Chuck Ragan Wild Steelhead Coalition Benefit Concert

Music lovers, we gots something for you!

Get ready to listen to some killer music, drink some tasty beer, and hang with some great people, all in the name of steelhead conservation. Iconoclastic singer-songwriter Chuck Ragan and Filson have teamed up and are hosting a benefit concert on Friday, September 23rd to support the Wild Steelhead Coalition’s work. The concert will be held in Filson’s new, beautiful Flagship Store in Seattle.

Chuck Ragan is renowned as a “deeply compelling songwriter and an effortlessly charismatic performer, as well as a true believer in music’s ability to illuminate and inspire”. So it is no surprise that he is an avid angler, a lover of steelhead, and a big fan of the Wild Steelhead Coalition’s work.

General Admission for the show is $25 with doors opening at 8:00 PM. There are also a limited number of $100 VIP tickets available. VIP tickets get you into the show an hour earlier (7:00 PM), so you can spend time chatting with Chuck while eating some delicious prepared by Chef Kevin Davis of Steelhead Diner, Orfeo, and Bluacre Seafood and drinking two free beers out of your complimentary Stanley Tumbler.

Pick up your tickets HERE and see you at the show.

Steelhead Country...

The Wild Steelhead Coalition, Patagonia, and award-winning filmmaker Shane Anderson have teamed up to produce a new film series called Steelhead Country. The six-episode series explores the rise and fall of angling for wild steelhead in Washington State – from the heydey of steelheading on the Puyallup River to the litany of legendary rivers that are now closed throughout Puget Sound, including the mighty Skagit. Follow along as Steelhead Country explores the past, present, and hopeful future for this iconic species.

Washington is Steelhead Country, the epicenter of the wild steelhead world. For generations, Washingtonians have been raised with a fishing rod in their hands and a love of steelhead in the hearts. This passion has proven infectious and inspired anglers from all corners of the globe to make the pilgrimage to the state’s famed waters in search of wild grey ghosts, some reaching sizes found in few other places on earth. But while the allure of Washington’s majestic wild steelhead continues to grow, regrettably the state’s steelhead stocks have suffered the opposite fate, as their numbers have plummeted to a fraction of their once great abundance.

Steelhead Country dives deep into how Washington’s mismanagement of its iconic State Fish has caused the precipitous decline of its wild steelhead populations. Moreover, Steelhead Country encourages the state to move toward a more sustainable, conservation-oriented management model for wild steelhead – a model that preserves angling opportunity while also helping restore and sustain wild runs for future generations. It’s not too late to bring them back.

Stay tuned for the full series coming in September.  Get more info via the Wild Steelhead Coalition

#WildSteelhead #BringEmBack

Are You Having Fun?

Check this dude out, he's having fun...

You may or may not know him.  He design's fly line tapers, consults on fly rod actions and on the vice there aren't many who can match his detail and precision.  And casting.  He's the dude that you flip off from behind because he just throws laser after laser

Yeah, you could say he's on a pro staff or two.

Regardless, one the the things I love is that he's there to have fun.  If it means he takes his daughters pink four foot float rod and dead drifts a pats stone and giggles his face off when the redband rockets into the air, so be it.

Put it all aside.....drop all the preconceived notions on what we should or should not be doing...What rods we should be casting with what technique or what fly because that's what they tell you that's what you should be doing.

That's bull.  Respect the resource, work to conserve and then lets get after it.

Do the thing that lit you up as a kid when you caught your first fish.

Go and have fun.

Big and Small

Big water.  Big fish.

Big odds stacked against them.

Small flies.  Big flies.  Big fly Rods.

Big casts and small mends and everything in between

Small plucks to big rips and big jumps.

Big is the reward.  Small is the margin for error.

A bigger and more profound impact on my life I cannot find.

Craziest Way To Catch A Steelhead

Sometimes, you just have to challenge the interwebz to amaze you.

Good job, good job internet.  You win.

World Class Company...

How the heck I found myself in this picture is a amazing thing.

You'd be hard pressed to find more knowledge about steelhead in one place and I felt a bit like the rookie called up to the big leagues for his first game

From left to right, excluding me...

Jack Mitchell.  Brian Chou.  Trey Combs.  Steelie Mike Davidchik.  Tim Rajeff.  Kerry Burkheimer

wow...just wow.

Save The Smith Sticker Fundraiser

I have never been to the Smith.  I've never pulled a permit to float it.  I've never fished it

It doesnt matter, I'll still line up to save it.  We all should.

Rep Your Water has created a unique sticker that is available via their site and to non profits involved in the fight to Save the Smith as a fundraising tool.

The landmark Smith River in Montana is at risk. A proposed mine on a critical tributary could endanger the entire fishery and river ecosystem.  

This is not just a Montana issue, but something that the national fly fishing community needs to rally behind RIGHT NOW!

Get more info on the issues involved via the Smith River Watch site, and while you're at it....pick up a sticker or two. 

Free The Snake September 17th

Free the Snake.  Free the Snake.  Free the Snake

Say it to yourself.  It's going to happen.

September 17th, join the collation of environmental, sportsman, economic and tribal groups at Swallows Park in Clarkston  for coordinated  paddle leading to the Snake and Clearwater Confluence for the second annual Free The Snake Flotilla

Last year event drew over 300 attendees of which I was proud to be a part of.  My boys and I watched as boat after boat of people committed to a cause that is ready to happen paddle towards Lower Granite Dam....it was one of the most impactful statements I had ever seen.

70% of barge traffic on  4 Snake River Dams have gone to other shipment routes.  Billions are spent on salmon and steelhead recovery with extremely low return on investment.   The power generated can we replaced immediately

The reasons go on and on.  And on, and on.

It's time to Free the Snake

Get more info via the Free The Snake site and if you can, be a part of this year's event in September