Guidebeard of the Month: Kevin Lowe

Our latest award for Guidebeard of the Month goes to Kevin Lowe of Hatch Hunters Guide Service. It makes its appearance at the 19 second mark in this video. The Hatch Hunters have recently relaunched their website and can hook you up if you want to try for big brown trout on Tennessee's South Holston River.

Do you know a fly fishing guide who would be a candidate for Guidebeard of the month? Send your photos to us via editoratflyfishmagazine.com (replace at with@). Guides selected for this woolly award will receive a some free publicity and may be entered into some sort of yet to be determined facial hair "face off."

Fly Rod Chonicles for Best Fishing Show

Curtis Fleming and our friends at Fly Rod Chronicles are up for an award and are asking their fans to click and vote. One voter will win a TFO Curtis Fleming Signature Rod so fire up the internets and start voting.

Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming in Top 5 for Best Fishing Show and Best Fishing Clip...and Our Good Friend from Nashville, Daniel Lee Martin with Backstage & Backroads is up for Best Combo Show.

The Sportsman Channel will be announcing the finalists for each category of the 2009 Sportsman Choice Awards. By casting the votes over the last month, The Sportsman Channel viewers have narrowed the field to just five finalists in the following categories: Best Hunt Show, Best Shoot Show, Best Fish Show, Best Combination and Best Clips.

Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming has made the Top Five in the Best Fishing Show and Best Fishing Clip and Backstage & Backroads with Daniel Lee Martin is in the Top Five for Best Combination Show, so we need your votes once again.

Please take a minute to cast your vote one more time and One Lucky Voter will receive a TFO Curtis Fleming Signature Rod, so everyone is encouraged to log on to www.votesportsman.com to cast their ballot for Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming and Backstage & Backroads with Daniel Lee Martin, regardless of whether they voted in the first round or not. Winners in all categories will be based exclusively on the opinions and the votes of viewers. Voting ends December 14th with finalists announced live in Las Vegas at Lagasse Stadium on January 20, 2010.

Log on to www.votesportsman.com and cast your vote for Fly Rod Chronicles with Curtis Fleming for Best Fishing Show and Best Fishing Clip and Backstage and Backroads with Daniel Lee Martin for Best Combination Show!

Curtis Fleming

Executive Producer/Host

Hey Curtis, If you win the award we want a spot at the awards show in Vegas. Vegas has great fishing you know... The last time I was there I caught an ace on the river.

Admiral of the Chesapeake: Dr. Jim Gilford

The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has announced that the state's Governor has proclaimed Dr. Jim Gilford what must be one of the coolest titles ever afforded anyone since the advent of the Kentucky Colonel, Admiral of the Chesapeake.

Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Secretary John R. Griffin presented the award to Gilford on Monday, December 17 at the Sport Fisheries Advisory Commission, on which Gilford has served for 28 years, including more than a decade as Chairman. Gilford has served on at least 14 other local, state, and federal natural resource commissions, most notably as chair of the Middle Potomac River Basin Public Advisory Council, the Monocacy Scenic River Advisory Board, and the Maryland Wild Turkey Advisory Committee and as a member of the C&O Canal National Historical Park Commission and several striped bass advisory committees.

“Whether in his role as scientist, angler, educator, administrator, newsman, or concerned citizen Jim has inspired countless individuals with his passion for environmental conservation,” said DNR Secretary John R. Griffin.

For many years, Gilford shared his passion for fishing to others through his courses at the Fenwick Fly Fishing School and outdoor columns in the Frederick News Post and the Maryland Fishing and Hunting Magazine. He also gave lectures at Yale University, Johns Hopkins University, and Gettysburg College and served as Hood College’s Biology Department Chair. Gilford earned his doctorate degree from John Hopkins University. He currently resides in Frederick.

This beats the time we were proclaimed Gozer the Traveler, Gozer the Destructor, and Gozer the Gozarian by a long shot. Many Shubs and Zuuls knew what it was to be roasted in the depths of the Sloar that day I can tell you!