Icebergs, Tuckamores, & Salmo Salar by Norm Zeigler

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The little purple fly floated high as it bounced down into the sluice. I followed it down with the rod tip at the current speed to preclude any slack. As the fly drifted into the deepest, narrowest part of the channel it disappeared and I felt a hard jolt. In a split second the salmon shot away upriver, tearing off seventy feet of line.

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The Ultra-Remote Seychelles Atolls by Henry Gilbey

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No mobile phones, no wi-fi, no contact with the outside for nearly two weeks, and as a result it feels like we are heading to the edge of the known world, when it was believed that if you went too far you dropped off the edge. I spend an age just looking out of the aeroplane window at an endless shimmering sea, blue sky, fluffy white clouds and literally nothing else, and nothing can actually look pretty ominous if you think about it. The fishing world may well know this as the Seychelles, but our destinations will end up putting us are far closer to Madagascar than Mahe, indeed in my mind it’s called the Seychelles primarily because you have no choice but to fly out to these “ultra-remote atolls” via Mahe, the capital of the Indian Ocean paradise known the world over as a luxury holiday destination. To me it’s the middle of nowhere that excites the living daylights of me and my heart is pumping with the sheer edge of the world remoteness of a trip like this. Into the wide blue yonder we go…

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On the Waterfront: Wild Fish Works // Coastal Oregon by Russell Schnitzer

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When people think of wild salmon and steelhead, I’m reasonably certain that most imaginations drift northward to Alaska. Storied runs, vast wilderness and glacier-fed rivers, the multitude of behemoth brown bears fattening themselves on these fish as they return from the sea. It’s a powerful image, perhaps one of the most iconic in the world of fish and fishing.

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Northern California’s Redwood Empire by Jeff Bright

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Prior to the 1849 gold rush and subsequent lumber boom, the coastal rim of California from its northern extreme 450 miles south to Monterey Bay was cloaked in a blanket of massive redwood trees. Many stood over 300 feet tall and over 20 feet in diameter. The oldest individuals dated back to before the time of the Roman Empire. Flowing amongst the two million towering acres were numerous rivers hosting what were undoubtedly some of the most prolific runs of steelhead, chinook salmon and coho salmon in the history of these iconic species. Today only 5% of these ancient forests remain. Similarly, the great runs of fish survive only in vestigial form. In 165 years much has vanished—but not before the region could incubate one of the sporting life’s great pleasures; Northern California’s Redwood Empire is the birthplace of steelhead fly fishing.

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Silver Ghosts on Gaspé by Mark Lance

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For this western based photographer Atlantic salmon, the Silver Ghost, holds great intrigue. And, of equal draw are the unfamiliar environments where these mighty fish swim. From my distant geographically challenged home in the dusty West, the Gaspé Peninsula seems the appropriate iconic landscape for the king of sportfish, at least on this continent.

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The Serendipitous Schminnow by Norm Zeigler

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Some of the best flies contain an element of luck in their development. Al Troth once told me that he invented the Elk Hair Caddis as a wet fly but could not make it sink. My Norm’s Crystal Schminnow also fits this category.

This unprepossessing streamer pattern — which I invented 18 years ago for snook — has also caught 63 other species in fresh and salt water, from blowfish to stripers, steelhead and even sailfish.

The Schminnow was born about a year after my family and I moved to Sanibel Island, Florida. I had begun sight fishing for snook along the beach near our home and was unsatisfied with the local tackle shop’s fly selection, heavily weighted (pun intended) toward Clousers and a few Deceivers. I had observed that I got many refusals when I cast to cruising snook and that, in the case of Clousers, the fish would often spook if the fly landed closer than six or seven feet. There had to be a better way, I thought.

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Wild Island Paradise: Haida Gwaii and its Winter Steelhead By Jeff Bright

Poking skyward from the sea off the northern British Columbia coast is an archipelago offering one of the most unique venues in the short list of high-profile steelhead flyfishing destinations. Known from colonial days as the Queen Charlotte Islands, and formally renamed in 2010 to represent its native people, Haida Gwaii harbors in its ancient, moss-draped forests an array of streams home to runs of large, wild winter steelhead—fish every bit as impressive as their cousin summer-runs born across Hecate Strait in the famous Skeena watershed.

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Nomads: My Bucket List // Photo Essay by Isaias Miciu Nicolaevici

There are mother-ships and then there are Mother-Ships. There are adventures and then there are Adventures. We all have a bucket list. More often than not, the destinations on it rarely live up to our expectations once we get there. But, there are exceptions to every rule. If time and money are of little concern, then the Nomads should definitely be at the top of your list.

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Teasing Vampires: Tierra del Fuego’s Monster Sea-run Browns by Jeff Bright

Like vampires, it’s been said. The giant sea trout of Tierra del Fuego are like vampires. During daylight hours they lie in a hibernative state. Then, as light wanes and the horizon blazes in austral sunset, they come alive. And once the beast has shed its torpor, beware.

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Deep Water Cay: IDP in the Field :: Photo Essay by Isaias Miciu Nicolaevici

I’m convinced the more carefully you plan a fishing trip or, in this case a film shoot, the closer you are to failure. This is particularly true when you plans involve other living things and have many moving parts such as fish, guides, flats boats, lodge management, travel arrangements, customs and, of course, the weather.

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