Looking again at a copy of "Tarpon," the 1974 film by Guy de la Valdene and Christian Odasso of UYA Films, got me wondering more about the slice of time that produced so much interest in tarpon fishing and conservation in the Florida Keys. A little research turned up this piece by Jim Harrison in Sports Illustrated's December 1973 issue on the prominent Keys guides of the era: "When he is not enervated by bad weather, Woody Sexton gives the appearance of tremendous strength and vitality. He constitutes some sort of classic in conservative guiding; while most guides have turned to larger skiffs -- Fiber Craft or Hewes -- for the comfort of their customers, Sexton keeps his light Nova Scotia. The skiff was bought from a Hamiltonian Republican who named it Amagiri years ago after the Japanese destroyer that sank PT-109. The name is still on the skiff and has been known to vex some of the Navy personnel on the Keys."

Interestingly, the makers of "Tarpon" chose not to focus on the guides but on the fish and the slightly hallucinatory experience of fly fishing on the flats. Harrison's piece proves, I think, that the writers who were fishing there at the time understood the game very well, no doubt because of the guides, who were genuinely impassioned about the sport and not in the game to become celebrities. The film's estimation of the threat to the future of tarpon bound the writers, guides, fishermen to accept that it was all too good to last. Yet here we are, 35 years later, with most of that first generation of expert guides gone, and the tarpon are still coming.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Heading off to your favorite Montana retreat or bonefishing destination this summer? Thanks to the major airlines joining the charge-for-everything club, be prepared to pay $25 for each extra baggage item you carry. That includes rods and the wet/dry bag you might carry for waders and boots. For fly fishers, one way around the extra charge is to stuff your four-piece rods into a single suitcase along with all your other essential gear. But an even better way is to ship your gear ahead of time. Not only are you more sure of having your gear when you arrive, but it will probably be in better shape. (Even international shipments are relatively cheap if you plan ahead.)

As Joshua Brockman reports on NPR, the new fees have luggage designers looking for innovative solutions. "Rolling duffels have a lot of capacity and are increasingly popular, says Stewart Sherman, the vice president for marketing at Travelpro. Eagle Creek has a rolling duffel with a separate piece that zips onto the front -- transforming the one bag to two. And L.L. Bean has been redesigning its luggage line with lighter nylon fabrics."

Another idea: Wade wet. Or rent your waders and boots from a local fly shop. By doing so, you won't be toting wet gear back home, and you'll be practicing good environmental stewardship because you won't be providing a piggy-back service for invasive species.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:20 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)

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)

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)

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)

"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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

"It would be easy to skip Opening Day with its prospect of cold boots and frosty fingers. But no, that wouldn't do - spring is about to come strolling over the hill, and she and I have a longstanding agreement to spend the day together at the edge of some brook among the alders, willows, and maples celebrating life's reawakening." On Boston.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bill Schneider's account of pursuing his first steelhead on a fly reminds me of the feverishness -- in my case literal -- with which I sought my first fly-caught permit.

It was July, and I had an inkling that the evening incoming tide would provide a perfect water temperature for permit in the backcountry behind Sugarloaf Key in the Florida Keys. I was young, and the fact that I had a 102-degree temperature was barely a consideration. Just the idea of seeing all those black sickle tails at sunset while standing in cool water was enough to make me throw my rod in the skiff and go. When I got to the spot -- an area of finger flats bordered by an ancient reef line that provided cover for fish in between tides -- the permit were already floating up with the incoming tide, looking for periwinkles to crush and swallow. This was before the invention of yarn flies, and the deer-hair fly I tied on weighed about as much as a child's mini-hamburger.

I must have thrown that fly in front of 100 permit before the sun set. I had a tough choice to make, because soon it would be too dark to find the narrow channels leading home. I was sweating profusely by this time and beginning to get the shakes -- apparently all this effort wasn't helping my flu symptoms, but I was bound to the experience, you might say. Another cast and suddenly my line jumped, then came tight. This was it! I lifted the rod and tried to keep my balance as the fish left for the Gulf with the rest of his school. Eventually I started getting line back and brought the fish close enough to the skiff that I could grab my net. But now it was almost completely dark, and I was having a hard time seeing the fish. I had the idea, though, that if I took a picture with my flash camera, at least I could see exactly what he looked like later. And I would have proof. I lay the fish on the bottom of the skiff, took the photo, fumbled around and got the fly out and slid the fish back in the water. I managed one of those miraculous white-knuckle return trips through the coral-head-studded backcountry, feeling quite nauseous for other reasons but embraced in a kind of angling delirium that made me forget that I was sick at all.

The next day I raced over to one-hour photo on Simonton and waited, still not feeling well enough to walk around, until the evidence was handed back to me. Shuffling through the photos, I came across a very bad picture of a smallish white permit framed in green net nylon. Everything was very dark, except for bright sides of the fish and the brilliant reflection of the camera flash in the fish's eye.

And there was the fly, a fuzzy brown blob stuck, not in the fish's mouth, but outside of his mouth, in front of his eye. I hadn't caught the fish. He was snagged.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:55 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here's a little gem of a story featuring Washington state guide Jack Mitchell, who managed to turn the advice of Larry Lee Palmer's father into even more durable memories on the cold Upper Columbia. We added a few turns of phrase to our angling lexicon from this one, including 'bobbercators,' 'hydrotherapy,' and 'foam is home, baby.' "Mitchell roused us the next morning. He's bald, burly and has a non-stop patter geared to enthuse his constituency. Fishing rods are 'sticks,' and 'hydrotherapy' is the relaxation and insight gathered while plying the river with sticks."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As Bill Scheider describes it, it's a "pandemic with no cure." Pretty hard to argue with someone who has so obviously succumbed, except to wonder if he is indeed hoping for treatment. "Not only do steelheaders miss a lot of work (if they still have a job) and family dinners (if they’re still married), but even when they aren’t on the river, they can’t concentrate on anything else because they’re thinking about being on the river. At the office, you can easily spot them. Remember the movie, Invasion of the Body Snatchers? Now you understand how Steelhead Fever manifests itself." In New West.

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

Gary Borger, Thad Robison, Tim Pask, Tom Dickson, Greg Grip, and Erin Mooney cast their votes for the world's top trout and salmon destinations on MSNBC. "'Nothing, even having a tigerfish take a Dahlberg Diver from the surface of the Zambezi River, compares to watching a 35-pound Atlantic salmon rise up from the Petite Cascapedia River bottom,' says Tom Dickson, long-time trout nut and editor of Montana Outdoors." Article by Greg Breining.

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

"As it flows to the lake through an industrial valley, the river witnesses graffiti-lined walls and abandoned factories. Its water is sullied by discarded shopping carts and urban runoff. But, too, the river meanders past stands of hardwoods and newly restored banks. Last weekend the river was dressed in its Easter finest: The sun dappled like diamonds in the riffles, marshmallow snow blanketed the banks and striped the trees." Paul Smith gets his bell wrung by a steelhead on one of Wisconsin's little urban anomalies, the Menomonee River in Milwaukee.

Meanwhile the anglers arriving on Wisconsin's Brule at 2 AM are dismayed to find two cars already in the parking lot. "Anglers were right about one thing. It was cold in the darkness before dawn. Right at 20 degrees. A half-moon rode a starry sky above the boughs of white pines. Anglers built small fires for warmth as they staked out favorite runs. Fishing wouldn’t be legal until half an hour before sunrise, about 6:25 a.m." Sam Cook in the Duluth News Tribune.

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

"Most cutthroat in the lower Rogue and Illinois rivers are sea-runs, whose life history mirrors steelhead, including time in the ocean and a river return for spawning. The vast majority of upper Rogue cutthroats are called 'fluvials.' They use the main-stem Rogue like the sea, dropping into the Rogue to feed most of the year before heading into tributaries like Elk Creek to spawn." Mark Freeman writes about what serious anglers do on the Upper Rogue when steelhead are scarce. In the Oregon Mail Tribune.

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

Joe Doggett reappears in the Houston Chronicle (thankfully) writing about two people who were instrumental in bringing fly fishing to waters around Rockport, Texas. I've fished with Dave Hayward, who is now Orvis's southwest regional manager, in both Texas and the Keys, and he is easily qualified to be a professional guide in his own right. Chuck Scates was a name in the business at a time when fly fishers were just discovering the fabulous sight fishing in Aransas Bay. "Hayward redeemed the choke with an excellent cast on a 27-inch redfish weaving through water so shallow the gleaming back was exposed. The fish snatched the fly and turned against the positive strip strike. Five minutes later, Hayward held the red against the hull, then opened his hands for a clean release. Scates grinned from the poling platform. 'It's a lot easier when you wait until they get the fly in their mouth, eh?'"

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

On Fly Talk, Kirk Deeter lines up a perfect schedule for the North American fly fisher. Sure, he left out October permit in Key West, but on the whole this list is fodder for more than a few daydreams. "August: Early Mako Sharks, off San Diego (new moon); Early-Mid Tricos, Missouri River, Montana, below Holter Dam; Mid callibaetis hatch, Silver Creek Idaho, Madison Arm of Hebgen Lake (gulpers); Mid-Late Stimmies and beetles, San Miguel River near Telluride, Colorado; Late Hoppers! on the South Fork, Idaho."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Forbes Traveler polls Lefty Kreh, Tim Holschlag, Tim Pask and others for their opinions on the best North American fishing spots. “'When it comes to monster pike, Saskatchewan’s Wollaston Lake is hard to beat,' says Tim Holschlag, fishing guide and writer whose beat reaches from his Minneapolis home far north into Canada." The article by Greg Breining includes a slideshow of the experts' top picks.

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

The Free Argentine Waters blog reported today that three US citizens were deported from Chile after being caught guiding professionally under tourist visas, which of course don't allow someone to work in the country.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Virtual Angler blogger Nick Mills tells an interesting story about an abortive attempt to catch trout in Afghanistan and his subsequent research, which turned up some history on the country's brown trout, which were first mentioned in the writings of Herodotus and Marco Polo. "As for the origin of the brown trout, Jean-José wrote a book, La pêche à la truite en Afghanistan, in which he theorizes that the trout migrated from Europe in meltwater streams at the end of the last Ice Age." In Maine Today.

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

"This is a sport, all wrapped up in mystique like a Christmas gift draped in colorful ribbons. It is a mood, as well as being a happy form of spring enchantment. Not everyone can be a steelheader and not everyone wants to chase these fish." Dave Richey describes the impulse to fish for steelhead as not unlike the same impulse that pushes steelhead upstream. In Michigan's Travis City Record.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Brian Strickland mentions the Cache la Poudre River near Fort Collins and the Conejos River in the southwest part of the state as good bets for trout streams on the upswing in 2008. "For several minutes, the flex in my 5-weight Sage fly rod played this 20-inch hog. After several drag-ripping runs, my 7X tippet could only take so much and with the next hard tug, it snapped and brought this fly-fishing junky to his knees." In Rocky Mountain Game & Fish magazine.

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

Ed Dentry reports that in Colorado snowpacks in almost all areas are nearing 100% of average, with many areas reaching far above that level. "The heartiest heaps are in southern Colorado: upper Rio Grande, 163 percent; Arkansas, 155 percent; San Miguel, Dolores, Animas and San Juan, 152 percent; Gunnison, 145 percent. Northern Colorado also has been dealt generous snow: upper Colorado River, 129 percent; Yampa and White, 112 percent; North Platte, 111 percent; South Platte, 110 percent." In the Rocky Mountain News.

Meanwhile Montana is looking at a similar picture, with snowpacks near or much above average in most districts.

What's it all mean for trout and trout anglers? A healthy scouring of streambeds, plenty of water for spawning fish, a season that will stretch into fall, and maybe even a quieting of the fight over resources that has marked recent summers.

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

Think carp are cagey? Think permit are paranoid? You've obviously never met a Pine Island redfish. Whether it is because of the constant roar of big outboards or the simple fact that the waters between Boca Grande and Fort Myers are a redfish nursery and only the skittish survive, the area holds some of the most difficult redfish in the U.S. Norm Zeigler writes about it in this morning's New York Times. "The redfish of southwest Florida’s lower Caloosahatchee River estuary, which includes Pine Island Sound, Matlacha Pass and San Carlos Bay, have a well-deserved reputation as some of the spookiest in the United States. Locals refer to them as Pine Island Sound bonefish."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"It's a hard place to dislike. The Rose is a gin-clear freestone stream that tumbles out of the Blue Ridge into a picturesque farm valley in the shadow of Old Rag Mountain, an hour and a half's drive west of the Beltway." Angus Phillips writes in The Washington Post about the pay-per-rod operation of Douglas Dear, board chairman of Project Healing Waters, a national nonprofit organization that teaches injured veterans how to tie flies and fly fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The good news in many western U.S. states this year is that they are seeing snows like they haven't seen in twenty years. The bad news -- if you can call it that -- is that runoff conditions will be extreme in many places and last longer than they have in years. And in those fisheries below impounded water, like New Mexico's San Juan, large releases are completely changing the character of early season fishing. Sante Fe New Mexican journalist Karl Moffat writes about last week's abrupt end to wading on the San Juan: "The higher flow of 5,000 CFS not only delivers stored water downstream to designated users but also mimics the annual spring flooding experienced by natural rivers. The higher flow helps scour out silt and sediment in the riverbed which promotes a healthier fish habitat."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In The New York Times, James Prosek reports on a trip to the Agua Boa river, near the border between Brazil and southern Venezuela. "The peacock bass is notorious for taking flies and lures with brutal predatory focus, and once hooked is a relentless fighter. I soon learned that these were not like largemouth bass (they are not closely related) when I attempted to land a 14-pounder by hand. The sandpapery teeth and steel-trap jaws shredded my thumb. As I watched the blood cascade down my hand and wrist, I momentarily woke from my jet lag and realized I was in the Amazon."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

"His head still pounding from too much goat-milk vodka the night before, Justin Crump makes the best of idle time waiting for his backwoods shuttle van to pick him up along the true backwaters of Mongolia. Onto massive saltwater hooks, Crump lashes foot-long strands of coarse hair trimmed off a yak's back at a nearby village. It's a new streamer fly the wayward anglers have concocted to pick a fight with taimen, those 40-pound, 50-year-old Mongolian trout that Crump and his band of fishing bums are after." Mark Freeman chases the free-range videographers to Mongolia and around the states in this article about the origins of the Fly Fishing Film Tour.

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

Seven years before ESPN's somewhat stilted production of Guide House (featuring Paul Dixon, Brendan McCarthy, Amanda Switzer, Matthew Miller, and Bryan Goulart), Dixon was profiled in New York magazine by writer Guy Martin. Besides noting Dixon's annoyance at Peter Kaminsky for wanting to eat his fish, Martin captured some nice subtleties about the sport and the person. "Martha Stewart's $400,000 Hinckley 'picnic boat,' the Skylands II, lolls -- as its owner would loll if its owner were a half-million-dollar pleasure boat -- primly buttoned under a white canvas skirt. Not fifteen feet away, a sun-blasted captain named Paul Dixon engages in the martial preflight check of his craft, a twenty-foot Hewes skiff so shorn of detail that it looks like it's been stripped for refitting: no cabin, no above-deck cleats, no seats with backs, no rail."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Washington Post writer Richard Morin describes El Pescador lodge in Ambergris Caye, Belize as one of the most likely places to catch a grand slam -- a bonefish, permit and tarpon on fly. "'Strip! Strip!' ordered fishing guide Kachu Marin, crouched next to my friend Mike Traugott on the forward platform of the 23-foot panga. Mike began to strip in his fly line in short, deliberate tugs. Fifty feet from the skiff and three feet down in the greenish-blue water, the tiny fly inched forward erratically along the sandy bottom." This is a more thorough piece than you'll normally see in a newspaper, with some interesting side notes on the family who runs the lodge and on Ambergris itself.

For more on fly fishing in Belize, check out MidCurrent's Belize Trip Guide.

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

One of the worst effects of large forest fires is that they invite erosion and stream siltation -- bad news for juvenile trout that literally get ground up by the sediment. It will likely take many years before the silt resulting from the 2002 Cheesman fire is fully flushed from the South Platte, but meanwhile biologists continue to stock juvenile rainbows and browns and say the river is coming back to life. Matt Gray provides an update on the popular fishery near Denver and quotes local expert Pat Dorsey: "'The fishery has changed, from the standpoint that there are more brown trout now, and they can be a little tougher to catch. They have really taken to the river now, and depending on what section you’re in, the ratio of browns to rainbows can be 60 to 40.'” In Rocky Mountain Game & Fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Thin silver crystals of ice shimmered in the air. The fly landed just above the feeding trout and floated high on the ripples. The surface erupted as the fish struck. I raised the rod tip, pulled down firmly on the line and felt the weight and fury of the brown." While schools close and ice fishermen huddle in their shacks, Brian Jones takes his bamboo rod to northwestern Utah's Weber river tailwaters and fishes for big browns. His complete guide appears on Rocky Mountain Game & Fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ken Allen points anglers to Maine's top spring trout and landlocked salmon fishing via DeLorme's Maine Atlas and Gazetteer. "One wonderful region of Maine takes a little effort to reach because of its remoteness -- the Munsungan and Mooseleuk area north of Baxter State Park. Check out Map 57, B-2 for Mooseleuk Stream and Map 56, C-5 for Munsungan Lake and the blue-ribbon brookie ponds west of this lake." On MaineToday.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Among the highlights of Bill Graves's billfish adventure was saving a large green turtle from death-by-longliner. "If and when a sailfish does appear, it’s the first mate’s job to keep pulling the teaser away from him, enraging the fish into more violent attacks. Once the teaser of interest is within casting range, the mate jerks it away and the angler casts an 8/0 fly about the size of a robin into the path of the hot sailfish." In the Bangor (Maine) Daily News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saying that the snagging of wild steelhead has gotten out of control, FFF's northern California members are asking the state to close the popular 26-mile section of the river from Nimbus Dam to the Sacramento River during February and March. "The lower stretch of the American has nearly shriveled into a muddy ribbon compared to its typical rippling abundance because of stingy dam releases, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. That isn't likely to change during the next two months because, even with the recent storms, there isn't enough snowmelt to spare more water, said Ron Milligan of the bureau's Central Valley Project." M.S. Enkoji in the Sacramento Bee.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Some outfitters are angered by a new 3% "tax" on revenues they will have to pay while guiding clients on the Madison, but others -- including the state and many private anglers -- are saying the license fee is good medicine for a river that is suffering from ever-increasing pressure and lack of management. While public comment will be taken by Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks up until February 15, it looks like the license is a done deal, at least for this year. A story in the Bozeman Chronicle by Daniel Person describes the hubbub and the state response (note: at this time, the link does not seem to work in the lastest version of Internet Explorer, but does work in Firefox). (Thanks to reader John DeVault for bringing this story to our attention.)

Also, we are still trying to figure out what "rouge guides" are. If anyone knows, please clue us in.

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

Though I seriously doubt anyone is paying $750 for "rubber" waders, there's little question that as baby boomers move to the countryside -- enabled by the Internet and a changing job culture -- they are transforming rural areas. In The Wall Street Journal, Conor Daugherty describes how the demands of affluent retirees and wired businesspeople are bringing rapid change to quiet backwaters. "'What we're seeing is a class colonization,' says Peter Nelson, an associate professor of geography at Middlebury College and an expert on rural migration. 'It really represents a shift in the nature of the economy from a resource-extraction economy to an aesthetic-based economy.'" Be sure to check out the map of locales that have become rural money magnets.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

A break in winter weather can mean the appearance of the year's first big meals for hungry trout on California's Yuba. "Skwalas have a distinctive profile that the trout key in on and a good imitation is called for. They stand on the surface film with their wings folded flat on their backs. The profile is about an inch long and less that a quarter-inch wide. They can ride the current this way for as far as you can see them. This bug is the first large portion meal these fish have seen since the salmon egg feasts of Halloween." Denis Pierce on TheUnion.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In the February issue, editors at Field & Stream list their twenty choices for the best fishing towns in the U.S. Glenwood Springs, Colorado is on the top of the heap. "It's the geographic center of the best flyfishing in the state: The Roaring Fork and Colorado Rivers merge right in town, and the Eagle River, the Frying Pan, and the Gunnison are easy day trips. In any season (even the dead of winter), there's always at least one world-class flyfishing option." The rest of the top ten:

2. Mountain Home, Ark.
3. Traverse City, Mich.
4. Bozeman, Mont.
5. Minocqua, Wis.
6. Apalachicola, Fla.
7. Nantucket, Mass.
8. Bend, Ore.
9. Guntersville, Ala.
10. Morehead City, N.C.

Apparently the folks in Missoula, Montana, which came in eleventh, disagree with any listing of their town as a good fishing base. "It's too cold up here," one commenter said, "You won't like it."

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

January, to fly fishers who aren't enjoying Patagonia, New Zealand or a cold Beliken beer on some secret Central American patch flat, is typically pure downtime. But a cadre of steelheaders in the U.S. northwest is hard at play, doing what they look forward to all year long: stalking and sight-casting to big, solitary steelhead. Of course you have to know the spots. And with that comes dues-paying and various oaths of secrecy.

On MidCurrent this week confessed steelhead junkie Kevin Wright gives us a little taste of how one of his recent trips turned out in "Sasquatch Style."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Turneffe Flats lodge in Belize has a few openings left in January and February and is reducing its rates for a few key weeks. See the extended entry for the press release and details.

Continue reading "Turneffe Flats Offers Reduced Winter Rates" »

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

"A plane carrying 14 people, including eight Italians and one Swiss passenger, crashed into the sea close to a group of Venezuelan islands on Friday and had not yet been found, officials said." Los Roques is a popular bonefish destination for fly fishers, and the Transaven-operated aircraft are the standard way for anglers to get to and from the islands.

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

The Big Thompson is a tributary of the Platte River and flows eastward out of Rocky Mountain Park and down the slopes of Colorado's rockies. Mike Oakley says forget about gear in the dead of winter -- staying warm is the chief requirement -- and take the smallest black flies you can find. You'll have plenty of company. "'Doesn’t anybody work anymore,' Hatch asked. That’s sort of a running joke between us, though for some reason both of us had imagined having the river mostly to ourselves -- as if every Colorado fly fisherman living north of I-70 and east of the Continental Divide who’d already bought their 2008 license was not keenly aware that the Big Thompson below Olympus Dam is about the only game going on the Front Range between November and April." In the Estes Park Trail-Gazette.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Oh, the stories I could tell. In the Miami Herald, Susan Cocking writes about long-time fly fishing guide Jan Isley, his role in the development of the first effective permit flies, and his return to Key West. "Today, after an almost 20-year absence, Isley, who is 59, is back in Key West, guiding light-tackle and fly-fishing clients in his Dolphin Super Skiff out of Hurricane Hole Marina. 'If I were going to fish somewhere else, it would take me too long to learn the area,' Isley said. 'It's a little late when you're 59 to come up with a new career.'''

Do yourself a favor and book Jan for some fishing. You'll touch a little history and fish with one of the most interesting and talented guides to ever come out of the Florida Keys. (305) 295-3596 or (985) 264-8332.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

John Gifford reports on a trip to Deadman's Cay, off Long Island, in the far southern Bahamas, noting that the landscape on the island first "discovered" by Columbus features incredible vistas, and that one pays a price for not bringing rain gear. "An hour after the rain had ended, a 9-weight fly rod in hand and battling a 30-pound blacktip shark, I looked up to see a trio of waterspouts in the distance. They danced, receded and eventually dissipated on the horizon as a beam of sunlight filtered through an aperture in the clouds, illuminating and enhancing the blue water around us." From Oklahoma's NewsOK.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You too can have a trailer on stilts for less than $400,000. And if you have to ask what a house on Shark Key costs, you can't afford it. Yes, in many ways it is exactly what Charles Passy reports in The New York Times: a Jimmy Buffet song come to life. (Side note: Jimmy Buffet is getting into the casino business and just leased a twenty-some-thousand-foot business space in Orlando to help him sell paraphernalia to parrotheads.)

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

"Prospective members, [club president] Arias warned, should be willing to fish through violent thunderstorms, float jungle rivers at night, and drop everything, including jobs or family members, when the snook and tarpon run the coastal rivers." In The New York Times, Dave Sherwood investigates the mania that grabs members of the Costa Rican National Fishing Club, who will do just about anything to fish for big, toothy critters among the crocodiles and mosquitos of the country's interior.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We just got word that the 4.5-hour flights that allowed anglers to reach Kamchatka from Anchorage, Alaska will be back after a three-year hiatus. Beginning July 7, 2008 Vladivostok Air will offer the twice-weekly service using brand new 142-seat TU 204-300 aircraft. This makes the trip for U.S. anglers exponentially shorter and allows anglers to be at camp fishing the same day they left the US. It also makes the return trip a one-day affair. For more information, contact William Blair at www.thebestofkamchatka.com or (530) 941-8524.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Veteran steelhead guide John Nagy is releasing an expanded and updated edition of his Steelhead Guide: Flyfishing Techniques and Strategies for Lake Erie Steelhead (Great Lakes Publishing, December 2007, 320 pages). The 4th edition has 119 new and innovative steelhead fly patterns contributed by guides, fly tiers and steelhead fly fisherman from all over the Lake Erie region -- 44 tiers in all. Deborah Weisberg writes about the upcoming book and a couple of the hot patterns from the book's "Deadly Dozen," including Greg Senyo's Wiggle Stone, in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "The Wiggle Stone is patterned after the stonefly nymph that abounds on Great Lakes tributaries, and gets its lifelike movement from its jointed construction. 'Stoneflies cling or crawl; they don't swim. When dislodged from rocks, they move frantically, trying to find something to grab onto,' said Senyo, whose Jag Fly Co. employs tiers in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan."

You can pre-order a copy of Nagy's new book from his Web site.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

You might never see a Hell's Bay skiff on an Argentinian river. Nor are you likely to see a wrangler stack his saddle and personal effects on the foredeck for a ferry ride, unless, of course, you watch this video that Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano dug up on Field & Stream's Fly Talk blog.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It is almost impossible to explain to someone who hasn't fully invested themselves in guiding for a number of years what being a good guide requires. Taking enormous energy and personal flexibility, it's simply one of those things that you won't fully understand until you live and breath it. Almost inevitably, a long-time guide begins to ask himself or herself "Why?" Coloradan Gary Hubbell guided for 20-odd years before recently deciding that he had given up enough. Here's his well-written explanation, complete with thanks to the horses.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"Tim Alpers' Owens River Ranch, one of the more famous trout-fishing ranches in the West, will close to fishing if the proposed sale of the property is finalized." Ed Zieralski in the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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

Thanks to a regular and smaller number of releases from the Wolf Creek Dam, whose repair is the focus of the Army Corps of Engineers, the brown trout in this tailwater fishery are doing quite well, despite forecasts of a massive die-off. But it's anybody's guess what normal rains would bring; the southeast U.S. has experienced severe drought now for several months. "Conditions also are perfect for brown trout to spawn, and Dreeves says they probably have. Whether the eggs will survive to produce little trout depends largely on the weather. Heavy winter rains would restart the power-generation process, tailwater levels would jump significantly and any trout eggs probably would be lost." Gary Garth in the Louisville Courier-Journal.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"It took about 2 1/2 hours to reach our destination -- the Savegre Mountain Hotel in the village of San Gerardo de Dota. The hotel is located in the so-called cloud forest, deep in a valley along the Savegre river, but still 7,000 feet above sea level. The climate and terrain were much different than what we'd seen at Tiskita. It was chilly, in the 50s, and the setting appeared more European than Central American. Oak and spruce trees outnumbered palm." Ben Sturtevant survives Cerro de la Muerte ("the mountain of death") and boot-chafed calves to fish for rainbows with Dave Sherwood deep inside Costa Rica. On MaineToday.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 8:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Late fall and early winter are a great time to take advantage of clear water and eager redfish along the south Texas coastline. "I make the move to the left just as the thick-shouldered red is illuminated by a shaft of light. The fly drops softly a foot past him but he's moved further left and I'm still just off his tail. 'Strip out anyway,' [guide Chuck] Naiser says and I do, just as the fish turns back toward the grassy shore and sees the white Seaducer squirt by." In the Austin American-Statesman.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Kamchatka. Sounds like it's far away, and it is, for most anglers in Western Hemisphere and Europe. But for the past 30 years it has tantalized adventurous anglers with big, wild fish, incredible scenery, and an excess of elbow room. Of course as Pat Pendergast's rollicking report of a recent trip reminds us, leaving place in your luggage for a good sense of humor and a hopeful spirit is always a wise idea when preparing to fishing Russia's rainbow trout heaven.

Read "Kamchatka: Wade Deep, Fish Hard" on MidCurrent.

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

Australia's Peter Morse talks about the four species of bonefish found around his native land, the jaw-dropping power of New Guinea Bass, the amazing species of fish found on the Australian mainland, and wade fishing in the land of crocodiles. On New Guinea bass: "There are two species: one is the black bass and the other is the spot-tail bass, and I recall when I was guiding up there a fellow landed a spot-tail bass about 35 pounds. And we used to lip-gaff these things and lift them into the boat for photographs, and as it came in this 35-pound bass spewed up a whole possum." New on MidCurrent.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:42 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We've fly fished throughout the Caribbean and have a few favorite spots that we would return to on a moment's notice. On the top of that list is Belize, a country no larger than Massachusetts but with one of the richest coastlines in the Western hemisphere. Permit don't live in ugly places, and there are lots of permit in Belize. And bonefish. And tarpon. And even snook.

With our Belize guide, we're launching a new series of electronic handbooks for travel to fly fishing destinations all over the world. All our guides will feature map "mashups" that show key locations and give you a way to place a destination geographically. We'll try to distill as much information as possible -- costs, fly and gear selections, lodging and travel info -- and hopefully give you a jump-start on preparing for your next trip. Enjoy MidCurrent's "Fly Fishing Trip Guide: Belize."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The number of steelhead showing up in the Trinity this season is also drawing large numbers of anglers from those areas like the Sacramento Valley where fishing is slow. "This year's run is headed toward eclipsing last year's record return of these sea-run rainbow trout. The weir counts at Willow Creek on the lower end of the river have been consistently over 1,000 fish per week. In contrast, I can remember years when the entire run was counted in hundreds for an entire season." Denis Peirce on TheUnion.com.

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

PAGE, Ariz., Oct. 24 – The scenery here on Lake Powell is just extraordinary. At about 186 miles long and hard on the border between Arizona and Utah, the big lake is tightly framed by towering red-sandstone cliffs that seem to glow in morning sunlight. They are the exposed remains of the vast Colorado River canyon complex flooded by Glen Canyon dam in the 1960s, where the watery fingers of countless side canyons now hold smallmouth bass and landlocked stripers.

Jason Brunner and I are scheduled to fish together this morning. He is a talented young rod designer for St. Croix Rod Company, which is hosting this trip. We’ve spent the night on a houseboat anchored some 30 miles up-lake from the main marina at Page, which is near the dam at the lake’s southern end.

I am drinking coffee, squinting at the rising sun, and feeling just the touch of an ache in my arthritic knees. “So, Jason,” I say, as he appears, ready to go in full fishing garb. “You need to know something. I am The Old Guy, and you are The Young Guy. Do you understand about this?”

Brunner doesn’t miss a beat. “Yeah, I do,” he says. “It’s like the Old Bull and the Young Bull.” I’m immediately laughing and ask him to explain.

“Well,” he says, “the Young Bull and the Old Bull are standing on a hillside overlooking a pasture full of cows. The Young Bull is prancing around, all excited, and says to the Old Bull, ‘Let’s run down there and [bleep] some of those cows!’

“The Old Bull just shakes his head. ‘Nah,’ he says. ‘Let’s walk down there and [bleep] all of them.’"

I choked on my coffee, fortunately near the side of the boat. Then I got a second cup with which to toast his wisdom, unusual for a young angler. We killed some more time warming ourselves like rock-bound cormorants in the growing sunlight. Finally I felt like fishing, so we hopped on a bass boat and ran off to catch small stripers with fast-sinking fly lines and chartreuse Clouser minnows.

Posted by John Merwin at 8:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"This past week, my late father must have been rolling in his grave. His only son skipped deer hunting on the second open day of the regular firearms season to fly-fish the Solon stretch of the Kennebec River. 'What kind of effete elitist would fly-fish during deer season?' he would have asked." Ken Allen is rewarded for thinking the timing is perfect for a blue-winged olive hatch on Maine's Kennebec River.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

BARNSTABLE, Mass., Oct. 8 -- We are fishing through a lowery day on Cape Cod; drizzling rain, patches of fog, and a gentle southwest breeze that drifts our skiff silently along the marsh-grass edges where striped bass lurk.

Four of us—my wife Martha, son Jason, daughter-in-law Milena, and myself—alternately toss flies or jigs and are enjoying a steady pick of stripers that range from 4 to about 8 pounds. Small silversides and juvenile bunker have followed the flooding tide into the grasses, trying to escape the cruising bass. Today’s fly of choice is a size 4 chartreuse-over-white Clouser Deep Minnow.

In the midst of all this, I happen to notice that a large praying mantis has landed on top of Martha’s rain hat. This is a big bug, perhaps six inches long, and it sits there among the raindrops facing forward as if to watch the action. There is no panic over the new arrival. We collectively decide to leave it alone to see what might happen next.

As the tide begins ebbing, small groups of stripers start breaking water in the growing current between the small islands. I had hoped to help Milena get her first fly-rod striper and the aggressively feeding fish are a perfect opportunity.

I stop the boat at the upcurrent end of a narrow channel, and cut the motor. Some surface-breaking bass obligingly start feeding toward us. Milena casts, a bass takes, and after a little give and take is flopping at the end of a Boga-Grip. Mission accomplished.

Milena’s happy with the fish but not with my fly rod. “That 10-weight is a telephone pole!” she says, shaking her head. “Why do you need such a big rod?”

I explain that a seven- or eight-weight would do fine for the small bass we are encountering, except for a couple of things. First, I sometimes toss big, herring-size flies for stripers, for which casting a ten-weight is essential. Then, too, a lighter rod just won’t cut it when fighting bigger bass of 20 pounds or more. Fish of that size and larger are always a possibility, even in the shallow back