It’s been really cold for a long time and suddenly it’s not.  You realize that you can go fishing again.  You have not been out for weeks or even months.  Where do you start? In the chill waters of February and March, midges are the hatch. Read more here. Early season fishing is all about water temperature.  In the fish’s world, early spring is generally an extension of winter.  While it may be 50 degrees in our world, the water is likely under 40 degrees in theirs.  This means their level of activity and the water they choose to reside in is quite predictable. Degrees Matter The Missouri River below Holter Dam is a tailwater.  Water coming from the dam seldom changes temperature more than a degree within 24 hours.  This means the fish in the first mile or so below the dam are used to a fairly stable environment.  When the...

Ever feel like you’re overthinking steelheading? I do.  Last week, once again, we thought we could outsmart those fish. Or so we thought….drift boat access to the lower float on the Queets River in Olympic National Park had been closed for over a month and those hatchery fish would be ripe for the taking! Simple right? Big numbers guaranteed… uh, not exactly. Queets River Steelhead Just as our trip coincided with the park reopening, it also coincided with unseasonably great weather. Bright sunshine and highs pushing into the upper 40s was expected …we couldn’t believe our luck: fresh fish AND great weather. Not so fast grasshopper, this is steelheading. Over three days we went one for two, although we did hit a home run with the scenery! However, just two bites in three days? Yep. It was not exactly your tailwater fishery numb...

A lot of people have yet to explore a growing world in fly fishing. We are slowly breaking away from our traditionalist roots. Our flies are changing, our techniques are being refined, and our small world of fly fishing is absolutely expanding and so are the ideas within – whether you like it or not. So, what is the buzz around Euro Nymphing? It’s taking America by storm in competitive fly fishing as well as the recreational scene. Many assume that Euro Nymphing is a singular idea that originated with European nymph fishermen. Au contraire, the ideas encompass many techniques from across Europe, and they have been refined since the 1980s. Let’s break it down. What is Spanish Nymphing? The first Euro-style technique we’ll introduce is Spanish nymphing. On a side note, many discredit or are baffled at Spain’s wonderful, top-notch...

Día de Salida On departure day, we get to sleep in.  Breakfast was scheduled for 7-ish.  Of course, I was wide awake at 5 a.m.  I read for a little while and heard the guide boats pull up, ready to take a new batch of anglers out.  Yeah, I was a bit envious.  After the boats departed, I grabbed my popper rod and took a little walkabout.  With an hour before breakfast and daylight coming on, I had some prime casting time. I find that one last session with the popper makes the sting of departure day a little easier to bear. I landed just about as many bass as I could count before my brain went fuzzy, and then it was time for breakfast. Need to back it up? Read about Picachos Dia Cuatro here. Our flight out of Mazatlán was not scheduled until just after 4 p.m., so we had a lazy morning ahead.  Our hosts were gracious enough to put ...

Picachos Dia Cuatro Miss Dia Tres? Catch up here. Session 6 Marv started the final morning with me and I was really hoping to show him some action on poppers.  Marv had yet to get into popper mode, but soon hooked up and found out how fun the explosive surface eats can be.  While Marv worked from the front with a small popper, I backed him up with a black surface critter I’d crafted from some packing foam. I had liberated the foam from a trash can in our receiving department.  I colored it black, stuck hackle feathers out the back, added some big eyes, and coved the body with a thin layer of epoxy.  It landed on the water on its side with a nice splat.  On the retrieve, it stood up and moved water. It was lighting them up.  With a 1/0 wide gape hook, the smaller fish were bouncing off, but the bigger fish were sucking it in nicel...

Picachos Dia Tres Knock, knock. It’s 5:15… coffee… tasty breakfast… run to the room… finalize prep… hit the boat. Session 4 The morning was perfect, and John and I were in the boat and venturing forth well before sunrise.  We went deep up a canyon and began working what appeared to be ideal popper water.  We cast and cast but had no takers before the sun came up.  I was concerned that the banana curse was still with me. What banana curse? You’ll want to read this. John did not say anything, but I knew he was wondering what the heck was up. If things did not improve by lunch, I would have to talk to José and see if he could find me a priest from the village willing to perform an exorcism!  It certainly was not fair to be affecting John with the curse that Dan had clearly manifested around me. Missed Dia Dos? Catch up her...

By Sharah Yaddaw, and Danielle Downey, and Thomas Hopkins Keeping honey bees goes back over 9,000 years, and since then our ability to feed modern civilizations has been cultivated with honey bees pollinating our food as they gather theirs. These unsung heroes work tirelessly gathering honey to survive winter, and crop pollination is the vital amenity we receive from their toil. Pollination in the US is valued at about $20 billion per year. This includes many nuts, fruits, berries, vegetables, and animal feeds- like alfalfa- which are required for meat and dairy production. Bees themselves- queens, packages and colonies for sale- are a valuable product only available with good beekeeping. Just as we rely on bees to pollinate our food, most honey bees rely on beekeepers. As we feed more people with larger farms, the need for pollination ...