Fishing Junk Water
What started as the sketchiest junk lake turned into something much harder to leave behind
3/20/2026Michelle Jarvie
DO
Snowshoeing: Proof You Can Love Winter
A funny, honest take on snowshoeing for the “real you” not the expedition you. Learn what you actually need, how to pick the right size and bindings, and why walking-speed winter can be the season you start to love.
3/2/2026Dun Team
Winter Hiking Safety for Normal People (Not Expedition Athletes)
Winter hiking doesn’t have to be extreme to be safe and fun. This guide gives you a simple system—how to pick the right trail, dress in layers, pack a small safety kit, and know when to turn around—so you can enjoy cold-weather miles with confidence, not stress.
2/3/2026Dun Team
Gradual Untangling
Fly Tying? You want me to tie a fly? No way. I can’t even darn socks. I knew I had enrolled in a fly fishing school, but I never thought about the fly tying aspect that would accompany my studies. School started and there I was, my instructor persuading me to give it a try. Reluctantly I went to the tying area. With a heavy heart, I tried my hand at tying my first fly, and managed to make a large and splendid bug. That disheveled fly went on to startle many fish, but one showed interest; all was
7/20/2018Mari Kitagawa
Latest
Happy Camper
It is strange how big changes often present themselves in modest ways, like the first ripples on the water before the storm or the small blue marks on a stick that indicates a major change is in the makings. Up until the encounter with the blue stripes, my biggest angst as a fly angler had been whether wind conditions and water flow would mess up the next fishing trip. Being a simple-minded fly angler, I never planned longer than the next weekend. But, half way to work the morning of the blue
4/5/2017Knut And Solvor Ruud Sandal
My Baem'bu
For over a decade, I observed as my husband crafted the bamboo fly rods I so much love to fish. This winter I embarked on a pursuit to craft my own bamboo fly rod. Oh my goodness! I had no idea how much fun it would be and how much intricacy there was to building a bamboo fly rod. Beginning on this page and for the next few pages you will be taken on a photo essay of my bamboo rod building pursuit. And, of course, my first fishing pursuit with my new rod in hand. I can only hope that my words
4/5/2017Mary Ann Dozer
Zense
What The Company Says * The ground-breaking and innovative Free-Flex handle is designed on the basis of the logical principle that a rod’s power potential is situated in the butt section of the blank. *ArcticSilver ZENSE rods use the full power potential in the rod’s lower section by letting the blank load inside a hollow handle. The Free-Flex handle allows the butt section of the blank to load with less energy – it’s simple and it works! *ArcticSilver’s Free-Flex rods represent a new catego
4/5/2017Katka Svagrova
The Real Reel
We all want to be part of something new, something big, something important. But when we get there, these are the things that elude us. The big always passes us by. The small always takes prevalence. For me, life has been filled with almost too many ups and downs. It took me my entire lifetime to find my happy. However, I saw it, knew it and felt it years ago. It was the first time I went fishing as an adult. And when that fly rod was handed to me, I knew I was home. For it wasn’t just th
4/5/2017Allison Helen Keeble
After The Fires
“There were no fish kills observed immediately after the fires. We do not anticipate any short or long-term population impacts on the trout streams in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.” says Matt Kulp, Supervisory Fishery Biologist for Great Smoky Mountains National Park. I had just picked up the kids from school on Monday afternoon, November 28th when my husband Ian called and asked “Have you heard any news this afternoon? The winds are carrying the embers from the Chimneys fire and spr
2/1/2017Charity Rutter
Float Tube Fishing
It always surprises me that so many people who fish with a fly rod have not yet tried fishing from a float tube. Many of those folks tell me that is because there are so many different models and types to choose from that they don’t know how to judge which might be the best for them. Once you get introduced to float tubes you’ll see that they enable you to fish a lake or pond by yourself, and that the peace and quiet you’ll encounter will enable you to do some wonderful wildlife viewing too. Du
2/1/2017Cecilia Pudge Kleinkauf
How To Plan a Women's Fishing Clinic
Be intimidated by the idea of planning a women’s fly fishing clinic. Have no idea how or why you would want to host one. You’re not “qualified” anyways, right? Right, of course not. When the idea refuses to leave you alone, mention it to friends over beers to see if they’ll take the bait. “Would you go to a fishing clinic if I hosted one?” You’ll ask. “Yeah! What a great idea! I’ll totally go,” they’ll inevitably say in return (could be the beer talking). Of course they will. Immediately regre
2/1/2017Amanda Monthei
Stripah!
My first memories of fishing in saltwater are at Hampton Beach, over the bridge from Seabrook. My father would drive my brother and me over the bridge and drop us off while he went to the local store to buy the Barrons’ weekly paper. Ah, the days of dropping kids off at the bridge! My brother and I would drop our sinking line to catch whatever we could on worms, and we almost always got flounder. I remember wanting to keep the Pet Flounder alive for a few hours … this was before my catch-and
2/1/2017Cynthia Harkness
Family Affair
Most children pick up the love of fly fishing from their Mom or Dad early on and the obsession only grows from that point. Because I came to fly fishing through a friend in Montana, I got to flip the traditional roles and be the one to get my parents hooked, (pun totally intended) when they last visited. As we cruised down Gallatin Canyon, the conversation flowed between what was happening in South Dakota, to some aspects of fly fishing, to how teaching was going for me this year. We had gott
12/1/2016Andrea Feige
Guided
Fisherman aren’t created equal and some are born to be on the water daily. Most guides I know didn’t choose the path of guiding, but hours, days and months on the water turned the obsession into a career of sharing the experience with others. My experience is that a person decides to go with a guide after numerous strike-outs. When they are filled with doubt and frustration… then they decide to seek a professional to show them the secrets. Others simply lack the time it takes to become intimate
12/1/2016Mia Sheppard
Trophies
Growing up, my idea of the perfect summer vacation was heading up to Michigan and staying at my best friend’s family cottage on Big Fish Lake for a week. She and I would count down the days until we went to ‘The Cottage’ because we couldn’t wait to spend our vacation fishing! Rain, bugs, cold, nothing stood in the way of the opportunity to fish with our dads. As we got older, we had less opportunities to go fishing, so it wasn’t until about a year ago that my eyes were opened to this sport.
12/1/2016Rachel Lubarski
Rejects
It’s that time of year; if you live in the north, most of the waters are frozen and, for the most part, you have to put your equipment away for the season. Holidays consume much energy and help distract from the fact that you are suffering from withdrawal. This is when fly tying season explodes, as we anglers are not willing to give up the ghost and we need hope to get us through to next spring. Many new fly tiers will be born in these next few months. When you start to tie your own flies, a
12/1/2016Nome Buckman