December 21, 2008 in Outdoors

Out & About

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Photo by Ben Moon photo

Brown hasn’t looked back, or down in her rock stardom. Photo by Ben Moon
(Full-size photo)

OUTFITTER

Gifts that catch a fly fisher’s fancy

Rods are too expensive, and reels are too personal, but two products stand out as pleasers for the fly fisher on your gift list:

Sharkskin floating fly line has been around in trout tapers for a couple years, but a steelheading version of this slick product was released this fall by 3M/Scientific Anglers.

The line has features, including a fish scale-like pattern, that reduce friction through the guides for longer casts, fewer tangles and better flotation for more control and ease in mending and roll casting. Yet it remains supple in cold water.

Available at Swede’s Fly Shop in Spokane and Castaway in Coeur d’Alene.

Bi-focal sunglasses by Ono’s Trading Co., are good-quality shades with a discrete bifocal available in several powers, enabling even aging fly fishers to tie on tiny flies at sundown.

But these glasses are useful beyond the stream, where the vision-challenged need help reading maps and even cell-phone text. (www.onostrading company.com.)

OUTMEDIA

Rock diva writes cliffhanger

Book: “Girl on the Rocks: A Woman’s Guide to Climbing with Strength, Grace and Courage,” by Katie Brown with extraordinary photos by Ben Moon (Falcon, 148 pages, $20.)

Brown, 28, began dominating national and international competitions soon after she started the sport at the age of 13. She was featured recently in Outside magazine and has been dubbed “The Best Female Climber of the Millennium,” in Rock & Ice magazine.

Her impressive globetrotting resume of rock climbs is all the credentials needed to write this book of insights into techniques for rising above the crowd. However, Brown taps the insight of women young and old to reach inside the women’s climbing issues you can’t learn from a boyfriend.

Did we mention the photography is excellent?

OUTLOOK

Best fishing times

Lunar tables from the U.S. Naval Observatory. Be fishing at least one hour before and one hour after peak times. Applies to all time zones.

(* indicates best days.)

Through Dec. 28

Today

7:30 a.m., 7:50 p.m.

Monday

8:15 a.m., 8:35 p.m.

Tuesday

9 a.m., 9:25 p.m.

Wednesday

9:50 a.m., 10:15 p.m.

Thursday

10:40 a.m., 11:05 p.m.

Friday

11:30 a.m., 11:55 p.m.

* Saturday

12:20 p.m., 12:45 a.m.

* Next Sunday

1:10 p.m., 1:30 a.m.

See the Hunting-Fishing Report every Friday in Sports

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