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Of chukar and steelhead in the Snake River country
By Michael Gibson Nothing clears the mind like a good chukar hike. So, when the boss called for a work/chukar retreat in lower Snake River Country, I got excited. Late-season chukar in some of the best, and most rugged, chukar country the planet has to offer. About now, you are probably wondering, what’s this got to do with fish? We’ll get…
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Birding while fishing
Sometimes it's tough to fish when the scenery is so gorgeous One of my favorite parts about fishing is the spectacular places it takes you. From high mountain streams with peaks towering overhead to desert rivers with cliff walls reflecting the day’s heat, there are hardly any ugly places to fish. Sure, there are the occasional honey holes with a…
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The autumn swindle
It got so cold so early this year that our aspens and cottonwoods didn’t really turn. Their leaves simply froze in place when the mercury dipped below zero in early October, and they’ve spent the last few months drying into sickly, gray, paper-thin ghosts and falling without ceremony to the ground. Season theft. We were…
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FITS light hiker-crew socks
Let’s face it…socks are not the kind of gear which occupy much of our thought, in the way that a sexy, machined-aluminum fly reel might. But this somewhat overlooked bit of gear is one of the most crucial elements of our comfort out on the river. Over the past few weeks I have spent a…
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Fishewear wine hydroflask tumbler
While I would prefer to be remembered as well-suited to review something like a nice new tip-flex 6-weight, because of my propensity to fish big water for large, wild trout... it would be entirely disingenuous to pretend I was not perfectly-suited for the FisheWear wine Hydroflask tumbler. For one, FisheWear is a woman-owned company and…
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Reilly Rod Crafters: great people, great rods
I remember the day I knew I wanted to learn to fly fish. I don’t think I was 10 years old yet. My dad and I had just returned from a horseback day trip to the backcountry and were in the process of unsaddling our horses. That’s when I saw Carl Evers casting a dry…
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Loon tying tools help keep winter at bay
The drift hanging over the eves on the house this morning is quite impressive. And it's cold. Damn cold. The thought of sneaking off for an afternoon on the Henry's Fork is now more of a pathetic inside joke—fighting frozen guides, frozen fingers and frozen toes while the the wind whips snow around my wadered…
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