Leland on the Patagonia Guidewater Shorts:

Whether you're wet-wading the Firehole, balancing on the bow of a Homosassa skiff, or tromping through the Golden Trout Wilderness, hot conditions demand a technical pair of shorts like the Patagonia Guidewater Shorts. There's nothing quite like the unencumbered fishing feel of quick-dry shorts -- not to get too spiritual here -- and the Patagonia Guidewater Shorts, with their deep-breathing, water-shedding woven nylon construction and DWR surface treatment, will dutifully provide that glee-filled disembodied feel for seasons to come. The Guidewater Shorts are also ideal for wearing under waders for post-work, grab-'n-go summer trout sessions.

Leland on Specifications:

While every company in the industry makes a pair of quick-dry fly fishing shorts, the Patagonia Guidewater Shorts offer too much thoughtful functionality to just run with the herd. With a share of traditional features -- a moderate 10-inch inseam, standard front/back pocket arrangement, belt loops and a zip fly -- the Guidewater Shorts afford familiar function and steer clear of gimmicks. But thanks to a side slash pocket (to zip away stuff you can't lose or sit on), fast-draining mesh pocket liners all around, and innovative patterning for a dialed fit, the Patagonia Guidewater Shorts pack some technical assets as well. It's no surprise that this pair of fishing shorts crosses over well to other pursuits, and you can pretty much take them anywhere.

Specifications:

• Cut from 4.3 oz lightweight woven nylon, UPF 50+
• Durable water repellent (DWR) finish helps bead moisture on garment's surface, increase breathability
• Inseam: 10"
• Front hand pockets
• Side slash and back pocket are zip-closable
• Waist has two stretch sections for proper fit, a zip fly
• Recyclable through Patagonia's Common Threads Garment Recycling Program
• Weight: 9 oz

Leland on Patagonia Technical Clothing:

For all the focus we put on our craft when we're on the water, we sometimes forget what an incredible range of places fly fishing can take us to -- or, what's more, that these places are sometimes less-than-hospitable to humans. Just like the folks at Patagonia, here at Leland we understand how high-performance technical clothing and fly fishing apparel is sure to improve time spent casting, and we've seen how, sometimes, the right gear can provide the critical edge needed for success. For the dazzling flats, we offer the Patagonia Guidewater Pants, Shorts and Shirt. Together with the Sun Glove, Sun Mask and Sunshade Shirt, these items should help you cover up, stay cool, and make the most of your time in some of the most beautiful, if forbidding, places on earth. If you're planning to fly fish in more temperate climes, the Guidewater Pants and Shirt cross over brilliantly, and with either the Patagonia Insulator Pants or the Shelled Insulator Pants, you'll be able to fish comfortably, even through the winter. These fly fishing garments -- sourced, more often than not, from partially-recycled content fabrics -- are made to the highest standards in the industry and are destined to keep you comfortable over seasons of hard fishing.

Leland on Patagonia:

One of the most admired and emulated firms in the outdoor marketplace, Patagonia is also one of the stalwarts in the fly fishing industry. From its humble beginnings as Yvon Chouinard's piton forging business to its ascendancy as one of the major houses in outdoor apparel and equipment, Patagonia has been marked by the same commitment to well-designed, well-made product, the same dedication to corporate social responsibility, and the same finger-on-the-pulse outdoor culture -- for almost forty years now.

Chouinard, still the company's head and something of an enlightened monarch, is well known as an alpinist and a surfer, but is also an avid fly fisherman. Atlantics, cutthroats, permit: he knows what he likes for fish as well as for gear, and he maintains a hand in the processes of product design to this day. Patagonia is a founding partner of '1% for the Planet', a league of environmentally progressive businesses, and the firm demonstrates its engagement with environmental stewardship in other ways as well. To minimize the inevitable ecological costs of manufacturing, Patagonia uses recycled-content fabrics where possible and -- more to the point, perhaps -- makes products that will perform at a high level for years without the need for a replacement.

Patagonia on the Guidewater Shorts:

Bomber, fast-drying nylon shorts with 50+ UPF sun protection and a partial stretch waist for exceptional fit and comfort.

Everything we love about the Guidewater Pants, and less. The shorts version has all the same water-specific features, including zippered side-leg pocket, mesh drainage on all pockets and remarkably fast dry time that make these the fishing shorts of choice for anglers. And, like the pants, the comfortable fit, zippered fly and constructed waist with stretch sections and belt loops make the Guidewater Shorts ideal for pretty much any activity. Which is to say, you may find yourself wearing 'em everywhere – we do. Made from lightweight, recylable, woven nylon fabric with 50+ UPF sun protection. Recyclable through our Common Threads Recycling Program.

Patagonia on Patagonia:

Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.
–Patagonia's Mission Statement

Patagonia grew out of a small company that made tools for climbers. Alpinism remains at the heart of a worldwide business that still makes clothes for climbing – as well as for skiing, snowboarding, surfing, fly fishing, paddling and trail running. These are all silent sports. None requires a motor; none delivers the cheers of a crowd. In each sport, reward comes in the form of hard-won grace and moments of connection between us and nature.

Our values reflect those of a business started by a band of climbers and surfers, and the minimalist style they promoted. The approach we take towards product design demonstrates a bias for simplicity and utility.

For us at Patagonia, a love of wild and beautiful places demands participation in the fight to save them, and to help reverse the steep decline in the overall environmental health of our planet. We donate our time, services and at least 1% of our sales to hundreds of grassroots environmental groups all over the world who work to help reverse the tide.

We know that our business activity – from lighting stores to dyeing shirts – creates pollution as a by-product. So we work steadily to reduce those harms. We use recycled polyester in many of our clothes and only organic, rather than pesticide-intensive, cotton.

Staying true to our core values during thirty-plus years in business has helped us create a company we're proud to run and work for. And our focus on making the best products possible has brought us success in the marketplace.

Patagonia on the Oceans as Wilderness Campaign:

Fifty million buffalo once roamed the rolling green prairies of North America. Gunners reduced them to near extinction. Now, hunters are at work on the rolling blue prairies of the sea, and already, the big fish – including miracles like thousand-pound, warm-blooded bluefin tuna – are 90 percent gone. What we regret happening on land, may again happen in the sea. Those who care about wildlife should get to know about oceans." – Carl Safina, "Comes a Turtle, Comes the World," Patagonia 2006 Heart of Winter Catalog

On land, we saw once what wildness meant. Imagine it: 50 million buffalo. Passenger pigeons that flocked so thick they covered the sun. A Spanish explorer sailing up the coast of California described a beach with scores of grizzly bears feeding on whale carcasses. Now, the vast numbers have dwindled or gone extinct. Only a remnant reminds us of what was, the animals and land we destroyed in our belief that there was a never-ending supply. We protect them with the Endangered Species Act, wilderness areas and hunting and fishing laws – having finally learned that we must.

And so now the sea: In Maine, they used to catch lobsters by gaffing them in shallow water by the shore. Cod were so numerous and so easily caught that prisoners complained because they were fed the fish too many times a week. Once, salmon returning from the ocean so crowded rivers and streams that people told stories of walking on their backs. Marlin, swordfish, mako, bluefin, abalone – everywhere in abundance.

We need to train ourselves to see what is hidden under the surface of the waters because fish stocks are in collapse and the oceans are in trouble. Many recent studies, including the Pew Oceans Commission (2003), have come to the same conclusions. The big fish, like that thousand-pound tuna, are 90 percent gone. Newfoundland cod, wild abalone, Atlantic halibut and Chilean sea bass are so scarce as to be nearly nonexistent. Breeding swordfish populations have been cut in half; marlin are rare. Pelicans in the Sea of Cortés starve for want of fish to eat.

Coral reefs are crumbling, and the ocean floor is plowed up by trawlers. Plastic kills seabirds and is found on the beaches of the world's most remote islands. Surfers, swimmers and lifeguards are vaccinated annually against hepatitis as a matter of course. Tuna and swordfish have so much methylmercury in their bodies, they are hazardous food for pregnant women and children. The causes are many, but chief among them is an ugly trinity: unsustainable fishing practices, habitat destruction and contamination.

Patagonia's 2006–07 environmental campaign was devoted to the oceans. Our goal was to help us all see what is under the waters of the earth. How the vast schools of tuna are like those herds of buffalo. How bottom trawling is like clear-cutting an entire forest to get at a single tree. In our catalogs, retail stores and on our Web site, we spent 18 months with marine scientists and writers, surfers and fishermen, to teach ourselves and our customers just how close the connection is between the vitality of human life and the marine environment.

Our OAW campaign helped bring about a great success for the oceans: the reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, the primary law governing fishing practices in U.S. waters. But our work on this issue is far from over. The fishing holes, beaches and wetlands that we enjoyed as children will not be there for our children unless we acknowledge that the oceans belong to everyone and take seriously our shared responsibility for long-term marine management.