The Flyfish Journal

TAILOUT

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:19:03 +0000

Chasing tides, striped bass and soft-serve ice cream on the East Coast can be exhausting. Drew Nesbit and Ellis Reavey indulge in a slack-tide nap on a Maine beach. Drew was tired enough that he didn’t bother taking his waders off. Ellis, on the other hand, didn’t feel like filling his with sweat. Photo: Justin Carfagnini

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FELT BUT NEVER TOUCHED: Wyoming Carp Utopia

Words: Nick Basaraba — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:18:12 +0000

“This fish was too big for the first net Katie Knick tried to land it with. Luckily one of us always carried a net that could fit even the biggest fish this lake had to offer. She was usually the one who needed it the most.” Photo: Nick Basaraba

“To watch the sun sink behind a flower clad hill. To wander on in a huge forest without thought of return. To stand upon the shore and gaze after a boat that disappears behind distant islands. To contemplate the flight of wild geese seen and lost among the clouds. And, subtle shadows of bamboo on bamboo.” —Zeami Motokiyo

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SOMETHING RED OR BLUE: A Falkland Islands Meander

Words: Henry Hughes — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:16:25 +0000

Eugene Jones and fishing guide Adrian Lowe (front) prospect Weir Creek and the Murrell River on the east coast of the Falkland Islands. Only a month earlier Adrian suffered a heart attack, but the 67-year-old rancher was “feeling great,” fishing again and getting ready to gather and shear his 3,000 head of sheep. Photo: Henry Hughes

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SOUTHERN RENAISSANCE: The Pursuit of Bass Drives Watershed-Level Conservation

Words: Matt Lewis, PhD — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:14:23 +0000

A trophy-sized redeye bass caught by Casey Nowell in a small tributary of the Coosa River system. The vibrant red hues of the fins along with the blue accents are unlike those found on any other bass species. Photo: Chad J. Hoffman

The phrase “heading south” typically refers to a time when things begin to fail or take a turn for the worse. Euphemisms aside, the waters of the southeastern United States hold an unrivaled amount of freshwater biodiversity, including many species that can be caught with a fly rod. Despite Alabama’s designation as “America’s Amazon,” pursuing fish with a fly is still largely perceived as a sport reserved for the elite who chase tarpon in the Keys or the many species of salmonids out West. Thankfully, a culture is brewing among southern anglers that is built around the desire to celebrate the unique pursuit that is flyfishing for redeye bass. These cool-water stream specialists exist in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains in Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee, but Alabama is home to some of the largest populations and more species of redeye bass than the surrounding states.

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THE DISRUPTORS: Magdalena Bay’s Crazy Ones

Words, Photos and Captions: Nick Price — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:11:36 +0000

Jako Lucas brings the stoke as Steven Walker lands a striped marlin. Fish that have not been played a long time are often a little feistier at the side of the boat.

Los Locos Mag Bay, in southwestern Baja California, is a disruption. Throw out five-star-luxury everything and replace it with dusty roads and loud music and back-of-the-pickup drives to the boat launch. Long run times to the marlin with the possibility of even longer, bumpier rides back to San Carlos are the norm. Once fishing, it can be a balancing act, standing on either the bow or the stern of a rocking panga while throwing the 12-weight of choice with a giant baitfish imitation and a throttle-happy local captain thumping the hybrid panga gas with surges of excitement. Burritos for breakfast. Burritos for lunch. Dinner somewhere, though the day’s fishing will not revolve around getting back for 5 p.m. cocktails.

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FIRST, MOST, BIGGEST: A Conversation on Competition

Words: Jason Rolfe and Copi Vojta. Photos: Copi Vojta — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:09:51 +0000

Four folks waist-deep in a fishy spot during the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament. From left to right, anglers Natalie Rhea, Paul Nicoletti, Peter Markano and Rex Messing strip, pause, double-haul and laugh the morning away during the 12^th annual rendezvous on Cape Cod.

Fishing tournaments are a funny thing—anathema to some, raison d’être to others. The Flyfish Journal’s editorial crew falls decidedly closer to the anathema end of the spectrum, but after invitations to a couple of tournaments in mid-2023—the Cheeky Schoolie Tournament in Cape Cod and the Schmoots Clooper Invitational carp tournament in eastern Washington state—the two were surprised to find that perhaps they do have a competitive bone somewhere in their bodies (however small). It turns out the sweet smell of victory is varied as a field of wildflowers. In these tournaments participation trophies are the true grand prize. Jason Rolfe and Copi Vojta sat down for a post-piscatorem when the dust had settled in an effort to make sense of this new “competitive” landscape and share a few reflections on the value these events hold for the futures of our fisheries.

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WHO’S THE BOSS? Taking the Front Row on New Zealand’s North Island

Words: James Fuller — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:06:05 +0000

After days of river trekking on New Zealand’s North Island, Kelli Dotson knew that her river booty red deer skull was the good luck charm needed to find mythic rising rainbows and browns. Proof was in the results—a seriously sore right arm capped off with forever grins. Photo: Robert Dotson

“Sorry mate, working that weekend now.”

“My wife’s folks just called; they’re coming to stay.”

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DRY FLIES, BLOOD AND BIG COUNTRY: Doing Absolutely Nothing in Montana

Words: Matt Smythe — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 10:02:19 +0000

“The original plan for a road trip from New York to Montana quickly lost its luster when we considered our lack of long-haul stamina and the finite number of days we’d have to fish. Having someone else drive the nearly 40 hours allowed us to take in the full glory of the American West without worrying about stops for gas, food or falling asleep at the wheel.” Photo: Matt Smythe

Two flyfishermen and 50 Mennonites walk into a train station...

Our fishing trip was starting out as much like the lead-in to a good joke as it was the welcome culmination of a year spent scheming and planning.

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THE SEARCHER: Seaside in Ireland

Words: Tom Darling. Photos and Captions: Ben Etridge — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:58:41 +0000

In many ways, the coastline of County Cork, Ireland, is perfect for fishing. Warm Gulf Stream currents, numerous headlands and a diversity of sandy bays and rocky gullies provide structure and food for sea bass. Rupert Harvey, Shane O’Reilly, James Barry and Myles Kelly (pictured L to R) know access can be tricky, with a whole lot of slipping and sliding down to rocky ledges before clambering back up again in the dark.

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THE HATCH STARTS IN AN HOUR: Jazz & Fly Fishing Does America

Words and Captions: Håvard Stubø. Photos: Courtesy Jazz & Fly Fishing. — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:54:54 +0000

Håvard Stubø offers his best Jack Dawson impression, content after a long day of fishing in Craig, MT. The days we spent in Craig were dreamy, with great hatches, rising trout and new friends.

Jazz & What?

Jazz & Fly Fishing—part jazz quartet, part quirky film project, and a dream come true—traces its beginnings to a pub in Helsinki, in 2008, when two young men came up with the ingenious idea of putting together a jazz band of flyfishermen and making a TV documentary about the project. Those two men were Joona Toivanen, an award-winning Finnish piano player who is also a passionate flyfisherman, and Petri Luukkainen, a professional documentarian from Finland with a profound interest in jazz music and flyfishing. After hatching the idea, all they needed was a band.

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BIG REDWOODS AND SMALL CUTTHROAT

Words and Photos: Michael Carl — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:47:48 +0000

California’s Smith River and its tributary streams support healthy populations of coastal cutthroat and rainbows. In the upper reaches of the Smith River watershed, you can find solitude, natural beauty and native trout willing to take the fly.

Driving north on Highway 101, the outside temperature goes from the low 70s to the mid 90s by the time I reach northern California’s Jedediah Smith Redwoods State Park. No wind, endless blue sky and bright sun—the kind of summer day locals shirtlessly embrace along California’s fog belt. I pass by the beach outside Crescent City packed with surfers and sightseers. I have a much smaller piece of cold water in mind. This particular water runs down a remote ravine in the Smith River watershed.

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TAPER

Words: Blaine Peetso — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:45:30 +0000

Fall in the Desert, sketch
2023
Ink on paper
5” X 7½”
Artwork: Richard Harrington

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BLOOD KNOT

Words and Photo: Sean Platt — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:42:44 +0000

The macro lens: for when you want to be absolutely certain your blood knot seated correctly.

I couldn’t tell you how many wraps I make. Tie a knot enough, the process becomes part of you. When I started fishing, most cursed it, settling for the simpler triple surgeon. The challenge drew me in, but the final product kept me. Two clean ends that mash together in a smooth union, tag ends spilling out either side perfectly perpendicular. I remember the look on clients’ faces when I answered the all-too-common inquiry: What knot is that? Mostly it was confusion, some disgust. Best were the slight nods of approval, which always came from older anglers who knew the value of a good blood knot.

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CONTRIBUTORS

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:41:03 +0000

[01 Tom Darling]

Tom Darling is a British novelist and journalist. His most recent novel, Summer, was published by Little, Brown and Company and his journalism has appeared in various newspapers and magazines, from The Independent in the United Kingdom to Gray’s Sporting Journal in the United States. He has a master’s from Trinity College Dublin, and for over a decade Ireland has been his home. Before that, while living in his native England, he worked as a farmhand and forester. He caught his first Atlantic salmon in Scotland when he was 9 years old (it was almost as big as he was) and he’s been chasing fish of all kinds ever since.

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EDITOR’S NOTE

Words: Jason Rolfe — Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:38:34 +0000

“The ‘little’ lake, shown here in southern Ohio, is about 200 yards from the ‘big’ lake. As kids, Spencer Hunt (pictured, right) and I would follow our dads around the two lakes as they taught us how to fish. We were about of the size of Spencer’s son Connor (left). You can walk around the little lake in a pair of flip flops, but we usually fish the big lake from a jon boat. It’s still some of the finest bass and bluegill water I can imagine.” Photo: Jeff Forsee

This spring, the mother of my son’s best friend invited us to join them at a “Family Fish-In” at a local youth-only fishing pond. The event—hosted by the Department of Fish and Wildlife, local fishing clubs and Cabela’s and Zebco—is billed as an opportunity for kids to “explore fishing information, water safety, and more.”

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MASTHEAD

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:36:11 +0000

Once a fox has urine-marked a boundary object—like an anchor on a gravel bar—other foxes will overlap the mark whenever possible. Chinook guide Colton Honey had foxes visiting his anchor at most fishing stops throughout a gray day in western Alaska, until he started leaving the anchor underwater. Photo: Greg Houska

Publisher Jeff Galbraith

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Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:32:43 +0000

“Standing on a pier in Wisconsin, I frequently find myself surrounded by thousands of bluegill patiently waiting for my fly to hit the water. Each one caught is different than the last. Taking a much closer look, I discover what looks to be small galaxies in their cheeks. Then I get to thinking: What if that’s where our galaxy is and we’re all just living on the cheek of a bluegill?” Photo: Justin Carfagnini

FEATURES

Travel
THE HATCH STARTS IN AN HOUR
Jazz & Fly Fishing Does America
Words: Håvard Stubø

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RISES

Mon, 17 Jun 2024 09:23:56 +0000

The walk back to the truck is often long and can be painful, pleasurable or something in between depending on the day’s events. After this exceptional day of fishing on a South Island, New Zealand, river, Pat Murphy and Matthew Simmonds were all smiles, and they even had a little spring in their step. Photo: Jeff Forsee

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