By Kirk Deeter

I must admit to being slow on the uptake with switch rods. I guess I thought they were half-baked Spey rods. You might as well go the full 14 feet or so if you're going to fish in the two-handed style, rather than being stuck in between the standard 9-footer and a classic Spey rod. But now I've seen the light and have grown to appreciate the niche functionality of an 11-foot switch rod.

By Tim Romano

This past week's caption contest yielded quite a few responses to the image above, which made it a bit difficult to choose who wins the gift certificate for the Scientific Anglers Fly Line. The winning caption came from fezzant, who had a number of great entries.

By Kirk Deeter

The key to landing fish quickly is knowing how to get their heads above the water's surface. Fish have all the leverage when they're fighting nose-down. You have all the leverage when their noses point up, and you can usually skate a fish right into the net, or land it by hand. The key to making this all happen quickly, which is of mutual benefit for the fish and the angler, is knowing how to "lift" fish.

It's often tricky, especially with large fish. Go ahead and try to pick a 10-pound dumbbell off the floor with a fly rod, fly line and 12-pound test leader. It's almost impossible if you hold the grip normally, gently lift the rod, and expect the flexed graphite tip of the rod to make it happen. When lifting heavy fish, you want to focus the stress into the line itself (trust me, 12-pound Maxima is harder to break than you think) and the butt section of the fly rod. To get that done, you want to grip slightly higher on the cork, bring the reel seat flush against your forearm, and then lift with your arm and shoulder, not just your wrist. This dramatically reinforces the leverage you have on the fish.

By Kirk Deeter

I've reported in Field & Stream magazine and on the "FlyTalk" blog about the proposed Pebble Mine site at the headwaters of the wild salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska, for several years now. Right now, dozens of advocates for Bristol Bay have converged on Washington D.C. to express opposition to the Pebble Mine project. They range from sport fishermen, big game hunters, to lodge owners, commercial fishermen and representatives of the native communities.

And they're all saying the same thing: They don't want Pebble to proceed (though this mine promises to unearth billions in gold, copper, and the like), because they don't want to trade the most pristine wild salmon and trout habitat in the world for the riches to be had by developing a massive strip mine at the Pebble location.