Another new online magazine has hit the digital newsstand. Southern Culture on the Fly aims to be all things to anglers south of the Mason-Dixon and east of the Mississippi. The first taste of what’s to come is a “half issue” that starts off with a taxonomy of American fly-fishing cultures, from the tweed-clad Yankees to the “stoner” steelheaders to the checked-tablecloth-obsessed Rocky Mountain trout bums. But fear not, Southern anglers don’t get off the hook in this rant. There’s some good stuff inside, so check it out.
The new issue of Garden & Gun magazine features a fine profile of Florida Keys legend Steve Huff, whom the title of the story refers to as “The Best Fishing Guide Alive.” Huff’s career began on November 1, 1968, and it got off to a rocky start. “I had no clue what I was doing,” Huff says. “I didn’t even know what i didn’t know.” He sure does now.
An issue that seems on many anglers’ minds these days is the state of the redfish fishery in the Gulf after the big Deepwater Horizon spill of last spring and summer. In the New York Times, Chris Santella describes a trip to the Biloxi Marsh southeast of New Orleans and reports seeing “thousands of bull reds.” However, his guide, Gregg Arnold, warns, “One thing that’s certain; the long-term effects of the spill have not played out.” Writing in the Miami Herald, Susan Cocking recounts her day with Capt. Rocky Thickstun, finding the big redfish both plentiful and stupid.
Via Moldy Chum, here’s a cool story and picture of an exceptional catch by a member of the Baghdad Anglers Club.
Idaho is a fly-fisher’s paradise, home to such hallowed waters as the Henry’s Fork and the Clearwater. But Clarence Worly, writing in New West, has fallen in love with the state’s most unheralded fishery. Read his “How I Learned to Love Carp” and examine your own prejudices.
Legendary reel maker Billy Pate passed away on Monday at the age of 80 after a long bout with Alzheimer’s disease. As Fishing World explains, “Pate was a frontrunner in the pursuit of big saltwater fish on fly fishing tackle, in particular tarpon and billfish. A world record 188-pound tarpon he caught in 1982 on 16-pound tippet remained unbeaten for 21 years. He was the first angler to catch a blue marlin and a black marlin on fly tackle, and the first to catch six billfish species on fly.”
