For anglers who fish hard, their gear is everything. It keeps us warm. It keeps us dry. Sometimes, it keeps us upright — on our feet — when the river or the terrain has other ideas. It helps us achieve that desired connection with the fish we’re after. Good gear adds joy to fishing. That’s what it’s supposed to do, and those who scoff at the idea that quality gear is a significant component to good fishing might need to rethink the state of their fly fishing closet.

The four lower Snake River dams that produce, on average, about 1,000 megawatts of electric power every year are really “climate catastrophes,” according to the chief scientist for a non-profit that hopes to expose dams as significant greenhouse gas producers and not the generators of clean, green energy they’re often billed to be.