A new photo contest from our good friend Greg Thomas at Anglers Tonic hopes to exploit the bond between man and canine in their mutual enjoyment of fly fishing. Not just any photo contest either, here is some insight into what you might get a shot at:

“I just launched my Fishing Dog Photo Contest, which should be a lot of fun. Who knows what images I might see. Grand prize is a Loop OPTI spey rod and matching Speedrunner reel. Worth what? About $1,200 retail. I threw this rod the other day and it launches. Other prizes are coming from Hatch, Yellowdog, Bug Slinger, Smith, fishpond, RO drift boats, and Deneki. If you’d like to be included in this contest with prize donation just let me know.”

Having grown up with a black lab as my dad’s co-pilot in the boat, I have plenty of experience with dogs, that like water, being in or near it when a fish is on or being landed, holy crap! We used to have to chain our labs head to the bottom of the boat, literally 2 inches from the bottom. We only found this out after simply putting his leash around the seat, he nearly hung himself going after a winter steelhead we had to chase down a run on an Oregon coastal stream.

My other favorite is when the dog things larger fish are out to get them and the growling and play fighting begins, try stopping a nearly 100 pound male black lab, from attacking your fish as you beach it, keeping the line taught on a spey rod and you can’t even get to your fish.

At any rate, some of my fondest memories of fishing growing up involved in one way or another a dog. Dog Bless ’em!

Check out Anglers Tonic for more details.