It's been a while since we've done the attributive journalism thing, so it seemed like a good time to pass along a few recommendations on some of the other good fishing junk out there that you should be reading. This lot sort of runs the gamut on topic matter and tone, but all are good reads.

Hunting and Fishing in America: “All Dollars, No Sense”

This excellent piece by Beau Beasley serves as a reminder to how hard hit outdoorsmen were by last year's government shutdown and gives an insightful look at how poorly natural resources are prioritized in our governmental budgets, despite how much they give back, not only in intangibles but in terms of huge injections of money into our economy.

There are many standouts amongst the rapidly growing ranks of women in the sport of fly fishing. One of our favorites is Aileen Lane. We've had the great pleasure of working with Aileen over the last year, sharing her insight on the expanding field of women-specific fly fishing products, bringing you her detailed and innovative fly tying recipes and more. Given that we've come to know Aileen as a creative and dedicated professional, we were pleased to learn that Aileen would be taking over as publisher and owner of George Douglas' long-standing online publication Kype Magazine, though the news was admittedly a tad bittersweet since it means we'll be losing Aileen as a regular contributor.

Kype Magazine has traditionally been primarily focused on the steelhead and trout waters of the American midwest. With Aileen at the helm, Kype plans not only to shift its focus to include the many great western waters, but also expand its coverage to "trout streams across the continent."

Sitting on a beach in Mexico after a fine day of bonefishing, it's hard to listen to Trout Unlimited's National Communications Director and Hatch Magazine contributor Chris Hunt's good-hearted lamentation regarding the long travels involved in getting from his home in the Rocky Mountain west to good bonefishing waters. As a resident of the smog, traffic and people-choked east coast, I'm in a perpetual state of jealousy towards those who call the preposterously trouty waters of the mountain west home. After all, they get to call some of the nation's best trout streams their home waters, streams the rest of us get to fish a few days each year, if we're even that lucky.

Thankfully, most of those folks -- Chris included -- are imprudently loose-lipped about their nearby rivers and streams, regardless of how counter-intuitive being so might seem. They share them with us through photographs, articles, even books that go into great detail about where to find them and how to fish them. While this is most likely because they've never seen opening day on Pennsylvania Approved Trout Waters, we can continue to absorb and subsequently leverage the knowledge these folks share until they wise up.

I like to fish a Royal Wulff. Big ones. No, I'm serious, don't laugh. Well, maybe you're not, but I can't tell you how often I've been mocked for doing so. If I'm prospecting riffles, having a tough day figuring out what I the fish are taking, or generally don't have another idea in mind, I'll often tie on this time proven pattern and go to work. I know plenty of other anglers who don't even carry this pattern and most certainly wouldn't be caught fishing it.

Steelheading isn't a numbers game. Not even on the best days. There's a reason that steelhead are often referred to as "the fish of a thousand casts." Searching out steelhead in rivers big or small takes patience and persistence. In winter steelheading, this reality is magnified. Fish are fewer and less active. Conditions are cold and wet, often icy. If chasing steelhead, in general, can be said to not be for the feeble at heart, then winter steelheading is reserved only for the most hardy of souls. Winter steelheading involves long days spent in tough conditions, launching a seemingly endless litany of casts, prowling water in search of the elusive grab.

There may be few that know the winter steelheading game better than Oregon steelhead guide and revered spey casting instructor Tom Larimer. In this short video by well-known fly fishing film maker R.A. Beattie and Simms, Tom and friend Ryan Buccola take to the late season, chilly waters of Oregon's Deschutes River in search of that grab.

Fly fishing forums are plentiful. Virtually every region where one can find fly fishermen has an associated forum where both local fishermen and outsiders congregate to share fishing reports, stories, advice and answers to general questions. At least, that's the idea. Unfortunately, it rarely goes to plan. More commonly, fly fishing forums fall victim to one or more of the many pitfalls that commonly afflict most internet forums: they turn into spam factories, they are largely inactive, they are excessively off-topic with little in the way of valuable information, they become insider popularity contests and are excessively hostile to newcomers and so on.

And there are good reasons that these issues befall so many a forum: building a strong, healthy, active forum community requires an inordinate amount of effort and dedication. The assumption is often that because the users are generating the bulk of the content, forum operators need do little more than sit back and watch the hordes amass. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Establishing a base of community members, moderating (which basically amounts to supervising) user contributions and cultivating a community that produces a lively, ongoing discussion is a daunting task. The special combination of forum operators, moderators and members required to build a valuable forum community rarely comes together regardless of the subject matter and this is precisely why most online forums are disregarded entirely by those of us with better things to do than troll forums all day long.

As a result, many fly fishermen have abandoned the forum medium entirely. Even those forums that offer some good information are still rife with the aforementioned maladies, making sifting through the rubble to find the gems a task not worth undertaking. But there are exceptions to the rule.

For my part, the answer to this question has, over the last decade or so, become largely no. As a father of two and someone with hobbies outside the world of fishing, this is notable. It's not to say that fishing is the primary objective of my every trip I've taken in that time, or even that I've put in time on the water on every vacation, but I cannot recall an excursion I've planned in the last ten years where fishing was not at least a factor in the planning.

Fishing-specific travel aside, I've mixed or tried to mix fly fishing in with all manner of other travel. I've strived to fit chasing winter trout on spring-influenced streams and tailwater fisheries during winter ski trips to the Rocky Mountain West with old college friends. Family travel most certainly hasn't been safe from the urge to hit the water: I've pursued striped bass on the flats off the southern shores of Martha's Vineyard during an extended week at the beach, tried to squeeze a half-day bonefish outing into a recentt trip to Disney World, plied the waters of Vermont's Lake Champlain for carp and bowfin endeavored to while on a late-summer getaway to the Champlain Islands, swung flies on Oregon's Deschutes River when visiting my sister-in-law in Portland and so on.

It's New Year's day, so we're phoning it in a bit by looking back on the most read articles from last year. Even though we keep pretty tight tabs on which articles are well received by our readers, when you look back at a period as long as a year, there are often some surprises. The five articles that follow were the most read of those we published in 2013.

#5) This is Why You Sling Mice for Trout

While many of you already know that catching a trout on a fly pattern intended to imitate a mouse or other rodent is perhaps the most exhilarating way to do so, there are always some folks out there that find it hard to believe that trout seek prey as large as mice. The inspiration behind this article, a photo of an unintentionally killed trout that was revealed to have a staggering number of voles in its stomach, likely set those doubts aside for many fishermen out there.

#4) Nymphing: Get More Hookups

I'm always surprised to hear other fly fishermen remark that they very rarely nymph, due to its difficulty or perceived lack of efficacy. If for no other reason, nymphing should be one of every fly fishermen's go-to tactics particularly because it is so deadly effective. It is also simple to learn and become adept at nymphing. If you're struggling with nymphing or just want to up your catch rate, there could be one simple mistake you're making that's costing you hookups.