I know you can’t feel it yet, but I’m starting to sense that fall is close. It’s not that there’s a change in the temperature yet, or snow settling on the surrounding peaks, although that often does occur by the end of August, it’s more inside my brain where a mental clock is saying, “Archery elk season is almost here and steelhead Continue reading
SIMMS’ Bulkley Jacket—essential steelhead gear
Posted in CANADA, Gear, Spey
Tagged fall steelhead gear, Kispiox steelhead, SIMMS Fly Fishing Products, Simms' Bulkley Jacket
Leave a comment
Redington’s New Vapen Rod—true rocket-launcher
What up with summer? Goes too fast. August already and I’ve been brutally busy taking care of kids, putting together issues of Fly Rod & Reel, keeping up with a yard, and traveling. Maybe I’ll head to South America when winter arrives and get a full summer down there, just to compensate for how little I’ve been on the water this summer. Oh, I get some time in here and there, but it hasn’t been like the old days when I’d spend almost every day fishing. But that’s the way life goes. Peaks, valleys. Fortunately, when the girls go back to school in a few weeks, my time opens up—I’m planning on a fishing-saturated fall.
Fall also means that many of you will be on the water because it’s one of the best times of the year. Big browns getting angry. Pike moving back to the shallows. Bass congregating like crazy. Steelhead stacking up in the prime pools. October caddis and Hecuba dropping out of the sky. Yes, it’s good.
If you are going to chase steelhead or pike and bass this fall, or even bonefish and permit, there’s a rod you may want to try, Continue reading
Scott Sadil Finishes Columbia/Snake River Voyage
Lewiston, ID July 30, 2013 Author Scott Sadil arrived Sunday, July 28, at Hell’s Gate State Park, five miles upstream from Lewiston, Idaho, completing a 471-mile voyage up the Columbia and Snake rivers in Tia, his home-built Swampscott dory.
Sadil sailed and rowed against the current of the Northwest’s two most important salmon and steelhead rivers in an attempt to Continue reading
Posted in Conservation, Culture, Industry, Northwest
Tagged Author Scott Sadil, Columbia River Steelhead, Snake River Steelhead
Leave a comment
Gearing Up (Sort of) for The Gaspe Peninsula
I’ve been trying to concentrate on local fishing options and have some summer fun, but a trip to eastern Canada’s Gaspe Peninsula for Atlantic salmon is rapidly approaching, and I’m getting fired up about it, not that anyone who lives in Montana ought to be urging summer to end and fall to begin!
But yesterday I was also looking at all the smoke in the Missoula Valley and hearing about afternoon stream closures on the Continue reading
Posted in CANADA, Spey, Travel
Tagged Atlantic salmon, Bonaventure River, Fly Fishing for Atlantic Salmon, Gaspe Peninsula, Salmon Lodge
2 Comments
Author Scott Sadil Heads Up the Columbia River to Save Fish
Here’s an initial report on the progress of angling author Scott Sadil, who’s navigating Washington’s and Oregon’s Columbia River and Washington’s and Idaho’s Snake River in hopes of drawing attention to beleaguered native fish in both rivers. Sadil is an outstanding author who lives in Hood River, Oregon, and is keenly aware of diminished steelhead and salmon returns to both rivers. We’ll keep you posted this summer as Sadil continues his trek in the name of salmon and steel.
Hood River, OR July 6, 2013 Local author and teacher Scott Sadil arrived today in Hood River, completing the initial 170-mile leg of his voyage from the mouth of the Columbia to Lewiston, Idaho. Continue reading
Posted in Conservation, Culture, Industry, Northwest
Tagged Columbia River, Columbia River Steelhead, Scott Sadil, Snake River, Snake River Steelhead
Leave a comment
Ennis Montana Angler’s Dream Home—reduced to $125,000
Wanted to let all of you know that I dropped the price on my house in Ennis, from $159,000 to $145,000. I still think this would be one awesome buy for a few people who wanted to share a house in the middle of Trout Heaven.
Think about it, within an hour of Ennis you could be fishing any of these great waters—the Henry’s Fork, Hebgen Lake, Axolotyl Lakes, Cliff and Wade Lakes, Grayling Creek, Duck Creek, the Gallatin River, the Jefferson River, the Big Hole River, Ennis Lake, the Ruby River . . . and some sneaky good Continue reading
Idaho’s Silver Creek Restoration Plan Approved
Most of you probably know that I spent six years living in the Sun Valley area, fishing Silver Creek as often as possible, which meant more than a hundred days a year, some years.
I still consider it to be the most interesting fishery in the West, as well as the most challenging—those fish are picky, wary, and anything but the perfect match of stealth and proper fly Continue reading
Back From Fly Fishing Canada’s Yukon Territory
Just back from the Yukon Territory and the work is stacked up and the kids are asking for lunch . . . but before they get sustenance, I thought I would share a few images from the trip. We spent time in Whitehorse and then flew two hours over the most deserted and awesome looking landscape I’ve ever seen. No cabins. No houses. No roads. No powerlines. Just pure Yukon wildness.
We landed on Wellesley Lake and quickly shuffled gear into a personal cabin at Kluane Wilderness Lodge. After coffee and a lunch we were assigned a 14 foot boat with a 15 horse motor and from that time, for seven days, we fished the lake at free-will, as long as Continue reading
Trip Update: Kluane Wilderness Lodge on Wellesley Lake, Yukon Territory
As mentioned previously, I’ve been sifting through some invites to great lodges in Canada and I made a choice last week to visit Kluane Wilderness Lodge in the Yukon Territory. It’s located on Wellesley Lake about a two-hour flight by floatplane from Whitehorse. The lodge takes care of boats and motors, food and lodging, and anglers get to fish nearly 24 hours a day, if they choose, because Continue reading
Floating and Fly Fishing Upper Rock Creek, Montana
Spring weather in Montana is crazy and that has been in evidence this past May and now in June. We’ve been hammered by rain, which makes the farmers happy, and trout later on in the summer, but it puts a crimp in the angling action for sure.
Still, rain or shine, my motto is FISH! So that’s what we did on Sunday. We packed up a crew of dudes and two rafts and headed Continue reading