Articles

Ward, let's talk about the beaver

by Chris Hunt - Monday, Feb 9th, 2015

A beaver dam on Fish Creek, in the Wyoming Range (photo: Chris Hunt).

For the backcountry fly fisher, there might not be anything sexier than a lonely beaver pond reflecting a blue-bird mountain sky, and dimpled only by the rises of braindead, off-the-beaten path trout.

God bless beavers and their industrious nature. They make habitat for the fish we love, and opportunities to catch them.

But beavers haven’t always been so fondly considered, even by us anglers. For centuries, they were sought after, not for the work they do to improve stream habitat, but for their luxurious fur. They were trapped throughout the Rockies, nearly to extinction. But, in the last 50 years or so, they’ve made a remarkable comeback, thanks mostly to a cultural shift in how we view the toothy rodents that turn a straight-pipe trickle into a trouty backcountry oasis.

Douglas introduces new 'Upstream' small stream fly rod series

by Ben Kryzinski - Friday, Feb 6th, 2015

Douglas Outdoors, a newcomer of a company run by long time industry veterans, has received numerous accolades this year for its initial rod offerings, most notably its DXF fly rods. Adding to its existing rod lineup, Douglas has recently introduced its new Upstream rod series. According to Douglas, the response to the introduction of the Upstream series has been so positive, that they've doubled their initial production plans.

The Upstream series is built specifically for small stream fishing, specifically what Douglas calls "bush and upcountry" angling. The rods are designed to be ultra-light and minimalist in their design and their tapers are targeted towards anglers that need to be able to control their line and catch when casting and working in close. The rods, with their all-cork, threadless ring reel seats, are evocative of something you'd see from a custom rod builder.

With Vedavoo, it's the little things

by Chad Shmukler - Wednesday, Feb 4th, 2015

The Vedavoo Tight Lines 'Beast' sling pack.

Sometimes, creating a great product is all about the big things; coming up with an entirely new concept, innovating the use of radically new materials, engineering superior mechanics and so on. More often, though, it seems to come down to the little things. Whether that involves scrutinizing materials, the finer points of form and function, refining existing designs or listening to and incorporating customer feedback; companies whose design and manufacturing philosophy revolve around honing even the most minute details often build the best products.

Spend even a few minutes talking with Vedavoo founder Scott Hunter -- as he describes pattern making and stitching refinements and improvements that many of Vedavoo's most popular slings and packs have seen over their life cycle, waxes lyrical about fabrics and their sources, or talks excitedly about discoveries they've made about their own designs over the years -- and it becomes abundantly clear just how important the little things are at Vedavoo. And the thing about all those little things, is that they quickly add up to become big things.

RIO Releases New GT Fly Line

by Ben Kryzinski - Tuesday, Feb 3rd, 2015

Photo: Dr. Dwayne Meadows.

If you've ever fished for Giant trevally, you know that it introduces its own unique set of challenges. The biggest of the jack family (Carangidae), GT are ferocious predators. Due to their aggressive nature, GT are considered less difficult to hook than many other tropical saltwater species that are often targeted on the fly. The challenges when fishing for GT comes in the form of casting big, heavy rods and large flies and, once they've been hooked, holding on and hoping your gear holds on long enough to land them.

Continuing its expansion of its specialty fly lines, RIO has released a new line specifically targeted at GT fishermen. According to RIO, its new GT line is "built on an ultra strong core and is designed with a short, heavy head to carry big flies on powerful fly rods. The powerful front taper casts very large flies with ease, but the biggest benefit of this line is the core strength. The extremely tough core has a breaking strength in excess of 50 pounds to easily battle large fish and to resist cuts from coral and rock structures."

Review: Flycraft Stealth fishing craft

A greenhorn no more

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Feb 2nd, 2015

When you spend a lot of time in fly fishing circles, being a greenhorn on the oars makes you a bit of a pariah. Or, at least, it makes you feel like one. Amongst avid anglers or industry folk, there exists an assumption that you know what you’re doing around boats. Oars, ropes, anchors and so on and what to do with them is treated as instinctive knowledge, leaving those that lack it on the outside.

Count me amongst the drift boat hayseeds. It’s not that I’m perplexed by boats, I just didn’t grow up around them. Sure, I’ve rowed john boats on bass ponds, paddled canoes and kayaked a bit, but none of that does anything to prepare you for handling a 4-500 lb. drift boat in heavy current.

Here in East, where drift boats don’t dot every driveway, this less of an offense. Even in trouty Pennsylvania, the closest driftable trout river to me is ninety minutes away, and the next one after that is another ninety. Given that the vast majority of our trout fishing is done on foot, lacking the capacity to handle a boat hasn’t meant missing all that much water.