Articles

The price of procrastination

I’ve given up fishing my favorite trout stream

by Chris Madson - Friday, Feb 16th, 2018

A Kanorado, Kansas, grain elevator during an April dust storm (photo: Chris Madson).

It may be my favorite trout stream, partly because, as small as it is, it regularly yields browns and cutthroats over five pounds, and in large measure because it isn’t anything like what most people imagine when they think of trout water. It’s a sun-baked, sand-bottomed creek that winds through the sage thirty miles from the mountains that give it birth, a stream more likely to water pronghorn than elk. And, once upon a time, it was a great place to fish.

On fire

I’m slowly becoming the odd man out

by Spencer Durrant - Wednesday, Feb 14th, 2018

Photo: Wray Sinclair

My life stands at the critical juncture where, as Gary LaFontaine once said, young whippersnappers need to consider events of merit, like marriage, a mortgage, and a minivan.

I’ve considered them. I ruled out the minivan immediately.

Most of my friends passed this stage in life years ago, and while they debate names for unborn children, I’m trying to decide what to have inscribed on my next fly rod. Do I go with my full name, or name the rod after one of my favorite streams?

The pear-shaped paradox

No bird exemplifies the hunter’s paradox of killing what you love more poignantly than the woodcock

by Tom Davis - Tuesday, Feb 13th, 2018

Photo: Rodney Campbell / cc2.0

Ernie always swings for the fences. This has been his m.o. since he was a pup, and he shows no signs of throttling back and adopting a more measured, moderate approach. You’d think that at his age he’d be satisfied simply to make contact and get on base once in a while, but that’s not Ernie’s style. If he can’t knock it out of the park he’ll take a mighty cut and go down swinging, dammit.

If nothing else he’s proved true to the spirit of his namesake: Ernie Banks, the Cubs Hall-of-Famer who expressed his boundless joy for the game in his signature phrase “Let’s play two!”

Pebble isn't the only mine you need to know about

A roundup of proposed mines that might be coming soon to a fishery near you

by Miles Nolte - Monday, Feb 12th, 2018

The proposed Pebble Mine site (photo: J. Spear / cc2.0).

Mining is essential. The device you’re reading this on requires mined minerals. The same goes for your vehicle, your house, the symbol of your marriage. Like it or not, these necessities require minerals that must be extracted from the ground through sulfide mining.

Patagonia launches Action Works to help bolster conservation activism and involvement

New service for grassroots organizations and individuals aims to propel a new era of activism

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Feb 7th, 2018

"There needs to be a response that matches the size of the crisis," says Lisa Pike Sheehy, Patagonia's Vice President of Environmental Activism, expressing the Ventura, California company's frustration with the daunting and mounting challenges facing the conservation and environmental communities. For many in those communities—or simply for those that care about wild landscapes, clean air and clean water—it's been a tough year.