AEG Media are the shooting stars of the emerging "alternative" fly fishing video market, and their latest effort follows them across Mongolia in search of Taimen.
AEG’s first two DVDs generated truckloads of buzz, they market hard, they’ve fired up a film tour, and they’ve even persuaded a few fly fishing manufacturers to break open their […]

I’d hoped the Trout Unlimited’s new TV show (On the Rise) would live up to its lively, interesting trailer, escaping the straightjacket that limits most of fly fishing’s TV efforts.
Sadly, I just caught Madison River episode, and it fell far short.

The trailer is cool, but the episode is disappointingly stiff and slow moving.
While […]

Kerplunk by Patrick McManus is another solid addition to the well-known outdoor humorist’s bibliography.

[ED: The first in a short series of reports from the FFR show about goodies that might not get a lot of press, but deserve to.]
While I remain a little skeptical of the practical advantages of large arbor reels, I bought one a few years ago — after Chris Raine and I started catching big, fast-moving fish […]

Not quite a year ago, I posted a gear review about my studded-rubber soled wading boots.
To recap, I went to studded rubber soles because hiking along the railroad tracks quickly wore the felt off my studded felt boots, leaving behind protruding carbide studs that skated dangerously on smooth rocks. 

Life is dangerous enough without adding […]

Because I’m devilishly handsome, Orvis shipped me a 4-pc, 8.5′ 5wt “mid-flex” prototype of their yet-to-be-released ”Helios” fly rod — a rod said to be even lighter than their Zero Gravity series.

The fishing was slow, so the Helios photo session took place.
“How can it be lighter than Zero?” you ask? Well, despite consulting Albert Einstein on this one, […]

By 1902, the US Army estimated that only 23 wild buffalo remained alive in Yellowstone National Park – the pitiful remnants of the massive herds that once blanketed America.
How the buffalo came to teeter on the brink of extinction is the subject of Last Stand by Michael Punke – a gripping historical account of the […]

The first Trout Bum Diaries DVD took fly fishing by storm.
Quirky and interesting, it was a documentary-style movie that followed a handful of young fly fishers as they roamed around South America, fishing for big, big trout, some of which may had never seen a fly before.
Let’s face it: Big fish – in real life […]

It’s a big book. A great big book. That was my first hit when holding So Many Fish, So Little Time by Mark D. Williams.
For the terminally numerically inclined, it’s 1.75 inches deep, which translates to 860 pages of words and pictures.
Subtitled “1001 of the World’s Greatest Backcountry Honeyholes, Trout Rivers, Blue Ribbon Waters, Bass […]

I’m mostly a bamboo and fiberglass guy, meaning I like rods that bend easily.
I think concerns about weight are way overblown, so as a result, modern, high-quality (and high-priced) graphite isn’t much in evidence in my rod closet.
So when I had the chance to score a high-end Orvis rod (disclosure: a trade) I went for […]

I’ve often said that Jim Reams was the best, least-known bamboo fly rod builder going, and that the quality of his rods far outreached his fame.
The Reams 8.5′ 5wt, 3-pc Hollowbuilt (Prototype). Pretty rod. So-so picture.
That might have been true as little as a year ago, but the Internet holds no […]

Some of my friends exhibit excellent taste (despite the fact they’re my friends), and when they suggest a book, fly, fly rod or leader design, by god you try it.
Sully - the Underground’s Montana Correspondent and Director of Curmudgeon-Related Activities - mentioned that Many Rivers to Cross was a book worth reading.
So by god, I […]