Northern New Mexico Snowpack Report

Cimarron River Snowing

Although the media has been focusing on drought in the Southwest, the snowpack in the mountains above Taos is looking good for the spring season.

 photo by Doc Thompson

[Editor’s note: Here’s a snowpack update from Doc Thompson, owner of High Country Anglers.]

The media throughout the Southwest is working hard to paint a doom-n-gloom picture of a bone-dry New Mexico. I have an issue with this, since they forgot to look into what’s going on in the northern part of the state, particularly the Taos area. Yesterday I had 4 to 5 inches of fresh snow, and it continued to snow throughout the day. Here is a picture I took yesterday morning along the Cimarron. The Cimarron Watershed snowpack is only 9% below average, and some of our other high-mountain. . .

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Tuesday Tip: The Basic Cast


Truel casting

 Orvis head instructor Truel Myers.


[Editor’s note: Over the next couple of weeks, Truel Myers, head instructor at the Orvis Fly-Fishing Schools, will walk us through The Orvis Progressive Method to Fly Casting. This is the teaching methodology used at all Orvis fly-fishing schools, and it’s designed on a building-blocks approach that begins with the most basic mechanics of the cast and moves toward the double haul.]

Step 1. The Basic (Pick-up and Lay-Down) Casting Stroke

This is the simplest way to learn the proper mechanics for the casting stroke. You are not trying to keep the line in the air or work line out through the guides. Instead, you are going to start and end with. . .

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Accidental Salmon

Accidental Salmon 1

The author’s brother working a streamer deep and slow. Note how he keeps the rod tip 
low to ensure there’s no slack and he has constant contact with the fly.

 photo by Drew Price


Freezing rain. That was the initial forecast for early Saturday morning. I thought it could be the end of this early-season trip in search of a pike or two. My brother Pete and a few other friends had told me about a spot with some decent pike during the winter. I have been dying to get into a water wolf, since it has been since October since I last landed one. I know that the season is coming up quickly, but it is never too early to have a pike on the end of a fly line. My buddy Kevin was concerned about. . . 

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Tropical Dreams Redux

Today’s the day it finally hit me: I’m sick of winter. With a foot of snow still on the ground and tomorrow’s high expected to be in the teens, fishing season still seems a long way off. Feeling sorry. . .

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Podcast- The Laryngitis Largemouth Bass and Panfish Episode

Tom talks a lot, and it finally caught up with him He has a bit of larygitis this week, but takes one for the team and answers a phone request for a largemouth bass episode.

In the fly box: Do fish see color? We also take a phone request for a series on fishing different regions of the United States and beyond.

Did he leave anything out? Have a sugestion for a future podcast? Call us at (802) 362-8800 or leave us a comment below!

Click the play button below to listen to this episode. Go to orvis.com/podcast to subscribe to future episodes


If you cannot see the podcast player, please click this link to listen.

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In the Loop 03.04.11

Catchmag

Lovers of fly-fishing photography should feast their eyes on the new issue of Catch Magazine, which features a wonderful photo essay on trout fishing in South Africa, some great closeups of mayflies, and Todd Moen’s video “Steelhead Dreams, Part II.”

fish icon It looks like Maine could be the next state to ban felt-sole wading boots. The state legislature’s Natural Resources Committee hosted a hearing Tuesday to start the ball rolling, and representatives of Maine Audubon, The Nature Conservancy, Congress of Lakes Association, Belgrade Regional Conservation Alliance, and the Departments of Environmental Protection and. . .

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Friday Film Festival 03.04.11

Film Festival2

Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Fest, in which we scour the Internets for the best fly-fishing footage available. This week’s videos run the gamut from winter bull trout on the Metolius to 1950s-era double-haul lessons to urban angling in Norway. Click “Read More” to see this week’s films, and enjoy!

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Report from Eagle Nest Lodge

bighornbrown
Adam and John caught this 27″ brown trout on a hoppper in August

I spoke with Rebecca Shirley of Eagle Nest Lodge (2007 Orvis-Endorsed Fly Fishing Lodge of the Year) yesterday to see what was happening out there for them on the Bighorn River. Apparently, there is quite a bit of good fishing on the horizon. As Shirley put it…

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Tying the Hendrickson Rusty Parachute

Here’s a video I shot at the first annual Trout Unlimited of Southwestern Vermont’s “Flies & Pies” tying evening, held on February 15th, 2011 at the Orvis Manchester Fishing School building. We had over 25 people in attendance, and we offered a three-fly “menu” for the evening. This was pattern #2 offered by Orvis Rod & Tackle Product Development Specialist Shawn Brillon. Hendricksons are the best. . .

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