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Spotlight on Katahdin Area Woods and Waters
Brook Trout and the Ghost of Henry David Thoreau By Jeff Reardon Henry David Thoreau has always had a mixed reputation here in Maine. Sure, he may have been a giant of American literature and patron saint of th e environmental movement, but he got nervous when his Penobscot Indian guide left him alone at…
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Guess this river, win a prize
Many great comments were submitted for last month's Guess the River contest but there can only be one winner. This time around it's Justin Garant with the guess of the Green River in northern Utah. Justin, reach out to me at jduplechian@tu.org and I'll have something in the mail for your correct answer. alt="" title=""…
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Video spotlight: Chalk
The origin of modern-day fly fishing can be likely be traced to the fabled chalk streams of Britain—those clear, cold spring creeks where the art of presenting the upstream dry fly was pioneered. Rivers like the Test come to mind when I think of chalk streams, but the video below gives me a bit of…
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Voices from the River: The plight of California salmon
By Sam Davidson I came across a video recently, on sockeye salmon migrating to the spawn in the Lake Iliamna area in Alaska. The productivity of this region for salmon is nothing short of amazing—and makes the proposed Pebble Mine, looming like the guillotine over the entire Bristol Bay ecosystem, that much more troubling. Watching…
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Spotlight on Browns Canyon
What would Theodore Roosevelt do? He’d protect Browns Canyon. By Corey Fisher The green drake hatch on Penns Creek. Browns slurping midnight Hex on the Pere Marquette. Salmonflies on Montana’s Madison River. The brown drakes of Silver Creek. These are some of America’s most celebrated moments in fly-fishing, but Mother’s Day caddis on Colorado’s Arkansas…
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Video spotlight: Once You Pop, You Can’t Stop
Who doesn't like catching fish on top? With poppers, no less. Several years back, while fishing with a great group of guys on Alaska's Tongass National Forest, I was introduced to the fact that pink salmon—yes, pink salmon—will hit poppers just as they're reporting for spawning duty from the saltwater. We spent one glorious afternoon…
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Fly tying: Whip finishing by hand
About a decade ago, while sitting at a table in the dining room at what is now Calder Mountain Lodge on the northern, roadless tip of Prince of Wales Island, I busied myself tying up a few bright orange streamers for the next day's fishing for Dolly Varden in the island's tannin-stained salmon streams. An…