Innholdsfortegnelse for June/July 2020 i Fly Fisherman

The trout are already fat from the bounty of spring—Blue-winged Olives, grannom caddis, Quill Gordons, and Hendricksons have come and gone. White rhododendrons, mountain laurel, and serviceberries are flowering in the river valleys, signaling what is to me the annual full bloom of nature. Serviceberry trees are also known in these parts as shadberry trees, shadwood, or shad-bush because the blossoms appear when the shad run up the Delaware and Hudson rivers. In this same time frame, the trout are looking up, and the best hatch of the year is just starting. Sulphurs have the trout in Penns Creek, the Little J, and Spring Creek feeding on the surface in the afternoons and evenings . . . right around the time of day when turkeys are gobbling and strutting in…

AN EVINRUDE-POWERED JET SLED SLOWLY PROWLS A LONG POOL ON THE SOUTH FORK OF THE SNAKE RIVER. THE OLIVE-JACKETED PASSENGERS SPORT CAPS EMBLAZONED WITH THE SHIELD OF IDAHO FISH & GAME. TWO OF THEM USE LONG-HANDLED NETS TO CAPTURE BELLY-UP FISH THAT HAVE JUST BEEN STUNNED BY ELECTRIC CURRENTS EMANATING FROM A POWERFUL BATTERY PACK ABOARD THE BOAT. THE ELECTROSHOCKING IS . IF THE TROUT AREN’T NETTED QUICKLY, THEY REGAIN THEIR SENSES AND FLEE TO DEEPER WATER. The fish that do end up in the net—cutthroat, browns, and rainbows—are measured, and these stats are recorded before the crew moves to new water, where they repeat the process again and again. This type of activity is used on rivers across the country to measure the health of fisheries and overall abundance,…

LUTTONY IS DEFINED AS “HABITUAL GREED OR EXCESS IN EATING.” WITH SYNONYMS LIKE OVEREATING, BINGE EATING, AND PIGGISHNESS, GLUTTONY PERFECTLY DESCRIBES DESCHUTES RIVER RAINBOWS DURING THE SPRING STONEFLY ORGY. FROM LATE APRIL THROUGH THE MIDDLE OF JUNE, THE “LOWER D” PUMPS OUT EPIC HATCHES OF GIANT SALMONFLIES, GOLDEN STONES, AND YELLOW SALLIES. DURING THIS TIME, THE HARD-FIGHTING REDSIDES OF THIS ICONIC WESTERN RIVER PACK ON THE POUNDS. FOR FLY FISHERS, IT’S ONE OF BEST TIMES TO CHASE TROUT IN THE 100 MILES OF CANYON WATER DOWNSTREAM OF PELTON DAM. Any stonefly hatch, regardless of the river, has a tendency to inflate angler expectations. Although this incredible emergence of insects can yield the best dry-fly fishing of the season, it can also be humbling. The secret to stonefly success lies in…

EPHEMERAL BUT IMPORTANT This year the Trump administration reversed five decades of Clean Water Act protection for nearly 20 percent of all rivers and more than half of all wetlands. This administration replaced what is known as the Clean Water Rule with its own regulation declaring that ephemeral streams (those that flow only after a heavy rain or snow) and isolated wetlands (those that do not have a continual surface connection to a larger body of water) are no longer deemed “waters of the United States” eligible for protection under the federal Clean Water Act. American Rivers and other conservation organizations, along with a dozen or more states, are suing the administration to overturn what we are calling the “Dirty Water Rule.” If you enjoy fly fishing headwater streams for…

Thirty years ago, I had one pair of wading boots—Gary Borger Weinbrenner boots with felt soles. I did everything in those boots: I wore them in the drift boat, I waded large rivers with easy gravel bottoms, rock-hopped in bouldery slippery creeks, and I carried those bad boys in my backpack to high mountain lakes and streams. You couldn’t walk very far in them because they were heavy, and the felt soles were like walking on banana peels once you strayed out of the streambed. The soggy wet boots were so heavy on my feet at the end of the day, I couldn’t wait to get them off. The next day when I picked them up, they were still waterlogged and just as heavy. It seemed they never dried out.…

Dave Whitlock, a longtime contributor to Fly Fisherman, will be inducted into the IGFA Hall of Fame Sept. 12, 2020 at a ceremony in Springfield, Missouri at Johnny Morris’s Wonders of Wildlife National Museum and Aquarium. Whitlock wrote his first story for Fly Fisherman in 1975. He retired from his career as a research chemist and then published 15 illustrated features in Fly Fisherman between 1978-79, and 30 more during the next three decades. Whitlock’s influence on fly fishing has been immense. He is an advocate for warmwater species like panfish, largemouth, small-mouth, and other temperate bass species. His story “Stalking the Golden Ghost” (July 1998) was the first feature story about fly fishing for carp published in a national magazine. Whitlock and his wife Emily were among the first…

GROWING UP, I SPENT TWO WEEKS WITH MY DAD EVERY SUMMER IN THE GUNNISON VALLEY, FISHING SMALL CREEKS, UNTAMED FREESTONES, AND THE WORLD-CLASS TAILWATER BELOW TAYLOR PARK RESERVOIR. THE HIGHLIGHT OF OUR SUMMER VACATION WAS THE ARRIVAL OF THE FABLED GREEN DRAKE HATCH THAT BEGINS IN LATE JUNE AND CONTINUES THROUGH THE FIRST PART OF AUGUST. SOME OF MY MOST MEMORABLE DAYS ONSTREAM WITH MY FATHER WERE ON THE TAYLOR RIVER A FEW MILES UPSTREAM FROM THE SMALL COMMUNITY OF ALMONT. If you’ve experienced a Green Drake hatch, then you know exactly what I am talking about. The thrill and excitement of a multi-day road trip during the Green Drake hatch is as good as it gets. Some of my favorite locations in Colorado include the Gunnison, East, and Taylor…

THE STORY OF THE LAHONTAN CUTTHROAT IS ONE OF SURVIVAL, AGAINST ALL ODDS. THEY ARE THE LARGEST OF THE CUTTHROAT SPECIES. NATURALIST STEVE RAYMOND CALLED THEM “THE LAST SURVIVORS OF AN ANCIENT RACE OF SUPER TROUT.” THE RECORDS, STORIES, AND PHOTOS SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT THESE WERE INDEED THE WORLD’S LARGEST TRUE TROUT. THE WORLD RECORD WAS LANDED AT PYRAMID LAKE IN 1925 AT 41 POUNDS. A REPLICA OF THAT FISH IS STILL ON DISPLAY AT CROSBY LODGE. THERE WERE EVEN UNSUPPORTED CLAIMS OF FISH IN THE 50- TO 60-POUND RANGE. THESE ARE TROUT SO BIG THEY DON’T LOOK REAL—THEY LOOK LIKE OBESE CARICATURES. Lahontan trout evolved in the tributaries of ancient Lake Lahontan through the ice ages until about 7,000 years ago, when the lake shrank to leave only…

Friends, family, colleagues, and conservationists from across the country met in San Francisco Feb. 5, 2020, to celebrate the accomplishments of 2020 Conservationist of the Year Peter Moyle. The annual Fly Fisherman magazine award was given to Moyle for his lifelong work in watershed preservation and restoration. Diane Bristol, senior director of community engagement at Simms Fishing Products, was there to deliver a $10,000 check to Western Rivers Conservancy, one of the many groups Moyle has worked with over the years to protect trout, salmon, steelhead, and their native rivers. “I’m delighted that we could be part of this and recognize somebody who’s worked so hard to protect our fisheries,” Bristol told the crowd. “We knew right away that we selected the right candidate, because when the news got out…

As readers saw in the April-May 2020 issue of Fly Fisherman, the wild, tangled Tugur River watershed in Russia’s Far East is home to the giants of the salmon and trout family. Hucho taimen can reach 6 feet and up to 140 pounds, and the 115-pound IGFA all-tackle world record taimen was caught here in 2019. But the habitat that sustains these incredible megafish is far from secure. In the last few years, this region has attracted a wave of large new mining and logging leases. The large-scale poaching of salmon for their caviar, or “ikura,” is a constant threat. As reported in the previous issue, in 2014 the Wild Salmon Center and its partner the Khabarovsk Wildlife Foundation supported a government initiative that created the Tugursky Nature Reserve, a…

DRIVING HOME FROM A CANADIAN BULL TROUT TRIP LAST FALL, I STOPPED AT A ROADSIDE FLEA MARKET, WHERE I SAW (AND NEARLY PURCHASED) A REFRIGERATOR MAGNET THAT SAID, "MIRROR, MIRROR ON THE WALL, I AM MY MOTHER AFTER ALL." THE JOKE, MEANT TO FORCE MIDDLE-AGED CHILDREN TO CONCEDE EXISTENCE AS NATURE AND/OR NURTURE REFLECTIONS OF THEIR PARENTS, STRUCK CLOSE TO HOME. ONLY RECENTLY HAVE I STOPPED FIGHTING THE REALIZATION THAT MY HOOTING LAUGH AND STUBBORNNESS ARE MY MOTHER’S. The magnet reminded me of Elk River Guiding Company head guide Darcy Richardson’s declaration just the previous day that if a bull trout looked in the mirror, it would see Mother Nature peering back. “Bull trout are an exact reflection of their environment,” Darcy had told me over beers on the fly…

The Kayapo leaders wrote a letter that spoke to me as a fly fisher. It read: “We do not want a single penny of your dirty money. We do not accept Belo Monte or any other dam on the Xingu. Our river does not have a price, the fish we eat do not have a price, and the happiness of our grandchildren does not have a price.” I was impressed by their foresight, and their courage. How could people with nothing stand in the way of Brazil’s insatiable appetite for electricity, lumber, and grazing land? What made the Xingu so special? Years later I met Rodrigo Salles, a fly fisher from Brazil who had also read the very same article in National Geographic. He was similarly inspired, and he reached…

BROKE UP WITH EVERY GIRLFRIEND I EVER HAD BEFORE MAY. WHEN THE LIGHT OF SPRING GREW LONGER, THE TREES BUDDING ENOUGH THAT THE SUN SLANTED AND KALEIDOSCOPED THE WATER, A DESIRE ROSE IN MY CHEST LIKE MAYAPPLES SPIRALING FROM THE LEAF DUFF. THIS DESIRE WAS ONLY SATED DAILY BY HOURS OF CASTING INTO THE CURRENT OF COLDWATER STREAMS, MILES OF HIKING FOR TROUT ON THE MOUNTAIN, AND EVENINGS SPENT WAIST-DEEP IN THE VALLEY’S RIVER. AND EVERY MORNING, THIS DESIRE RETURNED, DEMANDING RELIEF THROUGH RISING FISH. My lack of romance during these thirty-one days each year evaded my recognition through high school and my first few semesters of college until a fishing partner raised his eyebrows after I mewled my loneliness. “You should know that, Noah. I thought you knew you…