Fly fishing for redfish (or “red drum,” depending where you’re from) has become an obsession for reporter Mike Leggett of The Austin-American Statesman. His story of chasing tails off the Texas coast, just east of Aransas National Wildlife Refuge, gives you a good idea why.
Most anglers don’t think of Alaska as a steelhead destination, but seagoing rainbows migrate up rivers as far north as the Kenai Peninsula. Last weekend, three biologists tried snorkeling down the frigid Anchor River to count fish, with interesting results.
Remember that old George C. Scott movie Day of the Dolphin, where trained dolphins are used to carry out political assassinations? It seemed far-fetched at the time, but now biologists have outfitted elephant seals with electronic salmon-tag detectors and time-and-depth recorders in an attempt to discover where endangered Columbia River steelhead go when they head out to sea.
It’s all fine and dandy to have a bug-eating dog, until the canine mistakes your meticulously tied dry flies for the real thing. Frieda, a German shepherd owned by Deborah Carlson of Pullman, Washington, snacked on 16 of her owner’s patterns and was rushed to the vet. The X-ray shows 15 of the flies, which miraculously passed through the pooch without getting stuck. The whereabouts of fly number 16 is a mystery. Make sure you look at the large version of the X-ray image for the full effect.
