Articles

RIO Introduces Redesigned Indicator II Trout Line

by Ben Kryzinski - Monday, May 5th, 2014

The RIO Indicator II fly line.

RIO recently announced the latest update to its diverse series of fly lines for trout fisherman with its Indicator II fly line. Redesigned for 2014, RIO calls the Indicator II line the "perfect line for fishing indicator rigs."

The line is designed with an extra-long head that is roughly 25% longer than the typical weight-forward fly line which, according to RIO, allows for easier mending and line control. The long head is combined with a short front taper, to aid in turning over heavy rigs.

Trout Unlimited Calls Pebble Response to EPA Action Predictable, Desperate

by Chad Shmukler - Thursday, May 1st, 2014

A Bristol Bay rainbow trout, complete with mouse.

According to Trout Unlimited's Alaskan Director Tim Bristol, the Pebble Limited Partnership's (PLP) response to the EPA's recent announcement that it would initiate further investigative action under Clean Water Act section 404(c) was "predictable" and "desperate." The response was issued in the form of a document circulated to PLP investors and also published on the group's website.

The PLP, which has long been seeking to build the much-maligned Pebble Mine in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska, has suffered numerous setbacks recently as two of the group's largest investors -- mining giants Rio Tinto (NYSE:RIO) and Anglo American (LON:AAL) -- have walked alway from the project, dissolving their investments in the partnership, citing the project's grim future. Northern Dynasty Minerals (NYSE:NAK), the project's only significant remaining stakeholder, has elected to stay the course, hoping to move the project forward in spite of steadily mounting opposition.

Many will consider Bristol's harsh critique of the PLP response to be spot on. The document circulated by the partnership reads more like a childish rant than an informative, carefully worded letter to investors. In it, the PLP accuses EPA employees of "secretly plott[ing] with environmental activists," scheming to sabotage US financial markets and puts forth other such unsubstantiated, unethical and inaccurate claims.

Cruel

by Steve Zakur - Wednesday, Apr 30th, 2014

Spring can be cruel. After a long winter of desperation our need to wander in the water can be foiled by her swollen clouds clinging to hillsides dispensing valley filling deluges. We complain about this bounty of water but if she shirks her role we'll be bitching come August. Always the trade offs.

Saturday night rain pounded on the skylight telegraphing the state of rivers come morning. Sure enough, the gage reported Sunday's river at twice normal size and it looked to be getting bigger. The Sunday sky, clear at dawn, by noon was spitting a preamble to the showers we'll see all week.

I'm six days off the operating table; a tune-up on a knee that's given me trouble for decades. It's one of those injuries that they want you walking on immediately after surgery and turning the exercise bike come evening. I've been doing my part and it seems to be healing quickly. It'll take weight and aside from some tenderness near the sutures and an annoying habit of bending in the wrong direction at the wrong times, I'm pretty happy with my progress.

Chasing Grayling

by Chris Hunt - Monday, Apr 28th, 2014

In a day when all the fly fishing rage seems to be centered on salty critters that induce screaming reels and stylish expletive “bleeps” in one of the hundreds of new-era videos sucking up bandwidth these days, the essence of the craft seems to have gone south. Literally and figuratively.

Oh, I’m part of the problem. Believe me. I dig the flats and the fish that swim them. But it’s spring up here where we can actually tell a difference between the seasons, and my thoughts are shifting from bones and permit to chasing lighter fare in places where, when summer finally does arrive, it’s damn near over.

Places like the Alaskan interior, where the sun is shining now and pushing snowmelt into the region’s many rivers. And in those rivers, under brown, rushing waters lined by birch and alder, one of the most game of fly fishing targets is busy pair up, ensuring anglers yet another generation of wonderment.

Arctic grayling might be the perfect dry fly target, and while our nation’s creative fisheries managers have done their level best to bring grayling to the masses in the Lower 48, the most reliable American destination to catch this gorgeous cousin of the trout remains Alaska. And perhaps no other river in the Last Frontier is more identified with grayling than the Chena.

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