Indholdsfortegnelse for February/March 2020 i Fly Fisherman

When the 185-mile-per hour winds of Category 5 Hurricane Dorian began to disintegrate the walls and roof of his home, Abaco bone-fish guide Travis Sands realized the looming danger of becoming trapped in the rubble of his own home. With floodwaters flushing through the stripped doorway, he zipped up his Yeti waterproof backpack to form a makeshift flotation device and set off into the storm. After many hours of floating, swimming, and clutching at debris, he finally anchored himself to a bulldozer to ride out the final stages of the storm. George Daniel (the guy on our cover with an enormous wild rainbow trout caught on public water in Pennsylvania’s Big Spring) has been a competitor in the World Fly Fishing Championships five times, a U.S. national champion two times,…

FOR MOST MODERN-DAY FLY FISHERS, THE CONCEPT OF CATCH-AND-RELEASE IS AS FAMILIAR AS THE IDEA OF HOOKING A FISH ON A FLY ROD. BACK IN THE 1970S, THOUGH, IT WAS AN ODD PROPOSITION. BUT A YOUNG FISH BIOLOGIST NAMED PETER MOYLE PUSHED THE PRACTICE TO BALANCE CONSERVATION AND RECREATION ON A NEWLY CONSERVED STRETCH OF CALIFORNIA’S MCCLOUD RIVER. NEEDLESS TO SAY, THE IDEA STUCK. THE MCCLOUD TODAY IS ONE OF CALIFORNIA’S MOST HALLOWED FLY-FISHING STREAMS, AND ITS BEST STRETCH OF FLY WATER IS OPEN TO ANGLERS THANKS TO THE PRACTICAL SOLUTION MOYLE ADVOCATED. HIS SOLUTION ALSO HELPED USHER IN A WAY OF THINKING ABOUT AND HANDLING NATIVE FISH THAT TODAY IS SECOND NATURE FOR NEARLY EVERY FLY ANGLER OUT THERE. Since those early days, Moyle has become California’s preeminent expert…

EPA SUED OVER PEBBLE MINE More than 14 different groups have filed multiple lawsuits against the Environmental Protection Agency claiming that the agency reversed course and without consideration of any scientific evidence or public consultation, withdrew the protections of the Bristol Bay Proposed Determination created during the Obama administration. Those protections—created after years of scientific study and a public comment period that included input from more than one million Americans—recognized the economic value and national importance of the salmon-rich waters of Bristol Bay, and prohibited “the discharge of dredged or fill material from the mine into the waters of the United States.” However, on July 30, 2019, the EPA withdrew that determination, breathing new life into the Pebble Mine project. Plaintiffs in three different federal lawsuits include the Bristol Bay…

I OFTEN STOP FOR A COFFEE IN PORT JERVIS’S REVITALIZED DOWNTOWN IN THE FOUNDRY 42, JUST SPITTING DISTANCE FROM WHERE DAN CAHILL WORKED AS A BRAKEMAN FOR THE ERIE LACKAWANNA RAILROAD. THOUGH HE RESIDED ON THE MIDDLE RIVER, HE IS CONSIDERED ONE OF THE GREAT CATSKILLS TIERS IN THE LINEAGE OF THEODORE GORDON; ROY STEENROD; WALTER AND WINNIE DETTE OF THE FAMED DETTE FLY SHOP; HARRIE AND ELSIE DARBEE, PILLARS OF TODAY’S COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE GENETIC HACKLE; AND LEE WULFF. Just like wild trout, our art, tradition, and romance for the natural world in the Catskills run deep. But as Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a changin’.” Even here in the Catskills we don’t use traditional Catskills dry flies as much as we used to. Many fly tiers know…

THE OCELOT EYED US WITH FELINE DISDAIN, THEN SANK ITS TEETH INTO THE CAIMAN’S WHITE THROAT. BECAUSE I’D NEVER ENCOUNTERED AN OCELOT IN THE WILD BEFORE, MY FIRST INSTINCT WAS TO GET CLOSER. I WANTED TO ADMIRE THE DARK SPOTS ON ITS TAWNY COAT, TO WITNESS—AT SHORT RANGE—THE STRENGTH AND FEROCITY REQUIRED TO KILL AND CARRY AN ARMORED REPTILE HALF AGAIN AS LONG AS ITSELF. But the muddy bar offered no cover at all. We were exposed and off-balance, struggling to find our footing in an ankle-deep layer of sand and silt. From ten paces away, I watched the cat lift its head to give us an exasperated glare. Then it leaped effortlessly up an eight-foot bank, into the shadows of the forest. I registered a sharp pang of guilt,…

THE AD IN THE BACK PAGES OF FLY FISHERMAN READ “ALASKAN GUIDE WANTED.” THAT’S HOW ONE OF THE MOST SUCCESSFUL AND RECOGNIZED GUIDES ON THE PLANET GOT HIS START—ANSWERING A CLASSIFIED AD IN THE BACK OF THIS VERY MAGAZINE. IT WAS THE EARLY ’90S AND DAVID MANGUM WAS LIVING IN AUSTIN, TEXAS WHILE WRAPPING UP SCHOOL. HE WAS READY FOR A CHANGE, AND THE ALLURE OF GUIDING AND WILDERNESS CALLED TO HIM. When he responded to the advertisement, he discovered that the head guide in Alaska was a Keys captain the rest of the year. Mangum was a Florida native, and the 850 area code was an immediate tip-off. The seed was planted, and the journey that created one of the best guides on the planet…

G.LOOMIS NRX+ I’ll be sorry to see the old NRX fall by the wayside. It was one of the best rod series of all time, and I’ll always have a deep sentimental attachment. I’ve caught giant trevally, tarpon, peacock bass, arapaima, and sea-run brown trout on my NRX rods—some of my favorite fish of all time were on them. When the series first hit the market, they were lighter than anything else out there. Over the years they proved nearly unbreakable, and they made casting more enjoyable, less like a chore. So of course first my first stubborn question when I heard about the new NRX+ was, “What can G.Loomis possibly do to make it better?” Incredibly, the answer was “everything.” G.Loomis rod designer Steve Rajeff and his team took…

THE FIRST TIME I FLEW INTO MORAINE CREEK, WE ATE BREAKFAST EARLY AND LOADED THE BEAVER AT DAWN. WE SKIRTED THE PERIMETER OF KATMAI NATIONAL PARK, WATCHING THE SUN RISE FROM 500 FEET ABOVE THE TUNDRA, BUT WHEN WE SPOTTED THE ELBOW-SHAPED CROSSWINDS LAKE, THERE WERE ALREADY NINE OTHER FLOAT PLANES THERE. OUR GUIDE AND PILOT CONSULTED VIA HEADPHONES, THEN MADE AN AUDIBLE TO FLY TO NARROW COVE AND WALK UP THE BATTLE RIVER INSTEAD. AND SO IT WENT ON MANY OTHER DAYS ON THAT TRIP, AND ON SEVERAL OTHER TRIPS TO THE REGION OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS. Alaska’s best trout fishing is in roadless wilderness areas. As a result, most fly fishers in the Lower 48 imagine themselves flying to these rivers and having them all to themselves.…

OF ALL THE THINGS WE DO TO PREPARE FOR OUR DAYS ON THE WATER—TYING THE LATEST FLY, PERFECTING THE DOUBLE HAUL, STUDYING FLOW CHARTS—THE MOST OVERLOOKED AND SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT SKILL IS THE ABILITY TO CAST OUTSIDE OF WHAT I CALL THE “NO FLY ZONE.” The No Fly Zone (NFZ) is the area between you and your fishing partners, including the guide. I have spent many days dodging and ducking flies from careless casters who say, “Don’t worry, I won’t hit you.” Trust me, they will, and they do. If you are getting water spray in your face from your buddy’s passing streamer, something is wrong. If you hear a popper buzzing by your ear, there is a problem. And if you find your partner’s fly buried in your shirt…

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO, I FISHED THE FLATS THAT RING GREEN TURTLE CAY—PART OF THE ABACO ISLANDS IN THE BAHAMAS. BY DAY I PLAYED TUG-OF-WAR WITH FAT BONEFISH, BY NIGHT I RELAXED AT THE OPULENT GREEN TURTLE CLUB, NIBBLING ON CONCH FRITTERS AND SIPPING BOAT DRINKS. TODAY, THE CLUB IS DECIMATED, ALONG WITH EVERYTHING ELSE ON GREEN TURTLE CAY, AND ON ADJACENT GREAT ABACO, LITTLE ABACO, THE WEST END OF GRAND BAHAMA, AND DOZENS OF SMALLER OUTLYING CAYS. MORE TRAGICALLY, HUNDREDS OF PEOPLE ARE DEAD OR STILL LISTED AS MISSING. On September 1, 2019, Hurricane Dorian intensified to a Category 5 storm and crawled into position over the Abacos. It packed sustained winds of over 185 miles per hour and its movement slowed to a pace of one mile per hour…

IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN AND FOLLOWED WITH SOME INTEREST THE SLOW AND STEADY ASSIMILATION OF TIPPET RINGS, JIG HOOKS, AND FLY-TYING MATERIALS WITH EUROPEAN LABELS INTO OUR SPORT OVER THE LAST FIVE OR SO YEARS, THEN YOU’VE EITHER BEEN LEADING A VERY SOLITARY FISHING EXISTENCE OR YOU ARE IN A STATE OF UPSTREAM-ONLY, DRY-FLY DENIAL. IT’S ALMOST BECOME A CLICHÉ TO STATE THAT COMPETITION FLY FISHING HAS CONTRIBUTED MUCH TO OUR SPORT, AS A STEADY OUTPOURING OF ARTICLES AND BOOKS AND VIDEOS CONTINUE TO SHOWCASE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF EURO, OR TIGHT-LINE, NYMPHING. What is more interesting, perhaps, is how the top competitors (on the regional, national, and world stage) have turned many of fly fishing’s norms upside down—whether that is fishing streamers like nymphs, nymphs like dry flies, or even…

I MOST OFTEN SEE THE CHUBBY CHERNOBYL PLAYING THE PART OF THE “DRY” IN A DRY/DROPPER RIG, WHERE YOU TIE A BUOYANT, VISIBLE DRY AT THE END OF A SHORT, HEAVY LEADER, AND DANGLE A BEADHEAD NYMPH OR TWO BELOW ON A DROPPER. THE DRY OCCASIONALLY GETS EATEN, BUT I’VE ALWAYS FELT THAT THE CHUBBY WAS MERELY A BOBBER, AND SORT OF A COP-OUT AS A FLY. IT MORE CLOSELY RESEMBLES A STRIKE INDICATOR THAN IT DOES ANY INSECT, AND FOLKS WERE COMPROMISING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF THE DRY FLY IN FAVOR OF THE FLIES THAT MOST OFTEN GOT EATEN UNDER THE WATER. I HAD TO DO SOMETHING. I find myself really making a conscious effort these days to embrace flies that I’ve previously ignored. The Chubby Chernobyl has always been…

1 Prepare the foam by stapling two sheets together to keep them aligned and—using a single-edge razor blade and metal straightedge—cut several matched strips of foam that are about as wide as the gap of the hook. I try my best to keep each “set” of foam strips matched up together so they are exactly the same width. 2 Dress the hook shank with layers of thread from the eye to the bend and back again. Leave the thread hanging about halfway between the barb and the hook point and put a light layer of Zap-A-Gap on the thread base to anchor it. Dub a small nub of dubbing onto the bend of the hook up to the hook point. Leave the bare thread hanging about halfway between the point…