Articles

Howl

If forced to pick a favorite from my bevy of cruel mistresses, it would have to be the Peshtigo

by Tom Davis - Wednesday, Aug 31st, 2016

Photo: Ken Lund (adapted).

The Empty Corner of northeastern Wisconsin boasts a suite of brawling freestone rivers with which I have a longstanding love-hate relationship. I love them for their prideful beauty and for their occasional benevolences; I hate them for the way they draw me in, raise my hopes, and, as often as not, dash them.

But then, I suppose that’s only to be expected when you ignore the lessons of history.

Spray casting

How grizzlies change fishing trips

by Kris Millgate - Tuesday, Aug 30th, 2016

Yellowstone cutthroat trout consider the North Fork of the Shoshone River their home. So do grizzly bears (photo: Kris Millgate).

It’s my first time fishing the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming. It’s my first time fishing with bear spray clipped on my wading belt. It’s the first time a guide has followed me into the willows when I sneak off for a bathroom break.

I’m used to living, working and playing in Idaho’s bear country. I’m bear aware, but Cody takes the conflict to a whole new level. The area has to. Grizzlies have a stronghold here.

The new normal

Are you ready for it?

by Johnny Carrol Sain - Monday, Aug 29th, 2016

Photo: Johnny Carrol Sain

August in Arkansas. Lawns dried to a crispy, dusty brown. Bathwater lake temperatures, creeks cinched down to trickling riffles with pools full of hungry smallmouth bass. Day after day of 95-105 degree sunshine, which seems a damn near impossible combination with the ungodly and stifling humidity billowing up from the Gulf of Mexico. I like to spend this time waist deep in the creek.

But that’s not what’s happening this year.

A closer look at the Yellowstone River fish kill

What Idaho can teach us about Montana's closures and PKD

by Kris Millgate - Friday, Aug 26th, 2016

The watercraft check station is open on the Idaho-Montana border. All vehicles carrying or pulling watercraft must stop for inspection before entering Idaho (photo: Kris Millgate).

Whitefish belly up on my right. Few minutes later, another one off the nose of the boat. It’s early fall on the South Fork of the Snake River in Idaho. The cool release following summer heat is a relief, but it didn’t come soon enough in this cottonwood-lined corridor. Dead whitefish are the fatal sign and the sight is alarming. Whitefish are a river’s canary in a coalmine. If something is wrong with whitefish, something is wrong with the river.