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

What can you do in a roadless area?

By Corey Fisher What can you do in a roadless area? Just about anything. What is a roadless area? Roadless areas, or Inventoried Roadless Areas, are generally those undeveloped portions of National Forests 5,000 acres or larger that are not designated as Wilderness, but that meet to minimum criteria for for consideration under the Wilderness

Gear test: The new Redington Butterstick

Mike Sepelak fishes the Redington Butterstick on a remote Idaho freestoner for native cutthroat trout. Photo by Chris Hunt. When I unzipped the bright orange rod tube containing the new Redington Butterstick and slowly lifted out the three-piece length of snazzy white fiberglass, I swear I heard the trumpets warming up for a sweet rendition

Video spotlight: Crystal clear

If all brown trout in the Swedish Lapland are as eager as the fish in the video below to hit a dry fly, sign me up. How many times have you had multiple shots at the same brown, sight-fishing no less? Once, maybe, during the salmonfly hatch or at the height of hopper season? Video

Roadless redux? Really?

Photo by John Schoen By Chris Wood The state of Alaska’s recent proposal to re-open the roadless debate brought back memories. Mike was flossing his teeth when I entered his office. “I’m sorry. I’m running late for the dentist.” It was 1998, and Mike Dombeck, the chief of the U.S. Forest Service, had proposed a

Two days, one fly

By Chris Wood Walt shook his head. “It’s up to you man, but I wouldn’t use a streamer. There’s a ton of wood and other snags in the river through the park. But it’s your call.” At the put-in, another guide commented, “I had two really good streamer fishermen hit the same stretch yesterday, and