Trophy Wife's First Trout on the Fly

What ever will we do with her? Now she is convinced that all wild rainbows are this big. She caught this one while fishing Alaska's Copper River. I managed to get a slab or two myself but jet lag or not she insisted that I get this posted tonight.

Alaska Week: Poor Poor Mickey

You can be we have a few of these Orvis Mouse Flies in our box. We consider this weeks Alaska Trip to be an all out field test.

Big browns feed at night and big Alaskan rainbows love to whack a lemming or two when they get in the water. The Mouse Fly is the ticket for both. Great realism as you swim it across a river. Fish it near banks where the high grass grows when the wind is blowing or at night. Make sure it plops on the water and then swim it across. Just don't freak out when the hit comes. Color, Natural. Size: 4.

Fly Tying: Josh Almond Ties Galloup's Streamers

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Josh Almond is a talented fly tier who is also a member of the North Carolina Fly Fishing team. Josh shows us how he ties Kelly Galloup's articulated streamers in this tutorial. It is as much art as it is information.

Give a man a trout shaped cake...

and he will probably marry you. The future wife of Raleigh, North Carolina angler Kevin Frank got him this excellent trout cake before they got married. She got it from Ranch Events out of San Diego, California. The cake sealed the deal and he married her right away. Click the photos to get the full effect.

Photo credit Thomas Hiatt

Range to target...One ping only...

When I was growing up in the Carolina mountains, the older folk would often tell gullible young children stories about the time during WWII that a German U-Boat found it's way up the South Toe River. I never gave the story much credence (nor did I ever actually build any depth charges) but I am pleased to report that if it had been true our beautiful rainbow trout would have suffered no harm at the hands of the Jerry's sonar.

"This study, funded by the U.S. Navy, was designed to look at the effects on fish that might be exposed to low-frequency sonar from a Navy ship sailing nearby. The specific sonar system the team examined was the Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System (SURTASS) Low Frequency Active (LFA) sonar, which uses frequencies from 100 to 500 hertz, the range of best hearing of many fish species.

The tests were conducted on rainbow trout, at the U.S. Navy Sonar Test Facility in Seneca Lake, NY. While species of greatest concern are the endangered salmonids of the west coast, the rainbow trout has very similar ear structure to the salmonids and is not endangered. It is also found in Seneca Lake."

Link and photo via ScienceDaily.com