Indholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2018 i Fly Fisherman

THE BEST THING about a life lived outdoors is the opportunity to experience moments of greatness in nature. These are the moments when everything is perfect, where you can stand in awe of what is happening around you, and feel truly lucky just to witness it. These are moments on slicked calm flats where the horizon is blurred, you can’t distinguish the sky from the water, and there are glistening bone-fish tails in every direction; when a hatch starts pouring off and every fish in the river is almost drunk on protein; a sabalo massacre in ankle-deep water as a pack of 30-pound dorados destroys them. These events are largely unpredictable, and the recipe for participation is a commitment of time. I’m fortunate to be in wild places more than…

A Night with Sandy On January 1, FLY FISHERMAN named #NoworNever-Glades founder Sandy Moret as the 2018 Conservationist of the Year (see the Feb.-Mar. 2018 issue for complete details). The real celebration took place a few weeks later at the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust annual fundraising dinner at the Islander Resort in Islamorada, where Sandy Moret was the guest of honor. “The Conservationist of the Year Award is focused on finding environmental activists who are finding success and making a difference in their fisheries,” said FLY FISHER MAN publisher Ross Purnell. “Sandy has spent his life defending Florida fisheries and the Everglades in particular.” Moret was one of the founders of the #NoworNeverGlades declaration, which has now gathered support from more than 75,000 companies and individuals, and was influential in…

FLY TYING, LIKE fly fishing itself, is loaded with infinitesimal details. I’m convinced that’s why it attracts all of us. We like those details, and no matter how long you’re at it, there is always more to learn. I happen to be a detail-oriented kind of guy, and fly tying meshes perfectly with my borderline obsessiveness. To that end, I want to take this opportunity to write about some of the finer details in fly tying that are often overlooked, but can make a big difference in the functionality and durability of your flies, and make them look a lot better. Some people view these techniques as exclusively the realm of super picky classic streamer aficionados or Atlantic salmon fly tiers, but these techniques make even simple trout flies more…

#ONECOAST Irma, Harvey, and Maria might have laid waste to some iconic fishing communities, but their resiliency has been inspiring. In the news item “Costa Cleans up the Keys” (Feb.-Mar. 2018), you touched on this, but I thought the people I worked with in days after Irma deserved a few more words. Seeing the devastation after the storm plowed through the Lower Keys—leaving scars where people’s lives once stood—was almost too much to bear. We wove our convoy of Costa vehicles around boats thrown into the middle of the road by unprecedented storm surges, and rolled past mountains of twisted metal, plastic, and wood from winds of more than 100 mph. I vividly recall tearing up as the contents of one home was strung out in front of me. I…

FOR MOST AMERICANS, including the majority of anglers, fisheries managers, and environmental groups, fish don’t count as wildlife. Fish are furless, featherless, cold, slimy, silent and, for most people, unseen. Their function in the natural world is mainly perceived as rod benders and table fare. If that sounds harsh, consider stocked “tiger trout,” wildly popular with anglers throughout the U.S. and Canada. They’re created in hatcheries by crossing not just species but genera—brown trout from Europe with brook trout from North America. Google “tiger trout,” ignoring everything by me, and you’ll find only effusions about their alleged “beauty.” Consider also “golden rainbows” (aka palomino trout), all the rage across North America. In 1955 a pigment-impoverished female rainbow trout turned up in a West Virginia state hatchery. So enamored were fish…

Down by the River Down By the River by Andrew Weiner, illustrated by April Chu. Abrams Books for Young Readers 2018, 40 pages, $20 hardcover, ISBN 978-1419722936. The day is finally here! Art is going fly fishing with his mother and grandfather for the first time. Through Art’s childhood experience, the author introduces the items you might pack for a fly-fishing day trip; types of trout; the importance of being aware of your surroundings; the understanding that mistakes are okay, and that it is the experiences shared with others that are important. These shared experiences provide future generations with the foundation necessary to entice, invigorate, and build on ambitions of exploring, sharing, and enjoying the outdoor world with those close to them. Through careful blending of candid, yet descriptive text,…

IF THE THREE FORKS OF MONTANA’S FLATHEAD RIVER COULD BE EMBODIED, I IMAGINE THEM AS A STRIKING TRIO OF ENERGETIC, PRECOCIOUS WOMEN. These spirited dames are proportionately lusty and graceful, muscular and delicate, cruel and nurturing. In the late 1980s, my grade school self showed up on their buxom banks with a leaky, inflatable kayak to ride piggyback as these leading ladies moved with purposeful spirit. They offered more adventure than I expected in even the longest life. I itched to mimic their mannerisms, noticing how they earned respect at every bend. I laughed when they laughed, and whispered when they whispered. They educated me through dangerous close calls and hands-on lessons in entomology, hydrology, wildlife biology, and botany. I figured they prevailed as their own renewable fountains of youth…

“MISSING LINK: THAT FLY PATTERN WHICH LINKS TOGETHER COMMON FEATURES OF MANY DIFFERENT INSECTS, AND INSECT LIFE CYCLES, MAKING IT APPEAR A SAFE AND ATTRACTIVE MEAL TO FISH IN NEARLY ANY SURFACE-FEEDING SITUATION.” Have you ever watched as a trout 20 feet away rises with seeming reckless abandon, but momentarily vanishes each time your fly passes over its feeding station? Do you remember the feelings of personal inadequacy as this creature with a brain the size of a #16 Parachute Adams steadfastly rejects the next half dozen patterns you show it using perfectly timed, drag-free drifts? It’s these experiences that either crush, or feed the resolve of creative fly tiers. A Fly is Born The Lower Sacramento River was in rare form. All day long we’d been nymphing up 16-…

“WE’RE GOING TO start you off in true Iowa style,” announces race organizer Ryan Rahmiller. A volunteer jogs 40 yards down the trail holding an M-80 and a lighter. It’s raining, but the wick sparks to life with a hiss. There are around 50 of us at the starting line, stamping our feet against the damp chill and nervously glancing skyward. The race time was moved up an hour, in hopes of beating the incoming storms, but most of us were up late drinking around campfires. In our present state, outrunning the forces of nature is a lot to ask. I look around, sizing up the competition. Some look like serious anglers, but maybe not avid runners. They pace around, tentatively stretching random muscle groups and tightening shoelaces. Others look…

Seriously North Seriously North produced and edited by Phil Tuttle. InTents Media 2018 with Cortney Boice, Sam Parkinson, Derek Olthuis, 14:50 minutes, part of the International Fly Fishing Film Festival ( flyfilmfest.com). Have you ever experienced fishing that was so dismal, you were compelled to get down on your knees and pray? That’s how desperate the boys from InTents Media became after getting dropped off on the tundra, and fishing for seven days without even seeing an Arctic char. The four Rocky Mountain anglers had flown thousands of miles, camped in rugged, barren land, and walked 10 miles per day looking to find the fish of their dreams—brightly colored Arctic char—but no one had yet seen one. Worse, the group was there to produce a fishing film for the International…

This feature article is an excerpt from Smallmouth: Modern Fly Fishing Methods, Tactics, and Techniques (Stackpole Books, 2017). GAMEFISH COME EQUIPPED WITH A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT JAW STRUCTURES, EACH OF WHICH TELLS A DIFFERENT STORY ABOUT HOW THESE FISH EVOLVED TO HUNT PREY. Some species, like the channel catfish, have an obvious overbite—useful in pinning prey on the bottom. The brook trout has a jaw that occupies much of its face, a testament to how it evolved to eat during the relatively short growing season of northern latitudes and high country streams (that is to say, all the time). Then there’s the smallmouth bass. A look at its jaw structure shows a lower jaw that extends beyond the upper. The biology tells the story of a fish that evolved to…

THE RANCHERO SAGA began in the fall of 1964 when Grandpa Harry drove it from the Teague Motor Sales showroom. It had whitewall tires, “honey gold” exterior, a 3-speed Cruise-O-Matic transmission, and was powered by a 200-cubic-inch straight six. How well I remember Grandpa chuckling with glee when he stomped on the gas pedal and was rewarded with a burst of speed. His ability to find entertainment at other people’s expense was a behavior I grew to appreciate. But as with racehorses and hunting dogs, old age inevitably caught up with Grandpa Harry. California stops, backups without looking, and T-boning a station wagon on the way to the bowling alley served notice that driving had become a challenge for him. At age 72, with his last vestige of freedom no…