In the backcountry, a map is a guide. You’re “here” and you want to be “there,” and the map helps make that transition possible.
On your living room table, a map is a completely different animal.

I’m killing a lot of time fantasizing over Ian Rutter’s GSMNP fishing map.
It’s not a guide as much as it is […]

Wally the Wonderdog and his favorite companion dog.
Technorati Tags: wally the wonderdog, slaw dog

Could that be?
Yes, my all-things-bamboo friends — that’s a bamboo laptop.

Brought to us courtesy Alert Underground Reader James (and the TreeHugger blog), this laptop was designed to be environmentally friendly, but here — at the blogging home of bamboo fly rods, pants, towels and clothes hangers — we know better.
Clearly, our bamboo goodies set us […]

It’s human nature to complicate even the simplest of activities – to the point that I’ve got a closet full of fly rods, several trunks of fly tying materials, and a gordian assemblage of other stuff.
Eventually you realize collecting all the extra gear is helping the fly fishing industry a lot more than it is […]

Fly fishers aren’t all that interested in the kayaks and rafts that float by.
Yet I always wonder if I’m not missing out on a fun way to fish some hard-to-reach water when the river was otherwise blown.
(River Dancers photo)
If you’ve ever had that feeling, then consider this: the top local rafting company (River Dancers) […]

Clearly, Guy from the Yellowstone fly fishing blog has way too much time on his hands.
He sent me an e-mail noting that the Trout Underground has seized total control of Google, at least in the online slaw dog image department.

For example, if you Google “slaw dog” the Trout Underground comes up #4. Not bad.
However, access […]

We thought the Montana Legislature had tabled this one, but Governer Brian Schweitzer has successfully resurrected Senate Bill 78. 
Bill 78 clarifies the public’s right of access to the high water mark of Montana’s streams and rivers at public right of way intersections.
From New West:
Nothing is dead in the Montana Legislature, least of all the stream access issue. […]

Via MidCurrent comes this news of Montana’s poor snowpack. Though their numbers are better than California’s, it’s still not great news.
Interestingly, precipitation was 99% of normal, but warmer weather meant less snow — and less water “stored” in the mountains as snow.
From MidCurrent:
Although Montana has had plenty of rain this year, snowpack is running far […]

I just got off the phone with Chris Carr — co-owner of Shasta Mountain Guides, and a top alpine guide who spends a lot of time in the backcountry.
His take on this year’s weather? He’s looking at at one of the shortest mountain guiding seasons in many, many years.
Survey Says…
Forest Service surveys suggest a […]

For those fly fishers who are just too lazy to carry a powerful, lightweight, inexpensive headlamp, we offer this soon-to-be modern-day-classic from Orvis and L.L. Bean (won’t they love sharing a post).
Yes, I can only be talking about… the LED lighted baseball cap:

From the Orvis catalog:

The ultimate low-profile light source
Two bright LEDs are imbedded in […]

Take a Boeing 747 jet, run the middle engines at full power, and drive a car through the exhaust stream.
What happens? Let’s just say I know why they don’t allow Jumbo jets on freeways:
[youtube]OvJ1hLS4Dfc&eurl[/youtube]
Last time I fished the Lower Sac (a long time ago), I swear I experienced similar winds. That’s all I’m saying.
Via Spluch: […]

While California’s Rainbows have largely escaped the sting of Whirling Disease, Rainbow trout populations in the Rocky Mountain West crashed in the 1990s, and in many cases haven’t recovered.
Researchers are creating rainbow trout less susceptible to whirling disease
Now, researchers are looking into cross-breeding a super trout – one that’s resistant to whirling disease:
All the […]