There’s no candy left, or at least none without fingerprints, and you sucked down the Egg Nog without thought to waistline or ill effects. You didn’t get the Sage switch rod you were hoping for, nor does it look like it’ll be in your future any time soon. For most of us, 2010 appeared to [...]

Illinois and California are headed for some out-of-the-box thinking, as both states wrestle with a shortfall representing nearly one quarter of their annual budget. As we’ve seen before, both Parks and Recreation and Fish & Game never make the list of sacred cows and are forced to suffer the death of a thousand paper cuts. [...]

I was convinced the story behind bead headed flies and their speedy domination of the sport was due to fly tiers who dreaded completing that gracefully tapered head, that final step which revealed their skill set even to the casual observer. Weight has always been problematic for fly fishing. The letter of the law allows [...]

I’m going to be the unpopular voice suggesting we’re discussing symptoms rather than problems. I’ll be the idiot insisting we’re in a place we shouldn’t be, that we’re arguing elitist snobbery when all the fellow in the white lab coat wants to do is feed the world cheaply. They’ll tell you it’s all about Frankensalmon, but it’s not. Frankensalmon [...]

It appears that budget shortfalls and emphasis on belt tightening may have exposed the soft white underbelly of the “put and take” fishery. With both federal and state budgets being carved of fat, and desperate to avoid too deep cuts to the remaining muscle, a combination of license hikes and the systematic redirection of conservation [...]

I fancy myself a textured line expert, only because I’ve whined louder and longer than anyone else… I’ve been addicted to the sound of fingernails on shower curtain since owning my first Masterline. I’ve lost more flesh and fingertips to the Sharkskin than I care to remember, and as I’ve learned little from that hellish [...]

Tom Chandler posted a short Twitter link yesterday that’s worth the read. Eye-opening to some, but not too far a reach to  suggest that the future of fishing and hunting might be private enclosures seperated by cyclone fence so I don’t interfere with my fellow “sport” in the neighboring enclosure. The quarry might even be pen raised [...]

I was surprised to learn that next month’s elections will have four states choosing to add hunting and fishing as constitutional rights; those four possibly adding to the ten that already have passed such a statute. Apparently political correctness is very much alive and well, and the recent success of newcomers like the Tea Party [...]

My poppa was overly fond of the Hershey with Almonds, as he cared nothing for money or markets, it was the yardstick by which he measured the US economy. …in between telling us when he was a kid, it was only a nickel. We learned the brightly emblazoned text, “33% more, Free” meant the economy was [...]

It’s a great subject worthy of much lampooning and bitter vitriol, but us sportsmen have no say in the outcome, will endure largely in silence, and be the first to point fingers when the inevitable occurs. Call it “Frankenfish” or whatever comes to mind, but the truth is the majority of the world’s population aren’t [...]