Currently browsing… Steelhead
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Short casts: Smith River mining, albies off shore, coho coming home
Photo by Thom Bridge, Helena Independent Record There are a handful of happy boaters and anglers this week in Montana, and a whole lot of disappointed folks, too, as Smith River float permits were announced. You win some, you lose some. The Smith, perhaps Montana's best-known backcountry float-fishing excursion, is a great early season float,…
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A River’s Last Chance
The first time I saw the Eel River flowing under the remote redwood forest along Humboldt County's Avenue of the Giants, I saw a dirty, blown-out river that the locals swore to me was home to massive steelhead. I lived in the small city of Eureka for a couple of years in the late 90s,…
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Voices from the River: Knocking on Heaven’s Door
by Sam Davidson Maybe the most difficult thing about being an avid winter steelhead angler isn’t the guaranteed frigid digits, abominable weather, mostly blown-out rivers or the challenge of actually hooking one of those transcendent slabs of muscle. For me, anyway, it is coming to terms with March 7, and the increasing probability of wearing…
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Short casts: Spring in Montana, steelhead in the Tongass, Minnesota expo
Every year about this time, I'm lured over Monida Pass into the Beaverhead drainage, and, inevitably, after a day or two of fishing, I go a bit farther. I'll venture from there, up the Big Hole to the Bitterroot, or maybe even farther north to Rock Creek, where I tell myself a sqwala might make…
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Video spotlight: The Kamchatka Steelhead Project
Just as Alaska is home to the northern-most populations of steelhead in this hemisphere, Kamchatka boasts big and mysterious chromers, too. The film, "The Kamchatka Steelhead Project" is an example of what can be done with a little collaboration, a touch of creativity and the passion that anglers have for these incredible fish. On Russia's…
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Giving away the Tongass: A very bad idea
By: Alaska Program Staff Anyone who understands the value of public lands to hunters, anglers and other outdoor recreationists, and the fundamental role public lands play in many of our lives has cause for concern. Today we're writing to highlight just one of the threats to our public lands. Introducing the State National Forest…
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Short casts: World-record bass, salmon across the pond, eating wild steelhead?
World-record spotted bass. Photo courtesy Everyday Adventures. If you want to catch the world's largest spotted bass, there's a reservoir in California you need to put on you list. The last two world-record bucketmouths came from New Bullards Bar Reservoir, with the last likely record weighing a whopping 11 pounds, 4 ounces. It broke the…