FishwithJD

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The Santa Ynez River: Where 25,000 steelhead once roamed!

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The river now, looking downstream from Buellton towards the sea.

Santa Barbara, California (about an hour and a half north of LA) doesn’t exactly inspire images of deep canyons and emerald green water full of steelhead…but it would have back in the 1940’s, when the Santa Ynez River was home to annual runs of 25,000 anadramous rainbows!

But only a token handful of the great fish make it back each year now. The usual band of culprits did the river in: Water diversions, dams and development. etc. The biggest blow came in the early 1950’s when massive Cachuma Dam was completed, effectively blocking off the bulk of steelhead spawning habitat.

Ribble River Surprise!

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And this, folks, is why you play the game...


Here’s yet another prime example why fishing is so damn awesome: Our good friend from across “The Pond,” Richard Masters, fished the River Ribble near Lancashire in Northwest England last week. Unfortunately, the river was still high and pretty much blown out following a recent flood — and the fishing was lousy.

Masters says he threw hardware in the muddy water all day without success and then, on his way home the next morning, he made a quick stop along the river to get a feel for the new 5-weight trout fly rod he had just purchased…and then a funny thing happened: Click here to read more…

Fishing with a True American Hero: Major General Erbon Wise

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General Erbon Wise and JD with a big king from the Nushagak River in Alaska


To commemorate Memorial Day, here’s a salute to one of the true heroes of this country: Major General Erbon W. Wise, 90, of Sulphur, Louisiana…a man I feel extremely privileged to have been able to spend some time with (I guided him two seasons in Alaska).

General Wise has lived a life that makes me feel like I’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. He put in 29 years of service defending this country — including slogging his way ashore and up Utah Beach under heavy enemy fire as a twenty-something year-old Army Captain during the invasion of France in June 1944. He was also active during the Korean War and Vietnam. Because of guys like General Wise, we are able to live the lives we have today and for that, we are forever in his debt. Click here to read more…

Why file photos are a bad idea!

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Have you seen this man??


This one’s dedicated to trusty sidekick Reilly, who I once threw under the bus in a Western Outdoors Magazine article about poaching on the Skagit River. While it wasn’t my fault, the editors threw a pic of Reilly holding a king (which was supposed to be in another article) next to poacher bit, making him look very guilty.

Well, the Los Angeles Times did it to me. Years back, I took one of their photographers out to go steelhead fishing on the American River…and I guess when they needed a file photo to go with this poaching article, they pulled my pic outta the vault. So, here I am, the transient poacher of SLO Creek!