That time of year, right, and I’m coming in just a couple hours before the bell rings and March Madness begins again. Haven’t watched the sheer number of games I used to, but I have a pretty good feel for who’s hot. Is my bracket perfect? Probably not. But it does include some realistic upsets, again based on who’s hot, injury and eligibility status, and location. And the big guys, the Kentucky’s, Louisville’s, Michigan State’s and Kansas’s get big play. My final has the obvious choice, Kentucky, and somewhat of a sleeper in Continue reading
GT’s Winning 2012 NCAA Bracket Picks
Dennis Anderson’s Northern Lights
I don’t think there’s any of us who fish and love the outdoors who hasn’t wished to have seen or been lucky enough to have seen a fine display of the northern lights. Having spend a lot of time in Alaska, I’ve seen some amazing displays, but the best I may have seen was while fishing the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in Montana when a friend said, “I think those are the northern lights starting.”
I told him, “No way.” But then, 15 minutes later Continue reading
Posted in Alaska, Northwest, Photography
4 Comments
Hemingway’s Old Man—read it for your kids
Over the past couple years, during the existence of Angler’s Tonic, I’ve learned that not many of you really care about books. At least that’s how I’ve perceived things based on the number of comments sent to me about books—almost none.
I’ll pay heed to that message and keep the book reviews to a minimum. But I wanted to tell you about one today that isn’t news—Hemingway’s The Old Man and The Sea.
I’m not writing this to tell you to read that book because it’s likely you already have. If you haven’t, do read it. But the reason I’m writing today is to urge you to read it to your kids, if you have them, or Continue reading
Posted in Books
9 Comments
Guide’s “Recon” Trip—Bitterroot River
I used to do a lot of fishing with friends, but that’s because I was younger and hung out with dudes in ski towns who had less than demanding jobs and were afforded lots of time off in exchange for their occasionally timely presence at their places of work.
As I’ve grown older and those friends built careers and families, it’s more difficult to find partners who can drop their responsibilities at a moment’s notice and head out on the water when the weather is favorable or a Continue reading
Near Record Fish Count on Idaho’s South Fork Snake
The South Fork Snake is one of Idaho’s best trout fisheries—some would argue that is the gem state’s best fishery—and it hosts some solid rainbow, brown and cutthroat trout.
It gets a lot of pressure from locals and the outfitting crowd from Jackson, Wyoming. Bu the river keeps banging them out each year and it should continue to do so in 2012 because research conducted last fall found more than 5, 177 fish per mile in the river, the second highest tally since the mid-1980s.
What does that mean? It means that you should hit the river this spring before runoff and then continue to do so after runoff, which should occur sometime in July this year. Also this: if you’re looking for a really big brown trout Continue reading
Spring Skwala Stonefly Madness Begins
It was too nice not to get out of the house this weekend and throw a line on Montana’s Bitterroot River. My decision was made a little easier when I talked to John and Jed Fitzpatrick and was told that they’d take care of the boat and shuttle—all I had to do was show up and fish. That I can do boys, even after staying out way, way too late at the Tamarack on Saturday night.
Not the first time I’ve shaken cobwebs Continue reading
Posted in Flies, Missoula, Montana, Montana, Northern Rockies
9 Comments
Anglers: You could be seeing grizzlies and black bears soon
This article just came out and it means that all of us should probably start keeping an eye open for bears when we’re wandering around the banks of streams, or up in the hills this spring. Bear spray? Check. Handgun? Check. Rope to hang coolers and food? Check.
WAPITI, Wyoming — Reports of grizzly bear sightings at lower elevations east of Yellowstone National Park have begun to Continue reading
Fishermen yanking 40 million pounds of carp from Utah Lake
I thought this was pretty interesting piece and figured you would, too. Crazy. Now, what is 7 million times ten cents. Hmm. Maybe I should be buying a little commercial boat and heading south…GOSHEN BAY — Commercial fishermen in a small fleet of custom-built boats are plugging away at an unfathomable task: removing 40 million pounds of carp from Utah Lake.Daily they take a fishing net the length of three football fields, trap more than 3,500 carp and
Blogout: Alaska’s Tongass 77
As many of you know, southeast Alaska is one of my favorite places in the world, a lot of that sentiment coming from the fact that I lived there when I was young and have continued to visit the area almost every year, at least once or twice. The reason: the Tongass is loaded with salmon, steelhead, dolly varden, and cutthroat trout and it’s a haven for wildlife, including black bears and coastal grizzly bears, mountain goats, Sitka blacktail deer, moose, and waterfowl. In addition, it’s rich in Continue reading
Posted in Alaska, Conservation, Industry, Northwest
Tagged Tongass National Forest, Trout Unlimited
2 Comments
New Sponsor—welcome aboard Outcast
You’ve probably already noticed the new ad to the right, but I wanted to make a formal welcome to Outcast Sporting Gear as Angler’s Tonic’s newest sponsor.
If you’re a hard-core angler I’m sure you’re already aware of Outcast because their boats are omnipresent on the rivers, lakes and reservoirs of the West and beyond. And why is that? Part of the reason Continue reading