Gear Patrol

I’ve heard that question answered a lot of different ways in 23 years of flinging sharp wire & feathers at the finned ones. For some, it borders on the mystical. People talk of otherworldly feelings or suspension of time (as in time spent fishing doesn’t count against your allotment here on planet Earth).

For others it’s a religious experience.

If you have a hankering for more exotic fish than you can find in the nearest stream, river, or lake, consider packing a bag with a few travel rods and the rest of your gear and giving destination fly fishing a try. That’s all well and good (great, really), but as always, you should strive for the cream of the crop. Here are three trips worthy of the bucket list of any fly fisher.

Lefty Kreh is one hell of a fisherman. He’s lots of other things, too: retired outdoor editor of the Baltimore Sun, accomplished photographer, prolific author, father and grandfather, teller of stories, entertainer, absolute legend as a fly caster. It seems, though, that all of these things orbit around the first one. We sat down with him to hear about his 32nd book, common casting mistakes, how he was introduced to the sport, and much, much more.

This video, a special cut of “Off the Grid”, a full-length fishing documentary about finding and fishing in places that are untouched or simply outside the norm, pretty much has it all. There’s a quick summary of the epic trip that makes up the entire film, full of monster fish doing their best jaws impressions on happily bobbing flies; then we get to meet two young trout bums living the dream in northeast Ohio.

Qvivo is a new cloud media service startup that claims to succeed where most others have failed in offering a dream streaming solution for video and music fans with large digital libraries. Starting at $1.99 a month, Qvivo offers unlimited cloud storage for movies, tv shows and music that can then be streamed through any modern web browser. We put the service through its paces and came away extremely impressed.

Whether you’re trying to capture the grandeur of the Grand Canyon or just snapping a selfie of your abs (not again, Anthony Weiner!), utilizing a set of great photo apps is key. Give the Earlybird Instagram filter a break and read up on our five favorite photo apps.

Videogame fans get a bad rap. For all their insistence about the artistry and sophistication of the medium, gamers exist in the minds of other creative artists as….well, something like this guy. “Killzone: Intercept”, a lavishly produced live-action short based on the popular game franchise, does substantial damage to that conception.

In fashion, it really is the little things that make a big difference. The little things Happy Socks does just happen to be bigger. The Swedish-designed combed cotton socks are bold in all the right ways, playful yet fashionable, sui generis without being obnoxious. Their colorful creations are a great fit in today’s bold style moment, the perfect eye-catching touch to draw the kind of stares you’re after. Read on for more on the brand.

Our Favorites: Grey Stripe Sock ($12) | Big Dot Low Socks ($10) | Gray, Orange and Blue Argyle ($12) | Stripe Half Sock ($12)

Walk on Water opens with a powerful kayaker tearing through daunting rapids with astonishing ease. The film waits a long while to reveal that its subject, Greg Mallory, is paralyzed from the waist down. Mallory, who lost the use of his legs after a skiing accident, has found in kayaking a warrant for living life normally, a source of joy in the wake of a terrible tragedy.

What’s a nearly broke watch collector in love with the IWC Ingenieur Automatic to do? In this week’s Want This, Get This, we searched for an affordable alternative — and found one in the Christopher Ward C20 Lido.

In July 2003 picture messaging was a luxury, SARS was a global concern, and Apple had just introduced its futuristic and incredibly powerful Power Mac G5. The drilled-out brushed aluminum tower looked like a prop from The Matrix Revolutions (also debuted in 2003, not worth remembering). Fast-forward to nearly 10 years later, and Apple is finally introducing a form-factor update to its longstanding pro desktop tower. Boy, did they go big.

In the world of thrilling machines, Ducati registers somewhere between Ferrari and Alfa Romeo — this on two wheels, of course. Offering bikes ranging in price from $10,000-$30,000 and covering a range of “yeah, that makes sense” to “humans aren’t supposed to travel that fast”, the brand has a legacy and heritage dating back to 1926 that it maintains with pride today. This is especially obvious in the 2013 Ducati Monster 796 ($10,000).

A day of cruising sunny, funky San Diego is enticing enough without a brand new ride underneath you. All the better, then, when Yamaha brought us to downtown San Diego for a well-organized day aboard their new Bolt, an American-style bobber — an exercise in convincing some die-hard riders that their bike is a viable alternative to Wisconsin iron.

You know the pinnacle of wine-making remains in France. Well, so do all those newly minted Chinese millionaires, and they’ve driven the price of Old World red wines sky high. This is especially true for top-end Bordeaux, which carry the highest cache among French wines. Those of us without a state-sponsored fortune, trust fund, or impending Wall Street bonus, however, have to look elsewhere for quality wine. Here are two splurge-caliber choices, made in the same style, of the same grape — merlot — though one comes without the inflation of appellation.

Say “Northern California” to most people and their minds jump to San Francisco. For 25 years, though, photographer Marty Knapp has shifted perceptions with his stunning images of Point Reyes and its surrounding areas. This beautifully shot exposé from Vertical Online dives into the history of the storied photographer: how he ended up devoting his career to such a stunning place, what inspires him, and his own personal lens on the art he creates.