Articles

Review: Hardy Averon fly reel

A new favorite from Hardy
Photo: Alex Stulce.

Hardy seems to cycle through its product lineup quicker than many other manufacturers. I have a wonderful 9’9” 3-weight Ultralite LL rod that’s no longer produced, and their excellent FWDD reel was a flash in the pan for just a few years. That FWDD reel is light, smooth, and has just the right amount of pre-set drag stops for most trout fishing. I fish it on my 2 and 3-weight rods, and I’ve always wished I’d have bought one in a 5-weight size.

The most important man in Patagonia

The making of one of the world's premier trout fisheries
Gaucho Jorge Martel Martinez (photo: Earl Harper).

The Rio Blanco rises from a series Andean glacial lakes high in the Aysen region of Patagonia. It’s a river born of ice and rock, and it slices through imposing, tall country before it throws itself into a tight basalt canyon deep in the heart of Chile’s Valdivian rainforest, creating a frothy morasse of nearly impassable rapids and waterfalls that have confounded river runners for decades. Most simply deem the canyon run of the Rio Blanco “unrunnable” and look for friendlier water.

We said we were going fishing and we did

On Voelker's Frenchman's Pond with John Gierach
John Gierach casting on Frenchman's Pond (photo: Tim Schulz).

I arrived at the Crossroads shortly before 9:30 a.m.—a half-hour early, with plenty of time to add ice to my cooler and gas to my tank. I had driven all morning under an overcast sky, but now the clouds were gone, and the temperature was rising toward ninety. Although catching a trout on an afternoon like this in a shallow spring-fed pond would be close to impossible, I knew crazier things could happen. I, for example, was escorting John Gierach to John Voelker’s famed Frenchman's Pond.

October brook trout

The beauty of even the most diminutive brookies eclipses all others
Photo: Rueben Browning.

Some years ago, while working as a newspaper journalist in the mountains of Colorado, I remember having an epiphany that I couldn’t help but include in a piece I did for the paper on fall fly fishing. At the time, we were enjoying a really nice Indian summer — we had a blustery start to September and then, as things are prone to do in the southern Rockies, those perfectly blue and cloudless skies came back, along with warm temperatures and that flawless golden hue that graces the aspens and the cottonwoods of the West every autumn.

Beloved author John Gierach passes away at 78

Gierach was one of fly fishing's most iconic voices
John Gierach signing the guest book at John Voelker's cabin (photo: Tim Schulz).

Iconic storyteller and self-described trout bum John Gierach died on Thursday, Oct. 3, after suffering a massive heart attack. His passing was first reported in a Facebook post by Gierach’s long-time friend, AK Best.

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