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Toughen up your small dry flies with UV resin
I took to finishing these small flies with the smallest dollop of thin UV-reactive resin I could squeeze out of the bottle
I’ve always been something of a ham-handed fly tier, and, generally speaking, the bigger the fly, the easier it is for me to tie. I’m a big guy at six-foot-five, and my hands correspond to my height. They just aren’t meant for detail work. But I live in eastern Idaho, and during fall and winter,…
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20 Questions: Christine Peterson
Prolific freelance writer juggles everything from motherhood to conservation on an ever-evolving journey I’ve known and admired Christine Peterson for years, largely through our mutual affiliation with the Outdoor Writers Association of America, the oldest professional organization dedicated to outdoors communicators in the country. Earlier this year, Christine was named the organization’s new president —…
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Five reasons you should be fishing lakes today
Fishing stillwater for trout is so good for you, and good for your game, on so many levels. But many anglers don’t bother. Here are five reasons to go jump in a lake (or at least fish from the shore 1. Knowledge You learn things you don’t often learn on the river. Making casts so…
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Chasing the Green Drake all the way to the Arctic
The Green Drake. Chris Hunt photo. Five years ago, I drove from my driveway in Idaho Falls all the way to Dead Horse, Alaska, where I caught a glimpse of the Arctic Ocean, and then back again. It was a 10-week journey, and, when it was all said and done, I put about 20,000 miles…
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Plying the Andean flats for giant browns
Chris Hunt photo. A distinctly tropical experience in a distinctly trouty wonderland Imagine gliding over that stereotypical, crystal-clear Caribbean flat in search of bonefish or permit, your Spanish-speaking guide doing his best to meet you on your side of the language barrier. Everything is just as it should be. The wind is modest. The sun…
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One salmonid for the rest of my life? I choose Dolly
You can try to time the silver run or the king run, and maybe you'll get lucky and hit it just right. Odds are, you'll time your date with Dolly perfectly — she's rarely a no-show
I made an off-hand comment on a friend's Facebook post this morning — he uploaded a great photo of a Dolly Varden in Southeast Alaska and I quickly opined that, should some higher power ever dictate to me that I could only catch one salmonid for the rest of my life, it very well might…
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Try polypropylene yarn for tying wings on your flies
One of the biggest challenges those new to fly tying encounter is how to tie in wings for various patterns. Hair wings for everything from big stonefly patterns to tiny mayfly imitations require some dexterity and precision. The only way to get better at it is to do it. A lot. I’ve been tying for…
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