Just picked up my 2011 whitetail from Shawn Andres and the boys at Alpine Artistry outside Arlee, Mont. This deer meant a lot to me as I’d been looking for a big whitetail for a long time and I wanted a representative head to hang next to my best mule deer. Plus I got that deer while hunting with a very good friend and my father. I’ll look at that buck for the rest of my life and remember Continue reading
New Addition to The Family
Posted in Hunting, Montana, Northern Rockies
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Chico Fernandez on Fly Fishing for Permit
Chico Fernandez is one of the world’s authorities on saltwater fishing and he is also one of the world’s nicest persons, as any of you who have met him can attest. He loves all saltwater fishes, but holds a special affinity for permit, which are considered to be one of fly-fishing’s greatest challenges. I can attest: to date I haven’t caught a permit, that stat after having Continue reading
The Question: Go Anywhere, Do Anything … in 2013?
Other than the typical Tuesday woes, which means dealing with some conversation that I just don’t want to deal with, it’s just a lovely little day in Missoula.
My inclination is to go to the refrigerator and pop open one of those Red Hook Winter Ales so politely waiting in the cold. Of course, it’s not even noon as I pen this, and it’s Tuesday, so that’s a little early in my book.
What I’ll probably do is hike Mount Jumbo to blow off steam and get the exercise I really need. Too many hours sitting in this damn chair slowly allowing my ass to go numb, further promoting the One-Pack.
I’ll take that hike, but first I have a question for you. Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Travel, Uncategorized
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Bull Trout Now at Risk in Alberta
Bull trout are one of my favorite fishes, not because they are tremendous battlers, but because they live in some of the most stunning scenery in the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies. I’ve fished them from Montana to Washington, south to Oregon, and even in central Idaho, and there’s not an ugly place in the mix. I have not fished them in Alberta where they were just named as a Continue reading
Posted in CANADA, Conservation, Northern Rockies
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Lake Pend Oreille Kokanee Bounce Back
I’m not suggesting that everyone throw down their steelhead and trout sticks and head to northern Idaho to fish kokanee salmon, but the news from Lake Pend Oreille—that it’s kokanee salmon population is bouncing back from years of depressed numbers—is good for those who target the lake’s world-class rainbow trout.
Pend Oreille used to produce the largest rainbows in the world, but it’s kokanee population Continue reading
The Real Thomas & Thomas in Big Sky Journal
Wanted to let you know that the new issue of Big Sky Journal is on the newsstands and it contains yet another article that my father, artist Fred Thomas, and I, teamed up on.
This one regards Missoula and the way its residents saved Mount Jumbo, which is now mostly public land, providing great hiking, biking, paragliding and wildlife viewing opportunity.
Typically, I’m on that mountain two or three times a week, getting the exercise I fail to get while sitting in this seat all day, working on articles, moving nothing more than my fingertips on a keyboard.
I’m especially proud of Fred’s painting for this issue, a pastel of Mount Jumbo and Mount Sentinel, the mountain that rises from the University of Montana campus (by the way, you could probably Continue reading
Twenty-Five Percent off Ex Officio’s Give-N-Go Underwear
I’ve posted on Ex-O’s Give and Go Underwear and you know they are a favorite of mine, mostly because they are super comfortable and easily washable and dryable, and that means Continue reading
Two Major Spey Casting Tips from Deneki Outdoors
You probably know by now that I’m a big advocate of spey casting and spey rods, and that, right now, that’s what gets me jacked-up when I think about fishing. And it is winter steelhead season, as I mentioned in the most recent post. So, on that same angle, I thought I would offer a little more education for those of you just getting into throwing the big sticks, and a reminder for those of you who already know what you are doing. Little things make a giant difference in spey casting and, at first, you’ll need to mentally run down a checklist before each cast, unless you’re a natural, which I am not. So, here are a couple great, great tips from Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Northwest, Spey
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Five Tips for Pacific Northwest Winter Steelhead
I haven’t been this excited about winter steelheading for a long time. Maybe that’s because I have some new gear to try out, ranging from Patagonia’s bomber River Salt Jacket to Thomas & Thomas’ DNA 12-foot 8-weight spey rod. Much of my excitement comes from having cast a spey rod quite a bit in 2012 and the fact that I now feel pretty competent with those big sticks. I’m eager to hit Vancouver Island or maybe even Haida Gwaii, along with some coastal streams in Oregon, early in 2013.
With that said, I recall how winter Continue reading
Montana Whitetail Hunting Rocky Mountain Front
Wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to all of you. Hopefully you’re busy with family and not reading this on Thanksgiving morning. I am truly thankful for all that I have. Some days I wish I had a newer rig, other days my house seems too small, other times I’m wishing my house in Ennis would sell. Mostly, my lament comes from not having my daughters around me all of the time. They’re elsewhere this Thanksgiving, which is tough to deal with, but I see them all the time and I am taking them to Seattle for Christmas this year. Next year, Continue reading