By Joe Cermele

This is fact, not fiction, and it goes like this: Last September, Saskatchewan resident Karen Gwillim was driving through the town of Craven when she spied a young cormorant in a bit of a predicament. Like many other anglers, I think a cormorant in a bad predicament is a good thing, but Gwillim took pity on the bird, which had a silver digital camera hanging around its neck. She removed the camera, which had spent lots of time in the water, and the bird flew off (to eat more gamefish, no doubt). Gwillim removed the memory card, let it dry, and opened it on her computer. The pictures were intact. So did she find homemade pornography or lost pictures of grandma's birthday party? Not hardly.

The memory card was loaded with fishing pictures. There were over 200 frames of guys holding big pike and walleyes from what Gwillim guessed was nearby Shell Lake. She posted the photos on her Facebook page but no one ever came forward. It wasn't until just this past Tuesday, when Gwillim was interviewed on a talk show, that Frank Resendes called the station and said he was one of the anglers in the photos and knew the camera's owner. Apparently, the owner lost the camera while helping a buddy land a fish 8 months earlier. You can read the whole saga on the website of CBC News Saskatchewan.

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By Phil Bourjaily

Rather than run yet another picture of me holding a gun or dead thing in this space, today we have Field & Stream’s Kristyn Brady modeling a Carhartt Women’s Work-Dry Base Layer Quarter Zip Shirt and a live trout.

Kristyn and I, along with millions of others since 1889, love our Carhartts. I wear the basic brown dungarees in the field all the time because they are tough and comfortable, and because I hope they make people mistake me for somebody who actually works for a living. Besides, brown duck is a great camo pattern if you sit still--just ask your father and grandfather.

In a world where almost every garment you wear is made offshore it was a surprise to read “Made in the USA” on a pair of new brown duck bibs I picked up recently. (I was also happy to discover that sometime since I bought my last set of Carhartt bibs the button fly has been replaced by a zipper, which is progress if you drink a lot of coffee.)
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By Tim Romano

Last week's caption contest for a pair of Redington Sonic-Pro Wader pants proved to be one of our most popular yet in terms of participation, with 355 entries. There were many great entries as you could have imagined. My favorite though came from Brian Kozminski who wrote: "It was truly a shame. Rocky had a great double haul and roll-cast, could tie a pheasant tail and hare's ears with the best of em. Unfortunately, the on-line bullying from Facebookers about his prominent incisors brought him to his end."

Brain, send me an email to tim@anglingtrade.com with your wader size and I'll get them sent right out. Congrats!

Here are some of my other favorites: [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

I'll admit to being a prankster. I can't help myself. My best April Fools' trick ever was calling my brother's college house and asking one of his roommates if my mother had arrived for her visit yet. Of course, nobody expected her—least of all my brother, who was in class at the time. So his buddies ran to get him, and they spent several hours cleaning their house before I rang back and admitted she wasn't really coming.

River pranks are great fun, especially when the fishing is slow. And they're pretty fun when the fishing is good too. My favorite happened in Alaska, when Trent Kososki put on a brown bear costume and hid in the tall grass until our buddy Conway Bowman hooked into a nice steelhead. You know the rest... Trent came bounding out of the bushes, Conway almost literally ran across the river surface, and I'm pretty sure he tested the leak-proof seams of his waders from the inside. You have to make sure your buddies don't have any heart conditions before doing that one. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

So much of fly rod marketing revolves around "how far," "how fast," and "how light" that I think one of the more important performance factors—the feel—gets lost in the shuffle.

When it comes to selecting a rod, sensitivity is priority number one for a lot of the bass and walleye fishermen I know. And yes, some of the newer-generation fly rods (especially those meant for Euro-style nymphing) are designed to optimize feel, but I sometimes think the market has out-engineered itself.  Some of the rod models from 15 or 20 years ago (or longer)—rods we'd call graphite classics now—do a pretty fine job of offering the whole performance package of distance, versatility, and feel.  I'm talking about rods like the Winston IM6, the original G Series from Scott, the Loomis GLX, and the Sage 590 RPL. If you have one, keep it. If you can grab one on eBay, do it. [ Read Full Post ]

By Tim Romano

There's a new kid on the media fishing block, although admittedly it's a little more about boats than fishing.

Skiff Republic is a website that delves deep into the history, culture, and technology of shallow water fishing craft that we fly fisherman love so much. There's a ton of videos (like the one above), interviews with boat builders and designers, forums to peruse, and an e-mail newsletter that can update you via your inbox about all the newest skiff news. [ Read Full Post ]