded for second and third place finish, as well as for the angler who lands and releases the largest fish.

About the Teva Mountain Games

Celebrating seven years, the Teva Mountain Games will take place from June 5 - 8 in Vail, Colorado. The environmentally friendly, motorless outdoor sporting event will host 2,500 professional and amateur outdoor athletes from all over the world. These athletes will converge upon the mountains and rivers to compete in seven sports and 21 disciplines for over $100,000 in prize money. This year's disciplines include kayaking, rafting, mountain biking, road cycling, World Cup and amateur climbing, paragliding, fly-fishing, trail running, diving dogs and multi-sport racing. An estimated 1.4 million people will tune into the Teva Mountain Games on its national television and on-line broadcast.

Since its inception, the Teva Mountain Games have become the premier destination for athletic, adventurous, and environmentally conscious individuals. The 2008 Teva Mountain Games' Sponsors include, Teva, SoBe, Outside Magazine, Pabst Blue Ribbon, GNC, Bear Naked, Powersox, Lärabar, the Town of Vail, Costa Del Mar, Cocona, Urban Climber, Trail Runner, Climbing Magazine, Southwest Fly Fishing Magazine and Canoe and Kayak Magazine.

Teva Mountain Games is owned and operated by Untraditional Marketing, inc, the leader in event and partnership activation for the world's great adventure brands. Untraditional Marketing (UM) is headquartered out of Vail, Colorado.

About Costa Del Mar™

As the leading manufacturer of premium polarized performance sunglasses, Costa Del Mar offers superior lens technology, unparalleled fit and durability, and a lifetime warranty on all of its products. Still handcrafted today in Florida, Costa Del Mar creates the highest quality, best performing sunglasses for outdoor enthusiasts.

Honoring its heritage on the water, Costa Del Mar supports and sponsors a number of marine conservation initiatives and educational programs. The company was founded on protecting the marine environment worldwide and educating others to understand the importance of conservation. Costa Del Mar also sponsors a number of epic outdoor adventures around the world, encouraging others to see what's out there.

For more information, contact 1-800-447-3700 or visit the company's Web site at www.costadelmar.com, or check out Costa Del Mar's original adventure programming at Costa Channel C, www.costachannelc.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Michelle was best known for her work as an artist. Skilled in numerous forms of art media, she illustrated for various magazines, including Idaho Wildlife, Field and Stream, Fly Fishing the West, and Warm Water Fly Fishing. She also illustrated the book 'Joan Wulff's Fly Fishing, Expert Advice from a Woman's Perspective.'" From the Idaho Mountain Express.

You can see several examples of Flynn's fine work on her Web site.

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

Ralph and Lisa Cutter's extraordinary footage of the lifecycle of midges will probably have you re-thinking your midge patterns -- especially pupae, which they show hanging in an upside-down 'U' shape from the surface film. This is the best fish's-eye view of an important trout food we've seen.

Excerpt: "Midges are the most common and diverse aquatic insects in the world. They occupy habitats ranging from sewage ponds, to brine holes, to crytalline alpine lakes. Their numbers can range into the tens of thousands per square meter, and in many waters their forage value is the only reason trout can exist."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The other day I was fishing with Tommy Locke and George Anderson for laid-up tarpon. The conditions weren't perfect, but we found fish -- some quite high in the water and black from months in the tannic basins of southwest Florida -- so the targets were obvious. We made plenty of good presentations that were refused by the fish. We also made some bad casts and like any honest tarpon fishermen we shrugged and laughed those off. But one wide, dark fish that we saw coming from 300 feet out gave me a perfect opportunity, and I waited patiently, then nailed the cast. The only problem was that just before the fly landed, the line shooting off of the deck wrapped around the back of my flip flop and the only way I could get it free was to kick the flip flop off. It landed in the water. More laughter as six feet of fish swam under my rod tip. "Maybe you guys will bring your A game tomorrow," Tommy said.

Sometimes the absurdity of situations like this, where your inadequacies as an angler are bared to the world (which in this case consists of your guide and partner), incites the mind to become quite agile in its desperation. After a few minutes I said, "You know, I've been fishing for tarpon a long time, as you guys have too. I've seen a lot of flies thrown at tarpon. And you know what I'm about to say is true: It's got nothing to do with presentation." I let this sink in. "It is all about the fly."

There is plenty of time to pause in a boat conversation, and Tommy and George, who had spent a good part of the morning hashing over fly choices, just waited. "You make a perfect cast, the fish doesn't eat it. You throw a fly twenty feet behind the fish, he turns around and runs back to it. You know what I'm saying, and I'm right. It's all about the fly." Tommy was the first to laugh.

The fish began eating after that.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

CNN's Kate Bolduan covers the activities of Project Healing Waters at Douglas Dear's Rose River Farm near Culpeper, Virginia. For the wounded vets, it's just about getting back to doing things "normally," and fly fishing helps. "It's not about the wounds or the rehab," Bouldan notes, "It's about the fish." (Reminder: Project Healing Waters holds their second annual 2-Fly Tournament starting Saturday.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Now I like to go fishing for three or four hours... even if the fishing is good." "Your fingers are like ten fat worms right now. Keep tying. Don't worry about it -- it will change." Those are samples of commentary by Michigan fly tier Dennis Potter in a video slide show that appears on the Grand Rapids Press Web site. (Thanks to reader Jeff Peterson for this link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday we received the first issue of Eddies magazine, a new quarterly publication of the Fisheries department of U.S. Fish and Wildlife. Subtitled "Reflections on Fisheries Conservation," the magazine is edited by fish biologist Craig Springer of Albuquerque, New Mexico and features articles on a variety of topics, from hatcheries to history to personalities and places. The inaugural issue has a couple of really well written pieces, including one on Gila Trout recovery and several that touch on hatcheries history, as well as a finely crafted piece on the meaning of small streams by Springer himself. You can subscribe to Eddies or read the PDF version of the magazine online here.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Back in November, Google rather quietly implemented a "Terrain" display on Google Maps. Why is this so cool? Because if you were used to getting your topo maps online via subscription -- or if you are dedicated blueliner -- your "print screen" button now gives you access to a reasonably detailed version of a topo map (not to mention a satellite view) of your next "secret spot." If you want more detail, you still might opt to use a service like that provided by MyTopo.com, which offers an online version of a traditional topo map. But between Google's satellite and terrain versions, you may be perfectly happy with the free information that is now at your fingertips.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

After final court approval, the U.S. Forest Service will begin a multi-year project that includes removal of an aging dam and cleanup of tons of heavy metals from Montana's Blackfoot River drainage. Friday's court decision delivers at least $28 million from Atlantic Richfield and the bankrupt ASARCO, which were deemed responsible for the cleanup. "With Friday's announcement, the dam removal could start after 2010 and be complete within two years. Tailings behind the dam will be moved to a repository on higher ground on ASARCO property. The project also will include the removal of tailings along the upper Blackfoot, Beartrap Creek and Mike Horse Creek." John Cramer in The Missoulian.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Interestingly, Red Quill names the fly that imitates the male and Hendrickson the female. The two genders look so different from one another that fly rodders use a different imitation. The male has a mahogany-colored, slender body and the female pinkish and chunky. Both have smoky-gray wings, tails and legs." Ken Allen offers a primer on the first dry flies of spring, including insight into the appearance of Red Quills: "Interestingly, Red Quill names the fly that imitates the male and Hendrickson the female. The two genders look so different from one another that fly rodders use a different imitation. The male has a mahogany-colored, slender body and the female pinkish and chunky. Both have smoky-gray wings, tails and legs." On MaineToday.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On FieldandStream.com, Joe Cermele writes about the results of his 900-mile, $150-a-day self-guided venture through Montana. Among the rules he discovered: "It's easy to be optimistic when you're tying up the first fly of the day. That changes when you're two hours in and have yet to hook up on the Madison when trout are boiling all over."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 9:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Many of us wonder if we'll ever have the chance to fish New Zealand's stories waters. Fewer can consider doing it in the style offered by places like Solitaire Lodge and Treetops Lodge and Estate, which are members of Small Luxury Hotels of the World and offer unparalleled access -- via helicopter -- to pristine fisheries. Sue Gough Henly writes about the two lodges, whose guides fish many of the same waters. "I recently visited two lodges (one on a lake and one tucked into the forest) near the geothermal centre of Rotorua, which some say is the trout fishing capital of the world. Solitaire Lodge and Treetops Lodge and Estate are within 40 minutes' drive of 14 lakes while more than 60 rivers and streams criss-cross the region. Eleven of the lakes and most streams are open for fly- or boat-fishing year round, with fishing at its best from October through June."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 9:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

When Bruce Richards told me last year that Scientific Anglers builds thousands of different types of fly lines, my jaw just about hit the floor. But as he explained it, there is a clear market need for specialty lines of all different tapers, lengths and weights, and SA was in a position to build them, so why not? Eric English writes on MLive.com about the company, which enjoys a culture of innovation at 3M, but whose revenues are small enough that it doesn't even appear by name in the corporate annual report. "The company was founded in 1945 by Midland fly-fishing enthusiasts Leon Martuch, Clare Harris and Paul Rottiers. They are credited with developing the first modern fly lines in the 1950s. In 1973, the company was purchased by corporate giant 3M Co."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I still have shivers from reading this one. An eco-tour to an island wildlife preserve in the Pacific was extended unexpectedly when the charter plane carrying the group had engine troubles, forcing the travelers to evacuate to nearby Christmas Island. But to the probable horror of group member and fly fisher Kevin Reilly, bonefish flies are in short supply.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Patagonia sent Dave Skok a "spokesmodel" (Tom Rapone) and one of their new waterproof Stormfront packs and what did they get in return? Some pretty incredible photos of rainbow trout from the Costa Rican highlands. Moldy Chum covers the story with a cool photo montage.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Trout Unlimited is offering bidders a chance to spend a day with the crew of "On the Rise" and appear in the one of their new televised broadcasts (see "Trout Unlimited's New TV Series Debuts April 4"). From the press release: "You have from now until Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 5 p.m. EST to place your bid on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Live bidding will take place at Trout Unlimited's Spring Dinner in New York on Thursday, May 8, 2008. Place your bid and be sure to review full details and auction rules."

(Looks like the bids start at $2000, so be sure to practice your casting before you show up for the actual filming.)

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

Want to show the world your tight loop or perfect fly presentation? Here is your chance.

We are auctioning off a day with the cast and crew of Trout Unlimited's television show, On the Rise. Airing on the Outdoor Channel and hosted by Telluride, Colorado fishing guide, Frank Smethurst, On the Rise takes you to some of the best fly fishing spots around the country. You will have a chance to join Frank on one of his fishing (and filming) stops for the 2009 season and have a shot at being on the show.

Plus your winning bid will directly support Trout Unlimited's efforts to protect, conserve and restore our nation's coldwater fisheries and their watersheds.

You have from now until Tuesday, May 6, 2008 at 5 p.m. EST to place your bid on this once in a lifetime opportunity. Live bidding will take place at Trout Unlimited's Spring Dinner in New York on Thursday, May 8, 2008. Place your bid and be sure to review full details and auction rules.

For more information about the Spring Dinner in NY or the evening auction, please contact Amanda Fisher, Director of Special Events at 703.284.9405.

Thank you,

Erin Mooney
National Press Secretary
Trout Unlimited

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Fortunately the U.S. west is having one of its wettest years in recent memory. But wildfires can happen anywhere at any time in the Rocky Mountains, regardless of rain and snowpack levels. If you plan on fishing in arid country this summer, take a lesson from the experiences of Larry Garfinkel, who barely survived an April 15 fire while fly fishing with buddies on Colorado's Roaring Fork River. "He was resigned to his fate. But somehow -- Garfinkel said he honestly doesn't know if it was acting on instinct or courage under fire -- he made his way into the shallow water of the creek, then into water deep enough to submerge him. He said he looked up through about 4 inches of water and saw the flames flying past. 'The fire just keeps coming,' he said. 'I came up for air once and then went back down.'" Scott Condon in the Aspen Times.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:40 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Most trout anglers fish only a few years before they begin to wonder what casting a bamboo rod is all about. Bamboo not the earliest material used by fly anglers -- that designation would probably go to hazel or some other flexible wood -- but it is considered the most "classic," if only because it dominated fly fishing's recent history up until the introduction of fiberglass. And for its devotees, bamboo provides an experience that no man-made rod can match.

The "mass production" of cane rods ended with the arrival of plastics and a Chinese embargo on bamboo, and as manufacturers turned away from cane, the prices of bamboo fly rods rose steadily. Nowadays, most anglers expect to pay well over $1000 for a cane rod. $2000 is not an unreasonable price, given the craftsmanship evidenced in most custom rods. And waiting more than a year for a $3000 rod is not unheard of. But a few years ago a handful of enterprising people began to wonder if bamboo shouldn't be more affordable and more available. One of these folks was David Rogers, who started Headwaters Bamboo Rod Company in Hillsboro, Oregon in 2002.

Rogers's infatuation with bamboo began like that of most cane rod owners: "I came into bamboo later in life, scouring flea markets. That first bamboo rod sent a chill down my spine. I was holding a little of my own heritage. My grandfather was a fly fisherman and died before I could tag along. His was a hard scrabble existence, working leased fruit orchards. But wetting a fly with a bamboo rod in the Logan River was his occasional diversion, as fishing coastal rivers in the northwest is for me. Bamboo brings me closer to his memory."

The idea behind Headwaters is that you should be able to fish bamboo for under $300, and get it tomorrow. They do have more expensive rods, but even their more affordable rods are built of six hand-planed Tonkin strips -- quite a notion when you consider the craftsmanship required. They'll even let you fish a rod for 30 days before deciding to keep it.

So find yourself a copy of the DVD "Trout Grass," if you need inspiration, or George Black's book Casting a Spell (excerpted here).

For a limited time, Headwaters is giving MidCurrent readers a special discount on a classic fly reel to match their bamboo rods. Read the details here.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As Charlie Meyers notes in the Denver Post, one day can make all the difference when runoff and water flow management combine. Catch it right, though, and the first big hatches of tiny mayflies are your reward. "The result is a deliciously maddening scenario in which small pods of free-rising trout cruise the pools slurping BWOs from the blanket of naturals coating the surface. An angler trying desperately to gauge this erratic pattern watches 20-inchers repeatedly grab flies inches from his own, an action that always prompts a rapid sucking in of breath."

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

"Governor Bill Richardson marked Earth Day by moving to protect all surface waters within national forest wilderness and inventoried roadless areas in New Mexico -- amounting to more than 5,300 miles of headwaters streams that flow from mountain forests." From the Environmental News Service.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If a photo of former president Bush hadn't been splashed across television screens all night long, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about him going fishing with George Wood and Andy Mill and catching a 100-plus-pound tarpon. But an editorial comment that escaped the Web production team for WPTV.com makes the story a little saltier. It says: "Note to Editor/Producers: To avoid any confusion, it is important to stress that the boat had a legal harvest tag and that the fish was released." The boat had a legal harvest tag, but in the picture there is only a rope passed through the mouth and gills of the fish. What's the big deal? Well, earlier this year Florida FWC officers made it fairly clear to Gold Cup tournament organizers that in order to comply with the state's tarpon tag law, as soon as a fish was reduced to "possession," a $50 tag must be affixed to the lower jaw. OK, it is possible that we can't see the tag in the Bush photo, and one has to wonder about the efficacy and correctness of such a strict interpretation of tag rules anyway. But is it permissible for former presidents can handle fish differently, as long as the media manages the spin correctly? (Note: After this post was written, we did get confirmation that a tag was in place. See comments.) Or should FWC rethink making presidents and tournament anglers punch holes in tarpon jaws, which some think interferes with tarpon's ability to capture food?

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Peter Kaminsky fishes the end of the Argentinian season at Estancia Alicura on the Patagonian steppes, and even manages to catch a rainbow trout on a dry fly. "I am enough of a New Yorker -- which is to say that I share enough of Woody Allen's worldview -- that I take good fortune at the beginning of a fishing trip as a signal of impending disaster. Thus, when I hooked into a bruising brown trout within 10 minutes of wading into the Caleufu River in Patagonia, I was worried." In The New York Times.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"A federal appeals court has ruled the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service needs to reconsider protection for coastal cutthroat trout in the Columbia River and southwestern Washington."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"IT IS FIRST LIGHT when you hit the beach -- a thin rain drizzling through thick overcast. Third hour of the flood. Tide rising at its fastest rate. Surf bores two to three feet high stream in ragged lines toward the beach foreslope. The swash zone right at your feet is a caldron of turbulence. The sky teems with shorebirds of all sizes, tracking and diving into a profusion of mini-baitballs evenly distributed across and the surf zone."

If you think it's is too early to begin thinking about striper season, you've probably never witnessed a blitz off the New England coast or hooked a Sacramento River giant. This week you can read Rich Murphy's tips for finding the sweet spot for striped bass in the surf on MidCurrent.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The tag line beneath the "Free Argentine Waters" blog logo says it all: "if you hate something, don't you do it too." It seems Argentina is destined to relearn history as they move forward with plans to dam the Rio Santa Cruz, which begins in the Los Glaciares National Park and runs to the ocean 240 miles to the east, all the while providing important spawning water for numerous species. "Santa Cruz River holds two rare privileges, it is the last great river in Argentine Patagonia flowing freely and it is the only river in the world to receive wild runs of Steelhead from the Atlantic Ocean. Two distinctions soon to be challenged with the construction of Condor Cliff and La Barrancosa dams."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Moldy Chum just turned up a cool new site on fly fishing Alaska. Alaska Fly Fishing Goods (built by the folks at Juneau Fly Fishing Goods) offers a region-by-region, fish-by-fish and season-by-season breakdown of where to go and what to do if you want to fly fish Alaska effectively. Take a look at their guide to fishing the Kenai region for a sample of rich and well-written content.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:34 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Go through Everglades City and past the entrance to the Everglades National Park Visitor Center. Keep driving to where one sees a dead-end sign a few yards beyond the stop sign at the intersection of Chokoloskee Drive and Smallwood Drive. This is the town of Chokoloskee." Glenn Miller captures some of the spirit of this end-of-the road town and its long tradition of residents who fill multiple roles. He mentions C.G. McKinney, Totch Brown and Ted Smallwood. One he doesn't mention is Patty Huff, wife of guide Steve Huff, who publishes the local newspaper, The Mullet Rapper and is president of the Everglades Society for Historical Preservation.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hopefully Nirvana will excuse us from borrowing their song title -- it's hard to read about a guy like 17-year-old Cam Mitchell and not feel the rhythm. Few teenage anglers rank themselves as a 10.5 on the secrecy scale or know that the difference between 32 and 36 degrees is sometimes all it takes to turn a river on. "It's time to run and gun now. This first stream is not producing. No pulse of fish, apparently. So Cam is back to the car. He breaks down his fly rod and lays it across his dash board. He's off to another river. He does not take this mobility for granted. 'I'm grateful to my parents for letting me have a fishing rig,' he says." Sam Cook in the Duluth News Tribune.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Greg Meyer was the last American to win the Boston marathon. He did so in 1983, in two hours and nine minutes -- still the tenth-fastest marathon time in history. "He started by running a mile in less than four minutes -- the first Michigan native to do so. The big leap, of course, was leaving his mop behind and heading for Boston, which was as much an epicenter for runners as Haight Ashbury was a draw for hippies. He got a job selling shoes in long-distance running legend Bill Rodgers' equipment store." John Hogan on MLive.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The BBC is often lauded for its nature cinematography, and David Attenborough's "Life in the Undergrowth" is a perfect example of why. Take a look at the detailed camera work in the segment in which they capture the life cycle of mayflies on video.

More information on "Life in the Undergrowth" can be found on the BBC Web site.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This article by USA Today's Del Jones dates from 2002, but its analysis of why corporate bigwigs lean toward fly fishing as their favorite sport is as valid as ever. "Charles Schwab fly-fishes, as does Martha Stewart, Bill Ford of Ford Motor, Meg Whitman of eBay, Phil Satre of Harrah's Entertainment, banking mogul Hugh McColl, Carnival Cruise Lines' Bob Dickinson, AOL Time Warner's Ted Turner and Timberland's Jeffrey Swartz. So do retired CEOs Don Kendall and Roger Enrico of PepsiCo, and Lew Platt of Hewlett-Packard, who has fished the Misty Fjords National Monument in Alaska."

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

Once again Abel is producing a limited-edition set of reel to promote and benefit an important conservation cause. This time it's the efforts of the Sportsman's Alliance, a group dedicated to raising awareness of the threats posed to Alaska's Bristol Bay by the proposed Pebble Mine. "Abel will produce a limited edition - numbered 1 to 100 - of the engraved reels in a specially anodized red color, symbolic of both the area's sockeye or red salmon and the 'No Pebble Mine' campaign."

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

ABEL 'NO PEBBLE MINE' REEL TO AID ALASKAN CONSERVATION

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Opponents of the potentially environmentally devastating Pebble Mine in Alaska's Bristol Bay region will benefit from an Abel Super 5N trout reel, announced Jeff Patterson, director of sales for the fishing tackle manufacturer.

Abel will produce a limited edition - numbered 1 to 100 - of the engraved reels in a specially anodized red color, symbolic of both the area's sockeye or red salmon and the "No Pebble Mine" campaign, whose conduit to the fly fishing industry has been the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska.

The Sportsman's Alliance will be given Reel #1 for sale, raffle or auction and $200 per reel on all others sold, Patterson said.

Total value of Abel's contributions is expected to be in excess of $20,000.

A Canadian-British partnership is seeking permits to build the massive Pebble Mine complex northwest of Lake Iliamna. The Bristol Bay region is home to the largest runs of wild salmon on the planet and is also a sportfishing Mecca, drawing anglers from across the globe.

"If these permits are granted, mining companies could possibly drain critical Bristol Bay drainage salmon rivers and trophy trout streams and destroy valuable habitat. The development activity and infrastructure required for such a massive proposal would undoubtedly have detrimental effects on both fish and game resources," said Scott J. Hed, director of the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska.

The proposed Pebble Mine would include the largest dam in the world - larger than the Three Gorges Dam in China - made of earth not concrete, to hold back the toxic waste created in the mining process. Areas in the region which could be impacted include the Mulchatna / Nushagak River drainage and the Newhalen / Kvichak River drainage, both of which feed into Bristol Bay.

Operation of the mine would require a vast majority of the water from Upper Talarik Creek and the North and South Fork Koktuli headwaters plus much of the ground waters that feed these waterways in order get the 70 million gallons of water needed each day, according to Hed.

The Bristol Bay salmon fishery generates an estimated $332 million per year; with sport fishing contributing $61 million to that total. All of this is placed at risk if plans for mining in the region move forward.

The project developer's plans call for dams to be built to hold back a toxic lake of mining tailings. In an area where earthquakes are not an infrequent occurrence, one dam would be 4.3 miles long and higher than Seattle's Space Needle. Another proposed dam is 2.9 miles long and 700 feet high. More than 10 square miles of habitat would be destroyed. The open pit gold-copper-molybdenum mine itself would be two miles in diameter and nearly one-third mile deep.

Contact:

Jeff Patterson
Abel Reels
165 Aviador Street
Camarillo, CA 93010
jeff@abelreels.com
www.abelreels.com
(866) 511 7444

Scott J. Hed
Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska
108 West 11th Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57104
scott@sportsmansalliance4ak.org
www.sportsmansalliance4ak.org
(605) 336 6738

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

"Trout are a lot more interesting than bugs." That's the launching point for Rosenbauer's excellent new podcast on reading trout water on the Orvis Web site. Rosenbauer has, of course, written extensively on the subject, but hearing him explain stream dynamics really brings the subject to life. Not to mention the fact that, if you prefer, you can download the the audio and listen to it on your iPod.

Here's a sample from the new podcast: "People have found that trout prefer to lie in water that's moving at about one foot per second. That's comfortable for them -- they're able to maintain their position -- and they won't exhaust themselves. And then they like to feed in water that's a little bit faster, because obviously the faster the water the more food that goes by their mouth. You may wonder Well, how do I find out how fast the water is moving? One of the ways you can do this is to put a yardstick down on the table and move your finger and count one thousand and one, one thousand and two, etc. and see how fast your finger moves when it travels one foot per second."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Author John Gierach and guide, artist and illustrator Bob White will mark their 100th column together in Fly Rod & Reel's July/October issue. Their first collaboration was in July of 1988, when Bob illustrated John's article, "East Big Fish." After Lee Wulff's death in 1991, the editors at Rod & Reel asked John to take over the assignment of writing the magazine's closing column, and Bob was asked to illustrate it. Their first regular column together, "The Sporting Life," was published in March of 1992. The illustration for the 100th column is a painting of John fishing his home water, and is titled "Close To Home." The accompanying image has yet to be released and will be unveiled in the 100th issue.

Bob has produced a set of limited edition prints from the paintings that illustrate the 1st and 100th "Sporting Life" columns, and Fly Rod & Reel will be giving two of these sets away in a sweepstakes that is described on Fly Rod & Reel's website at www.flyrodreel.com. In addition to the prints, the grand-prize winner will receive a new Boron II-MX rod courtesy of the R. L. Winston Rod Co.

To check out more of Bob's fine artwork visit his Web site at www.whitefishstudio.com. You can also see his work represented on MidCurrent's Fly Fishing Artists page.

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

As Jason Kauffman reports in the Idaho Mountain Express, state officials feel that the recovery of chinook salmon in the Sawtooth Valley has been strong enough to let them consider re-opening the fishery after more than 30 years. "The commission is expected to consider the season on the upper Salmon and another on the South Fork of the Salmon River east of McCall in May, a Fish and Game news release states."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Every year in May or June a bunch of veteran tarpon anglers get together on No Name Key in the Florida Keys to raise money for good causes and to have fun fishing and trading stories. This year the event is planned for May 30-31 (about the time of a predicted Palolo worm hatch), and the benefit is for Casting for Recovery, which provides fly fishing retreats for women who have or have had breast cancer. Poontangle is supported by lots of generous businesses -- Scientific Anglers, Loomis, Cabela's, Cliff Outdoors, Islander, Temple Fork Outfitters and dozens of others -- who donate products for a raffle and a silent auction. Not only are the giveaways great, but the the Poontangle camaraderie is something to be witnessed first-hand, with new registrants being treated like old friends and old friends flying in from all over the country to share in the enthusiasm, good food, and not-always-100%-accurate fish stories.

You can find more information about Poontangle 8, including registration info, on the Poontangle Web site.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

We learned late yesterday that David Foster, who was at the helm of Morris Communications' national outdoors magazines, including Fly Tyer, American Angler and Gray's Sporting Journal, finally succumbed to the cancer he had been fighting in recent years. As Don Rhodes notes in an Augusta Chronicle obituary, Foster never lost his desire to enjoy one more day in the outdoors: "He wrote in one of his blog postings, 'Even the last day of your life can have meaning. A warrior friend died recently and I went to see him the day before the last day of his life. He smiled weakly and said, "Dying ain't so bad. You get to hold the hands of all the people who love you." Frankly, I would rather be shooting birds, but you gotta give him credit for keeping life going to the very end.'" Steve Walburn, general manager of the Morris Sporting Group of magazines, noted that Foster "fought his disease with incredible determination and courage. David was a friend and mentor to our entire group, and the Morris national magazine division is in large measure part of his legacy."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's been a long time in the making, but Felt Soul Media's documentary on Alaska's Pebble Mine controversy is finally going to be unveiled at Telluride's Mountainfilm, the outdoor adventure film festival that this year runs from May 23 to 26. Felt Soul hopes to have Red Gold on DVD in late June, and a limited edition Blu-Ray DVD later in the summer. Both should be available at www.feltsoulmedia.com.

Apparently it is still not to late to support the "Red Gold" project. As Travis Rummel noted, "We are wrapping up the credit list in the next week and we could still use any support you can contribute to the effort. All donations are tax deductible and if you donate over $500 your name will appear in the credits of Red Gold, but please hurry as we are almost all wrapped up."

If you haven't yet seen the Red Gold trailer, you can watch it on MidCurrent.

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

Faced with the highest spring waters they've seen in years, many anglers in the U.S. will be floating rivers rather than wading this spring. Arkansas guide John Berry has some excellent tips on etiquette at the ramp and on the river, our favorite being "Just because you like Toby Keith [music] does not mean that everyone else does." In the Baxter Bulletin.

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

While angling "sportsmen" continue to kill large sharks as if there were an endless supply, scientists are studying the real and dramatic decline of several species. In Florida Bay the shark population has plummeted in recent years. This CNN video shows guide John Milchman working with researchers to capture and sample lemon and bull sharks, which once were so plentiful that "you couldn't hang a bait off of the side of your boat." (Thanks to reader David Dalu for this link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The Hare's Ear nymph is one of those patterns that belongs in any trout fisher's fly box, in almost any season. The folks at The Hollywood Casting Couch demonstrate -- in a decidedly un-classic atmosphere -- the key steps in tying and finishing this useful pattern. This tying clip is from "Fly Tying: The Beginning" (The Hollywood Casting Couch, 2007, 2 hours and 35 minutes), a two-DVD set that teaches several classic patterns, including the Black-Nose Dace, Hare's Ear Nymph, Hendrickson, Caddis, and the Black Leech. As Fly Tyer editor David Klausmeyer said in his review of this DVD set: "If I were giving away awards for the best fly-tying DVDs, then 'Fly Tying: The Beginning' would walk away with the trophy for Learn While You Laugh...."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you are familiar with the life of poet and children's writer Ted Hughes, who was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1984 until his death in 1998 and who was married to Sylvia Plath, you might expect a quirky and highly personal take on fly fishing. And that is what you get, from the new Letters of Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber, 756 pages), edited by Christopher Reid. "His letters reveal a Waltonesque obsession with angling: 'Dry Fly Fishing is a psychologically determined activity -- making slight understatements at the surface in the hope of interesting the organic mysteries and terrors in the depth ...' But for him, it was a dangerous activity; it could put you off your work: '... the whole motive of writing finds perfect and satisfying expression in fishing. Fishing is a substitute for symbolic activity that simply short-circuits the need to write.'"

More about Hughes on Wikipedia.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:20 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Project Healing Waters, which benefits wounded veterans, will hold their Second Annual 2-Fly Tournament on May 4, 2008 at Rose River Farm in Madison, Virginia. The 20 teams open to the public have been filled and they have an additional 10 teams made up of a professional guide and an injured veteran. (They still have a couple of slots left open for sponsors, who can support a Pro/Vet team for $2500. This year's event is being televised as an episode of "The Fly Rod Chronicles" on The Sportsman's Channel and all the Sponsors will be recognized, if they would like, on a show banner.) Read more about the event on the Project Healing Waters blog.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

No one really expects a specialty museum in a town like Manchester, Vermont to get into the film business, much less invest a lot of time, money and effort into producing something unique. But that's just what the American Museum of Fly Fishing did when they hired Jeffrey Pill to produce "Why Fly Fishing," which in the short time it has been out has become the sleeper hit of the season.

Not only were Pill and the Museum able to convince key folks to participate, they got the story, delivery and production just right. The result is a half-hour film that actually inspires, rather than simply excites. This week we are glad to begin a series of showings of segments from "Why Fly Fishing," starting with the film's introduction, which features Flip Pallot, Joan Wulff, Diana Rudolph, John Gierach and others.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Some of the most thoughtful fly-fishing insights have come from anglers who spent their lives learning the secrets of one or two rivers. These were the kind of fly-fishers who probably wrote a single book toward the end of their fishing years that artfully condensed everything they had learned. I have always admired that." Ed Engle talks about the tug of home waters in the Boulder Daily Camera.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Nova Scotia anglers and officials are surprised at the rise in the number of rainbow trout being caught in local rivers, the likely result of a hurricane damaging a coastal fish farm last fall. The concern: that rainbow trout, which eat salmon eggs, will do damage to native fish populations. "The fish, which are not native to our waters, are suddenly being caught by anglers everywhere from the Mersey River in Liverpool to the Sackville River in Halifax Regional Municipality, and it’s all because of post-tropical storm Noel. Wind and storm surges ripped apart Ocean Trout Farms’ aquaculture cages off Coffin Island in Queens County last fall, releasing about 500,000 farmed fish into the ocean." Renee Stevens in the Nova Scotia Chronicle Herald.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Looking for a new place to paddle and fish from your kayak or canoe? Check out the Great Calusa Blueway, nearly 200 miles of trail stretching through mangroves and creeks that line the coast near Sanibel and Fort Myers, Florida. I can tell you from personal experience that the trail will take you some of the best redfish and snook habitat in the area. Ellen Albanese writes about the Blueway in this morning's Boston Globe. "The trail encompasses three regions of the Gulf Coast: Estero Bay, Pine Island Sound, and the Caloosahatchee. It uses Global Positioning System coordinates and key points are marked along the trail to aid in navigation. Many routes follow trails charted some 2,000 years ago by the area's earliest inhabitants, the Calusa Indians."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"A lot of people don't realize the following point, but Nick Lyons from The Lyons Press had a lot to do with the popularity of bead-head flies in America. Several years ago, a French book about this fly style had gained notoriety across Europe, so Lyons published it in English. Then, bead-heads took off like a proverbial house afire on this side of the Atlantic." Ken Allen observes that even in the more traditional U.S. northeast, weighted flies are the predominant choice, if fly shop sales are any measure.

It's worth reading Allen's excellent discussion of the differences between bead-weighted and wire-weighted flies and split-shot-weighted rigs. His suggestion, though, that casters having problems with weighted rigs are either casting too light a rod or need to improve their skills is a little too restrictive. Often over-lining a rod (which also makes the rod slower) is as good an alternative, and even the best casters can't always overcome the physics of a big hunk of lead sapping the energy from their stroke. That's why good casters often use Belgian or oval casts -- which can also be described as a kind of "chuck and duck" -- when a fly is too heavy for their line.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

On New West, Bill Schneider asks a reasonable question: Why aren't there more fly-fishing-only sections on U.S. rivers? "Is it so much to ask that a small percentage--let’s say about 2 percent--of these steelhead rivers be set aside for fly-fishing-only? If an equal amount of stream (or more) must be set aside for non-fly fishing, I’m sure flycasters wouldn’t object." Well, the answer can probably be found in the failure of state governments to distinguish between resource management imperatives and "social" management issues, where those who feel their right to fish any old way they choose usually scream the loudest. A perfect recent example is the Wisconsin DNR bowing to public pressure against regulations on the Prairie River. (Thanks to reader John Koch for the Prairie River link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Apparently living across from Robin Williams and flying on Gulfstreams don't automatically exempt Luke Brugnara from having to live like the rest of us when it comes to endangered steelhead. "It's been a bad month for Brugnara, who also was charged recently with filing false tax returns. With a real estate portfolio that includes a 16-story office building in San Francisco valued at $24.6 million and a home worth $7.5 million, Brugnara has a theory about why law enforcement officers are on his case: jealousy." Patrick May and Mark Gomez in the Mercury News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With U.S. political energies reaching a frenzy, is it any wonder that pundits are scrutinizing the reflection in Dick Cheney's fishing glasses? "In a Google search for the words 'Dick Cheney' and 'sunglasses,' 79,300 hits came back at midafternoon on Thursday. On DemocraticUnderground.com, the discussion starts with this question: 'Notice anything ... interesting ... reflected in his sunglasses? Something that has little to do with conventional 'fly-fishing'?'" Kevin G. Hall and George Bridges in the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Meanwhile Moldy Chum seems to have found an even more astounding photograph -- of a reflected Dick Cheney.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jim Casada's review of Tennessee tailwaters starts with a look back at the controversial start for the dams that have been providing such great fishing for the past half century. He goes on to suggest different strategies for fishing when the water is "on" (high and fast because of dam releases) and "off:" "Long, delicate casts and light tippets increase the likelihood of takes. Also, when the current moves so slowly as to be barely discernible, go against the dry-fly canon and fish downstream. The trout sees the fly first, as opposed to leader and tippet, and is less likely to be spooked. If fish seem particularly finicky or even the most delicate of casts puts them down, you can feed line out until the fly drifts into the fish’s feeding zone." In Tennessee Game & Fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:18 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As expected, California reacted to the dramatic drop in coho salmon stocks by calling a halt to all commercial fishing for that species this year. "The Pacific Fishery Management Council voted to cancel all commercial salmon fishing off the California and Oregon coasts this year. The decision led Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to declare a state of emergency and send a letter to President Bush asking for federal disaster assistance." Julia Prodis Sulek writes about the local impact in The Mercury News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:46 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you happen to be a California fly fisher and like to plan your trips based on current reality rather than on the weatherman's conjurations, be sure to investigate the SierraVisions.com Web site, which features live pictures of more than a hundred different locations across the state. For example, they link to this more-or-less live image of the Kern River.

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

Fishing columnist Eric Sharp says your first fly rod should cost $200 or less. Spend the rest of your money, he suggests, on two or three trips instead of a $500 rod. While it is true that "$50 to $60 today will buy rods that are better than those for which we paid $200 when carbon fiber first came on the market about 30 years ago," you can often find some very nice used rods at your local fly shop that are superior to and lower in price than new "budget" rods. And for those that have the money, some of the more expensive rods will make your first experience that much more enjoyable.

The number one rule: Cast a rod -- with a line that has a leader on it -- before you buy. If it is your first rod, spend your first $100 on a lesson or two so that you know what you are casting.

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

Locals are already testing the Clark Fork for after-effects of the Milltown Dam removal, and what they've found is encouraging. Despite increased turbidity and worries about contamination, the fishing's better than expected. "Scott Stanko, an employee at the Missoulian Angler, said, in the short term, the cloudy water might strain the fish, but in the long term, the dam’s removal will be great for fish and great for fishing. 'In the next four or five years, you’re going to see the Clark Fork become a blue ribbon fishing destination for the state,' Stanko said." Alex Tenenbaum in Montana Kaimen.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"If you are a rock and roll fan, the name Cory Wells no doubt is familiar. He’s a co-founder, guitarist and a lead singer in Three Dog Night. Brought together in 1968, no other group achieved more top 10 hits, sold more records and concert tickets than Three Dog Night from 1969-74." As Wayne Shaw reports on SanLuisObispo.com, Wells's record for white bass on 8-pound tippet may have been broken, but his passion persists.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Runoff. No matter where you live, if you fly fish for trout that word conjures images of swollen rivers and unexpected challenges. And since big water is right around the corner for many of us, this is a great time to remind ourselves of safe wading practices.

This week on MidCurrent Dick Galland lists thirteen key bits of advice for wading safely and effectively, among them: "A wader belt is as important as a seatbelt," and "Don't die for your tackle."

Lean into the current. Always plant your staff upstream of your body, leaning into the current. Should you begin to lose your balance, the current will push you upright rather than downstream.

Keep your body sideways to the current. Facing directly upstream or down exposes you to the full force of the water and makes it difficult to maintain your balance.

Read more...

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:59 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Verlyn Klinkenborg's entertaining thoughts on specialized vocabulary in The New York Times are a reminder of how peculiar our response to words can be. I consider myself tolerant of those who don't "speak the language," and I love a good malapropism, but if someone asks for a "rope" (instead of a line) or a "map" (instead of a chart) on my boat, it makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. Then again, my seven-year-old's favorite trick when driving the skiff is to try to hit all of the "boobies" (crab pot buoys), a terminology saved from age three because he knows it will make me laugh and reach for the steering wheel. And I'll sigh deeply and loudly over any kind of pontification, given that it is usually filled with errors of fact and judgment. Truth is, every nomenclature can help define expertise, but set it loose in common conversation and it becomes pretentious bilgewater. It's OK for fly rod designers to argue "spine" versus "spline," but lord save me from a room full of rodbuilders frozen in disagreement over the same.

"I realize that I’ve spent most of my life happily sai