By Joe Cermele

I'm trying to think spring thoughts, by which I mean trying to put memories of hardwater and winter steelheading behind me. But, alas, despite what the calendar says, it's just not feeling "springy" all over yet. In fact, in Upstate New York, ponds are not only still frozen, but apparently they're the preferred ice fishing digs of E.T. It's like the "X-Files" meets "Bill Dance Outdoors." Mostly laughable, but a little freaky, too. What do you think made these ice circles?

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By Chad Love

Officials in one New Jersey town are trying to ban fishing tournaments on a body of water that supplies drinking water to their town.

From this story on providencejournal.com:
Tiverton officials say they're planning to fight state environmental regulators over their approval of fishing tournaments on a pond that supplies thousands of town residents with drinking water. The Newport Daily News reports that the Tiverton Town Council is expected to consider amending its drinking water reservoir ordinance Monday in an effort to ban fishing tournaments on Stafford Pond by next year. [ Read Full Post ]

By Nate Matthews

Drysuits, wetsuits, waders and dry tops: there are a few different ways to stay warm and safe when paddling in cold water. Here are some pros and cons for each.

The only way to make sure you stay warm and dry when you're on a kayak, even in the harshest conditions, is to wear a full-body dry suit. Aside from the latex gaskets they use to seal your wrists and neck (which can feel overly tight until you get used to them), dry suits are extremely comfortable. Because you can wear them over layers of regular clothing, they're also extremely versatile. Wear T-shirt and shorts underneath or layer up with lots of technical underwear to match the conditions you plan to face. These suits are expensive, though costs have dropped over recent years. Kokatat, for example, makes an affordable Gore-Tex suit (that features a handy crotch zipper for emergency access when you have to pee).

Pros: Extremely dry. Very comfortable. Good range of motion makes them ideal for longer paddles or overnight trips.
Cons: Expensive. Small tears or punctures from hooks, shells, or other sharp objects can create big leaks that could turn catastrophic in the wrong... [ Read Full Post ]

By Joe Cermele

Here's a confession: I secretly wish I had the talent and money to restore old cars. It's been a life-long dream of mine to buy a '77 Bronco and rig that sucker to the nines. But the truth is I can barely change the batteries in my keyless entry remote let alone fix an engine or paint a truck body. I'd have no choice but to pay top dollar for a Bronco someone else has already restored, and that's not on the short list of things I can afford. The same goes with custom reels. Try as I might to pick up cheap flea market junkers and turn them into mean, modern fishing machines, I inevitably lose a spring or bend the shaft while tinkering. 

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By Chad Love

This story so obviously begs for a lame calamari joke that I'm just going to play it absolutely straight. A live bomb was recently found inside a squid at a fish market in China. Boom. There you go...

From this story on msn.com:
A fish dealer in the Guangdong province of China found a live bomb while he was gutting a squid at a local market. The bomb, which measured about 8 inches around and weighed 3 pounds, was inside the stomach of the 3-foot-long squid. [ Read Full Post ]

By Kirk Deeter

Aloha from the Garden Island of Kaua'i in the Hawaiian Islands. I'm on a much-anticipated family vacation, where my wife, Sarah, and son, Paul, and I are enjoying some spectacular scuba diving (along with my brother, Drew, who took this photograph of a sea turtle we encountered Saturday). When I'm not fishing, diving is my favorite pastime. I enjoy watching fish when I'm not actually casting at them, sometimes for reasons explained in one of last week's Fly Talk posts. I'll admit, however, that I much prefer the clear, warm tropical waters over the icy swirling currents of trout rivers.

Last night, I took my rod to cast off a point of lava rocks. I was casting a Clouser minnow at nothing in particular, and truth be told, I didn't catch anything. But I did see another giant green turtle swim up near the shoreline, poke its head above the surface to check me out for several minutes, then vanish under the foam.

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