In this episode of The DrakeCast, we get a quick preview of the Winter 2017 issue of the Drake Magazine. Right off the bat we hear Drake Editor, Tom Bie, tell us about his favorite parts of the recently released issue.

Later on, author and frequent Drake contributor Dave Karczynski tells us about two books that he just published, the first of which is titled, "Smallmouth: Modern Fly Fishing Methods, Tactics & Techniques." His second book is a transitional text called, "From Lure to Fly: Fly Fishing for Spinning and Baitcast Anglers."

Later on we chat with architect and author Michael Graybrook about his book, "Cutthroat: A Journey Through The American West." And finally, we hear Graybrook read a chapter from this book.

Many thanks to Scott Fly Rods and Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

For more information on the magazine and all of the aforementioned books, visit our website: www.drakemag.com

Here's a quick synopsis of what you can expect from the Winter 2017 issue of the Drake Magazine: Illinois carp, Argentine brookies, Texas redfish, New York stripers, Colorado cutthroat, Oregon steelhead, St. Lawrence pike, Honduras permit, speed-guiding in Alaska, those bird-eating GTs, three great books, white flies in Wisconsin, backcountry in the Smokies, winter on the Madison, and the tragic loss of one blue jacket.

This week we head to the rivers of Northern Wisconsin in search of the illusive River Nazi. While blindly casting for these toothy critters, we talk to a few folks about the history of musky fishing and how anglers began targeting these fish with flies.

Many thanks to Steve Wisner of Eau Claire Anglers, Larry Mann of Hayward Flyfishing Company, Tim Simonson with the WI DNR, and Joe Flater of Flater's Resort in Holcombe, Wisconsin for helping us tell this story.

And of course, many thanks to Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

For more information, check out our website: http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1880-the-drakecast-fly-fishing-podcast-23-musky-flyfishing.html

In the early 1970s, Don Wisner learned how to flyfish. It was around this time that his life began to parallel a certain flyfishing story. When Don's son, Stephen, came of age, the two spent hours together fishing the brook trout streams of Western Wisconsin. As the men grew in both age and skill, their interests took them in separate directions - Stephen wandered the world while Don embraced religion. But whenever the two were in the same place, they always made sure to spend an afternoon on the water, and this part of their relationship kept them close.

These days, Don and Stephen live in the same town and are fortunate enough to share a love of the same river. "I'm at an age right now, I'm 77 years old, and I can't cast all day anymore. But I can still row the boat. And to be able to row for somebody that can really fish it's kind of an intimate thing. You have to know somebody to be able to do that well. To be able to read their mind and we kind of function that way together." -Rev. Don Wisner

Many thanks to Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

For more information on this episode, as well as Stephen's guide business, Eau Claire Anglers, check out our website: http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1875-the-drakecast-fly-fishing-podcast-22-a-river-runs-near-it.html

This week, we have a story of tradition and remembrance, and it’s actually connected to an episode that we put out a few months ago called Dresses & Can Cans.

If you haven’t heard this story, definitely pause right now, go back in the feed, find episode #12, listen to it.

At it’s core, it’s the story of this woman named Patti and how the wilderness saved her life.

But episode #12 is also the story of how Patti’s Dad and my grandfather became friends and how fishing helped forge that relationship. Each Veterans Day, the men would load their john boat and drive to the Mississippi river where it separates Wisconsin from Minnesota. They did it to honor the friends that didn’t make it through the war. They did it because the courthouse was closed. They did it because the fishing was good.

But there’s another reason that these men came back to this exact stretch of the Mississippi River every year on Veteran's Day. Make sure to listen to the episode to find out.

If you missed Episode #12, you can find it here:

http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1836-the-drakecast-flyfishing-podcast-12-mississippi.html

Many thanks to Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

This week's episode of The DrakeCast features another flyfishing podcast that has recently hit the airwaves.

Jason Rolfe is a guide at Emerald Water Anglers in Washington State, but when he's not on the water he's sitting in front of legendary flyfishing writers asking them about their history with the sport. He has coupled these interviews with live readings in his new podcast, The Fly Tapes.

We take a few select sound bites from Rolfe's podcast and ask him about how this project started and where it is going. This episode also focuses on the upcoming tour of "Writers on the Fly," which is a traveling show featuring some of the great writers that Rolfe interviews. They'll be making their way up the West Coast starting on November 14 in Bend, Oregon.

If you love flyfishing and storytelling and live in the Pacific North West, make sure to check out Writers on the Fly at a venue near you. If you don't live on the West Coast, make sure to find The Fly Tapes wherever you find podcasts.

Many thanks to Scott Fly Rods and Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

A lot of people claim social media has killed flyfishing. But has it? In this episode of The DrakeCast we chat with parties on both sides of the divide as we suss out the positive and negative impacts social media has had on flyfishing.

The backbone of this episode traces the experience of an Idaho fishing guide as well as the growth of a flyfishing company. Through these experiences of these separate groups, we are able to see a fuller picture of how social media has impacted flyfishing.

We also have a great chat with the great Kelly Galloup, who is always reliable when it comes to giving a good quote or two. Additionally, this is the episode that the ever-flippant Tom Bie makes his inaugural appearance. I couldn't have been happier to shove a fuzzy microphone in my boss's face.

Many thanks to Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support.

For more information on this episode, check out our website: http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1866-the-drakecast-fly-fishing-podcast-19-social-media-flyfishing-instagram.html

In episode #7 of The DrakeCast, we heard about the threatened Menominee River on the border between Michigan's UP and Wisconsin. This river had unfortunately found itself on American River's list of the ten most endangered rivers in the United States.

In this episode, we look at the unfortunate body of water that occupies the number one spot on that list - The Colorado River. Throughout the story, we'll chat with fly shop owners, fishermen, conservationists, and flyfishing industry leaders as we try to figure out how the Colorado gained such an unsightly title.

The Colorado is a huge river, but it also represents the perils that all of the world's rivers face right now.

Many thanks to Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods for their continued support of The DrakeCast.

A big shout out to Fishpond and American Rivers for their help with this episode and their role in keeping our rivers healthy.

For more information on this episode, check out our website: http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1864-the-drakecast-fly-fishing-podcast-18-colorado-river-fishpond-american-rivers.html

Jeremy Wade, host of Animal Planet's "River Monsters," is one of the more famous fisherfolks in the industry today. I personally always saw the guy as a globe-trotting Brit who believes every fish in the water wants to kill you. Well, it turns out that Jeremy Wade is much more than that. In this episode of The DrakeCast, Wade fully embraces his fear-mongering ways to alert us of the dangers that face the world's rivers. In this speech Wade explains how rivers have changed in his lifetime, and why these changes should scare us more than any of the toothy fish he’s ever caught on camera.

Many thanks to our sponsors Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods. A huge thank you to James Thull and MSU's Trout & Salmonid Special Collections Library for allowing us to use the audio from this speech.

For a few photos and links to some of the material that Wade mentions in his speech, check out our website:

http://www.drakemag.com/drakecast/1861-the-drakecast-fly-fishing-podcast-17-jeremy-wade-disappearing-river-monsters.html

This week we travel back to the United States.

In the first part of the episode, we visit a fishy hideout in the suburbs of Denver. It's there that we meet Peter Stitcher, the owner of Ascent Fly Fishing. He shows us his secret stash and reveals a few fishy tips that should help us all catch a few more trouts. We then take Peter's ideas and head into the mountains to try them out. (This story was originally produced in November 2016 for a project that later grew into The DrakeCast).

You can find out more information about Peter's operation and Ascent Fly Fishing at www.ascentflyfishing.com

The second half of the episode is a look back at last year's massive die-off of whitefish on Montana's Yellowstone River. Bozeman Daily Chronicle reporter Michael Wright originally broke this story in August of 2016. He shares with us the development of the crisis, how it affected the local community, and how the experience has shaped Montana today.

To read a written version of this story, visit The Drake's website: http://www.drakemag.com/featured-content/daily-drake/1856-yellowstone-river-montana-fish-kill-revisited.html

For more information on this episode, visit The Drake's website:

Sorry for the delay folks, but The DrakeCast is back! In this episode we continue our EuroTrip to yet another island with great fishing - Iceland. Once again, we'd be targeting Atlantic salmon, but we'd also spend some time chasing wild native browns and sea run arctic char.

After my time in the Faroe Islands, I hopped on a ferry to Eastern Iceland. It was there that I met Kristjan Rafnsson, one of the owners of Fish Partner, a flyfishing outfitter that controls access to quite a few rivers across Iceland.

During our time together, we found quite a few fish. But we also discussed the history of fishing and fishing management in Iceland. It's much different than what we found in Ireland, The Faroes, and almost the complete opposite of what we're used to in the US.

Make sure to check out our sponsors, Yellow Dog Flyfishing Adventures and Scott Fly Rods and thank them for their continued support of both the Drake Magazine and The DrakeCast.

Also, a huge thanks to Kristjan and Fish Partner for the hospitality.