Author

Chris Hunt

  • Trout Talk Featured

    Keeping an eye out for wildfires

    Sunset over a trout stream in Idaho.

    Sunset over the Caribou National Forest, Idaho. Chris Hunt photo. I've spent the last couple of days working from one of my favorite places in the world -- an out-of-the-way campsite in the middle of the Caribou National Forest.  Some years back, while fishing the little trout stream near camp, my phone rang in my…

  • Voices from the river Featured

    The old man’s fly rod

    Some years back, I got a gift package in the mail right around Christmas time. It was from my uncle John, my mom’s brother. Long and slender, the package was a complete mystery to me--we’d long since stopped receiving gift packages from aunts and uncles, so I was really curious. Come Christmas morning, I watched…

  • Trout Talk Featured

    A summer for Plan B

    When water temperatures approach the mid-60s on your favorite trout stream, it's time for a back-up plan. Chris Hunt photo. The calendar said it was June 18. Not even summer yet. But we hit the mid-90s two weeks earlier and the heat hadn’t really let up. Sure, you could get away from it up high…

  • Trout Talk

    Bury your fly to rid it of unnatural odors

    If you’re getting some obvious follows on your streamer, but not getting the takes you want, this might be what gets a trout to make that final commitment. It won’t hurt, that’s for sure

    Several years back, while fishing for bonefish on Long Island in the Bahamas, Capt. Markk Cartwright gave me a great tip that translated well beyond the finicky bones on the flats around Dead Man’s Cay. It’s a tip I use every time I cast streamers and nymphs for trout, too. “Bury your fly in the…

  • Trout Talk

    A quick guide for fly fishing newbies

    Minidoka National Wildlife Refuge

    National wildlife refuges are often lightly pressured and easy to get to for new anglers. Chris Hunt photo. You have lots of options ... and lots of responsibility A lot of us fly fishers are righteously concerned with the spike in angler numbers thanks largely to the pandemic and the pressure it’s putting on our…

  • Gear reviews

    EZ-P Zipper provides an answer to nature’s call

    It is an immutable fact that when you are out in nature, sometimes nature calls. It is also an undeniable fact that removing multiple layers of sling packs, vests, jackets, belts and waders in order to answer nature’s call is both inconvenient and can be detrimental to speedy relief.  This is especially true if an angler…