IFWF 2010 Trip Auction Open for Bidding

The Idaho Fish and Wildlife Foundation has 42 great experiences still open for bidding. The first item to be sold outright was a wolf pup count for two people in the Sawtooth National Forest for $900. As much as I would have loved to win that bid, it’s a little out of my price range. Most of the trips are under $100 for starting bids, and quite a few below $50. Check out the cool trips (jet boat patrol on South Fork Snake River, Hells Canyon white sturgeon research, guided fly fishing on Silver Creek, elk calf capture, back country lake fish planting by horseback, several spawning surveys, etc., etc.), and bid on something.

Need Plans to Fuel Your Pre Fishing Season Excitement?

Head on over to Island Park and watch the big cutts on their spawning run as they make their way from Henry’s Lake to Hatchery Creek.

If only you were born a few million years ago…

If only you were born a few million years ago, you could have posed for your ultimate grip-n-grin shot with the Leedsichthys, a filter-feeding fish that reached lengths of 30-50 feet.

Winter River Walks

The temperature inversions in our valley have one positive affect: some incredible hoar frost (radiation frost) builds up. As I wait for ice and joints to thaw, and fish to move, I walk the valley. Exchanging fly rod and flies for tripod and camera, I stay as close to water as I can.

Stalking scenes of [...]

The Convergence of Canals and Fish

Logan, in northern Utah, was not much different than most early Mormon settlements. White settlers first arrived in 1859 and located near the Logan River. They planted crops, diverted the North Branch of the Logan River for irrigation, and the settlement grew. Canals and ditches were expanded and added to meet the city’s growing needs. Mills sprouted along the canals. Still more people arrived and with them came changes: adobe walls replaced logs, clapboard replaced adobe and brick replaced clapboard. However, one constant through the changes were the canals. Mills along the canals came and went, but the canals remained.

“Things Men Have Made”

The wood rod was deep amber with burgundy wraps. A three piece rod, its ferrules mottled with a metallic rime that flaked away beneath my fingernail. The deep forest-green backing was like a heavy cotton thread.

Fish Fights

Important research on Google Fight reveals deep “stuff” about angling things.

Maybe It’s Time?

I’ve been on a break. And I’m back. Maybe. I reveal all in this post. Or at least some. Maybe.

Autumn Turns Against the Current

It is said that the autumn of our life is a slow and steady slip into winter, synonymous with the time when animals hibernate and plants die. Some might think of it as more of a homesickness, not a geographical homesickness, but a chronological one—a time for reflection, for looking back at what was. Autumn is a matter of perspective—of seeing our current time as just that, current.

Summer’s End

The end of summer seems to sneak up with startling abruptness in the mountains. Sagey greys and dusky rabbitbrush topped with yellow sprigs of late summer flowers, surrounded by grasses browned in the summer heat. Fine dust matting leaves. A tired respiration seems to heave up from the canyons in hot blasts—last gasps. Bellowing itself for the soon-to-be colors plashed about its flanks like so many embers of red, braided fingers of yellow and orange. A few summer holdouts paint the hillsides early.

Photos – Tony Grove Lake

24 Photos of the spectacular Tony Grove Lake found in the northeastern corner of Utah.

Photos – Cache Valley Fields

I was working in my study as the sun rose. Puffy clouds scuttled across the sky. Through the open window geese honked. I know a field ripe for a morning photo shoot.

This Anniversary – A Pain in the Butt!

Mrs. Stalker and I celebrated our 22nd anniversary yesterday (geez, I’m old). And it was a real pain in the butt.

No News Is Good News

Cutthroat Stalker is out of town, roughing it in Island Park, Idaho (Henry’s Fork of the Snake River), until Sunday.

Pelicans vs. Cutthroat

Pelicans vs Yellowstone cutthroat. Both species have population concerns. Idaho wants to kill some pelicans to save cutthroats. Feds say no.