Daily Fly Fishing News

This week Lefty Kreh writes a short intro to fly fishing for Maine's smallmouth bass for MidCurrent readers.

In typical Kreh style, Lefty explains his passion for smallies this way: "It might be that I prefer fly fishing in moving water, or that smallmouths take surface and sub-surface flies and fight like hell."

• In pursuit of the ultimate in breathability, author Kirk Werner channels his inner Scot: "For those who poke fun at the kilt as being somehow feminine, I would ask you to reconsider your position. Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart, William Wallace - was he somehow a limp-wristed cross dresser?"
• A suitcase for the chest, or the ultimate organizer? Cameron Mortenson's slide show on the Richardson Chest Fly Box.
• In Arkansas, waiting for the shad kill.

In this month's Gray's Sporting Journal, Tom Davis writes about a childhood correspondent whose friendship helped teach him the meaning of 'loss.'

"Of course, for someone of my interests, it was unbelievably cool to have 'an Indian friend from Manitoba,' as I described Wilson to my friends at home, always with a touch of pride. A cynic would say I objectified Wilson, that I regarded him as little different from that big northern pike--another trophy from my trip to Moar Lake--and I suppose there's some truth in that. I was, after all, a typical American teenager, and thus one of the most self-absorbed creatures on earth: a mile wide, an inch deep."

Ever dreamed of pursuing large rainbow trout in Alaska? One of the first questions that comes to mind is "What gear should I take?" Phil Monahan says don't just run out and buy the stiffest rod you can find, but do be ready with a rod that can handle everything from size 12 Stimulators to size 2 Cone Heads Woolly Buggers.

"Interchangeable sinking tips--of various sink rates and with loop-to-loop connections--are a good idea because they allow you to adjust for water depth and speed. Egg-stuffed trout will often refuse to move more than a few inches out of their way to eat something, so you've got to bang them on the nose."

This morning Wall Street Journal columnist Mark Lasswell reviews the new Fly Fishing with Darth Vader: And Other Adventures with Evangelical Wrestlers, Political Hitmen, and Jewish Cowboys by Matt Labash, whom he calls one of the U.S.'s most underappreciated journalists. As evidence: Labash's ability to find entree with Dick Cheney on the subject of catfish flies.

"In a just world, Matt Labash would be celebrated as the heir to Tom Wolfe, Hunter Thompson and other writers in the 1960s and 1970s who were corralled under the rubric of 'new journalism,' but, well, the world just isn't just."

Audie Cornish interviews former Poet Laureate Billy Collins, who recently wrote the introduction for a new edition of Trout Fishing in America.

Excerpt: "He was very easy to spot. And I describe him in the introduction as being a very tall fellow who combined hippie dress -- colorful shirts and beads -- with nineteenth-century pioneer clothes, including a waistcoat and boots, all topped by an enormous beat-up western hat."

As Wayne Hooper writes on SeacoastOnline.com, Gideon Gerhardt's persistent action in the courts in the 1920s defined the law for stream access based on river navigability. But was it a perfect solution? Riparian property rights still rule in most states, and old conflicts between private landowners and anglers echo even today. "Rocks were thrown into pools ahead of the anglers, lunches disappeared from canoes anchored in midstream, cans of bait were filled with water, canoes were swamped if left unattended and guards on horseback rode through pools ahead of anglers to spook the fish."

As the photo editor of The Flyfish Journal, I'm frequently asked what makes a good fly fishing photograph. I usually find it difficult to answer that question in a concise manner. One of the best pieces of advice I have ever received is this: try and tell a story completely with one image. Easier said than done....

Nadav Kander is an photographer of exceptional talent who's work has appeared in The New York Times, ESPN and GQ to The Guardian and Rolling Stone Magazine. While perusing YouTube I came across a video of Nadav explaining his latest work named, "Yangtze, The Long River," which I found to be inspirational in terms of photography and what the landscape means to Nadav and why he takes photos the way he does. What better a photographic metaphor for us anglers than a river... no?

The video is a bit long, but absolutely gorgeous and worth every minute.

Consider this: if someone wants to advance their own fly fishing photography, they may start by stepping outside the sport and looking at images that have nothing to do with fishing. Listen to someone like Mr. Kander, who feels that he takes photos of landscapes, "not for the great views or lands but for refection and questioning...."

In a move that promises to be good for both the environment and Alaskan fishermen, who've watched wild salmon prices plunge with the growth of fish farming, Target said last week that it would no longer put farmed salmon on its store shelves.

"Target cites pollution from salmon farms -- either from chemicals, parasites, waste or escaping non-native species -- as the biggest reason it will sell only wild salmon." Dave Thier on AOLNews.com.

I had the pleasure of guiding Perk Perkins back in the 1980s in Key West, and I still marvel that he could cast as far as I could using a "slow" rod in the wind. In this new podcast, he talks about fly rods, casting dynamics, and various tips and tricks for casting in less than ideal conditions. This is some pretty good insight from an expert angler who's never completely bought into the "faster is always better" theory of rod design -- even while his company is producing some of the best-selling fast-action fly rods on the market.

"The first thing I'd say is, 'Don't fight it.' A rod is designed to cast a line optimally with a given amount of force. And if you try to over-force that cast -- if you try to compensate by putting more energy into the rod -- you're taking the rod past it's optimum, and it's going to perform less. Putting a lot more energy into a cast does not help, even though it's the instinctive thing to do."

"Usually on a windy day you're going to have the opportunity to practice cast, because you're not going to be seeing as many fish. Practice casting with less energy, and one you'll be amazed at how much more enjoyable it is and two, how much more effective the cast can be -- or equally effective with less energy."

As Kirk Deeter reports this morning on Fly Talk, Colorado's Division of Wildlife is proposing to rename a section of the Spinney Mountain Ranch State Wildlife Area "The Charlie Meyers State Wildlife Area." Meyers, a passionate conservation advocate and long-time outdoors and fishing editor for The Denver Post, died in early January after battling lung cancer.

Fly fisher, author and philanthropist Evelyn Haas died Wednesday in San Francisco at the age of 92. Evelyn co-authored Wade a Little Deeper Dear: A Woman's Guide to Fly Fishing (Cortland Library Series) with Gwen Cooper in 1979. It was one of the first books to encourage women to become fly fishers.

Evelyn and her husband Walter Haas were long-time Oakland Athletics owners (1980-1985), but were recognized primarily for their extensive philanthropy; they contributed more than $364 million to hundreds of community and cultural organizations. Their $30 million gift to the National Park Service is still the largest private donation ever made to that agency.

A machinist by trade, Gary Loomis is best known today as the founder of fly rod manufacturer G.Loomis. As a steelhead junkie in the 1960s, he recognized the need for better fly rods and began experimenting with modifications first to fiberglass and then to graphite. From there he went to work for Cascade Rods and then Lamiglas before finally founding his own fly rod company in 1981. Zach Matthews recently conducted a lengthy interview with Loomis and got him to talk about everything from the birth of graphite fly rods to Ted Williams."

Excerpt: "So I went to the Boeing company and waited outside Gate C. The last guy out was one of the only four composite graphite engineers in the world...and I found him! I took him to dinner, took him to lunch, and I finally convinced him that he had to help me design 'graphite' rods."

RIO Products just announced the production of a new Trout LT ("Light Touch") series of fly lines with long front tapers and super-delicate tips for soft presentations.

The Trout LT comes in three colors and retails for $69.95.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

"When Rim Chung came to America, little did he know he would create what might be the most effective fishing fly ever devised for Colorado's South Platte River.
Perhaps it was inevitable. When he arrived in Denver in 1968, the elements for development of the RS-II were already in place." Karl Licis profiles tier Rim Chung, whose slender-bodied RS-II ("Rim's Semblance #2") broke rules about fly shape and became one of the most popular nymph-emerger patterns in the U.S. West. In the Denver Post.

The notion that there could be an aftermarket for trout streams comes from Richard Brautigan's "Trout Fishing in America," the unpredictable collection of anecdotes that brought the author -- a trout fisher who loved small streams -- so much attention in the sixties. Before a Monday night celebration of the author, New York Times writer Michelle Quinn recalls memories of Brautigan's impact: "The work seemed less buttoned down and polished than the books I was used to; the writers -- especially Mr. Brautigan -- seemed to use words as free-wheeling travel companions, or sturdy and accessible knapsacks, in which they stowed the truths they found along the way."

Richard Brautigan's Trout Fishing in America, The Pill versus The Springhill Mine Disaster, and In Watermelon Sugar on Amazon.

MidCurrent's featured artist for February is Rebecca Haydock, an oil and watercolor portrait artist who works from her Chapel Hill, North Carolina studio and donates a portion of the proceeds from the sale of her fly fishing and trout art to coldwater fishery and river conservation efforts.

At right, "Bonefishing Belize."