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by Will Mullis on 2008-12-11 00:00:00
Pierre Affre visited from Paris last month, filming a report for French television on the health of the striped bass population in the United States contrasted with the steep decline in population of the European sea bass. (The European bass is identical to the striped bass, except it has no stripes.)
He arrived on Election Day with two bottles of Champagne, eager to engage in the political moment late into the night. The next morning, I introduced Affre to some old-timers in Connecticut — John Posh, Joe Haines and Fred Ward — who have spent much of their lives fishing for striped bass from the surf and from the boat.
They talked about the golden years of striper fishing (the 1960s); the number of fish more than 50 pounds they had each caught; the crash in the fish population in the ’70s and ’80s because of overfishing; and the miraculous resurgence of the population after the commercial fishery was shut down in the ’80s. The striped bass is one of the few great sea-fish recovery stories. read full story
by Will Mullis on 2008-12-09 00:00:00
Being the photography buff that I am I spent some free time looking around at some other people's work and stumbled upon a great collection of scenic photos taken in Michigan. None of the photos are necessarily fly fishing related but if you are anything like me some breathtaking photos of beautiful water certainly helps numb the pain of a long winter. click here to view the gallery
by Alex Cerveniak on 2008-12-09 00:00:00
I recently had the opportunity to do a short interview with Barry Reynolds about fly fishing for Northern Pike and Carp. I had been fly fishing for about a year when I first heard of Barry Reynolds. I wanted to get serious about fly fishing for Northern Pike and a friend recommended his book, “Mastering Pike on the Fly”. It blew me away! I’d never read anything, about any fish, that was so complete. Since, I’ve recommended it to not only people who fly fish for Pike, but anyone who fly fishes period- and even to several people who don’t fly fish. It’s dog eared pages put it up there as the most referenced book on my shelf.
Barry has co authored several other books: “Pike on the Fly”, “Carp on the Fly”, and ‘Beyond Trout”. He also recently released a DVD, “In Pursuit of the Water Wolf” which has been described by many as some of the most exciting pike fishing ever caught on film. Over the course of 20 years he has traveled the world in pursuit of numerous fish species. read the full interview
by Will Mullis on 2008-12-09 00:00:00
But more than anything, I think it’s the fly-fishers who are slowing down now rather than the trout. A lot of us have fished hard since last February, and it only seems right to take a break and reflect on the passing of another season. And besides, we’re only a month away from the winter solstice. Shouldn’t we be reading a good fly-fishing book or tying flies during these increasingly longer nights?
Here’s a couple of indoor fly-fishing ideas for those of you who might be contemplating a break from the river or just looking for a gift to brighten up the holidays for a fly-fisher: read full story
by Will Mullis on 2008-12-09 00:00:00
A group of six soldiers gathered at Maria Lake east of Walsenburg with guides from Pueblo and Colorado Springs for some of their first attempts at fly fishing.
"I got one, here it comes," said Sgt. Ryan Coulson, reeling in a 16-inch trout at the banks of the calm lake.
Shortly thereafter, another soldier, Staff Sgt. Brent Klaiber, laid claim to a slippery fish.
"This is great," he said trying to hold the fish as his picture was taken. Maria Lake is a 250-acre private lake stocked with about 4,000 fish a year. On Saturday, the soldiers caught 30 of those fish before noon.
The small lake where the soldiers gathered Saturday to enjoy a day of "Fly Fishing 101" is a far cry from the battlefields overseas. read full story
by Will Mullis on 2008-11-19 00:00:00
Here are a few Drift reviews that I have stumbled upon while surfing the web.
The moment the first spey cast jumps from the screen in high definition, and the fly line falls over the currents of the Deschutes River, the viewer is hooked. The film’s vibrancy strikes an immediate chord, and it’s easy to settle in thinking Drift will progress as a collection of high quality destination pieces. Not exactly.
The new fly fishing film from Confluence Films takes the viewer to intriguing places, sure, but Drift isn’t really about where to fish, it’s about people and why they fish. The destinations provide the backdrop. Click Here to read the Fishing Jones review
A stunning visual journey, DRIFT combines the highest quality film production, world class flyfishing and an eclectic group of anglers to create the most definitive film about the sport to date.
DRIFT takes you on a cinematic adventure across the flats of Belize and the Bahamas, down the tailwaters of the Green, Frying Pan and the Big Horn, spey casting on the Deschutes, and exploring the exotic rivers of Kashmir, India. click here to read the FinFinatic review
by Will Mullis on 2008-11-18 00:00:00
One of Montana's legendary trout flies, the girdle bug, was designed to imitate a large stonefly nymph, or "hellgrammite," as the local anglers on the Big Hole River call the big aquatic insects.
Lost in the murky currents of time, however, is the original name of the girdle bug.
Back in the 1930s and '40s, it was called the "McGinnis rubberlegs," after its creator, Frank McGinnis of Anaconda. The McGinnis clan plied the waters of the Big Hole often enough to call it their "family river." And Frank McGinnis' homely pattern gained fame far and wide for fooling the river's renowned lunker rainbows and browns.
Now a fly-tier from another generation of McGinnises is carrying on the family tradition of creating killer trout-fly patterns. click here for full story
by Will Mullis on 2008-11-18 00:00:00
Jim Hutton was calm and methodic as he stood knee-deep in the icy water of the Big Thompson River and cast a fishing line upstream.
His eyes never came off the fly, which he watched slowly flow downstream in the current. When the line reached as far as it could go, he picked it up, cast it upstream, and began the process all over again. click here for full story
by Will Mullis on 2008-11-18 00:00:00
On Friday nights you can find me leading services at Temple Shearith Israel in Ridgefield, Connecticut. But on Sunday summer afternoons chances are I’ll be waist-deep in a cold-water stream, casting my dry flies to those mysterious and hidden trout. On the pulpit I am known as Rabbi Eisenkramer; on the river I am The Fly Fishing Rabbi.
My introduction to fly fishing was the film A River Runs Through It, which interweaves fishing, religion, Montana, and early 20th-century life. As the narrator Norman Maclean explains, “In my family, there was no clear division between religion and fly fishing.” The wondrous Montana scenery, the graceful casting, the excitement of the rising fish—to put it simply, I was hooked. Not long afterwards I purchased my first fly fishing rod, a St. Croix 5/6 weight 8'6" which serves me well to this day. click here for full story
by John Berry on 2008-11-18 00:00:00
Last week, I had the privilege of guiding a group of wounded soldiers for Project Healing Waters. All of these guys were Afghanistan or Iraq war veterans. There is one sad note. A female wounded warrior was unable to attend because she was in an automobile accident on the way to the airport to attend and broke both legs (she was struck by a drunk driver).
This was a very moving event for me. I am a Viet Nam veteran and I still well remember the way I was treated as a soldier returning from an unpopular war who was trying to restart my life on a college campus in the turbulent sixties. It was important to me to let these guys, who have sacrificed so much for us, know that we care about them and appreciate what they did. click here to read more
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