Pinks and steelhead

Pink salmon in its spawning phase. Fall is in the air and it’s time to get on the river. But first, let’s give our steelhead IQs another booster shot.. This week we have a guest writer and scientist, Colin Bailey, a PhD student studying fisheries science at Simon Fraser University under Jonathan Moore (Moore is

Voices from the River: Potomac treasures

By Mark Taylor “Birds!” We were drifting near the Bloody Point Bar Light in the Chesapeake Bay near Kent Island when Joe McGurrin made the observation. “How did I miss those?” he wondered while firing up the outboard on his vintage Grady White cuddy cabin. A few minutes later we were easing into the fray,

Trout Tips: Up or down? Dry or wet?

It’s OK to have a plan to fish a stretch of water. Just be ready to change it if the river tells you something different. Photo by Chris Hunt How you approach a stretch of trout water depends largely on how you intend to fish it. Generally speaking, if you’re planning to swing streamers, fishing

Voices from the River: Whitefish

The underappreciated mountain whitefish. Photo by Chris Hunt. By Eric Booton With a trip to Montana on the books for a wedding, I immediately began penciling out how I could optimize my time with the groom, my family and seek out new finned friends in some remarkable rivers with my wife. The famed waters of

Skills: The Palomar knot

A lot of folks use the Palomar knot for heavy lines and big hooks, and that makes sense, because it’s a strong, dependable knot. Fly fishers don’t often use the Palomar because it can be a bit bulky—it’s essentially two separate cords of line pressed together, so the finished knot can be a larger than