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Ed Engle is yet another devoted fan of "Why Fly Fishing," a film by Miracle Productions and Jeffrey M. Pill. Engle notes that while you can always watch a stack of DVDs on how-to, where-to and what-to, this video succeeds where others have not -- in communicating the sport's appeal to a wide variety of audiences. "I picked up 'Why Fly Fishing' on the recommendation of a friend. It's just 31 minutes long, and I'll admit to thinking that maybe it was directed more toward people just getting into the sport than old fly-fishing grouches like myself, but I was wrong. What makes this DVD different from the others is that everyone you see on the screen is honestly passionate about fly-fishing." Engle also recommends Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying (Headwater Books, 264 pages).

"Why Fly Fishing" is available from The Book Mailer. Charlie Craven's Basic Fly Tying can be purchased on Amazon.

Author and fly fisher Peter Matthiessen received the National Book Award for fiction last night, almost three decades after winning his first for the non-fiction The Snow Leopard (1979). The award was given for Matthiessen's Shadow Country (Modern Library, April 2008, 912 pages), a reworked trilogy of novels from the 1990s that includes a retelling of Lost Man's River. "Matthiessen, a world traveler, naturalist and founder of the Paris Review, is one of the great names in modern letters, but few -- including Matthissen -- expected to see him nominated this year. His novel, neither new nor old, condenses and deepens his previous work about a ruthless landowner from the Florida Everglades."

Shadow Country (Modern Library) on Amazon.

To launch his fourth season of fly fishing podcasts, Zach Matthews interviewed Richard Hewitt and Tom Pero on the future of Fish & Fly magazine, which was just acquired by Hewitt's U.K. company. Pero: "We're publishing an issue of the standard format of Fish & Fly at the end of December. I can tell you that it will be a 'best of' issue."

Ever since Fish & Fly magazine announced it was ending publication in June (see "Fish & Fly Magazine Ceases Publication"), the owners of the magazine, Turnstile Publishing, hoped it would be picked up by another publisher and revived. Yesterday it was announced that the U.K.'s Fish & Fly Ltd., which publishes the online site FishandFly.com, acquired the rights and title of the U.S. magazine and will resume publication with the January 2009 issue.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

There are more than two or three wonderful quotes from Holly Morris's 1997 essay on fly fishing literature in The New York Times, but this may be my favorite: "While baseball is among the sports (some might include golf here) that inspire a certain devotion, even fanaticism, fly-fishing leads its lovers into fundamental connections, inviting a slow dance with the whimsy of the natural world, a love affair with line and rhythm and simplicity. Angling delivers the wily spiritual satisfactions that come with giving yourself to something that offers only intangible payback." The next time someone asks you "Why fly fishing?," send them this link and suggest they buy a copy of the Jeffrey Pill/AMFF DVD. If those won't hook them, nothing will.

Fly fishing writer Morgan Lyle talks about the second annual issue of Hatches magazine, which launched in 2007 under the direction of Will Mullis and which features Al and Gretchen Beatty as editors. "Mullis has stocked the first two issues of Hatches with fresh, beautifully illustrated pieces on trout flies and how to fish them. Chris Del Plato's exhaustive piece in the 2007 issue on tying the Carrie Stevens-style streamer flies from the Rangeley Lakes region of Maine, most notably the Grey Ghost, sent me scurrying to my Tupperware bins to rummage for golden pheasant crest and wood duck." In the Schenectady, New York Daily Gazette.

The worldwide release is not even scheduled until January 27, 2009, but American Laundromat Records (ALR) has already raised more than $22,000 for Casting for Recovery through pre-sales of its "Cinnamon Girl - Women Artists Cover Neil Young For Charity." (You can pre-order the 16-track CD here, and you can purchase the tracks for download from iTunes.)

"The Double-CD focuses on Neil Young's early work (1969 - 1979) and features 21 new cover versions of Neil's most popular songs by artists Tanya Donelly, Britta Phillips, Lori McKenna, Jill Sobule with John Doe, Josie Cotton, Kristin Hersh, The Watson Twins, Darcie Miner, Elk City and many more." From PlugInMusic.com.

This is a fascinating story in more ways than one. ALR is a one-man operation run by Joe Spadaro out of his Connecticut basement ("I have a day job," he says.) Spurred by the death of his mother from breast cancer, Spadaro created the compilation to help support Casting for Recovery's counseling and fly-fishing retreats, which it offers free to women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.

Take Moore's Law (computing power doubles every two years), apply it to photo search and ad personalization, and you have a rather scary picture of how marketers might use your kids' Facebook pictures to sell them a fly rod -- and everything else -- in the not-to-distant future: "An oddly appealing woman is fly-fishing. She seems so familiar, like you know her from somewhere. The ad focuses in on the graphite rod she's using, just like the one you were shopping for online last week but didn't buy. You keep watching because the woman in the ad has such a nostalgic appeal to you. It's almost as if she were a combination of three women you dated in college. And in truth, she is." Eric Picard on ClickZ.com.

Apparently the presidential candidate was smitten with Montana during his campaign stops there. So spear-gunning is out, fly fishing is in. "'One way or another, after this presidential process is over, whether -- because I lose or because I win -- and I've got a little vacation time coming, I'm going to learn how to flyfish, because that land is spectacular,' he said." Ben Smith on Politico.com.

These days James Prosek, this month's featured artist on MidCurrent, is known as a painter, author and, with the ESPN production of "The Compleat Angler" (see the videos), filmmaker.

Now Prosek's also a public radio podcaster. American Public media just posted Prosek's 53-minute commentary on the mystical nature of trout and other fish as part of their "Speaking of Faith Series."

Excerpt: "Nature really is chaotic.The real myth is the one that the Natural History Museum promotes in its collections and in its family trees and genealogies. The real myth is the myth of order."

Catch Magazine (www.catchmagazine.net) is a new online publication run by Brian O'keefe and Todd Moen. According to the magazine site, they are "searching the world for the best fly fishing photography, film and video." There's quite a collection of great photography here, plus some interesting hi-def video by Todd Moen covering Oregon steelhead and "world" fly fishing, and the new trailer from Confluence Films's Chris Patterson.

Somehow I couldn't resist hunting up British folk artist Johnny Flynn's single from his new album A Larum. (Perhaps it has something to do with the song title.) You can see the music video on Flynn's own Web site. If you don't know Flynn, he's an actor, poet and songwriter who "cites W.B. Yeats and Shakespeare among his influences," according to Wikipedia. Chris Gilliver reviews the track in the Manchester Evening News: "A witty, well-spoken purveyor of incredibly simple, yet beautifully written acoustic gems he deserves to take the world by storm, but he will continue to finish runner up if he continues to release singles like this. It's an odd choice. Understated, and seemingly written in the small hours, it totters around his self-effacing psyche with his usual style and charm, but it's just not a single."

The short answer to that question is that the 80s rocker and fly fisher spends a lot of time casting flies on one of those Montana waters where the surrounding property owners don't welcome the general fly fishing public with open arms. The Mitchell Slough (which Lewis called "just a ditch"), like the Ruby River, has been a focus in the ongoing debate over access rights. Ok then, Huey Lewis, workin' for a living, fly fishing in a ditch (albeit a very wide one) -- which will apparently be featured in a Canadian reality TV show: somehow that makes sense.

The publisher of Fly Fisherman, Guns and Ammo, Shooting Times, Florida Sportsman, and Game & Fish magazines and parent company of The Sportsman Channel announced yesterday that it had acquired video content producer Barrett Productions, which was started by John Barrett in 1989. "'After 18 years of building up an attractive niche in the outdoors television marketplace, the opportunity to join forces with a powerful and professional company like InterMedia Outdoors is a dream come true for us. Our combined video library and production and content creation skills will be unrivaled in the outdoors arena,' said John Barrett, President of Barrett Productions."

Moldy Chum recently took time from a rabid defense of their Slab of the Month choice to uncover news of a court case involving author David James Duncan, Sierra Club Books, Thomas A. Cohen and Kristi Denton Cohen, the producer of the new "The River Why" movie starring William Hurt and Amber Heard.

You can read the full complaint here, but to summarize, Duncan's attorneys are asserting that Sierra Club Books mishandled the option to sell the screen rights to film, selling it to the Cohens fraudulently, since the option to do so expired in 1985.

After deciding that LaCrosse, Wisconsin is the epicenter for mayfly activity, National Geographic cinematographers are spending a few weeks shooting footage of the abundant insects for an upcoming film called "Planet In Motion." But they are taking advantage of a remarkable fact: that mayflies in their basement studio will emerge on a schedule identical with their river-bound brethren.

I just finished reading Michael Dahlie's new debut novel about a guileless New York fly fisher who is hamstrung by his inability to see around the corner at the things life is throwing his way. It's a very relaxing read -- perfect beach reading and a nice change of pace for those of us tired of reading how we're doing everything wrong when it comes to fly selection and arm motion.

Janet Maslin reviews A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living (W. W. Norton & Company, 281 pages) in The New York Times this morning, describing it as a fine first first start for an author who seems to have just stepped out of a New Yorker cartoon: "Michael Dahlie's fictitious Maidenhead Grange is a beloved Catskills fly-fishing lodge that is home to the Hanover Street Fly Casters, an exclusive group founded by 12 Manhattan financiers in 1878. The group named the lodge during a fit of boozy Anglophilia. Membership is hereditary. And each man's room is strictly his own, filled with a lifetime's worth of irreplaceable mementos."

A Gentleman's Guide to Graceful Living: A Novel on Amazon.

The next fly fishing adventure movie producer who doesn't sign up Greta Gaines to do the sound track has got some explaining to do, in my opinion. Gaines, who many might recognize as a champion snowboarder and ESPN correspondent, will release a "country-rock-inspired" album later this month, according to country music Web site CMT.com. "'I was fly-fishing with my grandfather when I was just a baby girl. Because I was the only girl, it was my way of getting undivided attention from my father and grandfather. I'm primarily a fly fisherwoman, but I'm really a catch-fish-woman -- whatever it takes to do that,' she laughs."

For a taste of Gaines's music, you can hear 10 of her tracks on her Web site.

Angling Trade magazine, a periodical for fly fishing retailers and manufacturers, just expanded and redesigned their Web site. Like almost everything these guys do, the new site is sharp and well-organized. The site itself is built around a blog, but you can also download .pdf files of each published print issue. If you own a fly shop, make fly fishing stuff, or just like to stay current on gear and industry trends, I'd suggest signing up for their email updates and checking out the site every few days.

By the way, if you want to read the primer I wrote on Internet marketing for Angling Trade, you can find it in the December issue, which you can download here.

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."

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.

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.

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.

Those who have been lucky enough to see a bootleg copy of the movie "Tarpon," filmed in Key West in 1974, have seen a glimpse of what fly fishing for tarpon was like in the early days. The film never made it to market in the U.S. and the original footage sat in a barn in the French countryside for 35 years. Recently, Guy de la Valdene and UYA Films went back to the original footage and produced a re-mastered DVD of the original. Starting today, you can purchase "Tarpon" (UYA Films, 53 minutes, $34.95 plus shipping) from The Book Mailer in Helena, Montana: order online, call 1-800-874-4171, or email orders@thebookmailer.

Besides including some of the only footage of Richard Brautigan, the cult 60s poet and novelist, "Tarpon" also features commentary by legendary guides Woody Sexton, Steve Huff, and Gil Drake, as well as Page Brown, an ardent Keys conservationist. Thomas McGuane and Jim Harrison are also featured in the film, and Jimmy Buffet composed the music. Many consider this film to be the first of the modern fishing films.

Tom Brokaw recently said of the film: "'Tarpon' is a timeless and beautifully executed film about life, sport and culture. You'll be moved, amused, outraged and, most of all, entertained." The film's message about the importance of releasing fish was far ahead of its time and prescient in highlighting the increasing pressure on fish by sportsmen, tourists and boaters.

We're very glad the producers thought the film worthy of the effort and expense it took to color-correct, clean and digitize the film, and we hope you'll support their decision to distribute the DVD. "Tarpon" is a slice of time and a piece of art, but it's also a message that concerned anglers can make a difference in protecting our resources. After more than three decades tarpon fishing continues to be a fantastic experience for fly fishing experts and novices, in part because the artists and anglers of the day recognized the growing threats to the fish and their habitat.

"The Lost World of Mr. Hardy" (TrufflePig Films, DVD, 97 minutes), by Andy Heathcote and Heike Bachelier, documents the remarkable history of the people and inspiration behind the hand-made rods and reels that established Hardy's as the first high-end fly tackle manufacturer in the world. As founder J.J. Hardy said at the end of the 19th century, "Only the best is good enough for fishermen." You can watch several out-takes and the trailer on MidCurrent.

As we noted last month, "Red Gold," a film about the controversy surrounding the building of a mine in the middle of a critically important Alaska watershed, was to hold its premiere at the prestigious Telluride MountainFilm festival. Now the votes are counted, and Travis Rummel's and Ben Knight's work came away with both the Festival Director's Award and the Audience Award, which, as the MountainFilm site notes, is considered by some distributors to be "a much better harbinger of success for a film than a juried award."

Watch the trailer for "Red Gold" on MidCurrent.

Sports announcer Greg Heister is producing a new show about fly fishing the U.S. northwest. It airs Sunday mornings on Fox Sports Northwest, and features Alaska, British Columbia, Idaho, Montana, Oregon and Washington. "Heister has filmed 15 shows - 10 of which include [Gonzaga coach Mark] Few in the cast - and plans to produce about 20 a year to be rotated weekly on Fox Sports Northwest. The shows include rainbow fishing on Montana's Bighorn River, steelheading on the Grande Ronde River, cutthroat fishing on British Columbia's Elk and Wigwam rivers and various salmon, trout and steelhead adventures in Alaska." Rich Landers on TheNewsTribune.com. You can get more info at www.seasonsonthefly.com.

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

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

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

As one astute observer of presidential campaign tactics recently said, "It's so incredible, it's almost hard to believe."

Word has it that several top fly fishing blogs have outlawed the use of foul language in their posts and even forbid their commenters' use of what they are now calling "inflammatory" language. Our sources say that the plan was hatched during a clandestine meeting of the bloggers at a remote mountain enclave that caters to those who enjoy the "glamping" lifestyle.

According to a waiter who served aperitifs to the hooded figures, someone observed after a day of short nature walks punctuated by Thai massage and readings from Commerce and the Outdoors, "This irreverence thing is getting pretty tired." "Think about it," another said, "constant derision is really the hallmark of the fly shop misanthrope, who has contributed nothing to the sport." While there were immediate protests ("Greg, you neo-bourgeois lunkhead, your uxorious sniveling has gone too far"), accusations ("Dude, you live for schwag!"), and denials ("These molded butter patties ain't workin' for me") most at the table seemed overcome by the dizzying indulgence of the high-end-retreat experience, according to our sources.

But why, we wondered, the sudden turn? We asked some of the original beacons of the "Smash the State" movement in fly fishing media. "I invented snarky in fly fishing blogs," said one. "My mistake was not seeking a patent. Now everyone is doing it." Another blurted, "My free subscription to Fly Fisherman was about to expire." But the sentiment whispered by our last source was perhaps the most revealing: "Have you ever napped on merino/cashmere-blend sheets in an air-conditioned yurt before?"

(Editor's Note: We actually have friends in the snarky blog business. Diversity is good. Especially in journalism.)

It's good to see Trout Unlimited keeping pace with the excitement surrounding the "new" fly fishing filmmaking. They've managed to get Frank Smethurst (of "Running Down the Man" fame) involved in going around the country fishing some of the more at-risk and important resources and turn it all into a TV series called "On the Rise." You can watch the trailer now on MidCurrent.

The Outdoor Channel is the spot to see "On the Rise," and from the looks of the trailer Barrett Productions has done a very polished job of putting this series together. Here's the full schedule of initial airings:

April - June
Friday 8:00 PM
Saturday 2:00 PM
Sunday 7:30 AM

July - September
Friday 8:00 PM
Saturday 8:00 AM
Sunday 7:30 AM

For more info on the new show, visit the "On the Rise" page of the TU Web site.

This week Thomas McGuane joins the editorial board of MidCurrent. He brings literary acumen, of course, as well as a unique sensitivity to fly fishing literature and art as a whole. Nick Lyons recently said: "Among all the great fly fishing writers writing today, I would include Tom McGuane at the very top." In an age of increasing political correctness in both art and sport, McGuane chose to loosen the reins. His suggestion, "If the trout are lost, smash the state," gave trout bums a mantra of their own and sent a wake up call to anglers who had ignored the connection between bad government and the loss of fish habitat.

McGuane is perhaps best known among fly fishers for his novel Ninety Two in the Shade, which was nominated for a National Book Award for Fiction in 1974, and for The Longest Silence, a collection of angling essays. His novel The Bushwhacked Piano received the Richard and Hinda Rosenthal Award for a Work of Fiction in 1971. Some of his other books include The Sporting Club and The Cadence of Grass, and, most recently, Gallatin Canyon.

Tom joins Bruce Richards, Chico Fernandez and John Merwin in helping to guide MidCurrent forward, and we are very happy to have him.

Jamie Howard, the filmmaker behind the award-winning tarpon film series "Chasing Silver," will be in Islamorada, Florida at Worldwide Sportsman (Bass Pro) on Saturday, March 1, from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Howard will be sharing the highlights and travails of making the series as well as his experiences creating Location X and other films. HowardFilms DVDs will be on hand as well.

Watch the trailer for "Chasing Silver" on MidCurrent.

"'It's like the early snowboarding and surfing films. We've just never tapped into it with fly-fishing before,' said Travis Rummel, a Denver resident whose Felt Soul Media production company dances on the cutting edge of a movement that takes center stage in Colorado next week." Charlie Meyers quotes fly fishing film phenom Travis Rummel in a Denver Post article on the Fly Fishing Film Tour. Rummel and Ben Knight will screen their latest work, "Red Gold," on May 23 at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival, but you can watch a clip from it now on MidCurrent.

"Sometimes the best ideas come when the trout aren't biting," says Intel engineer Kevin Bross in this Intel marketing video that honestly gave me nightmares about guiding. Not that I don't enjoy listening to monologues, but this was eerily reminiscent of days when we spent too much time talking and not enough fishing.

Angling Exploration Group just announced that they are adding Baton Rouge, Norfolk, Calgary and eight more stops to their already long list of places they will screen new fly fishing films this year. More info is available on the AEG Web site.

Bonnier corporation announced on Friday that Mike Mazur, who had been managing editor of Sport Fishing magazine, will be the new editor of Fly Fishing in Saltwaters. Ted Lund, the former FFS editor, will be given the role of editor at Salt Water Sportsman.

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

Whether you think their take on fly fishing is clever and refreshing or excessive and trendy, you have to admit that the folks who put together the free online pub This Is Fly put a lot of energy into their content. The latest issue has everything from the story of a girl whose fascination with helicopters leads her to take up fly fishing to a comparatively sedate story about headhunting big trout on the "world's largest spring creek" (Montana's upper Missouri). But the hippest writer in this issue is original wild man Brian O'Keefe having an Alaska flashback.

As we noted back in November, Versus will soon begin airing a new series called "Dollar Wise Fly," hosted by Conway Bowman (see "Versus Plans to Show Fly Fishing on the Cheap"). The crew was down in southwest Florida this week filming, and the local paper published some nice stills from the redfishing action in and around Matlacha.

Who was it that said waders weren't made for Florida fishing?

According to Bill Thompson, fly fishing bulletin boards are victim to the same "Cult of the Amateur" that infects much information on the web. "The web provides the opportunity for those who post the ability to remain anonymous. It is now possible to slander someone or something without fear of reprisal. Asking a question about a certain piece of gear and you are certain to get a dozen replies almost immediately. Some of the replies may be legit, however anyone with an ax to grind will surely do so." Caveat Emptor indeed. In the Conway Daily Sun.

We got our latest issue of American Angler on Saturday and noted that all the changes promised for 2008 are right there in the year's first issue. The magazine has a crisp, clean new look, an entirely new 16-page saltwater section (thanks in part to the redirection of resources from the now defunct Saltwater Fly Fishing), and a new editorial vibrancy. AA's illustrators (e.g. Jonathan Milo and Bill Tipton) and photographers are the best in the business, in our opinion. Even the cover breaks from the currently popular practice of putting a smiling 20-something-year-old female fly fisher on the cover: no babe, no fish, not even a grinning face, just a guy sitting on a rock doing what we actually do when we fish -- examining a fly. Kudos to Phil Monahan and his team for putting freshness back into the publication and having the courage to deliver a solid package that is not just another rehash of last year's lineup. If you are still looking for a stocking stuffer, an American Angler subscription will set you back less than $20. A pretty good deal if the January/February issue is any indication.

Several female artists, including Tanya Donelly, Britta Phillips, Lori McKenna, Jill Sobule, and Kristin Hersh are part of a new album covering Neil Young classics that will be released in February to benefit Casting for Recovery. Casting for Recovery enhances the lives of breast cancer survivors by offering no-cost fly-fishing retreats tailored to promote and support mental and physical healing.

If you're not familiar with This Is Fly yet and you enjoy a non-traditional take on fly fishing and fly fishing culture, check out the latest issue, which just came online this morning, complete with a snowboarder flying across the cover (gee, I wonder what these guys do when it's cold?). Starting off with an article on how to hold fish for pictures (learn "the missionary position of hand holds"), moving to an interview with the star of the new video Fish Tales, and continuing with a piece on float-tubing for tarpon, there's a surprising amount of entertainment here.

According to Josh Mcauliffe of the Scranton, Pennsylvania Times-Tribune, Donald Trump Jr. will co-host a new fly fishing show airing on Versus this coming spring. Another show will feature Joe Humphreys. Interestingly, the shows that feature Humphreys are scheduled to focus on night-time fishing for trout.

The new series, planned for spring 2008, will feature Conway Bowman and has the working title "Dollar Wise Fly." It will follow "host Conway Bowman (In Search of Fly Water) to destinations near and far as he shows viewers how to experience world-class fishing for a fraction of the cost."

Trout Unlimited recently completed a smart redesign of their Web site, which already stood as one of the best conservation information Web sites out there. Kudos to their team for managing to present all of their resources in a logical, clearly organized package. If you go to the site, be sure to let the opening Flash animation complete so that you can take the "Protect/Reconnect/Restore/Sustain" tour.

Also, check out the way TU is facilitating public comment on issues like off-road vehicle use in the headwaters of the Tellico. It's a great example of how folks who care about our resources are using technology to turn up the volume.

It's hard to miss Britney Spears these days, especially if you are aiming critical barbs in her direction. So we take exception to the comment from Entertainment Weekly reporter who claimed this week that "I've seen sexier pole work during an afternoon of fly-fishing." Our reply: Surely you can think of something harsher to say.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Read the extended entry for the full press release.

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

Travis Rummel and Ben Knight recently wrapped up 60 days of couch surfing and bushwhacking to begin several months of editing on their upcoming film on the impact of the proposed Alaskan Bristol Bay mine project. "Starting in June, the two and their project coordinator, Trout Unlimited's Lauren Oakes, camped at the Peter Pan salmon cannery in Dillingham and in villagers' houses. They spent days with fishermen -- in their boats and homes. They floated next to belugas feeding on salmon near Nushagak Point, and two months later, hundreds of miles upstream, they stared down in amazement at tens of thousands of spawning sockeye." Elizabeth Bluemink in the Anchorage Daily News.

Tom Chandler proved that you could write about anything even slightly related to fly fishing -- including slaw dogs and the buffalo in Yellowstone National Park-- and make it interesting. Now one of his regular commenters has jumped in the river of good words with Ripefish. "I am going to wade stupid repeatedly, and the bigger the fish - the more likely I will wade agressively," he says in his evaluation of fly fishing vest alternatives. "I will get wet, I need the vest to drain quickly. Extra lining means additional drying time…no issue in August, but a big issue in January."

A fellow fly fishing blogger shared the URL to Field & Stream's new fly fishing blog, Fflogger, this past week, and we we spent enough time there this weekend to identify what is easily our favorite part so far: the "Motorcyle Reel Tests." Using such subtle measurements as "wiggliness" and "hotness," Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano film the testing of several fly reels' drag performances by attaching a leader to the back of a Harley Davidson and letting rip. Fun stuff. Let's hope they can live up to their self-described status as "The Ultimate Fly Fishing Blog."

It's hard to believe that it's been 20 years since Patagonia released their first fishing vest. But we noticed Thursday that fly fishing is getting a bit more attention on the Patagonia Web site now, starting with a fly-removal-from-lip opening photo on the homepage. They also revamped their fly fishing category page (Sports We Do > Fly Fishing) so that products are easier to find. Plus they're hosting the now-famous "Running Down the Man" video about surf fishing for roosterfish in Baja (watch this if you haven't already; it's a slicker version of what they premiered at last year's Fly Fishing Retailer show).

Pro snowboarder Mike Wier became a movie maker when he realized that fly fishing didn't have films that approached the quality and excitement that snowboarding movies did. Scott Thomas Anderson profiles Wier and notes that there is more to Wier's movitivation than simply trying to make cool videos. "'I only do catch-and-release fishing, both in my movies and as a tour guide. There's an incredible diversity of life in these remote places, which is being threatened now, and over-fishing in general is going to be a factor that affects the world in the coming decades.'" In the Amador, California Ledger-Dispatch.

As we first noted last month, a new magazine out of Charleston, South Carolina aims to provide a new style of Southern haute couture for U.S. readers. Published by the local Manigault family and run by John Wilson and former New Yorker publisher Rebecca Darwin, the premier issue features a story about trout fishing on the Soquee River with George Black (who is decidedly not from the South) and bamboo rod maker William Oyster. Fern Siegel reviews it in Magazine Rack. "If G&G were around in, say 1860, it would grace the drawing room of Tara. Though whether Ashley Wilkes or John Grisham would consider the South, per the editor's note, running from the Mississippi River east to the Atlantic and from the Virginias to Venezuela is anybody's guess. Hugo Chavez doesn't spell bluegrass and cotillion charm to me."

You can read an excerpt of George Black's Casting a Spell on MidCurrent. For more information on William Oyster's rods, visit his Web site.

New York Times writer David Carr delivers a short profile of Sid Evans, who at age 36 is both editorial director of Salt Water Sportsman and editor of Field & Stream -- a magazine reappearing on the list of nominees for national media recognition this year. " Mr. Evans, who is a bit reticent about the display (he is more given to the quiet glories of fly fishing), is on another hunt, this time for Ellies, the elephant-shaped sculptures that represent a kill in the National Magazine Awards."

18 cities through its national tour, the Fly Fishing Film Tour rolls into two Florida locations this coming week. The first is in Tampa, at Bill Jackson's Outdoors, 9501 19 North Pinellas Park on April 10 at 7:30 PM. Then the show to the IGFA in Dania Beach (300 Gulf Stream Way) at 7:30 on the 12th. Tickets are $12 and can be purchased at the door or from a local fly fishing retailer. Sponsors, including Patagonia, Costa Del Mar, Sage and Reel Pure, are giving away some cool stuff at the shows.

Films included in the show are Jamie Howard's "Chasing Silver," the rollicking "Run Down the Man" from Felt Sole Media, and the Angling Exploration Group's latest, "Trout Bum Diaries: Volume II." We've seen them all, and if you haven't had a taste of what "new media" is doing for fly fishing, this is worth a drive. More information can be found on the Tour's Web site.

Patagonia announced the launch of their new Weblog, The Cleanest Line, last week, and in an alignment of marketing stars Yvon Chouinard, the company's founder, landed on the cover of Fortune magazine's April edition.

Having been born and partially raised in Charleston, South Carolina, I am not surprised by this story, but you may be. Pierre Manigault, chairman of the local newspaper publishing company, recently announced plans to launch a new magazine called Garden and Gun. "Based on some of the prototypes, Garden & Gun assumes more the feel of Town & Country than Mother Jones. The emphasis is on sports -- the southern staples like duck and quail hunting, but also activities that don't require a rifle, such as fly-fishing -- and there are stories about architecture and natural habitats of the South." Jennifer Saba in Editor and Publisher.

If you missed the first airing of HowardFilms's "Location X," a film about fishing a red-hot secret tarpon spot, you can catch it again this Wednesday night at 9PM on Versus. Here's what the new press release says about the film:

"CHASING SILVER: LOCATION X on the Versus Network, March 21, 2007 at 9pm EST

How do you follow up the award-winning mini-series that's garnered popularity at home and abroad? Well, we weren't sure ourselves. So, we spent many months researching the world's fisheries for a sequel.
Chasing Silver: Location X (a one-hour film) is the culmination of that work. 'LX' as we've come to call it, was an angling expedition that involved some faith on the angler's part (Where am I going and why?) and some faith on our part (Where are we going and why?!) We selected three anglers from the southernmost, easternmost and westernmost points in North America and flew them to our tarpon grounds. And we all hoped this tarpon Shangri-la would really have tarpon that ate close and often. (They did!) And as always, when fly rod and tarpon meet -- it was pure mayhem."

By the way, you can now place an advance order for the "Location X" DVD, which is due to go on sale in June, over on the HowardFilms Web site.

The long-time outdoors columnist for the Houston Chronicle, Joe Doggett, retires after today's column. Doggett's writing has entertained and informed readers for 35 years, but he says it's time to travel, write a couple of books, and go surfing. For those familiar with what is happening in the newspaper industry these days, it is tempting to read between the lines and guess that classic journalism is struggling to keep its place at the Chronicle. "Tremendous changes both at the desk and in the field occurred during my run. When the Chronicle's late outdoors editor, Bob Brister, plucked me off the street in 1972, the big paper still used manual typewriters."

Depending on whom you believe, the just-released movie "Catch and Release" is either one of the worst movies ever made or, as New York Times reviewer Steven Holden suggests, a pleasant chick flick: "There is great fly-fishing nearby (the title refers to that sport), and the scenery is to die for. The movie is so conscious of being on a Rocky Mountain high that one character remarks suspiciously that people in Boulder seem 'unnaturally' happy." Joe Louis of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch is less mincing with his metaphors: "As every fisherman knows, when there's a jerk at the end of your line, you're about to reel in something that stinks."

Is it a sign of the times or high time for periodicals to stop trying to make outdoor spor