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And then there's pike fishing

Dear trout purist, I offer you the fly-fishing craft’s virtual Crossroads, where, if you choose, you can make that dreaded “Deal with the Devil”
Photo: Earl Harper.

If you fly fish long enough, you’re bound to experience a breath-stealing moment now and then. Years ago, not long after I moved to Idaho, I remember my first such moment spent with a fly rod in hand. I’d hiked into a little creek not too far from the Wyoming border on a spectacular June afternoon, and, from the trail that led up the creek, I spied perhaps the sexiest little stretch of stream I’d ever seen. The creek meandered through a willow-choked meadow and, as it rounded a deep, undercut bank, it tailed out over a pool of deep, green water.

Not catching fish? Move your feet.

Sometimes, your feet are as important to your cast as your arm
Photo: Thomas Brimer.

My good friend Kirk Deeter has given me several really good pieces of advice over the years when it comes to fly fishing, not the least of which was before my first-ever trip to fish the flats some 16 years ago: “Be sure to wear quick-dry underwear. You’ll be a lot more fun to be around back at the lodge.”

How to bury a horse

Or, how not to get fishing advice
Photo: Tim Schulz

“Get the fish on the reel,” the guide said, picking up his net, moving to my side, letting me know he was just as serious about this as he was when he told me trench foot was a genuine risk up here, even in July.

“That’s a flarkên brook trout?” I asked, or, well, screamed, actually.

“Don’t let it under the boat,” he answered.

Five, ten, fifteen, maybe twenty minutes later, I don’t remember, the fish was in the net, and I was sitting on the casting platform, not remembering how I got there, just trying to stop my hands from shaking.

As seas rise, corals can't keep up

As coral growth rates stall, the coastal protections and vital habitats they provide to species like bonefish and permit are shrinking
Because of climate change and other stressors, coral reefs in the Caribbean likely won’t grow fast enough to keep up with rising seas (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Coral reefs face myriad challenges, from ocean acidification to warming seas to destructive fishing activities. Sometimes, reefs can rebound from these ecological harms—but only if the coral species assembled on a reef can maintain the required growth rates.

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