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Native Odyssey: The Valle Vidal
Located in Northern New Mexico’s Sangre de Cristo Mountains in the Upper Rio Grande River Basin, Valle Vidal lies within the Carson National Forest. Meandering its way through Valle Vidal, Comanche Creek is one of the last refuges for Rio Grande cutthroat trout in the state of New Mexico. TU's extensive Commanche Creek project addresses…
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Native: Ontario brook trout
Above: Native brook trout from the northwest Ontario interior. Photo courtesty of Paul Smith. Below: The author holds a brook trout from Argentina's Corcovado River. When those of us here in the lower 48 think of brook trout, we might think of boulder-hopping in a secret Appalachian canyon that has managed for more than two…
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Fly tying: The Slumpbuster
The Slumpbuster is a John Barr creation, and it's intent is exactly as the name implies. It's big. It's heavy. It pushes water. It's the "look at me!" fly that we all search for when things are slow, the action suddenly ceases or under high water when finding fish might be a bit of a…
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Voices from the River: Pike at the end of the rainbow
By Eric Booton Confidence overwhelmed me as I rode in the bow of the canoe. My cousin and I, paddling in tandem, raced toward the “pike of gold” at the end of the rainbow that Alaska’s midnight sun had put on display for us. The rainbow was particularly noteworthy, in fact. Powerful enough to captivate…
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Skills: Walleye on the fly … any ideas?
The sun sets over Whitewater Lake in northwest Ontario. I’m at Striker’s Point Lodge, part of the the Wilderness North Lodge system in Ontario. We arrived after a 90-minute float-plane ride from Thunder Bay this afternoon, and, after getting our gear all unpacked and a quick dinner, we hit Whitewater Lake in search of some…
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Trout Tips: Lessons from the gear guys
Editor's note: You can own TU's newest book, "Trout Tips," and have it delivered overnight. The book is a compilation of tips and tricks from TU staffers and volunteers from all over America. I'm in Duluth, Minn., for the annual Outdoor Writers Association of America conference, and got the opportunity to do some great public…
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Those three things…
That's the Gore Range. What does it tell you? It tells me, it's "game-on." Nirvana. Like a kid who waits anxiously for Christmas morning, I wait to see this. Lightly-draped in snow, the peaks have given us their best. Runoff is ending. And to me, there are three windows I love to fish more than…
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