Bob Mallard
Bob Mallard has fly fished for forty years. He is a former fly shop owner and a Registered Maine Fishing Guide. Bob is a blogger, writer, author, and fly designer. He is also a founding member, former National Vice Chair, and current Executive Director for Native Fish Coalition. Bob’s writing, photographs, and flies have been featured at the local, regional, and national level. Look for his books 50 Best Places Fly Fishing the Northeast, 25 Best Towns Fly Fishing for Trout, Squaretail: The Definitive Guide to Brook Trout and Where to Find Them, and Favorite Flies for Maine: 50 Essential Patterns From Local Experts. Bob can be reached at www.BobMallard.com or [email protected].
Author Articles
Balancing Recreation and Conservation
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...
Reusable Water Bottles: Drink Responsibly
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...
Making a Difference
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...
The Zealand River: A Blueprint for Failure and an Opportunity for Success
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...
Holistic Stream Restoration: A New Approach
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...
A Steaming Cup While Streamside: Coffee in the Field
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...
Branding Native Fish: A Critically Important Step
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...
Gear That Works: Fenix Technical Lights
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...
Wild Refuges to Save Native Fish: A Complicated Issue
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...
Gear That Works: Korkers Interchangeable Sole Boots
Living in New England, I fish a wide variety of water. From large rocky rivers to small sandy coastal streams and boulder-strewn freestone streams to muddy flows, New England has some of the most diverse and challenging wading in the nation. Add to this float tubing, drift boat, and raft fishing and one would need a wading boot inventory that rivaled a fly...