News On The Fly

Carmen fights for her life at the Cincinnati Care Center.
Photo via facebook

A brave dog is fighting for her life at an Ohio veterinary center after she tried valiantly to save her owner: "First responders on the scene found Carmen, a 9-year-old boxer, on top of Ledford, . . .

The post Video: Heroic Dog Fights for Her Life appeared first on Orvis News.

This last year was a success for wild fish and free waters, reports American Rivers. Across the United States, 72 dams were removed in 2014, restoring more than 730 miles of streams for the benefit of fish and ecosystems.

Read more in the press release below.

The American Museum of Fly Fishing has announced the dates for their first annual Deborah Pratt Dawson Conservation Symposium. The event will be held on March 14th and 15th at the Orvis Fly Fishing School in Manchester, Vt. and will focus on the use of new technology in aiding conservation efforts.

Read more in the press release below. 

This film features the friendship of two lifelong surfers, forged through a mutual love of saltwater fly fishing. The full film can be seen on tour with the 2015 Fly Fishing Film Tour. Via The Noble Lab.

A fishing trip to Wisconsin and Minnesota will be featured through the photography of Aaron J. Scott. The upcoming show, “Misadventures in Musky Country” will be on display at the Coffee Ethic in Springfield, MO, Feb 6- March 31.

Read more in the press release below.

Tab-Top Insulating Curtains
Photo by orvis.com

Taking in a winter scene through a window while you remain warm and cozy indoors is one of the great joys of the season. Shining icicles, evergreens heavy with snow, a furry squirrel digging. . .

The post Tab-Top Insulating Curtains: Smart-Looking Window Treatments That Are a Smart Choice appeared first on Orvis News.

Written By: Sondra Wolfer
Dog Couch Protector

You don’t want Fido on the furniture. I understand. The shedding, the paw tracks, the eau de wet dog. None of these are pleasant prospects. But I encourage you to reconsider your dog-free. . .

The post Improved Furniture Protector: Give Your Dog a Lovely, Cozy Place on the Couch appeared first on Orvis News.

Written By: Sondra Wolfer

Coronado American Bison Leather Jacket
Photo by orvis.com

Nothing clarifies the appealingly rugged quality of leather jackets for men more than Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was 12 years old when the movie came out, and like most of the planet, I was. . .

The post Rugged and Iconic: Coronado American Bison Leather Jacket appeared first on Orvis News.

For Orvis CEO Perk Perkins, conserving the great outdoors is his price of admission...

The post Perk Perkins on Conserving the Great Outdoors appeared first on Orvis News.

The post Podcast: The Lord of the Flies Returns appeared first on Orvis News.

In this week’s podcast, we continue our series on fly tying with an interview with a man sometimes known as The King of Swing for his steelheading skills, but he also has been called Lord of the Flies.  Shawn Brillon is in charge of flies and fly tying materials at Orvis, and as a result he has his pulse on what is going on in the wild world of making bugs on hooks.  Our topic this week is natural vs. synthetic materials—when you want one or the other, which ones Shawn and I can’t live (or at least tie) without), and the future of fly-tying materials.  In The Fly Box this week, we answer questions on the best rod for smallmouth bass, how to prospect unknown waters in the spring, whether older fly fishing tackle puts you at any disadvantage, non-toxic wire as a substitute for lead, uses for antelope hair, and a great reader suggestion to add to my list of “10 Things I Wish I had Known When I Started Fly Tying” from last week.

Welcome to our latest edition of the Orvis News Friday Fly-Fishing Film Festival, in which we scour the Web for the best fly-fishing videos available. This week's collection features an even. . .

The post Friday Fly-Fishing Film Festival 02.06.15 appeared first on Orvis News.

Large Loop Synthetic Scissors work great for materials that can be hard to control while cutting.
Photo via orvis.com

OK I lied—the Material of the Week this week is not a material. It’s a couple tools. But tools are the most important part of your fly-tying acquisitions, and the right scissors in particular can make. . .

The post Tom’s Material of the Week: New Scissors appeared first on Orvis News.

On Tuesday, we posted about a daring rescue by California firefighters to save a dog swept away in a swollen river. The 911 call had come from a woman named Rachel Dalby who had seen. . .

The post Video: Dog Rescued from River Has New Forever Home appeared first on Orvis News.

Written by: Tim Linehan, Linehan Outfitting Co.

Linehan Outfitting Company guide Sam Stevenson with a thick Kootenai winter bow.
Photo courtesy Linehan Outfitting Company

If you're heading out on the river to fish streamers in winter, you need to think a little differently. Here are a few of my best tips for adjusting tactics to score when the mercury is low: . . .

The post 5 Tips for Winter Streamer Fishing appeared first on Orvis News.

When Chicago got buried in almost two feet of snow last week, most people grumbled about the inconvenience. But one man decided to have a little fun with the white stuff, creating a. . .

The post Video: Watch Wrinkles Navigate a Snow Maze appeared first on Orvis News.

The annual fly-only permit tournament, The March Merkin, will be held March 15-19, 2015, at the Key West Harbor Yacht Club. Proceeds from the tournament go to help the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust for furthering permit research.

Read more in the press release below.

Recently the U.S. Senate voted to reject an amendment to the Keystone XL Pipleline bill that would have removed protections from designated backcountry and wilderness areas across the United States.

Read more in the press release below.

Legislation Passed to Protect Glacier National Park

I think we are often overwhelmed by the feeling that we need to try harder to safeguard the water we love. We’re bombarded by conservation-driven email campaigns, environmental direct mail pieces, political headlines and news articles reminding us that we’ve simply got to do more to protect the environment. We’re constantly being advised that we have to give more money, pay more attention, activate more people and lose more sleep in order to keep our fisheries. And because the river’s plea for protection pounds in our ears, we’re left feeling helpless and guilty if we can’t step up as well as we’d like. That’s a lot of pressure for a fisherman like me, who generally doesn’t think too deeply for too long. And so, when President Obama signed landmark conservation legislation into law in December 2014, a collective sigh of relief from fishermen echoed bank-to-bank. The relief isn’t just in knowing that the North Fork Watershed Protection Act bans future mining and drilling on 383,267 acres of federal land in the North Fork of the Flathead River area near Glacier National Park in Northwest Montana, it’s also in knowing that a passionate team of good people worked together to accomplish what we cannot do as individuals. The new law is the result of true international cooperation among timber industry leaders, politicians from both sides of the aisle, conservation groups, local businesses and sportsmen in Canada and the United States.The North Fork Watershed Protection Act has been 40 years in the making and is the legacy of former Montana Sen. Max Baucus. It was vehemently opposed by three conservative Republican Senators from Texas, Pennsylvania and Oklahoma, who have never visited the North Fork area and who were dedicated to blocking the bill’s passage. So, to keep the bill from dying, the Montana leaders demonstrated commendable tenacity by tacking it on as a rider to the National Defense Authorization Act. The National Defense Authorization Act is a package that in addition to protecting the North Fork drainage, adds 67,000 acres to Montana’s Bob Marshall Wilderness Area and designates 208,000 acres nearby for conservation. However, it also gives up 14,000 acres of wilderness study areas for consideration of potential oil and gas extraction. No, it’s not exactly what Democrats wanted, and it’s not exactly what Republicans wanted. It’s a package built by partners who listened to the people they represent. Thank you, Congressman Steve Daines and Senators Jon Tester and John Walsh for having the stamina for bipartisan collaboration. Senator Tester said, “This is how a democracy is supposed to work. You give a little and you get a lot.”I still plan to do my individual best to respect and protect the river, but I’m now reminded that “trying harder” and “doing more” is most effective as a team. So, friends, let’s amass our voices and actions, listen to those opposed, get creative and fish on.

original content Hilary Hutcheson
photo Lee Cohen

Kai and Ian Russell are starting a new life together.
Photo via bbc.com

Photos of a dog who had been abandoned at a Scottish train station on January 2 went viral, and an international campaign to find the pooch a new family was soon underway. The Shar-Pei. . .

The post Dog Abandoned at Train Station Has a New Forever Home appeared first on Orvis News.

That is the satisfied smile of an angler who has achieved her goal.
Photo by Charlie Gordon

Reba Brinkman—programs director at Hunter Banks Co. in Asheville, North Carolina—worked hard on the James River to catch her first Virginia musky on the fly with Charlie Gordon of. . .

The post Photo of the Day: Virginia is for (Musky) Lovers appeared first on Orvis News.

Each year, Trout Unlimited offers those who sign up for a Lifetime membership a serious incentive, and this year, it's a custom Helios 2 4-weight rod matched with a CFO II reel. This is not an. . .

The post Video: The Orvis “Trout Unlimited Life Member” Rod appeared first on Orvis News.

Orvis Vice Chairman Dave Perkins is passionate about protecting the upper reaches of streams.
Photo by Nancy McKinnon

Trout Unlimited is fighting back against those who would block rule changes to restore protections to headwater streams. Among those lobbying Washington are the heads of prominent fly-fishing companies, including our own Dave Perkins. Here's the TU release: . . .

The post Fly-Fishing Industry Leaders Urge Congress to Protect Headwaters appeared first on Orvis News.

Todd Moen of Catch Magazine is recognized at one of the best filmmakers working in fly fishing, and for good reason. His latest online release looks at the incredible Spatsizi Wilderness in. . .

The post Video: “Spatsizi” by Todd Moen appeared first on Orvis News.

Bob Reece is a junior-high science teacher from Cheyenne, Wyoming, who spends his summer guiding for North Park Anglers in Walden, Colorado. He also works with the Cheyenne. . .

The post Video: How to Tie the Missing Link Dry Fly appeared first on Orvis News.

New rules requiring owners to carry licensing documents seem excessive to some.
Photo via nyc.gov

Dog owners in The Big Apple are balking at new rules that require them to carry a certificate of licensing whenever they are out and about with their dogs. The city used to send out stickers. . .

The post New York City’s New Licensing Law Has Some Dog Owners Howling appeared first on Orvis News.

Lass of Slope Point, Heading Dog, 2014.
Photo by Andrew Fladeboe via Slate.com

A stunning post on Slate.com focuses on the brilliant dog images of American photographer Andrew Fladboe. He has traveled to parts of the world where dogs work alongside humans, . . .

The post Photos: The Hardest-Working Dogs in the World appeared first on Orvis News.

This film short features some beautiful footage of mayflies and rising trout. Via TØRT Fly Fishing.

The 2015 recipients of the John H. Daniels Fellowship program hosted by The National Sporting Library & Museum have been announced. Topics of study of the visiting researchers include history, art, literature, anthropology, and sport.

Read more in the press release below.

From TU:

Leaders of three top fly fishing gear manufacturers today called on Congress to abandon efforts to scuttle an Environmental Protection Agency/Army Corps of Engineers rule making effort that would restore protections under the Clean Water Act to small headwater streams.

In a letter to the joint committee hearing of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, industry leaders noted the importance of headwater streams to the health of America’s waterways, and to the bottom lines of fishing manufacturers and retailers all across America.

“The small waters to which this important draft rule applies are the lifeblood for many of our country’s prized fisheries. They flow into rivers, streams and lakes that provide the foundation of our industry–our bottom lines depend on intact watersheds, cold, clean rivers and streams and intact, fishable habitat,” the letter reads. The letter was entered into the Congressional record by Travis Campbell, the president of Far Bank Enterprises (Sage, Redington and RIO), Dave Perkins, vice-chairman of the Orvis Co., and K.C. Walsh, owner and president of Simms Fishing Products.

The Waters of the United States rule proposed by the EPA and the Corps was drafted after two Supreme Court decisions in the early and mid-2000s removed Clean Water Act protections from small “intermittent and ephemeral” streams because, the court said, there was no proven nexus between

From Costa:

Known as graceful, intelligent ocean gliders, manta rays move through the water in with fluid continuity, always searching, always determined. Similarly, Costa’s new sunglass style for active females, Manta, is built for adventure and movement, but full of unmistakable style.

Manta is one of Costa’s sunglass styles built specifically for active women. Performance features include great wrap-fitting coverage, and hypoallergenic no-slip nose pads and interior lining to keep the sunglasses comfortably in place all day for a “forget-they’re-on” fit.

The medium-fitting frame is constructed of nearly indestructible co-injected molded nylon and sturdy integral hinges. Manta’s frame colors include tortoise, shiny black, white, orchid, crystal bronze and matte ocean.

Costa’s Manta style can be customized in its full array of

The young'uns from Wild Fly Productions are at it again, taking us on a fly-fishing journey in Western North Carolina. This time, they bring along a few novices and show them the . . .

The post Video: Tamarack – Fly Fishing North Carolina appeared first on Orvis News.

A San Juan worm, trailed by something small and dark was the ticket over the weekend on the South Platte.
Photo via Trouts Fly Fishing

Editor's Note: "First Casts" is an occasional feature that highlights great fly-fishing content from around the Web—from how-to articles, to photo essays, to interesting. . .

The post First Casts 02.04.15 appeared first on Orvis News.

Photo via fox8.com

Yesterday, we posted a great story about California firefighters using a helicopter to pluck a struggling dog from a raging river, and here's another wonderful tale of public-service heroes. . .

The post Video: Coast Guard Rescues a Dog Trapped in Icy Waters appeared first on Orvis News.

Rami is one of the oddest-looking dogs anyone at the Moultrie-Colquitt County Humane Society in Georgia had ever seen. They posted Rami’s photo online, and the image spread like. . .

The post Meet Rami: The Pit Bull/Dachshund Mix Whose Image Has Gone Viral appeared first on Orvis News.