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Summer reading: ‘The Emerald Mile’
Our beloved Colorado River has been on my mind a lot recently. Low water, rising temperatures and new fishing restrictions have caused me to reflect on years past. While conditions may seem dire and it’s easy to get caught up in being borderline angry about the state of water in the West, I think now…
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Try polypropylene yarn for tying wings on your flies
One of the biggest challenges those new to fly tying encounter is how to tie in wings for various patterns. Hair wings for everything from big stonefly patterns to tiny mayfly imitations require some dexterity and precision. The only way to get better at it is to do it. A lot. I’ve been tying for…
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Legacy Roads and Trails Act gets a fresh face in Congress
U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier champions bill that grants more funding for national forest management By Steve Miller Recently, I was fortunate to have been included in a group invited to ‘take a hike’ with U.S. Rep. Kim Schrier (D-Washington) to discuss TU's support for her proposed Legacy Roads and Trails Act. Rep. Schrier loves and…
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Pursuing ‘the people’s fish’ in Alaska
“When we think about people, and the ‘habitat’ people utilize, we don’t just look at the superhighways where they can easily be seen traveling," he said. "People don’t live on the freeways, people don’t ‘spawn’ on the freeways or on their commute.”
The author traveled to the end of the road in his pursuit of Dolly Varden. Daniel A. Ritz photo. Searching for Dolly Varden in southeast Alaska 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, attempting to land each of…
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Dolly Varden: all you need to know
Dolly Varden (Salvelinus malma) Species summary and status: Though similar to, and often confused with trout, Dolly Varden are in fact a char. To tell a char from a trout you can look at their spots — char have light spots (white or yellow to red) on a dark body, while trout have dark spots (brown…
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Quick tip: use 2x4s for a drift boat trailer stand
I almost destroyed a newly refurbished wooden drift boat years ago by not checking on it for a couple of weeks
Raft-folk, you'll have no idea what I'm talking about, but if you own a drift boat and store it outside for any length of time you understand what a problem snow and rain can pose, no matter the material of your boat. I learned long ago that raising your bow in the air, chocking your…
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No fish dry in July
Take photos of everything ... but the fish Our friends at Keep Fish Wet and Ten And Two Co. have announced “No Fish Dry July,” a campaign that encourages anglers to ask themselves, “Do I really need a photo of that fish?” and challenges them not to take a single fish photo for the month…