Highbrow Odor Eaters

Keep the stink out of your wading boots with a pair of these Bamboo Charcoal Shoe Pads available via DealExtream.com.

Proposed Interstate brings opposition

The Stop I3 Coalition opposes a proposed interstate highway that would connect Chattanooga, TN with Asheville, NC by going right through the middle of several southern Appalachian mountain trout streams.

The road would cross many high quality streams including trout streams and streams feeding into Fontana Lake, Lake Santeelah, and the Valley River.

Several area chapters of Trout Unlmited have joined with the Stop I3 Coalition to voice their concerns.

Friday Fly Fishing Deal-O-Rama

Our affiliate partner Sierra Trading Post dropped us a line today to let us know that their warehouses were filled to the brim with excess fishing and hunting gear. Since they get no pleasure or profit from watching excellent fly fishing gear sit around and gather dust, they have presented the readers of FlyFishMagazine.com with an excellent gift, a coupon code good for 15% off Sierra's already deeply discounted prices on select items in the fishing and hunting categories. There is no minimum purchase to take advantage of this discount!

The checkout code is: ASPORTSMAN8

The code will only work if you use the link to the special landing page listed below:

15% off Coupon for Hunting, Fishing, and Work Gear! Must shop through this landing page!

There are around 1000 products included with top name brands like Columbia, Browning, Redington, and Sorel. Also, check out the Albright Fly Rods—they’re great rods for a great price.

Remember that Sierra's prices are already cut 35%-70% off of retail so an extra 15% off with no minimum purchase is huge. This offer is good until February 15th, 2008 but the folks at Sierra tell us they might extend the offer if the response is good. Now is the time to spend that Christmas money you got from Momma!

TU vs ATVs?

A curious article on the Vail Daily website talks about support from both hunters and all terrain vehicle owners alike, (at least some of them) that would propose fines for people who ride their ATV's where they shouldn't. The curious thing is that the quoted comment in the article is from a Trout Unlimited representitive.

Dave Petersen, a bow hunter who lives near Durango, said he saw plenty of elk on a scouting trip in August.

When he returned with his bow a few days later, Petersen didn't find any elk but he saw tracks from the ATV he figures scared them away."It completely ruined my hunting trip, and that just happens all the time," said Petersen, who works on off-road issues for the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

Personally, I would hate to see ATV's running up and down my favorite trout stream or have to endure their engine noise while trying to thread a size 22 midge.

Ninja Style Fly Fishing Gear

O'Neill Ninja Split-Toe Boots - 3 mm (For Men)

Unleash your inner fly fishing Ninja with a pair of these split toe neoprene booties from Sierra Trading Post. They are a steal at only $8.95 a pair. You will thank us when the day comes where you need to pick up your fly rod with your toes.

Remember we do all the hard work for you and maintain links to all of Sierra Trading Post's fishing gear via the Deals on Gear section of FlyFishMagazine.com.

Fly Fishing People: Jane Seymore

Who'd of thunk that Dr. Quinn was a desciple of the long rod. See an excerpt from a recent MSNBC article about her world travels:

I love fly fishing in Alaska. There’s a place called Kulik Lodge. It’s literally in the wild, with bears and salmon. I took my kids fishing for trout there.

Want places to fish? Send Fruit!

GoErie.com reports about an effort by anglers to say thanks to landowners who allow public fishing access in the state's steelhead water.

A cooperative effort between Gem City Outdoorsmen Club/Fly-Tiers, Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of Trout Unlimited and the Pennsylvania Steelhead Association distributed 40 fruit baskets to various families who own land along the steelhead creeks as a way of showing their appreciation for allowing fishing on their lands.

"They were fruit baskets, they had all different kind of fruit, nuts, grapes," said Jim Sharpe, a director of the Pennsylvania Steelhead Association. "They were $26 apiece for the baskets. We bought 40 baskets. And what we did was deliver them to landowners that have property along all the tributaries, every tributary. What we did this year was try to hit the spots that got the most angler coverage."

Saying thank you to land owners (in addition to picking up trash and respecting their property) is an excellent idea that can go a long way towards keeping streams open to public fishing.

FlyFishMagazine's Charitible Giving Guide

Tis the season for gift giving and we know that many fly fishers are also very generous when it comes to charitable giving. With that in mind we have put together a list of a few charities that we feel are deserving of our hard earned money.

Trout Unlimited & the Federation of Fly Fishers - both of these are great organizations that do tons to support conservation and the sport of fly fishing. We suggest membership in one or both.

Stripers Forever - When we first visited this website we thought that we had already donated but then we realized that it was stripers and not something else similarly spelled from our younger, single days. Stripers Forever is a non-profit dedicated to game fish protections for striper.

Project Healing Waters - This fine organization helps with the rehabilitation of our wounded soilders through participation in the sport of fly fishing and fly tying.

Casting for Recovery - provides fly fishing retreats designed for women who have or have had breast cancer.

Not fishing related but worthy none the less:

Kiva - Kiva is a favorite of the Editorial wife. You don't exactly donate money via Kiva but rather deposit it and then pick entrepreneurs in third world countries to lend in to in the form of micro loans. When the person pays the loan back you can lend your money out again.

Touch The World Ministries - TTWM is a faith based non-profit headed by a fly fisherman, my father, Rev. Homer Murdock. It is one of my favorite charities because I have personal knowledge of the work they do and know that the money given goes to help needy people all over the world. Their current project involves building 19 homes in Mawagala village, Uganda. The village has been ravaged by Aids and the houses will be built for children many of whom have lost both parents to the disease.

These are just a few of my favorite charities presented for your consideration this Christmas season. I could never attempt to list all the worthy causes of interest to the fly fishers among us so feel free to leave your own suggestions via the comment section.

A Developer's Guide

to quelling opposition and reaching new heights in profits By Kathryn Gray via Yubanet.com:

A few highlights.

2. Think "green", or at least think how to talk "green", even if in your heart of hearts you know that bulldozing hillsides, clear-cutting trees, dredging and damming lakes, and dewatering class one trout streams is, well, maybe not exactly any color remotely near green.

7. Mountains have lots of steep places that even you can't build on. Call this "open space" and encourage public groups to raise money to buy it from you. (Hint: if it's really, really steep, and maybe prone to avalanches, and the groups won't cough up the money, then give it to the county as "mitigation" for all the other bad things you're planning for the mountain.)

Friday: Gone Fishing

Credit crunch and housing crisis be darned, I am taking a vacation day and going fishing. With any luck as you read this I will be de-stressed and standing at least knee deep in an icy Carolina trout stream.

In my absence be sure to check out today's additions to our exclusive 2007 Holiday Gift Guide. Today's lucky gear purveyors include Panoptx polarized fishing glasses, ExOfficio boxer shorts, and gear from the anglers at Reel Pure.

Excitement followed by disappointment

I stopped by the IGFA Hall of Fame only to find it has been taken over by an itinerant group of Senators and Congressmen for the evening. Only the department of homeland security kept us from talking our way inside.

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Wanted: Sponsor

Companies regularly sponsor skaters, surfers, and skiers. Even video gamers can get the corporate types to pony up some Jack. That being the case why is it so hard for a team of successful competitive fly fishers to nail down a major sponsorship? The Denver Post wonders aloud:

"Question is, can a relatively thin and static U.S. fly-fishing industry muster the money and resolve to provide the necessary boost? Current sponsors include Simms, Scott rods, Scientific Anglers, Nautilus reels and Clear Creek accessories - arrangements that provide swell gear and some cash, but not nearly enough to crack the nut."

Don't the corporate marketing departments for the fly fishing industry realize the exposure they could be getting from the post competition interviews alone:

Chris Berman here with the winner of the 2008 Fly Fishing World Championships. "It looks like you really had things dialed in out there today." "Thanks Chris, the ole Sage Z axis, 5 weight was really casting sweet today and the AquaStealth soles on my Simms L2's where gripping the bottom like no body's business." "Nothing quite hauls'em in like frog's hair fluorocarbon."

Why can't we all....

just get along? Here is another take on the fly vs. bait fishing debate. This one comes from California's Truckee River via the Sierra Sun.

A recent letter to the Sierra Sun made some inaccurate assumptions regarding bait fisherman. Most men and women are not fishing from a lawn chair, littering the shoreline, nor are they flinging beer cans to and fro. The people I know that bait fish are walking the river, moving from hole to hole, covering up to two miles as they move along the river. They release many more fish than they keep. A lot of bait isn’t swallowed, many fish are hooked in the mouth. These people care about fish just as the fly fishermen do.

In the words Sir Paul:

We all know that people are the same wherever you go. There's good and bad in everyone. We learn to live, we learn to give each other, What we need to survive, Together alive.

Just don't leave your Styrofoam worm buckets on my favorite creek bank.

Fly Fishing in the Media

This week's blasphemous use of fly fishing by the media comes from The Moultrie Observer where the author makes comparisons between no less than iced coffee and a $600 fly rod:

"I don’t drink cold coffee. I know saying “iced coffee” is supposed to give it mystique, but it’s still cold coffee. Temperature is temperature. It’s much like a $600 handmade fly rod. It’s still a fishing pole, and if you slam the truck door on it, it will break. I’ve practiced this on a couple of cheap rods."

The Georgia author does give some excellent advice for the person wishing to stay cool and healthy this summer:

"My first thought of this advice was to hang out at the wash hole and don’t walk alone in downtown Atlanta at night. Takes care of cool and safety."

Our Favorite French Political Party

Who's our favorite French political party? We are not sure what they stand for but we like their name: Chasse, Pêche, Nature, et Traditions (Hunting, Fishing, Nature, and Traditions.)

Its leader and founder is Jean Saint-Josse. It says that it is neither right or left but represent rural people on the whole in their diversity.