--Chad Love

Would you be comfortable with a corporate sponsor for your state wildlife agency? That's what the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is looking into...
 
From this story in the Houston Chronicle:
 
In a first for the state, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department is seeking corporate partners to use the agency's well-known logo and brand in exchange for hard currency, the agency announced this week. The move provides a much-needed revenue stream as the department grapples with major budget cuts coupled with devastating droughts and wildfires. While other state park agencies have dabbled with similar ideas or struck corporate sponsorships deals for specific projects, industry officials believe this would be the first time a department that oversees a state's natural resources actively seeks contract-based partnerships. [ Read Full Post ]

By Will Ryan

Hopper fishing should probably come with a warning label: Days spent drifting in clear water beneath a late-summer sky can leave participants disoriented and dazed. Longer exposure may impair concentration and general cognitive functioning. Anglers may find some images particularly disturbing.

Like this one: a walleyed grasshopper twitching and drifting on a flow, going nowhere other than down the gullet of a monster trout—flyfishing’s version of hunting tigers over a tethered goat. Up from the bottom swims a fish with dime-size spots, accelerating, mouth opening, slapping at the surface like an ill-mannered bank beaver.
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By Joe Cermele

This week in our vintage tackle contest we've got an old combo with nostalgic story to match. This photo was sent in by Cale Canter, who writes: This was my grandfather's. He left it to me in his will a few years back. He was a big trout guy out in New Mexico during the 50's, and said this was his "Old Reliable." Just looking for some info and value concerning the pieces.

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By Don Wirth

Mid to late summer is the perfect time to fish for trout in the tailraces below dams. “Even though the air temp may hit 100 degrees,” says Nashville guide Chris Nischan, “the tailrace often stays below 60 degrees, providing ideal habitat for rainbows and browns.” And the perfect spot to catch them.

Highs and Lows
The location of tailrace trout is dictated by the rate of flow from the upstream dam (A). “When the river is low, trout behave like stream trout and will locate in riffles, behind rocks, and around submerged moss beds,” says Nischan, a former Total Outdoorsman Challenge winner.
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By Kirk Deeter

As many of you know, we are now knee-deep in the trade show season; when new products for 2013 are being unveiled at breakneck speeds and the hype machine is running full throttle. I admit to having been made a sucker by that hype machine in the past. The benefit of hindsight and many months of actually fishing with some of these products has helped me realize that, in some cases, I probably drank a little too much PR Kool-Aid. So in the interest of clearing my own conscience (before I start gulping the next batch), I want to come clean on some cases where I whiffed. [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Nothing ruins a bass bite faster than a personal watercraft ripping by at 50 mph. And nothing puts rising trout down quicker than a flotilla of tubers kicking and splashing their way down the river. There’s only one sure way to find tranquility on the water in summer, and it’s going to require a flashlight and some lost sleep.

But there’s a hidden advantage. Big fish that hunker down on hot days often go on the prowl after sundown, because that’s when bait species that have been lying low begin to move. Some guides specialize in chasing fish after dark, and we debriefed nine of them. Their tips and tricks are sure to help you become a master of the darkness.

Smallmouths: Black Light Special
According to veteran Tennessee guide Jim Duckworth, the biggest smallmouths in any lake head for the shoreline as soon as the sun sets. That’s because crayfish that have been hiding all day begin to stir now, and the bass know they can grab an easy meal. Duckworth quietly motors in on rocky banks and points, staying 70 to 90 feet away. Then he flicks on the black lights mounted on the sides... [ Read Full Post ]