Bande Annonce "Sur La Route du Saumon" Le Film from HOOKÉ on Vimeo.
The summer of 2020 took a very different turn for Monique Pomerleau, Fred Campbell’s mom, as he invited her on a salmon fishing trip around Gaspésie. At that time, she had absolutely no fly fishing experience so she had to double her efforts to enjoy this unique experience and learn as much as possible about this activity she’s always found so elegant. Even though his son has always been a fan of fly fishing, Monique considered this as a dream. This active women was questioning herself before the trip whether she’d be physically able to do it because of her fear of water and her Parkinson’s disease. Fortunately, the desire of spending some quality time with her son and the appeal of a new challenge was convincing enough to get her on the road.
Today is the 149th anniversary of one of the best ideas ever conceived on this planet – Yellowstone National Park. YNP remains a life-list, must-visit fly fishing destination of cold water fly fishers world wide, and contains a collection of natural wonders rarely seen so closely gathered together in one very special region.
The thinking and motivations behind the creation of the Park were precedent setting and sheer genius back in the day, and still are even today.
Happy anniversary.
Garden and Gun has recently dropped a nice, short piece on tarpon – On the Hunt for Old-Florida Tarpon – in their latest issue and online; a great reminder that there’s some impressive salt water fishing in the Gulf that’s often overlooked for more exotic destinations.
Image via the linked post at G&G.
As thoughts and dreams turn to spring and summer fishing, it’s time to plot out your plan of attack for completing the Western Native Trout Challenge.
Details at the link, and there are detailed maps to aid in your planning (that’s native trout territory in Utah above).
Git ‘er done.
While fly casting, at least IMHO, is all but impossible to learn from a book or the written word, working on focal areas of technique to improve your skills with a rod in hand can be usefully done by reading tips and tricks from really good, and really smart, casters.
Case in point – this quick read on How to Cast Tight Loops.
Western snowpack has strengthened across the northern tier during the past 30 days or so; SWE (snow water equivalent) values are up per the graphic above, which is current as of this morning. Most of MT has edged up over normal, and the Yellowstone area is looking pretty good right now, as is the mountain country of OR and WA.
The past 30 days precipitation (as a percent of normal for the period) is graphed below, with damned impressive bands running from eastern OR across mid-ID into the southern tier of MT.
We’re entering the most critical window for building spring snowpack in the Rockies; the current 3 month precipitation forecast (bottom image) suggests that most of MT, WY, and ID can expect normal seasonal moisture, but things might get skimpy for CO and NM.
Don’t stop the snow dances yet.
