With all the genes being sprayed at the tasty fish we should’ve known eventually we might get something other than a soft docile lump, content with pellet feed and milling aimlessly within its concrete lined habitat. All the gnashing of teeth and mention of asterisks will be done away with … and by them that [...]

I’ve always likened the traditional dry fly as the fly fishing equivalent of the Japanese Tea ceremony. You can tie a million of them and the number of times you’re pleased with the result you can count on one hand. Double-divided quill wings spin our gossamer tippet into a snarl, Woodduck flank is expensive as [...]

Nothing like a research paper to wave angrily in front of  county planners while they debate paving your favorite trout stream… Southwick Associates has released another paper on the effect of mountain trout anglers on North Carolina’s rural pocketbook. Compiled from last year’s statistics, it’s the first research I’ve seen on who we are and [...]

I’d like to think that the only options were Good, Bad, & Ugly – but past experience suggests there’s the occasional Divine, and a lot of Ridiculous. I’m headed up North again next week – this time to assault some overly content Rainbow and Brown trout that assume the National Park designation means safety… I’m [...]

I like trout better. Big trees, cold water, and a ready shade tree with rock to perch under – so I can dangle them big, tired Lumberjack feet in cold water … I’ll be back to my senses shortly. I’ll remember the sphincter-puckering roar of that 100 car freight that surprised me on the outside [...]

You’ll remember my pitiful bleat about “but Joe, it might … s-sn-snow!” – and how my iron will trodding through cow crap, farm chemicals, and scorching desert melted after the weatherman claimed it might pizzle snowflakes, with temperatures ”near freezing” – or at least 85. … I begged off claiming I was overdue for a pedicure, while [...]

The first fellow was towing a lure that looked like a plucked Olive chicken carcass – minus saran wrap and foam plate. I says, “what’s your buddy throwing – a pizza?” He laughs, “there’s a lot of Bass in here but they ain’t biting today.” He ears back to fling that seaweed colored rooster, and [...]

Obama’s got nothing on trout season, and while everyone was giddy at the millions watching his coronation, the trout season inaugural dwarfs even the President – many times over. Weather predictions are all over the map, snow forecast and blue skies dominate, leaving us Milquetoast types alone and vengeful. Most of the foul weather blew [...]

Most fly tiers would confess the bulk of their cash is tied up in genetic chicken necks, hidden away from prying eyes and the astonished gaze of their significant other. It’s one of the many shamefaced truths; chickens cost six bucks to eat, and sixty to play with. While brown water doesn’t give me much opportunity to fiddle with hackle alternatives, I’ve been climbing that mountain – leaving a trail of dubious prototypes in my wake.

“Furlough Friday” had me on the prowl on the west side of the valley, I’d had the foresight to grab Sweetpea, got her grain-fed and rubbed down and while she gathered her possibles, I’d snuck a rod, vest, and waders into the cab while she wasn’t looking. It’s the old “winery” gambit, “I think there’s [...]