Search:

11774

Here's a pre-1939 model 1494 Medalist. 1939 was the year that the adjustable drag was introduced and this reel features the earlier spring-and-pawl check system. I acquired it quite a few...

The best tippet-to-fly knot is one that can be tied accurately, with cold fingers, in the dark. While the improved clinch knot may not be the strongest knot out there, it's one that I can tie,...

The article on the Kodiak Sea Louse has rather piqued my curiosity. Here in Washington and British Columbia the term "sea louse" is commonly applied to a small (usually around 1/4 inch in length),...

While Harry is often remembered for his "in hand" tying of full-dressed Atlantic salmon flies, we shouldn't forget his even greater contributions to to the art of steelhead flies and fishing. Black...

I can't imagine it ever "getting old". Even if it does, the memories will linger. At any time I can call up the ten-or-more-year-old recollection of a rainbow trout rising to a size 20 midge...

Definitely an alderfly. The alderfly looks very much like a caddis except it doesn't float. When it falls to the water it sinks and drowns. By the way, I think the word you're looking for is...

Sagefisher,
I believe you're wrong about that. In Washington state (in almost all cases) the river bottom (defined as "below mean high water) is state property and access may not be denied. Of...

You don't mention whether your newly-acquired reel is a current or an older model. All of the early Medalist reels were right-hand wind and not interchangeable. This was true at least through the...

Not much color yet on the west side of Washington but, yes, ya gotta love October. Until the rivers blow out, it's prime time for sea-run cutthroat.

The eyes are extra-small bead chain and aren't heavy enough to invert the fly. When the fly is being stripped, they do tend to make the fly fall off to one side or the other between trips.

This is one of my favorite October caddis patterns, I use it for trout in eastern Washington and, especially, for sea-run cutthroat on the west side, from the end of September into November (weather...

Again, lose the cotton! Jeans may be fine for wearing around generally, but for cold weather (and particularly under-wader) wear nothing could be more useless. If you're wearing breathable waders the...

First off, lose the jeans. For a first layer, find some polyester briefs; cotton, particularly against the skin, will absorb moisture from the skin and function as as an excellent conductor, very...

My first fly reel was was a 1496 Medalist, given to me by my father in the late 1950s, he acquired it in the late 1930s as a premium for selling subscriptions to one of the major outdoor magazines of...

No, although they don't make the long migrations of salmon and steelhead, sea-run cutthroat ( the migratory form of Oncorhynchus clarki clarki, the coastal cutthroat) commonly travel anywhere up to...

Kerry,
I've fished the lower Skagit "spring run" a few times but usually used chum/pink fry imitations since the cutthroat (and bull trout) really feed heavily on them and, in fact, take advantage...

The origin of the term "steelhead" is still something of a mystery. Some of the earliest sources indicate that the name was applied by commercial fishermen (back when there was still a large...

Might as well toss in a few pictures of recent fish as well as a shot of my favorite summertime bird, the Cedar Waxwing.

I decided, years ago, that, if I only had one leg I could still somehow manage to step on the line while casting. I've been fishing the Stillaguamish for sea-run cutthroat for the last month with...

NJTroutbum,
Curious about the Satsop Stone and its name; do you have any information? There is a Satsop River here in western Washington, flowing south from the slopes of the Olympic Mountains into...

In the interest of clarity, the pattern appears to be an imitation of a caddis pupa. "Midges" are members of the Diptera family of true flies. The name "October caddis" is normally applied to...

Yep, that's my boy. In May he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by Puget Sound University (I asked him if that meant I had to call him "Doctor" now). As I'm sure you can imagine, I'm...

Last fall I bought a Fuji Z33 WP. It's a nice little camera; 3 1/2" x 2 1/4" x 3/4" point-and-shoot, 10 megapixels, waterproof to 3 meters, and capable of shooting underwater. I put a loop of cord...

"Those that couldn't afford a Hardy or even an Orvis bought a Medalist". Pflueger, for many years, made the original Orvis Madison reel, which, essentially was a Medalist with the Orvis name stamped...

Keep in mind that breathable wader technology is changing rapidly and wader brands that got a bad rap only a few years ago have significantly improved with time, and even Simms, which seems to be one...