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Guiding the guide
When the weather doesn’t allow the de Havilland Beaver floatplanes to fly at the lodge, we just hop in a meticulously-maintained, fully stocked, and (perhaps most impressively) clean jet boat to fish for trophy rainbows on the world-famous Naknek River. The guides carry lunches, complete with inventive sandwiches on fresh-baked bread, hot soup and a…
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When the old boat is the right boat
The canoe had been sitting for a while. For the better part of two decades it had served me well, dutifully getting me down Appalachian rivers on trips during which trout, bass and sometimes even ducks and geese were the quarry. But then, about two years ago, I finally made the leap into the raft…
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Fly fishing contortionist
It’s impressive to think about what our bodies do for us while on the hunt for trout. Clawing our way through thick brush, scooting down steep slopes or lunging to jump from boulder to boulder touches on only some of the contortions we make while fishing. Watching Toner Mitchell, New Mexico’s water and habitat program…
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Corridors paved with water
When teaching guide clients how to read a stream, I stressed three basic conditions that dictate where a trout will hold: access to food, access to safety and access to shelter from energy-sapping currents. A healthy and stable abundance of any or all of these conditions affords trout the option of staying put, perhaps enabling…
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Boy Scout
Editor's note: A variation of this piece first appeared in Hatch Magazine. Preparedness was never my thing. There’s a reason I made it to Webelo, but didn’t matriculate farther through the Boy Scout system. You can only show up at the den meeting without your little scarf slider so many times before it sinks in.…
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Getting out there
Allegra, Grant and I emerged from the densely wooded trail, stepping out onto the wooden bridge for our first view of Resurrection Bay. Mountains jutted up from the water as the evening sun shone through Tonsina Creek Valley, and ravens flew overhead. Spawning silver and chum salmon pooled up in riffles below us, and our…
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The stress of an ‘un-seasonable’ summer in Alaska
Ask my wife, my fishing buddies, co-workers or anyone that recently asked me earlier this fall, “how are you?” I’ve been anxious, and I am not the only one. Fall has arrived, generally meaning you can count on good to great trout fishing and more than just a chance of rain. With the winter freeze looming in the not so…
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