My latest column from the Flathead Beacon on spring scud fishing.

It isn't a surprise, really, that woodland caribou were finally declared extinct in the U.S. We've been watching the remaining woodland caribou in the Pacific Northwest dwindle to just a few stragglers for sometime. The animals, the lone pre-European settlement big game animal native to Montana that is now absent, once roamed as far south as Lolo Pass in the Bitterroot.

The last time woodland caribou were in the Treasure State was 2012, when five wandered down from British Columbia.

Here's my latest Flathead Beacon column about these extinct gray ghosts — extinct in the U.S. that is.

I love my Lamson Litespeed fly reel. It help convert me from a fishing gear Luddite into a fan of the high-tech stuff. The reel isn't just eye candy, but a real tool that helps me catch more fish. But I'm not sure what to think about Lamson's new Center Axis setup.

If it's as brilliant as suggested, maybe we'll all be fishing with a rig that looks like a cattywampus lollypop in the future. If not, these rod/reel combos may find a home in the discontinued clearance bin before too long.

One other consideration about the Center Axis. All fly fishing equipment uses the same basic setup. You can mount a 30-year-old reel to a $1,000 Sage rod, and it will work. The Center Axis breaks that tradition of interchangeability. And fly fishers are if anything, traditionalists.

Here's my latest Flathead Beacon Out of Bounds column discussing the progression of my fishing gear preferences.

On a recent flight from Texas back home to Montana I found myself seated next to a young man, Renan, who I soon learned was traveling from his home in Brazil to Wolf Point, Montana.

Renan's dramatic journey was was one of his final steps in gaining a degree in agriculture from his college back home. His summer would be spent on a farm, working as an intern. We talked most of the flight. He was excited about the learning opportunity in front of him, but nervous about the snow that covered more and more of the ground below us, the farther north the jet travelled. I ensured him winter would break soon and the snow would be a memory that would express itself largely in high river flows this summer.

It turns out I lied, but not on purpose. Winter continues to linger in Montana. I have dreams of finally pulling the cover off my drift boat and hitting the water, but we're not quite there yet. Still, I hope Renan has enjoyed his stay in Montana so far, and that his summer is filled with rich experiences and great learning opportunities he can take back to his farm in southern Brazil.

Here's the column I wrote for the Flathead Beacon about our conversation.

The weather's a little iffy, but iffy weather in a Montana spring is about as redundant as Sahara Desert (Sahara means desert in Arabic). Still, if you're a fly fisher you should be thinking about the Bitterroot River skwala right now. And if you're now a fly fisher, you should be thinking about becoming one. Seriously, you don't fly fish. What's up with that?

Here's my latest column on skwalas.