All Content

Don't let your fishing interfere with your fishing

A conversation with author Chris Dombrowski on his journey to becoming a writer

by Hatch Magazine - Sunday, Apr 28th, 2024

Photo: USFS.

Writing about Chris Dombrowski’s 2016 book Body of Water—which recently appeared in the Wall Street Journal’s list of the five best books on angling—John Gierach described Dombrowski’s voice as “concise language that reminded me of Gary Snyder one minute and John McPhee the next.” Dombrowski’s most recent book, The River You Touch, has been described by USA Today as “A poignant rumination on marriage, parenthood, friendship and what it means to connect with nature.”

Trout tactics: stocked vs. wild

Know your target and you'll know success

by George Daniel - Thursday, Apr 25th, 2024

Photo: George Daniel.

I teach basic fly-fishing skills at Penn State University. Most of my students have little experience fishing for wild or native trout but have spent plenty of time targeting stocked trout. Our class takes at least three field trips to fish for wild trout on Spring Creek, near Bellefonte, PA. This fishery is full of wild trout which are not easy for inexperienced anglers to catch. Every semester, I witness students with extensive experience targeting stocked trout fail to catch a single wild brown trout during the combined six hours of class time spent fishing the creek.

Pike and leeches: Star-crossed lovers

Pike and leeches' prey-prey relationship

by Chris Hunt - Tuesday, Apr 23rd, 2024

A Reindeer Lake pike that grabbed a black Slumpbuster (photo: Chris Hunt).

Some years back, I had the opportunity to fly fish for trophy northern pike on Reindeer Lake, a massive and unspoiled boreal lake that straddles the border of Saskatchewan and Manitoba. We hit the lake right around the summer solstice — the ideal time for trophy pike in the northern reaches of Canada’s southern provinces. We arrived during a short cold snap that quickly retreated and spent a week watching the lake go from spring to summer in just a matter of days.

Fishing was good. Really good.

Biden administration rejects destructive Ambler Road project

BLM declares road project would 'significantly and irrevocably impact resources'

by Hatch Magazine - Saturday, Apr 20th, 2024

Photo: U.S. Department of Interior.

Yesterday, the Biden administration rejected the “speculative” Amber Road Project that would have constructed an industrial-grade road some 210 miles into the Alaskan interior in order to allow minerals to be transported to market from the Ambler Mining District.

Fly fishing with a worm

Other anglers may snub their nose. Let 'em.

by Tim Schulz - Thursday, Apr 18th, 2024

Photo: Earl Harper

Bliss Perry was a pioneer in American literature. He taught at Williams College, Princeton, and Harvard and edited the works of Ralph Waldo Emerson, among others. But I wouldn't know anything about Professor Perry if he hadn't written a book called Fishing with a Worm.

His short book—published in 1916—begins with an indictment of the fishing gene:

A defective logic is the born fisherman's portion. He is a pattern of inconsistency. He does the things which he ought not to do, and he leaves undone the things which other people think he ought to do.

Review: Simms Pursuit Shoe

One of the most versatile wet wading shoes available

by Chris Hunt - Wednesday, Apr 17th, 2024

Photo: Darcy Bacha.

Flats fishing is an active pursuit, and the terrain isn’t always as friendly as we wish it was. And when you’re wading, it’s all about stealth and balance. Keeping your feet safe and comfortable over a weeklong trip where you’ll wade across everything from eelgrass to jagged Caribbean limestone is every bit as important as the rod you cast and the fly you choose to put in front of bonefish and permit.

An ode to the panga

The humble panga is one of the most versatile and ubiquitous boats of all time

by Chris Hunt - Sunday, Apr 14th, 2024

Photo: Earl Harper.

On our second day fishing out of the east end of Roatan, our guide, Michael Boden, pointed the nose of his plus-sized panga into the west wind and toward the open ocean. As the sun made its morning appearance over the Caribbean, Earl and I could see what awaited us. Moments later, as Michael guided the boat out of the protected waters of the bight and into the waves, we were in it. The first giant roller looked like it was 20 feet over our heads, and I’m not ashamed to admit that, even this close to the shallows, a spear of terror shot through my heart.

Pages