Bob Mallard

Editor’s Note: This is the seventeenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. When the remote ponds, woodland streams, and large rivers near my home in central Maine warm up, rather than stress the fish, I turn my attention to the headwater freestone streams of New Hampshire's White...

I call my home water “Madison,” and have done so for over 20 years. It’s not the fabled southwestern Montana trout river, but a stretch of the Kennebec River in central Maine nestled between the towns of Madison and Anson. I call it Madison because I access it primarily from the Madison side of the river, Madison is big water by any standard. One...

Editor’s Note: This is the sixteenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. I grew up in an era where proper hydration was an afterthought. As a child, I drank mostly milk. Instant Breakfast, a flavored powder added to milk, was my morning drink. We got a small carton of milk twice a...

Editor’s Note: This is the fifteenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. While most reading this have likely never heard of Topher and Trevor Jones, they are notable members of the new and burgeoning wild native fish conservation movement. The Jones’ are representative of how fish...

Editor’s Note: This is the fourteenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. Deep in New Hampshire’s White Mountains lies one of the most beautiful rivers you will ever see. To call it the quintessential New England freestone stream would be fair. Undeveloped and located wholly on...

Editor’s Note: This is the thirteenth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. For years I’ve watched as agencies and organizations take down dams, build fish ladders and other forms of passage, replace or remove culverts and bridges, cut trees, plant trees, deposit in-stream structure...

Fly fishing and coffee go hand in hand. Go to any trout town in America and you’ll see trucks with rod carriers and towing boats lined up at the local coffee-to-go shop long before most are even awake. Legions of guides and clients show up at fly shops and boat launches every morning carrying a cup of hot coffee. And many shops have a pot of coffee going...

Editor’s Note: This is the twelfth article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. Branding is a huge part of our daily lives.  It’s everywhere you look, even though you don’t always notice it.  Branding can be blatant or subliminal, absolute or suggestive, visual or audible, and words or...

While not all fly fishers are non-fishing gear savvy, they should be. There are products out there that while not specific to fly fishing can be really useful to the fly fisher.  The best product overlap comes from other sectors of the outdoor product’s industry and specifically hiking and camping.  Unless you hike or camp, and many fly fishers do not...

Editor’s Note: This is the eleventh article in our series on fly fishing conservation.  This series appears with the support of Epic Fly Rods. When a unique life history strategy, strain, subspecies, or species is at risk of extirpation or extinction within its native range, and regardless of why, it may become necessary to move them somewhere else to...