Sleeping with the dogs.
by Rick Bach
NOTE: Thanks again to Bach, who’s generosity with these drink of the week posts is much appreciated. You can check out more of his work at www.outdoorlife.com
In the likely event that my name doesn’t look familiar to you loyal Tonic readers, I’m the nutjob that slept in his jeep and fished his way around the country this past year, and did my first Drink of the Week blog for Angler’s Tonic Continue reading
Mousing Around in Western Alaska
It was late at night in Denver during the annual fly-fishing trade show and I was crumpled in a chair at the ritzy Oxford Hotel trying to get my gear-whore foot in the door with a new fly-fishing company. That the marketing director was asleep on the bed made no difference; he left the liquor safe unlocked and Continue reading
Too much trout and a poached Baby Ruth lead to a Mexi-shack miracle.
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 it’s that way for most people; in the mountains, when working hard and eating little the pleasant-veil becomes transparent. Hunger doesn’t lie. Challenge and an empty belly draw savagery from the soul. And, be warned: if you’ve seen it in the mountains, you’ll encounter Continue reading
NOTE: I found this fascinating (and surprising) article on Columbia Basin Bulletin, which covers a lot of fish issues in the West. I’ve posted part of the article here. If you’d like to read more, and I suggest you do so, visit CBB’s Web site at www.cbbulletin.com
Study: Healthy PNW Steelhead Populations May Require Healthy Wild Rainbow Trout Numbers
Genetic research is showing that healthy steelhead runs in Pacific Northwest streams can depend heavily on the productivity of their stay-at-home counterparts, rainbow trout.
Steelhead and rainbow trout look different, grow differently, and Continue reading
A western trout killer on the Bitterroot and every other stream
A few years ago I got a call from a friend who was living in a yelllow bus on the banks of the BIg Hole River near Dewey, Montana.
Berkley guy in the old days. Now he’s a real trout bum who just follows fish. No wife. No kids. Just fish. Tough deal, right?
Anyway, he was all astir, yelping about a new fly that fish couldn’t refuse and he said, “If this thin is as good as people are saying, and the fish can’t refuse it, I’m done. I’ll give up fishing. It’s going to be like casting pellets at a hatchery.”
“Easy, big guy,” I said. “Remember the San Juan Worm? The Ray Charles? The Yellow Yummy? The P-chute Adams? The beadhead Continue reading
Nevermind or In Utero? And what about a top-50 ranking?
If you peruse the Internet and look for the top 50 rock bands or the top 100 rock songs of all time, it’s as if a time warp occurred during the 1990s when I was living in Seattle and grunge took over the world.
I guess the 1960s had their fair share of influential bands and there is plenty of prime music to suggest so, but I felt like Seattle in the 1990s could go toe-to-toe with any other music movement and represent itself nicely. But when you look at these contests, some with input from hundreds of thousands of people, you don’t even taste Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains in the discussion.
This doesn’t really arrive as a surprise because I’ve been reading Eating The Dinosaur by Chuck Klosterman and that is what he details in a strange chapter called, Oh the Guilt, which is as much about David Koresh, the leader of the infamous Continue reading
The Spring Skwala Hatch, Montana’s Bitterroot River and Beyond.
I used to think that the presence of skwala stoneflies was limited to western Montana, with an epicenter being the Bitterroot River. But over time I learned that they are present on lots of western streams, ranging from offerings in Washington, Oregon, California and Idaho, to Colorado and beyond.
These are cool bugs because they start emerging as early as February, as Continue reading
Joe Sowerby and Montana Fly Fishing Connection’s Gonzo Streamer
The Gonzo is Missoula outfitter Joe Sowerby’s favorite streamer, his go-to bug when the water starts to cloud during spring. But these take fish during winter, too. So, if you have some time this weekend you may want to wind up a few of these. They’ll work on the Clark Fork River, Rock Creek, the Bitterroot River, the Smith River, the Missouri River and the Blackfoot River, among others. Sowerby’s two best color combos are Olive/Black and White/Black. For more info on the western Montana trout fishing, Joe Sowerby and Montana Fly Fishing Connection, check out www.mtff.com
In the name of culture.
This past summer, fall and winter, I fished my way around the country while blogging for Outdoorlife.com. Tough life, I know. I spent 202 nights on the road, and caught 49 species in 102 towns from Maine to the Keys, to San Diego and up to Seattle and back home to New Jersey.
There’s no doubt that the fishing was incredible and unpredictable. From amberjacks Continue reading