Articles

America's best fly fishing restaurants: #1

Laughing Horse Lodge, Swan Lake, Montana

by Todd Tanner - Wednesday, Jun 28th, 2017

Photo: Todd Tanner

If you happen to live in New York City, San Francisco, New Orleans or Los Angeles, you may well think of Montana as a culinary cul-de-sac, with great angling and awesome scenery but very little in the way of epicurean delights. And if you’ve ever found yourself settling for a dozen highly suspect chicken wings or a frozen pizza after a great day of fishing on a beautiful Big Sky stream, I understand why you might consider Montana a black hole when it comes to restaurants. But that’s only because you have not yet visited one of the West’s most iconic eateries, Laughing Horse Lodge.

What I learned from beach snook

Lessons taught by one of saltwater's premier gamefish

by Mike Hodge - Tuesday, Jun 27th, 2017

Photo: Mike Hodge

As June bleeds into July, it’s hot in Florida. The heat rises from the earth, hour by hour, as if you stepped into a sauna. Relief comes early or late, before the first cup of coffee or an after hour after the last glass of iced tea, as the sun eases below the dunes.

I measure the seasons by my fly-fishing calendar. Each season brings a new species. It’s now too hot for redfish and seatrout. Pretty soon, the tarpon and snook will arrive.

Loaded for gar and other toothy fish

A look at Scientific Angler's extensive lineup of bombproof wire leaders and materials

by Johnny Carrol Sain - Monday, Jun 26th, 2017

Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

Gar hold a special place in my angler’s heart. The connection stretches back to humid summer nights of catfishing with my dad on Arkansas River sandbars.

Cats were our target, but gar were frequent nibblers of our hooks stacked with minnows or slices of shad. Dad could always tell if it was a cat or a gar that had come-a-calling by watching the rod tip. Cats often stuck with ferocity—sharp bows in the rod that sometimes dislodged it from a forked driftwood prop and even sometimes drug the whole outfit into the churning river. 


In the rower's seat

Tips on captaining a drift boat

by Kris Millgate - Wednesday, Jun 21st, 2017

Photo: Kris Millgate

"You look like you got ran over by a truck," my son says.

"Mom's a rookie."

My husband is right. When it comes to rowing, I'm a rookie. The black grease smeared across the front of my orange fleece is evidence of that. I tried hooking our drift boat to my truck on my own. I'm not proud of my performance in the driveway. The dirty shirt is my now my scarlet letter and I have to wear it while I learn to row.

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