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Welcome to another edition of the OrvisNews.com Friday Film Fest, in which we scour the Internets for the best fly-fishing footage available. We’ve got a five videos to stoke your passion for fly fishing as we wait for spring to arrive. The weather has turned downright balmy up here in Vermont, so the thought of casting big streamers on Opening Day suddenly seems less remote, despite the foot of snow that remains on the ground. Click “Read More” to see this week’s films, and enjoy!
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In light of last week’s decision by the EPA to assess the potential impacts of large-scale development on the Bristol Bay watershed, I asked Trout Unlimited’s Alaska Program director, Tim Bristol (no relation to the bay of the same name), if he wouldn’t mind answering a few question.
1. Can you give us a brief overview of where the Pebble Project right now? What is the Pebble Partnership doing?
Pebble is claiming to still be in the pre-permitting phase; they have yet to file for permits. At the same time, they continue to give presentations on the the
tremendous size of the ore body, with recent estimates saying Pebble could generate up to 9 billion tons of waste rock. So, at this time, . . .
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The final straw was my last shot of the 2010 Vermont grouse season. I’ve never been a good (or even mediocre) shot, but for the first time since I had moved back to the Northeast almost a decade earlier, I had gone the whole season without downing a single bird. I was determined to rectify the situation on that cold day before New Year’s Eve.
But after an hour of fruitless hunting, I was ready to give up and started walking back toward the car along a logging road. I remained alert, but hope was certainly waning as the last gate came into view. Suddenly, the whirring of wings bursting into flight sounded from a pine tree to my left, . . .
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as among the reasons populations did not crash the way many feared when whirling diseasd was first discovered. |
When whirling disease was first discovered in the Madison River in 1994, many anglers feared that the end of the fishery was nigh. Fifteen years later, the Madison is still a wildly popular angling destination, and biologists believe that the adaptability of rainbow trout allowed populations to survive the disease. An article in the Helena Independent Record details current thinking on the subject. A variety of factors—including the mobility of rainbows, which travel an average of 42.8 miles per year; their ability. . .
Read MoreLast week, we let you know about the EPA’s plans to assess the Bristol Bay watershed in order to understand how future large-scale development like the proposed Pebble Mine may affect its water quality and the bay’s salmon fishery.
We also asked you to give the EPA your input through our easy Take Action page.
Boy did you.
Approximately 6,000 of you sent nearly 23,000 emails to over 550 representatives in DC and to the EPA telling them to use their authority to protect Bristol Bay. We thank you for that.
If you did not get the chance last week, we encourage you to go to the Take Action page now to let the EPA know this resource is too important and rare to risk having the world’s largest open pit mine situated at its headwaters.
Read MoreWith our last Trivia Challenge, I was asked to step it up a bit as many of you thought the “challenge” was a bit lacking. So, this week I’ve stepped it up with what I think are more difficult (and interesting) questions, and perhaps more fun for it. As another user requested, I also give the reasons behind the correct answers.
In this episode, Tom gives his advice for maintaining your angling gear in the off-season and answers our firsr voicemail request by giving ten tips for the aging angler.
Call our voice mail line at 802-362-8800 and leave us a suggestion for our next episode.
Click the play button below to listen to this episode. Go to orvis.com/podcast to subscribe to future episodes
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Once a salmon run has dipped below a certain number or disappeared altogether from a watershed, the ecology of the system is drastically changed because of the missing nutrients that rotting fish carcasses provide each year. This makes restoring salmon populations more difficultbecause the young salmon must survive in less fertile habitat. Biologists in British Columbia seem to have found a solution: a method of fertilizing rivers to add the missing nutrients. The initial data suggest. . .
Read MoreMurphy has entered his first rebellious stage, which I knew would come eventually. It can be frustrating if you let it; so don’t let it, because it’s also pretty humorous. The key is to eliminate the opportunity for this response and take a step back for a few days.
Read MoreOne August afternoon on a southern Colorado river, my guide handed me one of the more godawful dry flies I’d ever seen—an abomination constructed entirely of foam, rubber, and synthetic fibers. Although hardly a purist, I do appreciate at least a nod to fur and feathers in a fly, and this thing looked like a science project. Seeing the look of horror on my face, Jason assured me that the fly was his favorite hopper pattern for the water and a pattern on which he had taken. . .
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