Best Travel Dog Bowls

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Greg Thomas

Got the new pup in February, right before the virus hit, which means I had good timing. Can’t go anywhere? What better than to hike with a new dog?

Of course, getting a new dog meant getting all the accoutrements one requires. Dog kennel. Leather dog collar. Seat hammock. Memory foam bed. Yea, Rye is spoiled. So spoiled that I actually got him some of fishpond’s solidly built leather travel bowls, which are collapsable for easy storage. One is a food bowl and the other a water bowl. I have Continue reading →

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Friends Don’t Let Friends Fish Cheap-Ass Fly Reels

Posted on July 11, 2020 by Greg Thomas

A friends arsenal, always strung in the back of the camper, ready to hit the river and throw. Yes, he’s got issues.

Hatch Gen 2 Finatic Fly Reel

I grew up in an artist’s family, so when we spent on outdoor equipment it was all about the essentials and price point.

I rarely got what I wanted, but I did get the items I needed, meaning the clothing and gear to accomplish a goal, and survive.

This mindset transferred to my tackle as well. When I took up fly fishing in high school, I couldn’t afford the best equipment. So, I rifled through our sporting gear and kept my eyes open at garage sales. Somewhere I attained a Pfleuger Medalist reel and a 444 Cortland fly line, which I placed on a 9’ 6-weight Sage RPL fly rod. And how could I afford what was, at the time, one of the most expensive rods on earth? The answer: I Continue reading →

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Tactics to Catch Steelhead on Bright Days

Posted on July 9, 2020 by Greg Thomas

I was going to wait, and run this post later in July, but I’m starting to hear of some steelhead coming up for skaters on a few Columbia River tributaries and figured, Why not now? Here goes:

A lot of western steelheaders put their flyrods down during the heat of the day, especially in August and early September, choosing instead to pilfer the beer supply and follow their gluttony with a midday nap.

This follows the adage that summer steelhead won’t bite when bright sun is on the water and that the best times to get them are during mornings and evenings, when shadows cover portions of the water. That is only half true, and also throws sand in the face of a classic angling truth: You can’t catch fish if you Continue reading →

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Orvis DRIRELEASE Review: Maybe The Best Fly-Fishing Shirt You’ll Ever Own

Posted on July 8, 2020 by Greg Thomas

Since I’m not playing the affiliate marketing game (right now) you can at once call me crazy and a guy who writes honest gear reviews.

If you are not familiar with affiliate marketing, it’s a system in which one business rewards another—or an individual—for bringing customers to their plate. If a customer who’s reading a blog or a social media post about a product decides they want to buy, they follow a link to immediately purchase the item and the content creator/blogger gets a nice kickback for each sale.

It’s a pretty nice system for the customer, meaning instant gratification, and it’s a lifeline for writers, but it does dumb-down most gear reviews and should place a big, fat Continue reading →

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Best Coffee For Fly Fishing: Early Riser Makes Its Case

Posted on July 7, 2020 by Greg Thomas

You can find and buy good coffee almost anywhere these days, by the cup or the bag. Grocery store, retail coffee chain, online . . . caffein is everywhere and I’m a sucker for it, too.

I prefer not to buy Starbucks cofee because I have a deep seeded contempt for Howard Schultz. He was the guy, remember (and don’t ever forget), that stuck a dagger into the Seattle Supersonics, under the guise that he was doing all he could for the franchise. We had season tickets during a couple of the years that Schultz owned the Sonics, and what he presented on the court was nothing to be proud of. It was post Shawn Kemp (the Rein Man) and before GP left for LA, a time when a fat alcoholic, Vin Baker, sweated buckets for about half the game and then started Jonesin’ for a vodka/Red Bull and Continue reading →

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Adventure: The Wind Rivers and a Mexi-Shack Miracle

Posted on July 6, 2020 by Greg Thomas

The last time I tried to survive on trout for a week, a major summer storm blew into the mountains and temperatures dropped below freezing. A three-season tent and a down sleeping bag kept me alive, but a trio of mountain lakes I’d targeted grew sheets of ice and the cutthroat trout swam deep.

I’d planned on eating fish and I’d planned for nothing else. Unfortunately, in my family hunger is the forbearer of Irish temper and I could feel the anger rising from my body to the brain. Damn it, I raged, this had to be somebody’s fault!

When that storm broke and I finally reached the trailhead I was so hungry and spiteful I considered eating the signpost. I think Continue reading →

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Best Offroad Tires for Hunting and Fishing

Posted on July 3, 2020 by Greg Thomas

This is a pretty tame road in Montana, but I would not hesitate to take Toyo’s A/T Xtreme ties over any rocky and challenging road I could find.

Summer is here and that means fall is quickly to come, and most of us will be out on the land fishing and hunting through it all. We may be restricted to our home waters and state borders—for the most part—this year, but we are fortunate to live in a country that values and protects its wildlife species and offers access to hunt and fish via a network of public lands and the people who Continue reading →

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Best Lake Fishing Tactics: Trolling Flies for Montana Trout

Posted on June 12, 2020 by Greg Thomas

Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.

Launched the boat the other day, rowed 50 yards away from the put-in and was stripping line from the reel when it dug into a gap in my old prototype Hatch and sliced in half. That’s when I remembered having done the exact thing several other times. What to do? I used a blood knot and secured the two ends and cut off the tags and made sure the knot Continue reading →

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Review: Loon Camo Drop Sinkers Get Down To Big Fish

Posted on June 8, 2020 by Greg Thomas

I’m not sure how excited a guy or gal should be about split shot, but I think I’ve found my split-shot solution: Loon’s Camo Drops are made of tin, not lead (meaning they are non-toxic), they come in a variety of volume and container options, and they sink like rocks, straight towards bottom, which is exactly where I want my nymphs ‘bout this time of the year.

Camo Drops can be purchased in square containers that hold six or eight shot sizes, depending on your preferences and what you fish for. And these containers slip nicely into a pack and are Continue reading →

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Is Print Media Dying: American Angler Ends Print Edition, Focuses on Digital

Posted on May 28, 2020 by Greg Thomas

American Angler has ceased publishing print and digital editions and will focus on its digital assets.

If most print publications weren’t struggling right now, and hadn’t been for many years, with full-staffed mainstream titles included in the mix, I would say you could call me a print media killer.

I used to work for a commercial fishing publication called Alaska Fisherman’s Journal and that went under a few years after I stopped working for it. And several years after I took the helm at Fly Rod & Reel magazine that title disappeared. And, unfortunately, I have to announce that American Angler magazine, which I’ve run for the past two years, recently  pulled the plug on its print and digital versions, effective immediately. It makes me feel like print media is dead.

A lot of the American Angler decision has to do with Covid 19, but all editors and Continue reading →

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