Simms G3 Guide Boot Review

 A few years ago all the manufacturers changed their wading boot soles from felt to rubber. This seismic moment in the industry was not prompted by new materials or consumer demand but rather by a threat to fisheries; Didymosphenia geminata. The assumption that didymo was being carried from far off places to domestic streams via angling equipment -- felt soles were the great demon -- prompted the action. It turns out that greater forces than anglers may have had a larger effect on the increased presence of this nuisance diatom. According to recent research by Queen's University in Ontario global climate change has a hand in didymo blooms. Climate change induced changing ice cover and nutrient loads both create more favorable conditions for the blooms. I don't think this lets anglers off the hook, but it's worth considering for many reasons.

Read the rest of the review (yes, I get to the actual review in the next paragraph) over on Hatch Magazine.

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I'm doing some writing over on Hatch Magazine each week. Stop over there to read my complete articles and more from other great writers.

Little Mountain

My buddy Bruce Smithhammer wrote a piece in the last Trout Magazine about Little Mountain. It's another one of those stunning places where trout happen to live and thrive. And it's also a place where gas companies would like to set-up shop. See also an article over on Hatch Magazine.


Little Mountain - Haley Powell from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo.

Farm Pond Reconsidered

I now have a chauffeur. It's an extravagant expense but I'm worth it. My eldest son got his driver's license last summer and now drives whenever we share the car. It's a nice break after more than a decade of being his chauffeur and it gives him time behind the wheel to hone his craft. Before long Sam will be taking his turn at the wheel and I'll be doing even more gazing at the countryside as it slides by.

Coming home from church last Sunday, I told Chris to stray from the usual route. Sam knew where we were going and before long Chris, a reluctant angler, let out a groan. He pulled the car over as instructed when we got to the pond.

Read the rest of the story at Hatch Magazine.

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I'm going to be writing a story once a week for Hatch Magazine the next month or so. I'll publish links to that story here each week. 

Buckingham to Long Eddy

I've often thought that owning a drift boat would make my angling life complete. Roaming the Housatonic, Delaware and Deerfield I would fish the sweetest spots on these storied waters. I would secretly smirk as I dropped anchor mere yards from eager, rising fish out of reach of those wading the far bank. I would grant boarding privileges to dear friends and angling's royalty and deny the hangers on and pretenders.

Of course the reality of owning a boat, even something as low maintenance as a drift boat, is a whole other matter. And I probably wouldn’t get out all that much. And I'd have to arrange a shuttle. And whacking a keyboard doesn't really prepare you for rowing a boat all day; my buttery smooth hands would get rough and calloused. And I don't have that many friends (though I suspect I would make new ones with two empty seats to fill).......

Read the rest at Hatch Magazine

http://www.hatchmag.com/articles/buckingham-long-eddy/7711237

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I write a weekly piece over at Hatch Magazine.