Latest Blog Posts

Burning down the house

It's on fire, better grab a bucket
Photo: U.S. DOI

Back when I was working as a fly fishing guide in Montana and Idaho, I spent every spare moment fishing. While that may seem like an odd choice to some folks, it made perfect sense to me. Guiding and fishing are two very different things, and while I enjoyed my guiding, I’ve always loved my fishing more.

4 more things all anglers should be thankful for

Where should we focus our gratitude in 2017?
Fat brown trout that swim off with vigor—something to be thankful for (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Back in 2014, we celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday as so many outlets do, by talking about what we should be thankful for. Generally, doing so is little more than an opportunity to state the obvious or share trite sentiments that are more an exercise of convention and repetition than an expression of gratitude based on thoughtful reflection. But we did our best not to mail it in and, in the process, shined a light on a few things we thought all anglers should take the time to acknowledge.

The new front in the war on public lands

Congress' latest, shameless handout to big business is one you probably haven’t heard of
The North Umpqua is one of the nation's most beautiful river and is known for its steelhead and salmon runs. 34 miles of the North Umpqua have been designated as a BLM wild and scenic river and this section has been set aside as fly-fishing only (photo: Bob Wick/BLM).

The sellouts are tremendously talented at coming up with clever naming. Who could be opposed to citizens uniting or a foundation dedicated to our heritage? Likewise, who among us dare say we oppose resilient forests? What sorry SOB could possibly be against a bill that claims to protect our woodlands, a bill with that pluck and hardiness, that quintessential American tenacity baked right into the label — the Resilient Federal Forests Act of 2017, AKA H.R.2936, 115th Congress?

Me. I’m the sorry SOB opposed to it. And you should be as well.

Video: The photography of Andy Anderson

YETI and Orvis' new short-film 'Andy' looks at the life of an iconic imagemaker
A still from the film.

It's hard to imagine anyone arguing that fly fishers are highly visual individuals. There's so much about our sport that's driven by appreciation for the beauty of the pursuit, whether that be the aesthetics of the landscapes in which we chase our quarry, the lashed fur and feather creations we tempt them with or the artfully crafted tools with which we ply the water. Fly fishing is a sport full of rich and diverse imagery.

203,748 comments is not enough

Yes, we're doing the Pebble Mine thing again
Returning sockeye salmon crowd a creek inlet in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Recreational anglers, commercial fishermen, native tribal members, lovers of wild places and defenders of common sense worldwide breathed a massive sigh of relief when, in 2014, the Obama administration finally delivered what so many had spent years tirelessly working for: a Clean Water Act 404(c) veto that would prevent the use of certain Bristol Bay watersheds for use as disposal sites for dredge or fill material. Or, in other words, it would block construction of Pebble Mine.

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