Tarpon Hook-Up in the Keys

Orvis Rod & Tackle manager Steve Hemkens shared a boat with angler Fletcher White and Capt. Nick Varnberg during the annual Orvis Lodge Retreat in Key Largo over the weekend and managed to. . .

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A Memorable Opening Weekend

The Governot of VT goes fishing

Drew Price (left) with Vermont Governor Peter Shumlin (center) and Fish & Wildlife Commissioner Pat Berry on Opening Day.
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photo courtesy Drew Price

 

April in Vermont is always a total crapshoot when it comes to fishing. The water is high and dirty from runoff, and depending on the year, it can be pretty unpleasant to be out there. In the past, I have mostly ignored opening day for those reasons, waiting for later in the month when the players would be out and about. But for the past couple of years the weather has been much more cooperative. Water levels have been good, and we have had some pretty spectacular days for the beginning of April. This year’s opening weekend ended up as one to go into the record books for me.

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TU’s On the Rise Visits Libby Camps in Maine

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Wild Maine brook trout

Maine is the last best stronghold for wild, native brook trout in the United States; and nobody knows those brook trout, their watersheds, and the precarious balance to keep the population healthy than the Libby family of Libby Camps on Millinocket Lake. The Libbys have operated Libby Camps in the North Maine Woods since 1890, and are now in their fifth generation of family ownership.

This week, Jed Fiebelkorn, host of Trout Unlimited’s On the Rise gets his feet wet on some of the region’s pristine brook trout waters with none other than former TU CEO, Charles Gauvin, who now has a little more time on his hands to pursue his beloved brook trout after stepping down as TU CEO in 2010. Matt Libby, the owner of Libby Camps hosts Jed and Charles on a fly-out adventure in northern Maine.

Check out the show to see the greatest, and most remote, brook trout fishing left in the United States, where wild, native brookies can still be measured by pounds not inches; and how Libby Camps, TU, and others have worked to make sure it remains that way.

You can check out the show on the Sportsman Channel on:

Mon 4/11/2011 1:00PM

Tue 4/12/2011 10:30PM

Fri 4/15/2011 7:30AM

Sat 4/16/2011 12:30PM

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Podcast- 12 Tips for Fishing the Spring Runoff

In this week’s podcast, 12 Tips for Fishing the Spring Runoff, I give a number of valid excuses for getting skunked during spring runoff, and what you can do if faced with high, cold, muddy water.

In the Fly Box section, I talk about fly rod design, fishing pressured waters, and the reality of fly-fishing magazine articles and TV shows. Plus a great tip for threading flies from a listener who left a message on our Podcast Message Line.

Click the READE MORE button to listen.

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Friday Film Festival 04.08.11

Film Festival2

Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Festival, in which we scour the Internets for the best fly-fishing footage available. This week is a bonanza of high-definition goodness, which means you should watch everything at full-screen, in full resolution, with the sound cranked. Co-workers be damned! There’s a little bit o’ steel, a tad of golden dorado, a smidgen of salmon, and even a bit of BWO. Enjoy!

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Hatcheries Are No Substitute for Real River Restoration: Wild Steelehead Coalition Sheds Light on Threatened Rivers

thebigboy2

photo by Mike Daley


In rivers throughout the Northwest, from the mighty Columbia to Seattle’s urban Green River, wild steelhead populations are desperately hanging on. The steelhead are listed as threatened, and even hatchery efforts to increase their numbers are failing. Habitat loss, dams, and warming waters caused by climate change, appear to be sealing their fate. In a great piece by Green Acre Radio,(brought to our attention by the Wild Steelhead Coalition)Martha Baskin visits the Soos Creek hatchery on the Green River and talks with wild steelhead advocates including veteran fisheries biologist Don Chapman, who’s been monitoring the situation for fifty years. Click here to go to the audio and give it a listen.

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Trout Bum of the Week: Mike Dawes

Welcome to our first “Trout Bum of the Week” post, in which we’ll highlight one of the guys living the good life…of a sort. Most of them are guides who have turned their passion into a vocation, spending their time in an outdoor “office” that may include a drift boat, gorgeous mountain scenery, and crystal clear water. Others do have day jobs but manage to spend every other available minute on the water with a fly rod in hand. Whether you aspire to one lifestyle of the other, it’s illuminating to explore the different paths these men and women have taken on their way to achieving “trout bum” status.

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Podcast: Five Mistakes Beginning And Experienced Shooters Make

In this podcast I sit down with Orvis shooting instructor, Pete Kutzer to review mistakes made by beginners and then mistakes made by more experiences shooters.

When It comes to mistakes, I am an expert. I know I learned a lot in this episode. I think you will learn a lot about how to improve your own shooting, too, no matter what experience level you are.

Listen to the podcast by clicking the READ MORE link below.

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Pike in the Last Frontier

Thinking of Alaskan fishing brings to mind images of sockeye salmon jumping up Brooks Falls, the powerful brown bear, bald eagles, and snowcapped mountain ranges seemingly touching the skies. What I found on my adventure to Western Alaska near the Yukon River and the Bering Sea was quite different: the land was flat, water was muddy, and no bears were in sight. We landed at. . .

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