We’ve looked them over with scarcely concealed avarice. Noting every curve, bulge and deep spot, and while our moral fabric is porous enough to exploit them with great vigor, we know our fantasy will end badly, beaten by onlookers and led away in manacles…   Golf courses always seem to have an abundance of lonely [...]

It’s usually something commonplace like unfiled taxes or an out of wedlock debauch that tumbles presidential hopefuls back to earth, mostly because  candidates can’t lie like us anglers, instead they crumple into sobs at the first hint of adversity, and we’re forced to watch some tearful confession while his wife stands grim lipped at his [...]

I find it compelling drama but as it’s occurring in Europe there’s hardly a mention of the issue in our media.  SANA, the largest angling organization in Scotland is rocked with scandal because its board accepting money donated by the fish farming industry, whose very existence threatens the last wild stocks of Scottish salmon. SANA’s own website [...]

It’s why I have to whisper encouragement to all them Blueliner’s when they pretend they want to come fish with me … I hear that molar-on-molar grind and attempt to restore their calm before they hurt themselves in a fit of piqué. Trout fishermen being used to fishing only in the first three dimensions; simple [...]

It’s likely to trigger a most difficult chicken and egg debate, considering us fly fishermen can save a trout stream or save a forest, but we can’t do both … Recent salmon studies suggest “you are what shades your banks” – and if the surrounding forest isn’t healthy, neither is your fish population. More insidious [...]

The only thing the fly shop can’t stock is that “icebreaker” needed to make the local fishing crowd greet you with open arms. It has to work at distance, so the wading throng clustered tight to the hole sees you and either motions you among them – or generates the en masse exodus, ensuring you’re [...]

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 [...]

Outside of some rare conservation program that’s reshaped a creek with instream cover or dredging, regulations, or fish plants, I don’t think any angler will make the claim that his favorite creek fishes better than it did a decade ago. Intervention at any level is always a temporary boon. The organizations that promote quality public [...]

All I had to do was read any of my past posts to recognize “I don’t measure up”, yet PETA had to send me a zinger just the same … They’re on the warpath, and with the death of the UK’s famous “Two Tone” carp, PETA erected a billboard to chastise local anglers … I’ve [...]

“We’ll be back around seven, and we brought Sweetums’s Frisbee for you to throw. Try not to tire Precious too much, knowing his delicate sensibilities and fragile constitution.” Right. I had dog watching duties this weekend, and while tossing slobber-Frisbee is a rarified treat, peeling the layers of domestication off a well mannered beast is [...]