In another beautiful testament to native fish species’ ability to rewild former territory, American Shad are returning to Brandywine Creek after being locked out of the creek by dams that date back to early American colonization 300 years ago.
According to Tom Keer in his article in Field & Stream, “11 of the 14 dams that spread from the creek’s headwaters in Pennsylvania down to the mouth have been removed,” with plans for more removals this year and next.
School Young Shad. Photo: USFWS
If you’ve ever had the chance to chase the legendary shad runs of the mid-Atlantic, you know these fish are an absolute blast to hook on 5WTs and streamers and are well deserving of their nickname, “the poor man’s tarpon.”
The populations of native and invasive pike in Alaska make for interesting fishing regulations and rules in the last frontier. A recent article by the Alaska Department of Fish & Game shares the differences between invasive and native pike. Read below to learn about the impacts invasive pike have on other fish populations and to understand the possible cause of what happened to allow invasive pike to appear in south-central Alaska.
Where Are Pike Native in Alaska?
Northern pike are naturally in waters north and west of the Alaska Range. They are thought to have been in these areas since the ice age. Alaskan northern pike are also genetically related to Siberian pike. It is believed pike amongst other species moved from Siberia and Alaska using rivers on Beringia. For 10,000 years pike naturally resided in the Northern and western parts of Alaska. This all changed about seventy years ago…
Invasive Pike: How & Where
Northern Pike started to be found south of the Alaska Range in southcentral Alaska during the late 1950s. Nobody knows precisely how they got there but local Alaskans think that a bush pilot transferred pike from Minto Flats (located near Fairbanks) to Bulchitna Lake in southcentral Alaska. The pilot likely thought he would have a nice remote and fairly private pike-filled lake for some awesome fishing, but he probably did not think about what would happen if the lake flooded. Flooding did happen and the pike got into the Yentna River, which is connected to a variety of waters in southcentral Alaska. Unfortunately, pike have been illegally spread to other places, and they are now found in over 150 waters.
An invasive pike in southcentral Alaska.
Impacts of Invasive Pike
Pike are very aggressive and will eat just about anything they encounter. Water systems that once had salmon or trout become destroyed when pike take over. Northern pike thrive in shallow, stagnant/slow-moving waters with vegetation. Pike are native to waters up north that are home to other fish species. They have shaped those communities for so long that both pike and the other fish can live together without huge ecological impacts. In the Susitna drainage of southcentral Alaska, waters that are slow and shallow are where salmon and trout naturally live. Pike come in and reshape these fish communities, and it often happens too fast for native species to adapt, which can devastate populations of native fish.
The sharp teeth of a pike are ruthless on other fish.
Anderson Lake
An unfortunate example of pike taking over was in Anderson Lake. Located in Wasilla, Alaska, this lake was recently part of a pike eradication project and the whole lake was poisoned with rotenone to kill the invasive pike and protect nearby waters. After the lake was poisoned, 12,000 pike were removed. They were all found to be stunted, there were none over 24 inches. This occurs when pike destroy other fish populations and run out of large food sources. The only other fish found in Anderson Lake were five longnose suckers. The pike truly decimated the lake. ADF&G said that was one of the worst cases they had seen in over 12 years of eradication projects.
Regulations
In south-central Alaska, it is illegal to release northern pike and they can even be taken by spear or bow and arrow. In northern and western Alaska the laws are quite different for native pike and it is recommended to look at local regulations.
To learn more about native and invasive pike in Alaska check out the original article, “Native vs. Invasive Pike A Tale of Two Ranges” by Alaska Department of Fish and Game biologist Kristine Dunker.
Permit. That work can elicit different feelings in a fly fisherman, usually strong feelings. Love, hate, frustration, fascination, anger, defeat. Permit are all of these things.
I got lucky once and caught a permit. I made a good cast, but really I just happened to bump into the right fish at the right time, and fortune took over. That was 2 years ago after I spent a week in Cuba fishing for permit, when I knew next to nothing about these fish. I was kind of amused that I had caught one, but I didn’t have much desire to punish myself by going after them again. That is, until a few weeks ago when I had many shots at tailing and cruising permit in the Florida Keys. I wasn’t amused. I was serious, and I was into it.
I still know next to nothing about permit. I did not catch one in Florida. I spent three days filming our efforts to catch a permit, and as I reviewed the footage I realized that in spite of catching nothing I had learned a lot about fishing for permit by NOT catching them.
Flats fishing for permit is a lot like fishing for other flats species, everything is just magnified. The fish are more sensitive to the fly line, noise, vibration, the boat, which hand you reel with, what you had for breakfast that day, what color your underwear is. Everything is just a little bit tougher.
I’d like to share with you some things that I learned on this last trip, and some things that I already knew but failed to execute. Those are the ones that hurt the worst.
Minimize everything.
That means make fewer false casts. Make fewer movements with your body. Don’t move at all, if you can help it. The more you move, the more chance there is that the permit will see that movement and spook, or you’ll make a noise that spooks them.
Get out of the boat, if at all possible.
Permit are boat-sensitive and you can get much closer to them on foot, especially in calm conditions. Be prepared to get in the water at a moment’s notice. You won’t have time to put shoes on or take stuff out of your pockets. Be ready all the time.
Open Terrain
Hit ‘em on the head.
Generally, you want to land the fly right in front of the fish’s face. Land it close, but softly. Wait for the fish to react and give you clues as to what it’s thinking. He might be interested, or scared.
If you think you see a fish, cast at it.
Don’t wait until you can count the fin rays in it’s dorsal, by then it’ll be too late. You have nothing to lose by casting at something you think is a fish. If it’s a permit, you might catch it. If it’s schmutz on the bottom, you got some target practice.
Strip out more line than you think you’ll need.
When you get up on the bow and are getting ready, strip off 3 or 4 pulls of line past what you think you can cast. If you get a shot at a permit, you don’t want to come up 3 feet short because you didn’t have enough line out. Ask me how I know.
Learn the Belgian cast.
If the wind is coming from your rod side, a Belgian cast is a useful tool. Basically, you make your back cast to the side and low to the water, then come up and over with your forward cast. The rod tip makes an oval and it keeps the line from hitting itself.
Be prepared to catch nothing, and be OK with it.
It’s permit fishing. Everyone knows it’s difficult. That’s what makes it fun. It’s absurd. You can do everything right and the fish won’t eat your fly. That’s just the way permit are. If you can accept that and learn to enjoy it, you’ll have a good time out there no matter what.
Learn all of these things. Practice them. You don’t need to be on a permit flat to learn this stuff. You can learn a Belgian cast on a trout stream. You can learn to use fewer false casts in your backyard. Just like EVERYTHING in fly fishing, you have to practice. That is the only way to get better and give you more of a chance to catch a permit.
Or don’t practice at all, because it probably won’t make a difference because permit are dicks.
For more on Permit fishing, and all things HUGE, check out Huge Fly Fisherman on Youtube. Also, be sure to stay posted for more Behind the scenes tips from Ben.
If you’ve spent any time diving into the lore and history of striped bass on the fly in New England, the name Captain Paul Dixon is bound to come up. In the 1990s Capt. Dixon made waves when he brought his flats skiff up to the turquoise waters of Long Island, targeting bass on the striper flats of New York. This year, the American Museum of Fly Fishing will be honoring the legendary New England guide with their coveted Izaak Walton Award.
From the American Museum of Fly Fishing:
The American Museum of Fly Fishing announced today that it will honor Paul Dixon with the 2021 Izaak Walton Award for his contributions to the sport of fly fishing. The event will take place online via Zoom and will be open to all to attend. Longtime friend and fellow angler Andy Mill will introduce Paul at the event, which starts at 7:00 P.M on March 11th. Paul and Andy will also be accompanied by renowned anglers Bob Popovics and Nick Curcione for an open discussion about Paul’s life in fly fishing. The evening will be complemented by an online auction featuring some incredible items and experiences, including a day of tarpon fishing with Paul Dixon and Andy Mill.
“Paul Dixon is of the generation of fly anglers that revolutionized the sport as we know it, particularly when it comes to flats fishing and conservation work across the Eastern Seaboard. He is an extremely worthy recipient of the 2021 Izaak Walton award from the American Museum of Fly Fishing,” said AMFF President Fred Polhemus. A California native, Paul burst onto the fly fishing scene in the early 90s when he brought the first flats skiff to the Hamptons and Montauk. Paul was among the first to discover Long Island’s striped bass flats fishery and since then has spent decades fine-tuning his craft between The Hamptons and South Florida. In addition, he has been a great advocate for conservation, spending countless hours in the service of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and other organizations.
The American Museum of Fly Fishing established the Izaak Walton Award in 2014 to honor and celebrate individuals who live by the Compleat Angler philosophy. Their passion for the sport of fly fishing and involvement in their angling community provides inspiration for others and promotes the legacy of leadership for future generations. Paul Dixon a fantastic honoree for the 2021 Izaak Walton Award from the American Museum of Fly Fishing. Paul joins distinguished recipients, Flip Pallot (2020), Tom Rosenbauer (2019), Rachel Finn (2018), Jim Klug (2017), James Prosek (2016), Tom Davidson (2015) and Ed Jaworowski (2014).
About the American Museum of Fly Fishing: The American Museum of Fly Fishing is the steward of the history, traditions, and practices of the sport of fly-fishing and promotes the conservation of its waters. The Museum collects, preserves, exhibits, studies, and interprets the artifacts, art, and literature of the sport and, through a variety of outreach platforms, uses these resources to engage, educate, and benefit all. The Museum fulfills this mission through our public programs (including exhibitions, gallery programs, lectures, special events, and presentations), our publications, and our quarterly journal, The American Fly Fisher.
For more information about the Museum and the 2021 Izaak Walton Award, including streaming information, please visit their website or connect with the Museum on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram.
For this installment of F3T Behind the Lens, we sat down with the braintrust behind River Tigers. A collaboration between Wild Salmon Center, Yonder, and Maser Films, River  explores the Russian Far East in search of a a mythical 55-kilogram (120-pound) trout. The unlikely trio of anglers—a billionaire Russian businessman, an American fly fisherman, and a Russian scientist—is lured to the wild Tugur River to learn about the fabled taimen and unlock the river’s secrets in order to save it. Follow along for our interview with responses from the production side–Adam Bagger and Andy Maser of Yonder and Maser films, respectively–and Wild Salmon Center (WSC).
Flylords:Â What are River Tigers?
WSC: Taimen are the largest salmonids in the world. They can live over 30 years and reach 6 feet in length and over 100 pounds in weight. Their native habitat spans the Japanese island of Hokkaido, north to Russia’s Sakhalin and Kuril Islands and inland to far eastern mainland Russia, Mongolia, China, and the Korean peninsula. Of the five species of Eurasian taimen, only Sakhalin taimen are anadromous, making seasonal migrations out into the salt, but generally staying nearshore. They’re known to hunt in packs, feeding on adult Pacific salmon, even muskrats and ducks. Due to their voracious appetite and their place at the top of the food chain, taimen are sometimes called “river wolves†or “river tigers.â€
Flylords:Â The film highlights a very interesting trio of characters. Who are they?
Adam and Andy: Guido Rahr is a fly fisherman and conservationist, who was the first executive director of the Wild Salmon Center, starting in 1998, and now leads the organization as CEO. His longtime collaborator in Russia, Mikhail Skopets, is a fisheries scientist who has spent decades traveling deep in the Russian Far East, exploring new salmon rivers and mapping out conservation priorities for WSC. Alexander Abramov is a Russian steel magnate and obsessed fisherman who bought the fishing lease to the Tugur River–one of Russia’s last great Siberian taimen rivers — in 2002.Â
Flylords: Wild Salmon Center is renowned for its work on protecting wild salmon in the North Pacific. Tell us about the fascination with Russia’s Far East?
WSC: The Russian Far East contains some of the world’s most diverse, productive, and healthy river and ocean ecosystems, and it is a global priority for wild salmon conservation. Its three main salmon-producing regions – Khabarovsk, Sakhalin Island, and the Kamchatka Peninsula – account for a third of the Pacific Rim’s wild salmon. And over the last century, these true salmon strongholds have remained relatively intact, largely buffered from development threats. In Khabarovsk, WSC and partners at Khabarovsk Wildlife Fund are working on a network of protected areas totaling over 3.5 million acres — 50% larger than Yellowstone National Park — that would constitute a durable stronghold for Siberian taimen, as well as other species of salmon and trout.Â
Flylords:Â How did the film become an idea and then a reality?
WSC: In 2019, Random House published Stronghold, by Tucker Malarkey, about Rahr’s life story. The book featured Abramov and Skopets as well and culminated in a tense chapter about Rahr and Skopets trying to answer Abramov’s challenge to catch a giant Tugur taimen on the fly as winter descended. As the book was headed to print, we started talking with Andy and Adam about shooting a film that could complement the book by giving people an on-the-ground look at this unique place on Earth — including its massive taimen. They first traveled over with Guido in June 2019 and then returned in the fall that year, to capture the Tugur on film.Â
Flylords: River Tigers takes place on the Tugur River, known for its remoteness and stories of massive duck-eating fish. Tell us about the river’s history and near-collapse.
Adam & Andy: The Tugur River is the world’s greatest stronghold for Siberian taimen. It flows through the Tuguro-Chumikanskiy region of Khabarovskyi Krai (territory) and into the Sea of Okhotsk, providing habitat for over 20 species of fish—from taimen to chum, pink salmon, lenok and grayling—as well as brown bears, foxes, Blakiston’s fish owl, osprey, Steller’s sea lions and white-tailed eagles.
But the Tugur is also the site of a massive poaching epidemic in the recent past. In the early 2000s, poachers were hauling up to 25 tons a season off the river, by netting whole runs of chum salmon and slitting the hens open for their eggs. Starting in 2002, lease holder Alexander Abramov worked with local government and police to patrol the river year-round and kick the poachers out. The chum runs–key food source for the taimen–have returned. In 2020, after decades of advocacy by Wild Salmon Center and other partners, the Governor of Khabarovsk announced the creation of a new, one-million-acre nature reserve on the Tugur, providing taimen with another level of legal protection from poaching and other threats.
Flylords:Â Outside of rampant poaching, do these salmonids of the Far East face other serious threats?
Adam & Andy:Â In addition to rampant poaching, taimen face growing threats from climate change, habitat loss, unsustainable sportfishing pressure, mining, damming, road construction, and extractive industries like logging and mining. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) estimates that approximately 70 percent of taimen populations in the Russian Far East have either been extirpated or experienced significant declines.
Flylords:Â How can Taimen inform salmon conservation?Â
WSC: Taimen serve as a bellwether for ecological change. Because taimen reach maturity later and live longer than other salmonids, they are more sensitive to changes in their environment and serve as an important indicator of the health of the great rivers of Asia and Europe. Basically, if a watershed has a thriving taimen population, it means that there is a healthy river food web with abundant prey fish and intact habitat.
Flylords:Â What makes the Tugur River different from productive salmon Rivers in the United States or Canada?
WSC: The Tugur, like roughly half of taimen watersheds in the Russian Far East, is buffered by roadless expanses of larch, Korean pine, northern hardwoods, and spruce. Though pressure is mounting, so far logging, damming, and agriculture have yet to reshape this watershed, and as a result the Tugur stills flows wild and braided—in contrast with the rivers of the Pacific Northwest, most of which require significant restoration work after a century-plus of human development. As a salmon stronghold, the Tugur represents one of our last, best chances to protect truly intact salmon habitat.
Flylords:Â Does the work and research in the Far East have any implications for recovering salmonids in North America?
WSC: Because taimen are not a commercially harvested species, they’ve been poorly studied until recently. There is still much to learn about taimen reproduction, behavior, and life histories. For example, in Russia, Wild Salmon Center scientists are just beginning to appreciate how much taimen depend on healthy salmon populations for prey.Â
Flylords: Russia is almost always the subject of some world news story–let’s leave it at that. I’m almost certain this project was a logistical nightmare, from the potential political hurdles to the challenges of filming in the remote Russian Far East. Tell us about some of the challenges you all had to overcome in order to complete this project.
Adam & Andy:Â Politics between the U.S. and Russia are certainly a little tense these days, so just getting past Customs in Khabarovsk was a challenge. A favorite moment had to be the look that the Customs lady behind the glass both gave us before she picked up the phone to summon an officer, who took us all to separate rooms for questioning and fingerprints. And then again, the look when they realized we packed 12 cases of crazy camera equipment, including a professional drone. It felt like a minor miracle that we (and our stuff) even made it into the country.
And then from there, we traveled by unimproved road for hours to a remote airstrip in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, where we boarded a massive Russian MI-8 chopper to Alexander Abramov’s private fishing lodge in the heart of the vast Konin wilderness. That private chopper is the only way in or out.
Filming on location in the middle of nowhere came with its own set of logistical challenges — namely persistent torrential rain — but thankfully we had plenty of helpers on the ground (all of whom were strangely named Sergei…?). After each wet and frigid day of filming, we were treated with stately amenities back at the lodge, complete with banya (sauna), bottomless vodka, and freshly harvested chum salmon caviar.
And once we made it through all of that, upon our return to Russian civilization, a member of our team was apprehended and questioned by the FSB. “What are those Amerikantsy’s up to?!†Luckily for us, we were able to make it onto our flight out with the footage and equipment intact. Thankfully, we also left secret backup hard drives with our Russian fixers, just in case.
Flylords: Everyone reading this, is now thinking “Ok how the **** did they catch one of these fish?†Well, how does a fly fisher go about targeting and landing one of these dinosaurs?
Adam: The flies are typically 6 to 10-inch unweighted streamers tied on tubes with 3/0 hooks. Taimen seem to love to eat grayling, so a go-to streamer is one like Guido’s Grayling that matches the gray and yellow of the common grayling species in Russia. But there are conditions where gaudy streamers in black and red, chartreuse, or bright orange are more effective, especially in higher, more tannic water when clarity is not ideal. We also discovered that taimen can be surface-oriented, and they’ll aggressively strike custom foam poppers fished dry, like classic largemouth bass poppers on steroids.
Simms is lightening your load with their latest Flyweight Collection. The new line is designed for anglers who crave remote fly fishing adventures and need the lightweight gear that will let them put in the miles on the water without the need for heavy equipment.
From Simms:
“Introducing the all-new Simms Flyweight Collection. Customize your set-up to match any fishing scenario with an integrated 5.11® HEXGRID® platform. Mount pods and other accessories at different angles for smooth ergonomic access and personal preference. Featuring the award-winning Flyweight Stockingfoot Wader, the collection also includes lightweight, versatile packs, outerwear, and accessories. Designed for high-output anglers this entire collection is designed for sunup to sundown missions – because the fish aren’t coming to find you.”
Last week, Monty Burke, a well-known Forbes columnist and author of one of our favorite books of recent years, Lords of the Fly, interviewed Flylords founder Jared Zissu. The pair discuss how Flylords started and grew, how the business model works and how the company has engaged with the explosive growth in the industry during the COVID-19 pandemic.
A recent World Wildlife Foundation report lays out a grim reality for the planet: “Nearly 1/3 of all freshwater fish are threatened with extinction.” The report, titled The World’s Forgotten Fishes, discusses the condition of freshwater fish throughout the globe. The productivity, biodiversity, and economic importance of freshwater ecosystems is often misunderstood and overlooked. According to the report, nearly 260 million people rely on freshwater fish for their food supply and livelihoods. As avid anglers and recreationists, we understand the value of freshwater fish more than most. Collectively, we power a multi-billion dollar fishing economy that benefits communities throughout the United States and globe. Today, the world’s freshwater fisheries and ecosystems face mounting threats.
These economies and life-supporting resources depend on healthy, productive freshwater ecosystems and our stewardship thereof. Unfortunately, the world’s freshwater ecosystems are in poor condition, and the fish species that inhabit these systems do not fare much better.
The report highlighted some amazing statistics:
Populations of migratory fishes – the travellers of the freshwater world, including sturgeon, salmon, hilsa and gilded catfish – have fallen by 76 percent since 1970;
We’ve lost 35 percent of the world’s remaining wetlands in the past 50 years;
Only a third of rivers over 1000km still flow freely from source to sea;
Just 40 percent of Europe’s waters are classified as in good ecological health;
300-400 tons of pollution are dumped into freshwater ecosystems every year;
Agriculture uses around 70 percent of all water abstracted globally.
The condition of freshwater ecosystems is not great, but we are not at the point of no return–yet. Scientists have documented the many factors harming freshwater fish and  know what needs to be done. The report’s authors provided a six-pillar plan to restore freshwater ecosystems:
Let rivers flow more naturally;
Improve water quality in freshwater ecosystems;
Protect and restore critical habitats;
End overfishing and unsustainable sand mining in rivers and lakes;
Prevent and control invasions by non-native species;
Protect free-flowing rivers and remove obsolete dams.
“Ensuring a brighter future for the world’s freshwater fishes…will mean a brighter future for people and nature,” the report concluded. In the coming months, governments will convene at the Convention for Biodiversity and have the opportunity to chart a new, exciting path for the planet’s freshwater ecosystems and some of our favorite fisheries.
Fishing dries has to be one of the most satisfying ways of catching a trout on a fly rod. Delicate casts with light tippet, watching your fly float across the waters surface, and blow up takes on the surface. There is just something about watching a trout rise to the surface to smack your dry fly during an explosive hatch on the river. After long hours of fishing dries, they do tend to get waterlogged requiring the use of floatant. While floatant is a great option, there are cheaper and quicker ways to dry your flies. In this tips and tricks video of the week, Lance Egan of Fly Fish Food demonstrates a hack for drying off your dry flies.
Fly Fishing Hack you Say?
A couple of hours worth of fishing will waterlog your dry flies. So how do we combat this?
Using either your dry fly patch or your shirt cuff, dab your dry fly to get the exterior water off of the feathers and materials.
Hook your fly over the Life Flex loop and using your fingers to separate the loop, begin strumming your tippet.
The strumming motion will shake out all of the excess water embedded in your dry fly leaving it completely dry.
There you have it. A simple and easy way to completely dry off your dry flies. You can hook the Life Flex loop that you made to your vest, pack, or waders to ensure its always there when you need it. Rubber bands can also be used but will need replaced every so often due to sun rot.
For more fly fishing hacks and tips, check out Fly Fish Food’s YouTube channel by clicking here.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) voted today to establish a four-month no fishing closure at Western Dry Rocks, the most important permit spawning site in the Lower Keys. Conservation organizations celebrated the vote, which capped a year-long effort to protect spawning fish that aggregate at the site.
“We thank FWC for taking this decisive action at Western Dry Rocks,†said Jim McDuffie, President of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT). “It continues the agency’s long record of science-based fisheries management and, in this case, will help ensure the sustainability of our valuable inshore fishery for permit and offshore fishery for mutton snapper.â€
Guided by science and supported by a broad coalition of fishing and conservation organizations, the closure spans the months of April through July, the heart of spawning season for permit and mutton snapper, and addresses the increasing threat of shark predation in this 1.3-square-mile area.
Research by BTT identified Western Dry Rocks as a critically important spawning site for permit in the Lower Florida Keys, attracting approximately 70 percent of tagged permit that live on Lower Keys flats. Subsequent studies also found that more than one-third of hooked permit at the site were lost to shark predation. Though harvest for permit is prohibited in the Keys during the spawning season, the loss of hooked permit at this scale is impacting the larger Keys permit fishery.
“FWC agreed today that this is not a sustainable level of mortality, especially since it is occurring at a critical spawning site,†McDuffie said. “This four-month closure will ultimately provide anglers and guides with more fishing opportunities throughout the Lower Keys.â€
