June 2008 Archives

"The new species can not be identified by physical appearance -- only by examining DNA in the cell nucleus from bits of clipped dorsal fins. Geneticists at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute in St. Petersburg made the discovery recently based on samples taken from the Keys; the western, undeveloped side of Andros Island in the Bahamas; Mexico's Yucatan region; the Virgin Islands; and Grand Bahama Island." As Susan Cocking reports in the Miami Herald, genetic tests have identified a third species of bonefish in the Caribbean.

"A Joe's Hopper was tied to my three-foot leader that tested eight pounds. This is no place for delicacy: keep the leader short and stout. Wispy leaders seldom can keep a big night-feeder out of the log jams or sweepers, and big fish are strong and heavy in the current." Dave Richey hunts down a hex hatch on Michigan's AuSable. In the Traverse City Record-Eagle.

Members of the America Cup Junior fly-fishing team will be using engraved #1 Abel Creek reels, courtesy of the tackle manufacturer, during their September international competition in Frisco, Colorado. Teams from Japan, Ireland, Australia, the USA, Hungary, and others are expected to compete.

Read the full press release in the extended entry.

Charles Meck offers an excellent rundown of trico (Tricorythodes) hatches in the U.S., including listing the biggest seasonal activity and the best places to find and fish tricos on both sides of the country. Here's an interesting tidbit on why you'll spend most of your time matching the olive-bodied female dun rather than the males: "Have you ever seen a male Trico dun? If you have you probably haven't seen many. Why? A few decades ago Robert Hall conducted a study of the Trico for his doctoral requirements. In that study he found that male duns often emerge from 10 P.M. until 2 A.M. So, don't worry about matching the male dun. The olive-bodied female dun emerges from 5 A.M. to 11 A.M. depending on the weather conditions and the time of year."

Tricos begin coming off earlier in the U.S. east than they do out west, and the challenge often becomes finding cool-enough air temperatures, as Bill Ferris points out on Cumberlink.com. "Unlike many other mayfly hatches the trico hatch begins along about July 5th and on any given morning until the first hard frost the little mayflies flutter over the riffles on many of our trout streams and trout rise to eat them. I'm told that the first hatching insects are about a size 20 and as the season warms through summer the size diminishes to about a 24 or 26. I can't see to tie a size 26 fly on my tippet so the smallest I tie is a size 24 but mostly I compromise and simply tie 22's."

After glancing at the opening photo for Deborah Weisberg's piece on the growth of carp fishing in the U.S., all I can say is, "To each their own." While I won't be tying garbanzo-bean-flavored Clouser Foxy Red Minnows any time soon, I applaud those who have challenged themselves to trick these very difficult fish on a fly rod.

John Smeaton may not be a household name in the U.S., but it certainly is in Scotland and in western Europe. Smeaton was the baggage handler who, one year ago, fought back against one of the bombers at Glasgow Airport and helped drag an injured colleague to safety. "John Smeaton is a remarkable man. He has the ability to smoke a cigarette, fiddle with the TomTom sat-nav, rummage for the next packet of Marlboro Lights, discuss Michael Bloomberg, the Mayor of New York, and the multi-billionaire's preference for the great rivers of Colorado for fly fishing and drive through Glasgow's early morning traffic without once slamming us into the tail of the car in front." Stephen McGinty in The Scotsman.

In the B.C. Western Star, columnist Russell Wangersky writes eloquently about why he's stopped salmon fishing. "July is racing towards us now, when the dragonfly larvae finally crawl up from the bottom and let their skins harden and split in the sun. Then, like bright needles, they will dart and hover in the air and eat many times their weight in blackflies. The outdoors will become slightly more habitable, until the cow bees hatch as well, to circle you like delta-winged biting drones, and those who fish salmon will occasionally even find themselves suddenly riverside in their dreams."

After reading yesterday's comment by the nurse who gave CPR to the dying Colorado kayaker (see Fly Fishing Guide Tries to Save Kayaker), I had to wonder whether there wasn't a mass rush to secure notoriety for high-water rescues going on. But then reader Doug Haacke sent us this link to a story that we know we can trust: in the past week fly fishing guide Bob Krumm has helped at least two groups of anglers who were capsized floating Montana's Bighorn River.

Herbert Hoover may have won the coveted "Fishing President" title by spending more time at his Rapidan River fishing camp than he did fixing the Depression, but as this story proves, Dwight D. Eisenhower clearly had the passion: "To please the president, the [Brown Palace] hotel created an ice carving of a mountain complete with pine trees and a miniature lake at the base of the mountain in which swam three tiny trout. Ike was enchanted with the creation and could hardly keep his eyes off the lake and its tiny inhabitants. Thus, when one trout suddenly flipped himself out of the pool and onto the carpet, Ike leaped out of his chair to the rescue, nearly upsetting the table in his eagerness to save the fish." Penny Parker in the Rocky Mountain News.

"It was a valiant effort by a lot of people," said [Paul] Killino, an Edwards resident and Alpine River Outfitters guide who was leading a fly-fishing trip at the time. Justin Brindley, 30, of Boulder, who was running the Colorado River in an inflatable kayak, drowned last Friday afternoon in Lower Gore Canyon near Radium." Steve Lynn in the Vail Daily.

According to movie site Cinematical.com, William Hurt and Amber Heard will star in the adaptation of David James Duncan's philosophical novel "The River Why." Production, under the direction of Matt Leutwyler, will begin in Oregon early next month. "A coming-of-age fishing tale, the film will focus on 'a young man named Gus Orviston (Gilford) and his quest for an elusive rainbow trout, which is a metaphor for the man's internal search for self-knowledge.' Heard plays the object of his affection, 'a tomboy fly-fisher,' and Hurt plays his dad."

Paul Weamer's new book gets rave reviews from Mark Sturtevant, who says his only criticism may be how much information the book contains: "Weamer breaks down the rivers by section relative to the coldwater influence of the New York City reservoirs that ultimately shape the character of the trout and the insects they feed upon. He offers detailed descriptions and directions to the public access points, and certain private access areas traditionally open to public use." On InYork.com.

If more fishing reports were written like this, I think I'd actually start reading them. Rob Conery's report for Cape Cod is one of the most entertaining I've ever read. Never mind the "free boat" essay and the two-year tuna, the credits will tell you everything about the veracity of the information. "Information for this column was assembled from a variety of liars, exaggerators, mis-informants, ne'er-do-wells and roustabouts. In other words, from fishermen." In the Cape Code Times.

Arkansas guide John Berry says that when it comes to high water, a San Juan worm and an egg pattern are perennial favorites among knowledgeable anglers. Besides, they are both incredibly easy to tie. "San Juan worms are the easiest fly there is to tie. They are essentially a strip of ultra chenille lashed to a hook. I tie two versions, a low water and a high water. I tie the low-water version on the Mustad 37160 hook (English bait hook). This is a heavy wire, wide-gapped hook that has an incredible amount of holding power. The hook is so heavy that it sinks like a rock particularly in the larger sizes. I tie them in size 8 and 16." In the Baxter Bulletin.

It's the kind of fait accompli that most environmentalists believed would be necessary to break the money lines keeping "Big Sugar" in the business of destroying the Everglades, and yesterday it happened, in the form of a tentative agreement for the buyout of U.S. Sugar Corp. For decades federal subsidies have financed the lobbying efforts of U.S. sugar growers to argue against cleaner water and Everglades restoration. The subsidies, in the form of complicated price guarantees and import restrictions which have ended up costing U.S. consumers almost $2 billion annually, began with a political motivation -- the initiation of the Cuban sugar embargo -- and seem to be ending with one: Florida Republican governor and whispered VP candidate Charlie Christ declared the agreement "as monumental as the creation of our nation's first national park, Yellowstone." Truth be told, Mr. Governor, Yellowstone Park wasn't an environmental disaster recovery effort.

The real story is that foreign competition finally ate the sugar growers' lunch. No amount of price support could adjust for the twenty year decline in sugar prices started when Brazil and Thailand ramped up production. And increasing local efforts to get Big Sugar to clean up its act by filtering waste water further reduced the cash flowing into owners' pockets. The fact is that U.S. Sugar wouldn't have lasted, but it's longer, slower shut down would have meant decades more of environmentally abusive operation.

300,000 acres of Florida land will still be under the stranglehold of subsidized sugar after U.S. Sugar is shut down in seven years. Flo-Sun, the company owned by the Cuban-American Fanjul family, controls 180,000 of those acres, and they are known for effectively playing both sides of the political game.

I think that it was more than political expediency that caused Governor Christ to announce the deal only days after publicly changing his mind on support for offshore drilling. It was the realization that it would be much cheaper for Florida to eliminate the primary cause of Everglades pollution than it would be to continue the failed effort to achieve the goals of the Everglades Restoration project started in 2000. Why it took so long to come to that conclusion is anyone's guess.

Related stories:

The New York Times (Be sure to take a look at the map of sugar-growing lands, which act as a lid on the waters of Lake Okeechobee, water that historically flowed south to the Everglades and eventually Florida Bay.)

The Associated Press

New on MidCurrent, watch R. A. Beattie's artful clip on fly fishing for small- and largemouth bass from the arid shoreline of Lake Powell.

This week on MidCurrent, Gary LaFontaine shows us how to best position ourselves for fishing attractor dry flies on a freestone stream. It's another segment from the DVD "Successful Fly Fishing Strategies" (Jeffrey Pill, producer), in which LaFontaine and former major league outfielder Dick Sharon demonstrate a wide range of situational strategies. LaFontaine tells why he favors the across-and-down presentation with attractors, and he even shows how to hold a trout without having it jump out of your hand.

The Federation of Fly Fishers will bring more than 75 workshops and clinics on casting, fly tying, on-water fishing techniques and other topics to Whitefish, Montana for their 43rd Annual International Fly Fishing Show and Conclave, July 22-26. Dave Ames, Stu Apte, Bob Jacklin, Brian O'Keefe, Bruce Richards, and Diana Rudolph are just a few of the dozens of expert fly fishers who will be presenting workshops and teaching at the conclave.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

Shallow-water skiff builder Tom Gordon, who left Hell's Bay four years ago when the company began to falter, has rejoined the team, bringing with him the two Waterman models (16' and 18') which he had licensed and been building under the Gordon Boatworks brand. Gordon has long been known among skiff builders for his meticulous attention to detail.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

"Not to sound unappreciative, but it looked a little, well, effeminate to me with it's pink chenille body and gold ribbing. But I didn't say so to Gifford. In fact, I tied it on to my tippet as a gesture of appreciation for his thoughtfulness. I knew that if past was prologue, I'd snag the little, limp-wristed pink job on an alder bush by the third or fourth cast anyway." V. Paul Reynolds's doubts about his friend's fly are erased by ravenous brook trout. On RedOrbit.com.

"'What you really should do,' [Dave] Hughes wrote, 'is enjoy your fishing, and make what notes about it you think will help you with your future fishing without interfering with your present fishing.'" John Pittaresi praises the keeping of fishing journals on UticaOD.com.

I just began reading the very entertaining advanced reader's copy of Lefty's upcoming book My Life Was This Big (And Other True Fishing Tales) (Skyhorse Publishing), which will come out in October. (For some reason I was under the impression that I had heard all of Lefty's jokes, but co-writer Chris Millard has managed to give them an eloquence that makes at least some of them seem new all over again.) Glancing through Mike Leggett's piece on Lefty this morning, I was reminded of how the veteran teacher manages to gather all the women in an auditorium when he does a casting demonstration: "'I can teach any woman I'm not married to how to cast,' Kreh says. 'Wives don't listen to what we say, they listen to how we say it. Learn to cast and then find somebody who knows the fish you want to catch. Fly fishermen are willing to share their knowledge, and outside of sex, it's one of the few things that men and women can really enjoy together.'" In the Austin American-Statesman.

Last year filmmaker and journalist Edward Nachtrieb took the season off from his job as a Travel Channel director to film wounded veterans floating and fishing Montana's Smith River. The Smith floats, organized by outfitter Mike Geary, are captured in Nachtrieb's new flim "All the Way Home." "Three years ago, Montana fishing outfitter Mike Geary was inspired by news reports to organize fly fishing trips for disabled veterans down one of the American West's most isolated rivers. In this film, we meet a group of veterans that reflects the diversity of challenges facing our returning soldiers. Some, on leave from Walter Reed Hospital, bear the obvious physical wounds of war while others cope with hidden traumas that are invisible, yet dangerous."

One of the unique aspects of Texas redfish flats is that they often wadeable, and kayaks enable anglers to get deep into no-motor zones and the network of shallow lakes that dot much of the coast. As Mike Leggett notes in the Austin American-Statesman, Lighthouse Lakes is one of the most popular, and its value to anglers has only increased since in 2006 Texas made it illegal to destroy seagrasses in the Redfish Bay area. "We will paddle close to six miles during the day, which turns into a quiet, peaceful sojourn over redfish, close to roseate spoonbills and great blue herons and around scattered oyster beds that serve as feeding platforms for the schools of reds that cruise the area."

We got word last night that for the first time in history, an angler and guide team have won all three major Keys tarpon fly fishing tournaments in a single season. David Dalu, fishing with guide Scott Collins won the Gold Cup Tournament, which was held from June 16 to June 20 in Islamorada, Florida. Dalu and Collins won by a substantial number of points, and did so only two weeks after winning the Don Hawley tournament and less than a month after winning the Golden Fly.

I spoke to both Dalu and Collins last night, and besides giving credit to several other guides and anglers for their role in helping develop the techniques they have been using, they both were ready for some good, old-fashioned fun fishing for a change. "The pressure in the tournaments was intense," Dalu said. "Scott and I need to go out and just jump some fish for a change." Collins echoed Dalu's sentiments in regard to their amazing success: "I just feel plain lucky."

"The videography is sensational. The landscape is dramatic. It's not often we get a look at such an exotic locale, nor the culture that resides in such vast and remote lands. But the Fish Bums might have done more -- and better. If the film suffers a significant shortfall, it is the absence of clarity about who is talking when, and to whom." Howard Meyerson on MLive.com.

The son of legendary sportscaster Curt Gowdy learned fly fishing from his dad on a nameless creek near Laramie, Wyoming. But these days his love of fishing has expanded to all tackle, though his philosophy hasn't changed. "It was quite clear to me that when the reward is such satisfying angling, the relative merits of fly and bait seem unimportant. 'Do what the fish want,' Gowdy said, summing up his philosophy and our morning on the water, 'not what you want them to want.'" Peter Kaminsky in The New York Times.

WE WERE recently invited by sunglass and apparel brand Oakley to participate in their Masters of Vision Fly Fishing Media Tour in Bozeman, Montana for a few days of fishing and an in-depth look at the technology behind their new line of eyewear.
The tour took up residence at the Gallatin River Lodge, a first-rate lodge and outfitter operated by Steve Gamble, located just a short walk from the Gallatin River in the heart of Lewis and Clark territory.

Remarkably, the parking lot was even large enough to house the 67,000 pound Rolling-O-Lab, which is both motor home and science lab rolled into one. The lab tours the country 300 days a year, making stops at a variety of sporting events and conventions, touting Oakley's High Definition Optics® technology and demonstrating the eight ANSI testing methods for performance eyewear.

We spent the first morning eating breakfast while peering out at a late season snowstorm that contained some of the largest flakes I'd ever seen. Our guide Chuck assured us that the freezing temperatures and hard falling snow were atypical for mid-June but offered the silver lining of actually helping the fishing. For an angler that spends most of his time chasing fish on the hot and sunny flats of Florida it was welcome news, even if it was difficult to imagine. Staying warm was clearly shaping up to be the battle of the day for me, but Chuck was right and overall the group did well, covering local waters such as the Lower Madison and the MZ and Sitz Ranches.

The second day of fishing found us nymphing the renowned Paradise Valley Spring Creeks for Rainbows and Browns and by all accounts it was a solid day of fishing for everyone. Even after the day was over I couldn't settle on a highlight -- a really nice brown trout that I lost, or the swallows that kept landing on the tip of my rod every time I stopped fishing and stood still.

The conditions, snow, rain, and cloud cover made it difficult to really test the new eyewear but the general consensus of the group was that Oakley has hit a home run with HDO®.

Read on for the complete story and photos.

On FishandFly.com, Jeremy Lucas describes the steps he uses to make a coiled leader, part of the system developed by the Spanish to detect the very subtle takes of trout feeding on tiny nymphs. "They can eject it in a flash, particularly fish like roach, dace or grayling. We need every chance possible in order to register when a fish has mouthed the fly. The greased, coiled indicator is far more sensitive than the proprietary available strike indicators, though will not support as much weight as these, but then it does not need to do so. We are employing mostly lightly-ballasted, single (occasionally double) nymphs in size 20, 18 and 16, at depths commonly less than a metre."

"The swirl in the chop said northern pike. When the fish gulped the guy's bunny streamer, it showed nothing of itself. But you could see the boil, and it was profound. So was the bend in his fly rod. The beast sulked, as if it were thinking things over. Then it poured on the coal and pulled free." Ed Dentry describes what happens in Colorado's reservoirs when the early summer sun finally warms the flats and pike laze in water only inches deep. In the Rocky Mountain News.

The legendary Hexagenia limbata hatches that cause midwestern snowplows to come out of hibernation and make bridges unsafe in early summer are also one of the least predictable "macro events" in fly fishing. The only real answer, according to Eric Sharp, is to fish more. "At one point, a fish started rising closer than the length of my nine-foot rod, and when I dapped four feet of leader on the water I got an instant strike from an 18-incher. I'll never forget that night. However, I would rather forget the 200 or so other nights when the Hex hatch produced a few trout of moderate size, and the 100 nights when I got absolutely nothing." In the Detroit Free Press.

"Foam means food,' [guide Dan Legere] explained. 'Bugs collect in the foam and fish look to the foam for food. Whatever fly you choose, land it and dead drift it in a patch of foam. I know it's tempting to drift your fly all by itself on clean water, but fishing the foam will get you way more takes.'" John Holyoke highlights a tip from a top Maine guide talking about fishing a caddis hatch on the West Branch of the Penobscot, but the advice could be applied anywhere. In the Bangor Daily News.

All the news focused on the massive slug of water stretching the banks of the Mississippi like a bird's egg in a snake made me take another look at the clever "concept blog" done recently by Nate Matthews and Tim Romano of Field & Stream. Their "Big Muddy Road Trip," while geared to hook-and-bullet sensibilities, is a clever and gritty bucket of journalism. And Tim Romano may be one of the most under-appreciated photo-journalists in the fishing business. Here's a taste from their last on-the-river post: "A strong wind and an incoming tide were pushing directly against the Mississippi's 2,320 mile-long current, and this created some massive waves. These were crashing against the jetty with great force, throwing gouts of spray into the air, where it was blown sideways by the wind. When I saw this I knew we wouldn't be doing much fishing. But there are times when I'm possessed by a mulish sort of stubborn, and I was damned if we'd come this far to turn around without at least touching the waters of the Gulf."

David Dedmon, owner of Montana Flywater Company in Hamilton, Montana, died Sunday after the raft he and his wife were using flipped over in the Bitterroot River. They were scouting the river to be sure it was safe for clients. "'He wasn't a rookie," [Ravalli County Sheriff Chris] Hoffman said. 'He'd spent a lot of time on the river. This accident was simply a very painful reminder of how dangerous this river can be. Every year, we beg and plead with people to be patient and wait until the river comes down.'" The Bitterroot River is considered by many to be one of the most perilous in the state, primarily because of the number of log jams and sweepers on the river." Anthony Quirini on Missoulian.com.

If you must float a river that has dangerous sweepers and debris in it, wear a personal flotation device at all times, and learn the defensive swim position: on your back, with feet facing downstream, and toes up so that your feet do not get trapped in debris.

V. Paul Reynolds nails it with his discussion of the importance of tippets in fly presentation. In the process he's quite eloquent on new-versus-old, pricey-versus-cheap, and Lefty worship. "I have begun to look beyond fly angling orthodoxy, which teaches that matching the hatch (the right fly) and proper presentation (smooth, ethereal delivery of the fly upon the water) is the thing. If you have matched the hatch, and made a good cast, and still the trout ignores your offerings, is there something else? Oh yes. Try tippet trickery." (Thanks to reader Howard Fenderson for this link.)

Last week I fished with the folks from H2O Bonefishing, who operate out of Pelican Bay Hotel in Lucaya, Grand Bahama. I was there on the invitation of Orvis, who wanted to gather "pros" and amateur anglers together to assist in the tagging and fin-clipping of bonefish for Tarpon & Bonefish Unlimited. BTU, if you didn't know, has made great strides in the past ten years in determining the spawning habits, range and species differentiation among bonefish (not to mention gathering extensive data on tarpon as well). This was Orvis's first foray into saltwater research, and during the week dozens of fish were tagged or fin-clipped so that BTU could add the fish of that area to their ever-expanding database.

I fished only two days -- just enough to stretch the line on some very nice fish and remind myself that not all bonefish want a fly stripped cautiously. In fact the fish on the northern flats of Grand Bahama chased the flies we were throwing -- mostly weighted size-4 "McKnife" patterns with toad-like yarn bodies, red eyes, orange crystal hair tails and chartreuse thread -- like barracudas.

Read more in the extended entry ...

Maybe there is hope after all. And maybe we should lobby for John McCain to also be sure a fly fisher -- even a token one -- gets the nod for a top campaign role. Good fly fishers cover the water.

Though they don't attach brands to chemical names, the EPA maintains a useful and thought-provoking list of insect repellents on their EPA.gov Web site. Among the approved and regulated active ingredients are Permethrin (think "Buzz Off" clothing) and the oils of eucalyptus (which has a synthesized version) and citronella -- two "natural" options. The thing about the natural oils, in my experience, is that it seems to be hard for manufacturers to make repellents with eucalyptus or citronella that are not, well, oily. That thick coat of repellent necessary to bring protection levels up to those of DEET also traps heat, and there's not much worse than being oily and sweaty on a summer day.

"The cry is for 'nativism,' a longing for the return of the natives to pre-European perfection. Our land is imagined to have been perfect when in the care of the American Indian, who was thought to roam these mountains and plains in pre-Adamite innocence. Most of us now understand that every brand of human has always been hard on every land in which he has lived -- as the lands have always been hard on him."

In the Boulder, Colorado Daily Camera, Gordon Wickstrom manages not to sound like a strident Darwinist while defending the early practitioners of fish planting. Still, after reading this, I wonder if the loss of one-fifth of all living species every thirty years is not enough to make even the most ardent "naturalist" wonder if we shouldn't go to extraordinary measures to protect the diversity we still have. (If you care to examine the details, a link-rich Web page on species extinction is maintained on The Well by Dr. David Ulansey, Professor of Philosophy and Religion at the California Institute of Integral Studies in San Francisco.) I think it is fair to say that blithe romanticism has a place on neither side of the argument.

"'Tarraleah is the fly fishing resort you create when you are not creating a fly fishing resort,' says manager Mark Newcombe." In the Sydney Morning Herald, Susan Gough Henly writes about a recent visit to Tarraleah Lodge, a luxury hotel which Conde Naste Travelller's British edition rated among the top 65 new hotels in the world.

Driving back from Fort Lauderdale after my Bahamas trip yesterday, I found myself in that radio-wave dead zone known as Alligator Alley. Actually it's not that you can't find any music on Alligator Alley, it's just that it inevitably turns out to be a rumba or samba, or some relic from a music collection that might have been purchased in a gated-community yard sale. Then I heard "Up Where We Belong," sung by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, and decided out of boredom to actually listen to the lyrics. They weren't bad at all. But of course I prefer the live version of "With a Little Help From My Friends" or "Feelin' Alright."

Turns out the arm-flailing artist now makes his home in Crawford, Colorado, where after fifteen years he has managed to blend in with the locals. And besides growing tomatoes and riding horses, Cocker likes to spend his time fly fishing in the Gunnison. "He said the flailing was a subconscious motion -- what he would do if he could play a musical instrument. But he can't, 'because I have these fat thumbs,' he said, holding up two meaty digits. His version of air guitar is toned down in his performances nowadays. But his friends say occasionally his right arm will go into motion when he's caught up in a close snooker game." Nancy Lofholm in the Denver Post.

"There are two questions every trout angler wishes he'd asked before stepping off the bank into the nippy waters of a June stream. 'Did I find and patch all the holes in my waders before I put them into storage last fall?' 'Where did I put the mosquito repellent?'" In the Green Bay Press Gazette, Jim Lee finds fishing after a wet spring is more about bug dope and bear sitings than he and his companions might wish.

On my way to the Bahamas Wednesday I stopped and bought my seven-year-old a fly rod and reel. He's been asking for it for some time -- in fact it was tops on his summer list of things he wanted most. Will has been tying flies for a couple of years now, and he can cast my 9-weight a good 30 feet, so I figured it was time to make it easier for him to get really impassioned. Truth is, it is still more about my passion than his, though in the fungible mind of a seven-year-old intensity makes up for an awful lot of persistence.

I was crushed by the death of Tim Russert. No other way to put that, and no other way to explain why the news of his passing resolved all questions of whether or not it made sense to spend so much money on a piece of high-tech gear that will no doubt be broken and eventually forgotten. Russert reminded us that just as you could be a good, unbending interviewer while still being fair, you could be a good dad without being perfect. It is indeed the little things that count, even if -- and perhaps especially if -- they are fishing trips that get rained out, fly lines that get shredded in the process of learning to cast, and fishless days sweetened by mashed PB&J sandwiches.

If I had any doubt about what I will be doing when I get home, it's gone. Have a great Father's day.

Outfitter and author Patrick Straub has a new book out detailing just about everything you'll need to know for taking a Montana fly fishing trip. "This comprehensive guide provides everything an angler will need to plan a trip to Montana: how to find a guide or outfitter if you want one, how to pick your destination and directions for how to get there, angling etiquette, and selective listings for where to stay and eat while you're out there. Also includes an informative chapter about threatened fish species, invasive plant species, and other serious biological considerations. 50 black & white photographs, 16 maps." (From the Amazon editorial summary.)

Montana on the Fly: An Angler's Guide on Amazon.

Did you know that tarpon tagged in southern Mexico sometimes find their way to the mouth of the Mississippi? Or that the likely spawning grounds of a large portion of tarpon are in an area that is being considered for offshore drilling near Florida? Or that there are now believed to be three species of bonefish in Atlantic waters, and eight in the Pacific? And that bonefish grow considerably faster in the Florida Keys than in the Bahamas?

I learned that and more last night at the Grand Bahamas' Pelican Bay Hotel, where Dr. Aaron Adams -- author, director of operations of Bonefish & Tarpon Unlimited (BTU), and Mote Marine Scientist -- spoke to a group brought here by Orvis. Adams has been traveling around the Caribbean for the past dozen years or so collecting data and encouraging research for these two very important gamefish, and his findings are critical to their future protection. It's pretty cool stuff when you consider that ten years ago there was very little known about tarpon migration patterns and spawning behavior, and that there wasn't even a baseline for bonefish populations in the Florida Keys.

You can find out a whole lot more about tarpon and bonefish by becoming a member of BTU. Better yet, you can contribute directly to the rather expensive effort to track tarpon with satellite tags -- the only way to effectively monitor their movements. It's research that is sorely needed as the U.S. faces the prospect of more offshore drilling and uncontrolled coastal development.

Looking for something to occupy your time during the runoff hiatus? Try damselflies, says Charlie Meyers. "In that eternal search for evidence of a just and beneficent God, we present for your consideration a simple insect, the damselfly. At precisely the time when rivers are overflowing their banks and the high country remains wedged in snow and ice, this compassionate being sends relief to frustrated fishermen in the form of what may be the perfect bug." In the Denver Post.

It's been a long time coming -- thirty-four and a half years, to be exact -- but UYA Films has finally released the commercial version of the film "Tarpon." The re-mastered and color-corrected film is out on DVD, and having watched a bootleg copy of the original about 100 times, I was surprised by the quality of the new digitized version. Sure, there are a few "newsreel" scratches in the opening frames, but the scenes that matter most to me -- the young Tom McGuane talking with Richard Brautigan, Jim Harrison sitting in a hammock "coming to terms" with the fish, and especially the magnificent tarpon jumps -- are even more mesmerizing.

Some quick backstory for those who've never heard of the film: "Tarpon" was filmed by Christian Odasso and Guy de la Valdene in Key West in 1974. They were inspired by the top guides of the era -- Woody Sexton, Gil Drake, Steve Huff and others -- to make a statement about what fly fishing for tarpon was really like and at the same time illustrate what threatened the fish and their habitat. The result was what Carl Hiaasen calls "a work of art."

But the best way to get a sense of what the film is all about is to watch the trailer, which we're happy to be able to show for the first time this week.

Back in 1999, Curtis Rist wrote an article for Discover magazine on the physics of fly casting. It's worth reading again to remind ourselves how we manage to deliver a fly to a target that is sometimes a hundred feet away. Rist points out that while the smartest folks in the world are challenged to reduce fly casting to a mathematical formula, the physics of achieving momentum with a fly line are apparently simple: "Bullwhips operate under the same principle as the fly line: Energy travels from the arm to the thick end of the whip all the way down to the tapered tip, which accelerates wildly as the mass decreases. The characteristic crack of the whip results not from the tip snapping to the ground, but from the tip literally breaking the sound barrier and producing a concussion of sound waves." On FindArticles.com.

Yesterday I spoke with Tom Pero, editor of Fish & Fly magazine, who said that the current Tackle and Travel issue, almost in the hands of subscribers, will be the last for the publication under Turnstile Publishing. Turnstile, which owns the magazine, also shut down Master's Athlete today and laid off 15 employees. This continues a series of shutdowns of periodicals by the company, which has been hurt by the decline in their golf magazine business following an editorial debacle last winter, when a cover of their flagship Golfweek magazine carried a hangman's noose to illustrate a story on a comment made by a Golf TV announcer regarding Tiger Woods. Apparently large investments in in-house video capabilities also did not pay off. Turnstile and Pero are now working to find another publisher to take over the title and its circulation of approximately 20,000.

But it seems to me that the demise of Fish & Fly -- which more than any other fly fishing periodical in recent years took editorial chances, with longer, more detailed articles, more photographs, and harder-hitting gear reviews -- says more about the state of the fly fishing magazine business than it does about Tom Pero's editorial leadership, which I think was inspired. We've all heard complaints about milquetoast journalism in fly fishing, and F&F wasn't it. Pero chose to focus on in-depth content, and he believed that the readers and advertisers would pay for it. As it was, periodicals that spent more resources on becoming effective direct mail engines survived him. Even the fact that the latest issue of F&F is packed with advertising becomes a footnote when magazine publishers in general are experiencing lower subscription renewal rates, higher production and postal costs, and a shift in younger readers to the Internet.

What does that say about the future of fly fishing periodicals? I wonder. Maybe advertisers will be happy to have their choices narrowed on the print side of the business. But they lose out when an audience that is willing to pay for substance and a distinct voice is absorbed into the crowd. Personally I hope that other print publishers will take the example of Fish & Fly and improve on it by lowering their frequency and upping their production quality, but especially by spending more money on authors' and photographers' work. Pero's publication is evidence enough that is not editorial costs that will sink the ship. Indeed, if the inside story on Turnstile's failed attempt to move into video proves anything, it's that magazines should do what they do best. Print needs to adapt: not to compete with the Web, but to complement it. Nothing delivers high-resolution like print, and nothing appeals more to the human desire to hold information in our hands -- at least not yet.

Anyone desiring more information about Fish & Fly can contact Tom Pero at tom@wildriverpress.com.

While Karl Lagerfeld and Chanel continue to market the preposterous -- in this case a £9,170 Chanel rod and set of Chanel flies, "complete with the famous 'double C' logo on the gossamer wings" -- The Guardian's Simon Mills uncovers this bit of advice given to Coco Chanel on Norway's Alta by a fishing buddy of her then-current beau, the Duke of Westminster: "Coco explained her problems to him and received the soundest possible advice suggesting that she should draw inspiration from the sky. 'When it's clear and bright, tie on a Silver Doctor. When dark and overcast, use a Black Doctor' ... As a result, on several occasions she landed more salmon than His Grace."

We're guessing that a wise choice of flies -- with or without logos -- still produces more fish than the world's most expensive fly rod.

Hardy & Greys has assembled an impressive team of industry professionals to manage their new U.S. operations, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The group includes new president Jim Murphy, Steve Krewson as head of operations, Ray Zink as marketing manager, Steve Tatarchuk as regional business manager, and Crosby Beane as eastern states regional business manager. Hardy & Greys plans to announce the details of their 2009 dealer program at this year's Fly Fishing Retailer Show at Denver in September.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

"Shadows of the surf, gray ghosts of the shoreline, that's corbina, a prized croaker that ranges from the Sea of Cortez to Point Conception. They can grow to 8 pounds and are known for their great initial runs and fights. Anglers say they're tough enough to catch with bait, such as sand crabs, which is 90 percent of their diet. It takes an artful angler to fool one with a fly." Ed Zieralski writes about the challenges and rewards of chasing Corbina in the California surf in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Abel's making a tradition of manufacturing limited edition reels which help raise money for conservation causes. The latest example is a "Golden Trout" large arbor reel with interchangeable spool designed by artist James Prosek. "'The funds from the reel will go toward supporting summer volunteer opportunities in the Golden Trout Wilderness that aim to help protect habitat and in so doing, help conserve Golden Trout,' said Cal Trout CEO Brian Stranko."

By the way, be sure to check out Abel's sharp-looking new Web site.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

A week that began with a dreamlike combination of fish and weather ended with a good blow, but that didn't keep the competitors in the annual Don Hawley Invitational Tarpon Tournament from setting new records for numbers of fish caught. Leading the numbers were winners David Dalu and Scott Collins (guide), who caught an incredible 21 fish during the five-day tournament. Angler Carlos Duncan and guide Rob Fordyce caught ten fish in one day, quite a remarkable achievement. In all 158 total fish were caught by 25 teams in the combined 12-pound and 16-pound divisions, the most ever in a Don Hawley tournament.

More results (all 12-pound tippet):

First Place: David Dalu with guide Scott Collins -- 21 fish released
Second Place: Carlos Duncan with guide Rob Fordyce -- 19 fish released
Third Place: Peter Reddin with guide Dave Borras -- 11 fish released

16-Pound Tippet Winners: Mike McLoad with guide Brian Helms -- 10 fish

"On about the fifth or sixth cast, my flyline jumped and I reared back on a silver torpedo. The bone ran off 30 yards of flyline effortlessly, zooming right through the school on its mad dash for freedom, which sent all the other fish scurrying for safety. 'Keep your rod tip up,' Westby hollered, but I knew that." The Washington Post's Angus Phillips has an experience in Belize's Glover's Reef that reminds him of maxim number one: never leave fish to find fish.

"Put simply, every fish has to be somewhere, and that place invariably will just be a few feet from shore. These trout are easy to locate, hungry and, on a typical day, as dumb as fish ever get. Anglers who can make the mental break into a new mocha-colored realm can turn what ordinarily might be the bleakest time of the year into a bonanza." Charlies Waters points out the several advantages to fishing runoff-muddied trout streams, including the fact that even a poor presentation can produce big fish. In the Denver Post.

In the Louisville Courier-Journal, Gary Garth takes the 8-weight Helios for a spin around local bass, panfish and trout fisheries and comes away favorably impressed. "The model I tested was the Helios 843-4; an 8-foot-4, 3-weight, 4-piece mid-flex rod (all Helios rods are available only in 4-piece), which Orvis recommends for small streams. The Helios 843-4 is everything you would expect from a high-end product with a famous pedigree."

For the second time in less than a month, David Dalu and guide Scott Collins won a major Florida Keys tarpon fly fishing tournament, finishing the five-day Don Hawley Invitational with a 2-fish lead over second place finishers Carlos Duncan and Rob Fordyce.

We will post more information about the results as they come in.

Apparently Blackhawk helicopter viewing in northwest Wyoming rivals that of some major species of wildlife. "Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and then, in a WHOOSH and a flash, three wild Blackhawk helicopters rise up from the river like a bad testosterone movie scene. They fly in formation along the riverbed for several miles with me and then they make a hard right and take off down a lush valley." Terri Orr in the Park City, Utah Record.

It's not often that an opportunity to save fishing for the next generation comes to a vote, but that's just what's happening right now in the Belize legislature. Thanks to an effort lead by Turneffe Flats lodge owner Craig Hayes, who helped fund an economic impact study showing the enormous importance of tarpon, permit and bonefish to the Belizean economy, the government may be about to designate those three fish as catch-and-release only.

Here's a great opportunity for you to get personally involved by writing a supporting letter to the Belizean ministers of tourism and fishing so that it can be presented by Hayes at an important June 24 cabinet meeting. The ministers are already behind the change, but they need a "show of hands" from U.S. anglers, travelers and business people to keep the momentum going forward.

If you believe that these three fish are more valuable caught and released than they are in a fish market, please take a few minutes to write an actual letter -- not an e-mail -- expressing your thoughts.

Read the extended entry for details on how to write a supporting letter.

One of my favorite fishing books of all time is Upstream: Fly Fishing in the American West. In it, Charles Lindsay's startlingly ethereal black and white photographs are interleaved between passages of Thomas McGuane's writing -- writing which comes as close to poetry as anything McGuane as published.

This morning's New York Times features the Rensselaerville, N.Y. home of photographers Catherine Chalmers and Charles Lindsay, which Chalmers, who is noted for her images of insects and small animals, describes as "where the head beast lives."

Upstream: Fly-Fishing in the American West on Amazon.

Robin Carey writes about a return to a childhood dream, of hunting garnets and catching cutthroats, in Gray's Sporting Journal. "A tad off center, along the crystalline axes, shone the star. So the star was there, as the cutthroat had been, but the facets were gone, and the right creek ran in another drainage."

Times writer Sarah Tuff asks Bozeman, Montana fly fisher Anne Johansen to test five different fly fishing vests designed for women. "Nearly 500,000 women fly-fish, according to the Fish and Wildlife Service. While that's only 16 percent of those practicing long, graceful casts on this country's rivers, lakes and ocean bays, fly-fishing companies now offer women an alternative to wading in bulky, ill-fitting men's vests."

Johansen's pick? The $170 Patagonia Riverwalker vest, which she described as "not flashy, but technical."

Citing a classic George Carlin line ("If a man speaks in the forest and there's no woman around to hear him, is he still wrong?"), Susan Cocking sorts through similar mysteries, such whether a permit not eating her fly signifies a bad cast -- or anything at all. "Starting with last June's trip to Mexico's southern Yucatan Peninsula, followed by a three-day July outing to our own 'Seven Sisters' Key West flats and three days last month on the flats of Placencia in southern Belize, I am beginning to think that catching a permit using a fake crab in three feet of clear water is akin to stumbling blind down a 10,000-foot mine shaft and finding the spot where the Hope Diamond is buried." In the Miami Herald.

Jim Murphy, who founded both Redington and Albright Tackle, has been hired as president of Hardy & Greys' new wholly owned subsidiary, Hardy North America, headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. According to an article by Tim Mekeel in Lancaster Online, Hardy's presence in Pennsylvania means an end to its distribution relationship with Cortland. "Hardy & Greys is investing more than $1 million to open the 14,000-square-foot facility. It will start with eight to 12 employees, with 'significant potential for growth' as the business expands, he said."