Category Archives: Northwest

Best Gadget To Save Your Life in the Woods and On The Water—Garmin GPS Messenger and Mini

It’s safe to say, and I’m a little relieved to say, the holidays are over. It wasn’t that I didn’t have a great time—family traveled to Montana and all of us gathered at my parents’ house, under one roof, all … Continue reading

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Seeing The Future: Mother’s Day Caddis on Washington’s Upper Columbia

Dry fly season came early to Montana this year, and there’s not doubt it’s kicking over in Washington State, too. One of the best hatches of the year is near, that being the Mother’s Day Caddis and one of the … Continue reading

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Ambler Haul Road Threatens Alaska’s Brooks Range

This certainly isn’t the best news on Alaska. Seems like we push back one threat and here come five more. I have not fished or hiked through the Brooks Range, but I know it is one of the wildest places … Continue reading

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Alaska Kings On The Six Weight

Ran across this photo yesterday and snapped a shot of it with the phone. It definitely takes me back in the day. I took this photo when a friend and I were working in Southeast Alaska and fishing as often … Continue reading

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Dries For Big Rainbows and Char on American Creek

I live in Montana where trout are king. When I travel to Alaska I usually do so for salmon and steelhead, which I can’t find in Big Sky Country. Oh, I’ve leeched up some big fall rainbows on the Kenai … Continue reading

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Final Determination: Pebble Mine Ruled Out

This is the day we have been waiting for, for more than a decade. Today, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that mine waste would harm the Bristol Bay watershed and effectively nixed its discharge into rivers, streams and wetlands of … Continue reading

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New Sea Run Cutthroat Research

Anyone who’s followed Angler’s Tonic over the years knows that I appreciate sea run cutthroat trout and consider them to be an extremely overlooked fish. Just last year I caught some of the largest sea runs of my life, fish … Continue reading

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Olympic Peninsula to Close For Steelhead March 1

This should not arrive as any surprise. Washington State blew up its ability to manage wild steelhead when the 1974 Boldt Decision went into place. Wild steelhead populations declined immediately. Hatchery steelhead production shot through the roof. Tribes destroyed what … Continue reading

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Southeast Alaska Steelhead . . . Thanks Alaska Style

Back in April I flew from Missoula to Petersburg, Alaska—my old stomping grounds and the place I was born—and climbed aboard the mothership, the Hawkeye II. The idea was to cruise a portion of the Inside Passage with Thanks Alaska, … Continue reading

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New Washington State Coastal Steelhead Rules Restrict Anglers To The Banks

If you want to see a great example of poor fish and wildlife management, you don’t have to look further than Washington State’s Department of Fish and Wildlife. The mess started back in 1974 with the historic Boldt Decision, which … Continue reading

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