It has been extended until October 15th, 2010.

For those who have submitted entries, your continued patience is appreciated and has not gone unnoticed.

If you have not submitted an entry yet, feel free to read this article and submit away.

Brian

Planning a fly fishing trip varies by degree of difficulty. If you are going out for the afternoon or day and will be back later that night, then a lot of planning isn't required. However, if you intend on going overnight and a long distance from home, you'll want to sort out the details before you hit the road. This is why it's referred to as planning.

The first step is working out where you'll be going fishing. This may be the easiest or maybe the most difficult part of working out a trip. If you have a friend invite you, or get a hot tip - then the hard work is done. Or, maybe you'll have to sit down with some maps, an atlas or gazeteer, the internet, a few good fly fishing books and whatever other resources you can pull up (don't forget Google Earth) and hash out your plans that way.

Make sure you either bring a GPS or a good set of road maps if you'll be going somewhere you're unfamiliar with. This will pay off big time down the road (no pun intended). You will get turned around or a bit lost when you're somewhere you've never been and it will most likely happen an hour before dusk when you should be on the river getting your dry fly slammed by monster trout.

Where you'll be going fishing will lend to what you'll be fishing for. This is usually a natural progression. Going to a river? Fish for trout, salmon or steelhead. Going to a lake? Maybe you'll be fishing for some warmwater species. What you'll fish for will dictate the gear you bring.

Now the fun part. You know what, where and when. You have the pieces to start packing up your gear. Before you head out, take a light inventory of your gear. You don't have to go through every leader and fly, but make sure you know what you have in your gear bag and fly boxes. Envision yourself standing on the river; do I have my boots, waders, rod, reel, leaders, tippet, etc? It helps to make a checklist. The last thing you want to do is forget a vital piece of equipement that you'll need to get out on the water. Lastly - don't forget your license. This can ruin a trip in a heartbeat. Even if you decide to fish without it.

The night before you take off (most likely getting up early), get all of your gear together and either pack it in the car or place it by the door. Since you've already done a pre-check on all your stuff you know that you have it ready to go and won't have to worry about it in the morning.

Now for the how. Chances are you'll be driving. This is straight forward. Just make sure you have some essentials in the car before you go. A can of fix-a-flat is a good idea and a spare is an even better one. Typically, fly fishing will take you off the beaten path and sometimes the beaten path likes to eat tires. So, there you have it.

Keep a close eye on your gas gauge too. When we drive around town we don't really pay attention to it because we can just stop whenever to fill up. If you're heading into the outback, most likely you won't be seeing many gas stations. Fill up when the opportunity is there and don't go off the beaten path without a half tank in reserve. Could end up in a long walk.

Here is a partial list of some of the things you might need:

Sea Run Cutthroat are much like their brethren that live in fresh water; except for the fact they inhabit the salt water. They spend their time cruising the shoreline looking for an easy meal. They are voracious, opportunistic feeders that will chomp just about anything down. Common prey include baitfish, sand lance, crab, shrimp and marine worms. The Sea Run Cutthroat fishery is great in the Puget Sound with lots of opportunity for fun. If you live near the Puget Sound, you should certainly not overlook the Sea Run Cutthroat.

Tides: A key factor in fishing for Sea Runs is the tide. They will hunt and feed during the times when the tide moves the strongest. Those times occur during the greatest difference between high tide and low tide. Fishing during a slack tide is all but useless (except for practicing your cast). Check a tide table before you head out. Any change greater than 10 feet is considered a good tide. Keep in mind; certain areas will fish better with tides that are not that strong. It really all depends on the area. The reason for this is sometimes too strong of a tide will just push the baitfish out of the area and if the baitfish are not there - the Sea Runs will not be. Also, account for your driving time and gear-up time when you get to the beach. Ideally, it's a good idea to be at the beach a bit after slack tide. This will give you time to gear-up, get to the beach and see out the best structure.

Research: One of the best tools we have in fishing for Sea Run Cutthroat is the research that we can conduct before we hit the beach. The easiest method is to scope out a beach using Google Maps (satellite function) or Google Earth. Another great resource is the State of Washington Department of Ecology Shoreline Aerial Photos program. From a bird's eye view you should be able to get an idea of what the structure looks like before you show up. An even better method is to see a beach at low tide. Make sure to take notes and photos to refer to later.

Sunlight: Keep in mind that if the best tide for the day is right in the middle of the day and it's blue skies out; the fish are going to hold deeper. They might not be in as shallow of water cruising for their meal. However; the biggest thing to remember is: where the baitfish are the Sea Runs are. They're bold fish.

Gear: Sea Run Cutthroat range in size from baitfish to 24+ inches. A standard 5-6 weight rod with a weight forward or double taper floating line and intermediate sink tip line will work fine. Chose a line color that is natural, camo is best. Some days you will be casting into the wind, so practice your hauling. Typically a 3x to 5x seven foot leader is adequate. A stripping basket is also highly recommended. It will keep your line under control so you won't have to worry about the current sweeping it away from you or the rocks and barnacles destroying it. A less-expensive option to a commercial stripping basket is to purchase a plastic bin and drill holes in the bottom to let water out. The nice thing about this option is you can pick the exact size of stripping basket you want.

Flies: Any fly that imitates baitfish is a good start. Clousers are a must have. Also Lefty's Deceiver pattern is a great fly to have. Wooly Buggers in white, olive, black and brown are good as well. Remember that you don't need an exact match, most likely the fish will be eating baitfish or some sort so tie something on that looks like a baitfish, sand lance or shrimp. Or just use an attractor pattern. Don't get too scientific here. Where you put your fly in the water is a greater concern. However; keep in mind that sometimes the fish will be keying in on a specific target. Try to keep your eyes open and see what they're chasing after. Sometimes that's as easy as watching the surface and seeing the baitfish get chased by trout. At other times you can look in the water around you and see what is swimming at your feet. If you see small crabs on the bottom, try a crab pattern. If you see sand lance or marine worms hanging out, give that a shot. During the Chum spawning months a Chum Fry imitation is killer. Or you can use a searching pattern. Or a popper. Experiment. Be bold.

Game Plan: Rather than fishing structure on a river or lake, when you fish the beach you're fishing the tide and structure. Look for beaches with oyster beds or a rocky bottom. These are very important. Do not waste your time fishing beaches with just sand, silt or mud. Beaches with points, troughs, shallows or anything else that will cause a break in the flow of the tide or good to look out for. A nearby creek, river or estuary is big plus as well. The fish will hunt and hold along this structure in search of food. Start at one end of the intended beach and cast to where you think the fish will be hanging out. Remember that Sea Runs don't need a lot of water, most of the time they will be in just a few feet of water. A good practice is to not even step foot in to the water until you've plied the area with a few probing casts. Once you're in the water, make a cast or two, then take a step down the beach, cast again; then repeat the process until you run out of time or beach. Sea Runs move around a lot, if you don't find them at one beach during a certain tide it doesn't mean they won't ever be there. Come back at the opposite tide and try again. Remember: the trout are after baitfish. Baitfish want structure to get out of the tide. Think about the water flowing from one point to another and what it will do when it encounters the bottom and other obstacles. How the water behaves is an indicator of where the baitfish will seek shelter in structure created by the moving tide.

Final Thoughts: Sea Run Cutthroat fly fishing is a frustrating yet addicting aspect of fly fishing. Keep at it. Try new things. Learn all you can. It will pay off and when it does it's incredibly rewarding to know that such an amazing fishery is right in our backyards.

When taking photographs while fly fishing, there are a few simple guidelines you'll want to follow to ensure your memories are recorded successfully.

Rule of Thirds: The premise is simple: split your frame of view into thirds horizontally and vertically. You'll end up with two vertical lines and two horizontal lines that create four intersections. Maybe drawing it out would help. The idea is that you don't center the subject in the frame. Doing so makes the image feel uneasy and unnatural. Place the subject of the photograph on either one of the lines or better yet, where a horizontal and vertical line intersect and you'll be good to go. This rolls into the next guideline...

Camera Setup: A prudent fisherman either uses the Auto function on the camera or manually sets it up based on the light conditions before the first cast is made. I recommend using the Auto function. Anyone who has spent time on the water knows the weather can change in a heart beat and along with the weather the light will change. Capturing a great photo only to have it ruined because it was over or underexposed will leave you bummed.

Centering Subjects: Don't do it. UNLESS: you're filling the frame with the subject, even then try to keep the focal point out of the center of the image.

Focus: Every good photograph has a subject. The subject in this case will either be a person, a landscape shot, a fish or a person holding a fish (for the most part). If there is a set of eyeballs in the frame or a light/bright spot (sunset or sunrise...etc), that is what we focus on. So, make sure the eyes are in focus and make sure they're not in the center of the frame.

Flash & Light: Try to avoid using the flash, if possible. Using the flash can give the image a harsh feeling and make your subject appear brighter than it is. Most of the time this probably won't be avoidable. Not using the flash in a low-light condition will require a longer exposure time or a higher ISO setting. Most of these are not adjustable in the Auto mode. As well, keep in mind where your light source is coming from. If you take a shot with the sun directly behind your subject (a person for example), their entire body will be too dark to make the image comfortable to look at. It would be better to have the sun lighting up your subject. The best light for photographs is right around dawn, daybreak and during bright but cloudy weather. Sometimes it can't be avoided on where the light comes from, you'll just have to improvise and make do with what you've got.

Composition: This deals with how you frame a subject. Most point and shoot cameras do not have a Zoom Function (do not use the digital zoom, it degrades the image quality) worth mentioning. This means you'll have to move closer or further away depending on how you want to frame your photograph. Keep in mind, everything in the frame becomes your photograph. If you don't want it in there, get into a different position. If what is in the frame doesn't help tell the story you're trying to convey with your shot, get it out of there. Also, don't be afraid to change the point of view of the frame. Get eye-level with the fish, or get a close-in mouth shot, or an underwater shot of it swimming away. As humans we focus on eyes or the brightest spot in an image. Try new things!

Simplify: For the most part, a pleasing photograph is simple. Take, for instance, the image to the right of the Westslope Cutthroat. There are five things in the photograph: a hand, a trout, a fly, a rod and water. That's it. The subject is foremost, the trout. Second, the fly rod. The rod makes the image a bit more interesting and adds another layer to the story. If it were just a fish in the image a person could suppose it was caught in a net, by hand or with a spinning rod, etc. Maybe even found on the ground. Or they might think, "Oh, neat. A fish in a hand". The fly rod helps expound one step further. It tells the story of how the fish was caught. This is another interesting point about taking photographs. If there is more than one subject (sub-subjects?) then the photograph becomes infinitely more interesting. However, when you're framing your shot, think for a second on what you're trying to capture and make sure you're not getting anything that doesn't help tell the story of the photograph. For instance, if you're taking a sunset shot; avoid power lines, airplanes or anything else that might detract from making a great image of a sunset.

Weatherproof: There isn't much you can do to make a non-weatherproof camera weatherproof without at least voiding your warranty, however; you can take some precautions before heading out onto the river to make sure you don't turn your camera into a soaked paperweight. First; keep your camera in a pocket that is easily accessible yet out of the elements. I keep mine in the pocket of my chest waders. Not only will this keep it out of the rain, it's high on your body if you take a spill and less likely to get wet (unless you take a header into the drink); it's also easy to pull out when you have a fish in one hand and a fly rod in the other. Second; use the lanyard that comes with your camera (or improve on it and make your own). I tie my camera's extended lanyard to a clasp that came with my waders located in the chest pocket. If there isn't something convenient you can tie the lanyard to, customize the rig to fit your needs (leading to more hobbies, like sewing - born out of necessity, that can be your excuse). I often find myself using the lanyard to pull the camera out of my pocket when I'm short on hands. Makes a handy handle. Now, if you are in the market for an exclusive fishing camera, I would recommend a weatherproof camera. I currently have a waterproof, shockproof and dustproof camera and it's a miracle machine. I have beat it up and it still snaps away. They're also great for underwater shots.

Prepare: Lastly, before you hit the river have a fresh battery and empty memory card (or extra rolls of film) on hand. Last thing you want is the battery to die or to run out of room on your memory card right before you need it.

If you sling flies on a salt water beach in the state of Washington; you'd be remiss not to have the State of Washington Department of Ecology Aerial Photos website in your back pocket.

Browsing through the photos via their interactive shoreline representation will give you a bird's eye view of what the beach you're about to hit up looks like. Seeing the beach from above helps you understand the structure and layout of the land. When you can understand this; you understand where the fish are going to hold.

Keep in mind, while checking this site out, you'll want to orient yourself to which way the tide will flow at the time you'll be fishing the beach. This is important because some beaches will have great structure on an flood tide and nothing on an ebb - or vice versa.

Check it out here.

Table 1.1: Color Perception in Salmonids; Very Shallow in Clear Water

Color Wavelength (nm) Frequency (THz) Color Perception Range

From the above there is a striking difference between human and salmon color perception

Studies have also demonstrated that salmonids show a preference for blue under most background and light intensity conditions.They also show salmon are able to differentiate between subtle differences of shades of blue.  Conversely, salmon sensitivity to red is about 10 times lower than blue, then orange, brown, yellow and green in that order.   But what they actually see depends on a number of factors including the frequency and wavelengths of the available light, and turbidity (Cloudiness) of the water.

In any case, a full range of color vision is not possible below approximately 10 feet in depth in gin clear water, much shallower in turbid or cloudy water.  The red-orange-yellow side of the color spectrum filters out very quickly with depth, with the red side of the spectrum virtually disappearing at 10-12 feet in gin clear water and as little as one to two feet in turbid water where incident light penetration is greatly diminished.  Greens and then blues saturate deeper water landscapes with depth to about 60 feet in clear water.

Below 60 at best and possibly far shallower depending on water conditions, the blue side of the spectrum dominates.  If color is important in deeper water, then flies should be in those lower wavelength hues that given enough light penetration to be visible at depth. These colors are in the blue to ultraviolet range.   It makes ecological sense that salmon see best in the blue to ultraviolet color ranges as deeper water landscapes are saturated with these colors.

Studies also show that juvenile salmon and salmon approaching sexual maturity have a higher sensitivity to ultraviolet, below the lowest range of human vision, than mid-life salmon.  Further, salmon that specialize in feeding on plankton such as sockeye and pinks also have a higher sensitivity to ultraviolet ranges throughout their adult lives.  It has been postulated that this is because many crustaceans and other plankton species these fish feed on emit ultraviolet hues as a component of their coloration.

The significance of this for fly anglers is salmonids see best in the blue to indigo range, deep water colors.  Greens and oranges may take on some greater importance in shallow waters with green hues dominant over orange.  Florescence also makes these colors stand out where there is adequate light to make a substance to fluoresce.  This is possibly the reason that colors like fluorescent chartreuse are so effective in shallow water, as salmon anglers have long known.

In some cases, color may not be an issue at all.  Salmon most easily observe the fly from below.  This is especially the case when flies are fished shallow or on the surface (e.g. Miyawaki Popper).  Conversely, Salmonids cannot look directly down.  The position of their eyes, the shape of their head and mouth parts, and the ovular shape of the eye creates a large down looking blind spot.  They look out to the sides and up.  Where the fly is between the fish and the surface it is most often silhouetted against the sky.  In these cases the fish would most often perceive shaded to gray and black rather than color.

The bottom line is that because of they structure of their eyes salmonids see very little red, if they see red at all.  This is even in the clearest of water.  And, even if some salmonids do see some red, as a matter of physics red fast diminishes with water depth.  The same is true to some greater degree with high spectrum colors such as yellow, pink, orange and the like.  Try tying San Juan Worms in gray and black.  They may work even better.  Nevertheless, we fly anglers love our beautiful and sometimes colorful flies.  We should continue to tie and fish them if just for the aesthetics but also to peak our imaginations.

Richard Stoll is a biologist and environmental scientist. He can be found chasing chum, among other species,  all over the Pacific Northwest. Contact Richard here: rkstoll (at) yahoo (dot) com

"Many men fish to get away from women, but now they have to accept the galling reality that they can't escape."  -The New York Times, Aug 8, 1994.

Some call local chum fishing “picket fencing”, others call it “combat fishing”, but most call it fun fishing.

My wife, Ana, loves to fly fish.  She is most certainly not a Joan Wulff, the current Deaconess of the fly casting world.  But Ana holds her own.  Her graceful thirty to forty foot casts put many machoistic slap-it-on-the-water male fly anglers to shame.  When salmon are on our beaches Ana is often more hot to trot than me.  If she can convince me or a fly fishing girlfriend up she’ll be off to locations like Point no Point in a flash.

“It’s up to you if you what to come along.” She’ll inform me.  “But I am not waiting.  The tide is low and I have a good feeling.”

One November Saturday afternoon not too long ago Ana was after me to go picket fencing for chum salmon at Chico Creek.  Her justification was that the tides were right.  Well, maybe she was not so much after me as after a passel of new chum flies.  She does not tie flies too often, I do.  The point is she was ready to go and I had better get hot at the fly tying bench.

When we arrived things were “Chico Creek chum-run normal”.  There was hardly a place to park.  Thirty-five or forty anglers were lined up knee-deep in the estuary like, you guessed it, a picket fence.  They were all having a ball combat fishing.

This particular afternoon the line-up had formed a hundred-foot semicircle around a pod of maybe 500 frightened chum salmon.  Lures of every sort and kind were flying everywhere.  Confused fish were rolling in futile attempts to miss the lure pandemonium.  Three of four macho fly anglers were among them.  From the looks of things they had been taking fly casting lessons from treble-hooked Buzz Bomb throwers.

A young lady of about 12-years of age squealed in delight as her rod doubled over from what looked like a dark purple-striped male hooked on some nether part of its anatomy.  “Back up, back up!” her dad kept yelling.  “That’s a good smokin’ fish. Don’t you lose it!”  The young lady squealed again then dutifully obeyed dad’s continuing spate of orders.

Ana looked at me and said, “Let’s go down there, away from the crowd.”  She was pointing toward some shallows in the west end of the estuary where maybe twenty five undisturbed fish were fining.  Ana was off and fly casting without even turning around to see if I had followed.  I had not.  I sometimes find it far more of a pleasure to watch her fish than to fish myself.

A couple of macho fly anglers waded in near to where I was standing.  One said, “Jeez! Look at that woman cast.  Does she think she’s trout fishing?  I doubt if she get anything on that wimpy outfit!”  They had no idea she and I were soul mates.

The other macho fly angler didn’t respond.  He looked at his partner with an expression that appeared halfway between agreement and mock disdain.  He was obviously disgruntled at thought of a graceful women fly angler going after Mac truck chum with what he obviously considered a “trout” rod.  Just as he glanced back toward Ana she was fast into a substantial fish that she had legally hooked inside its mouth.  She had a number more that afternoon, more legally hooked fish than anyone else on the beach, including me.

In the car on our way back home Ana turned to me and asked, “Why didn’t you fish too much?  Then she followed her inquiry with, “Let’s stop at the Silver City Brewery.  Maybe you can tell me over a sandwich and a stout?”

I just smiled.  It had been another wonderful angling afternoon.

I think it was in the early 1970’s that I heard rumors of a few fly anglers float tubing and catching gargantuan chum salmon off the mouth of the French Creek Hatchery in Hoodsport on the Hood Canal.  The tip proved to be worthy indeed.  One could get towed up and down beautiful Hood Canal October beaches by these fish.  It took some years, but the sport caught on so well that it is still a planned annual migration for many anglers today.  French Creek chum.

In more recent years the chum salmon runs in Chico Creek estuary in Dyes Inlet have recovered to the point where thousands of fall returning fish provide great sport for lots of anglers.  This is where Ana and I most often go.

There is no trick to catching chum if one is a marginal fly caster.  Don a fluorescent chartreuse “Chum Candy” on the end of a 9-foot, 12-pound leader and a floating fly line.  Cast the fly in front of a moving school of fish. Move the fly just enough to keep it off the bottom, no more. Wait for a bombshell.

Richard Stoll is a biologist and environmental scientist. He can be found chasing chum, among other species,  all over the Pacific Northwest. Contact Richard here: rkstoll (at) yahoo (dot) com

Fly fishing is considered the quiet sport for many reasons. There is no crowd cheering. There is no team mate to rely on or to disappoi nt. There are no rule book or playbook, only unspoken rules that most abide by simply out of the goodness of their heart. There are no television cameras and no score. It is only the fisherman, the water and the pursuit of the prize. Fly fishing is hard work, mentally and physically. There is much wading and casting to be done. As well, the fisherman is constantly strategizing on the next move up or down the river, the best place to place the most natural-looking fly with the most deadly cast. Fly fishing will challenge a fisherman in a multitude of ways; he must be a decent fly-caster, he must have knowledge on how to read the water to know where the fish will be holding and he must know what the fish will be eating at that time of the day. These reasons are the driving factors most fly fisherman practice this art. Fly fishing is more art than sport and requires much skill and patience.

According to William Radcliffe the Macedonians were the first to invent fly fishing around 200 A.D. They noticed trout from the rivers would hunt after a specific type of fly that is “not like the flies found elsewhere, nor does it resemble a wasp in appearance, nor in shape would one justly describe it as a midge or a bee, yet it has something of each of these. In boldness it is like a fly, in size you might call it a midge, it imitates the colour of a wasp, and it hums like a bee. The natives generally call it the Hippouros”. From this passage we...

...can see that even during ancient Macedonian times fisherman were inventing new ways to cleverly fool a trout. By nature trout are smart, they have the ability to outwit fisherman and over time will learn what a ‘real’ fly looks like. When trout become quick to the ways of a cunning fisherman, they undoubtedly become harder to catch. One could deduct that is why the Macedonians decided to try to imitate their natural food source, a technique that is still in practice today and is one of the main themes found in the art of fly fishing. Radcliffe goes on to describe how the Macedonians fooled their local trout by tying the first flies with bright crimson red wool and two wax-colored cock feathers to imitate the wings, no doubt a crude but effective pattern. He describes the fly rod they would use as being six feet in length and “their line is the same length” (Radcliffe). An interesting note about the length of the line is that today most fly lines measure approximately 100 feet. In fact, a person would be hard pressed to find one less than that. A typical fly rod will be anywhere from seven feet to fourteen feet long, depending on the application. The early fly rod was not used to cast, but merely place the fly in a position where the fish was thought to be hiding. The end result is the same, however the application is much different. Fly fishing may have had it’s origins in ancient Macedonia, however it has evolved drastically over the thousands of years it has been in existence into a word wide practiced sport that most consider an art.

Any fly fisherman will agree that trout and salmon are the most sought after fish with a fly. Fly fishing came into existence with the purpose of pursing these species and today they are still the main targets for the sport. However, according to the internet encyclopedia Wikipedia; fly fishing is used to chase “a wide variety of species including, pike, bass, panfish, and carp, as well as marine species, such as redfish, snook, tarpon, bonefish and striped bass. There are many reports of fly fisherman taking quite unintended species such as chub, bream and rudd while fishing for ‘main target’ species such as trout”. A fly fisherman traveling the world would be hard pressed to find a place he couldn’t cast a fly and expect to catch something. This is one example of a benefit to the sport. Almost any place a person lives, travels or works there is most likely a body of water with some species of fish in it that will attack the right fly. From mountain rivers and streams that hold fat trout and salmon to any body of saltwater to the city parks and golf courses with small ponds full of bream and bass to full sized lakes with multiple species available for pursuit, there are not many places a fly fisherman will feel out of place. There are many overseas destinations that are popular tourist spots that house great fly fishing opportunities. Hawaii is known for it’s saltwater flats and bonefish, as are the Bahamas and Caribbean. Argentina and Chile have excellent brown trout in the region known as Patagonia. Alaska is stocked full of almost every species, saltwater and fresh, that an angler could ask for. There are even opportunities to land a fish on a fly in Europe and Asia, however not for the most common species. Anywhere a fly fisherman goes, he will be able to find a place to cast a fly into a decent looking body of water in pursuit of his quiet sport.

With the ever expansion of the human ’footprint’ on the world, native trout and the associated subspecies are becoming more and more endangered. According to estimates from the American Fisheries Society and The Nature Conservancy, nearly 37% of freshwater fishes in North America are greatly reduced in range or qualify for threatened or endangered status. This is quite a frightening statistic given the fact that in the U.S., trout anglers spend $6.4 billion annually on fishing. Not to mention the impact on the economy that recreation fishing has, taking into account that in California alone, recreation angling accounts for nearly $3 billion in annual revenue and more than 92,000 jobs. Recreational angling has quite an impact on our economy and our communities. To lose this valuable asset due to poor stewardship of our natural resources would be not only a crime against nature but a crime against our well being as a human race. To arrest the degradation of these valuable assets, as stewards we are responsible for maintaining what we’ve been given. As noted in A Guide To Native Trout Restoration; “Historically, overfishing and habitat degradation were the principal causes of decline for many trout and salmon species. For most species, overfishing is no longer a problem, but loss of habitat and degradation of remaining habitat remains the primary cause of decline”. This means that destruction of fishes habitat in building roads, bridges, dams and levees along with logging and clearing land for new developments all play a part in the destruction of these wild gem's habitat. We can not stop civilization, however we can expand responsibly. It’s up to us to protect the resources we have by protecting the habitat these fish thrive in so future generations can enjoy what we as a nation do today.

Fly fishing is a sport most recognized for its complexity and singularity. It’s a quiet sport, more associated with art that requires skill, patience and above all else the ability to spend time with one’s self on a river or lake and be at peace. It is a sport that only you and the fish you are pursuing are aware of, it is without spectators and cheerleaders and scoreboards. A fly angler only has himself to blame for a missed strike or a faulty cast. The majority of fly fisherman begin their obsession with the pursuit of trout and salmon, then tend to move on to other species as they progress. An angler can find suitable water that will hold fly worthy fish just about anywhere in the world, even in the big city. Fly fishing today is an ever growing sport with more and more new anglers joining the ranks. It is up to the present participants to do their part to conserve the waters they frequent for future generations to enjoy. Fly fishing is an ancient yet treasured world-wide past time that will continue to live on through time and be enjoyed by many as the quiet sport.