Articles

Simms introduces ultralight Flyweight Packable Waders

Weighing in at less than 2.5 pounds, Simms latest is its lightest ever

by Hatch Magazine - Friday, May 23rd, 2025

Photo: Darcy Bacha.

Ultralight waders have been around for at least a couple of decades, likely more. The designers of these types of waders are faced with a difficult challenge: build a wader that is lightweight, packable, and comfortable but also one that stands up to the elements and the abuse that anglers inevitably deliver. Over the years, ultralight waders have always come with compromises. But as design and technology improves, each iteration seems to offer less and less to grin and bear — performing nearly as well as “normal” waders.

The beasts of the Bighorn

One of the West's most storied tailwaters rarely disappoints

by Chris Hunt - Thursday, May 22nd, 2025

Photo: Earl Harper.

I’ve lost count of the number of eye-rolling stories that I’ve heard from guides about clients killing trophy fish caught from the West’s great trout rivers. The notion that a fish must die to appease the ego, it seems, is still richly embedded among a few trout anglers. And guides, well, they get to know a few trout anglers.

The solace of mediocre water

It's not great or even decent fishing

by Chad Love - Tuesday, May 20th, 2025

Photo: Chad Love.

Salvation is a vexing thing. Some people seem to find it in the familiar comfort of the shared liturgical experience, immersing themselves in those codified rituals and behaviors that promise it. Other people seem to find it where no one else is looking, in things no one else sees; private little salvations known only to them. Still other people—the majority of them, really—search all their lives for it, but don’t know where to look for it, or how to recognize it when they find it. So they drift, seeking balm for a despair they feel deeply, but cannot quite define.

Unwritten rules when fishing from a boat

Tips to help you avoid errors with your drift boat, raft, or other watercraft

by George Daniel - Wednesday, May 14th, 2025

Photo: George Daniel.

Watercraft usage for fishing has increased significantly in recent years. Much like a growing city whose infrastructure was not designed to handle excessive numbers of people and vehicles, many of our rivers, boat launches, and access points are dealing with issues related to an uptick in usage—and the resulting crowded boat launches and busy waterways are creating the potential for greater user conflicts.

After the flood

Life and fishing in western N.C. in the wake of Hurricane Helene

by Robert Annis - Tuesday, May 13th, 2025

Photo: Robert Annis.

I’ve known Tim O’Donnell for well over a decade, and I’d never heard this particular tinge of panic permeating his voice until this moment in western North Carolina. Tim had just started fishing a tiny section of the Pigeon River’s west fork, a hole about the size of a five-gallon Harbor Freight bucket, when his indicator suddenly disappeared from the water’s surface and his 3wt Thomas and Thomas rod nearly bent in half.