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Excuse me… just slamming through
Owen Prettyman fishing a small creek while attempting to complete his Utah Cutthroat Slam with a Bonneville cutthroat trout. Daniel A. Ritz photo. Making memories to last a lifetime in Utah Daniel Ritz is fishing across the Western United States this summer in an attempt to reach the Master Caster class of the Western Native Trout Challenge,…
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Everything you wanted to know: bonneville cutthroat trout
Bonneville cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii utah) Species summary and status: The State Fish of Utah, the Bonneville cutthroat was historically found in the Bonneville Basin, including suitable habitat within Utah, Idaho, Wyoming, and Nevada. Although scientists believed pure strains of Bonneville cutthroat were extinct, a few isolated populations were discovered in Utah in the 1970s and…
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The most over-the-top drift boat ever?
Did the headline grab you? Good, because this might be a slight exaggeration. Or maybe not. Over the weekend, my buddy sent me a link to a boat over on a group we belong to on Facebook called Drift Boats Unlimited. In the posting, a gentleman named Grant Brown had about 25 images of a…
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Why fly fishing is like pizza
Pizza is pizza, right? A little crust, a little sauce, some cheese… bada-bing! There you go. Not hardly! Perish that thought. Great pizza is an artform. It should be a perfect balance involving great crust, delicious sauce, golden cheese and fantastic toppings. If any of those four elements are deficient in any way… meh pizza! The operative word…
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Chill out and let others enjoy the river, too
I once observed a school of trout whacking away at PMDs have a canoe float right over them. How long do you think it took for them to turn back on?
I have to chuckle when I see anglers get so bent out of shape when a kayak floats by, or a dog takes a swim within barking distance of where they are fishing. I once watched a friend’s ears literally turn red every time a tuber drifted downstream. That’s silly for two reasons. First, we…
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Nothing beats the heat like a Bimini
This year I custom fit a stainless, Sunbrella material version from River Sombrero to my drift boat of all things
As an angler first when I started boating, I’ve been a little slow to the "shade game" on my vessels as it was never a priority. Since having kids (the main reason), doing extended desert floats, and multi-day trips where fishing isn’t really part of the equation, I’ve become a little softer in my old…
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Chasing the Wyoming Cutt-Slam and keeping the wolves away
Looking back, I saw Sweet, who had coyly picked a honey hole on a backwater around a small island I didn’t even notice, who was looking upriver at me and grinning ear to ear. At that moment, I remember thinking he resembled a child showing off his hard work.
Sunset on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Once the stronghold of Yellowstone cutthroat trout, invasive lake trout now threaten the native species in this iconic fishery. Daniel A. Ritz photo. Learning the meaning of refuge and what it means to defend it in the Cowboy State Daniel Ritz is fishing across the Western United States…
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