I recently ran across this marvelous piece of archival film from the International Game Fish Association, which shows casting champion Bill True and guide Jim Brewer chasing tarpon in the Florida Keys. It’s a great piece of history, and it will give you a sense of how much easier we have it now, when compared to the sport’s pioneers.
The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service recently made what may be the largest fish-poaching bust in history, when it broke up an illegal black-market striped-bass operation involving commercial fishermen in Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay. The result of a seven-year investigation, the case stopped a criminal ring responsible for poaching more than 1 million pounds of stripers valued at between $5 and $7 million.
A new digital literary fly-fishing magazine called Riseformsreleased its first issue yesterday. The editors describe the new magazine as “a literary work that conveys the passion and contemplative nature of fly fishing.” The editorial board includes Anders Halverson, whose recent book An Entirely Synthetic Fish, about rainbow trout, made quite a splash. You can download Riseforms for free here.
The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program is designed to reduce the number of these predatory fish, which feed on millions of young steelhead and salmon smolts every year. Anglers who catch pikeminnows can receive a bounty of between $4 and $8 per fish. Last season, one angler managed to earn an astonishing $81,366 over the course of the six-month season. Who says fishing doesn’t pay?
