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Finding a balance between teaching and fishing
By Mark Taylor Beck had just made a nice cast, his lure landing in a shady spot next to the James River’s bank, when he did something you don’t expect from a 15-year-old. He admitted he was clueless “When I go to a store and look at all the fishing lures, I have no idea…
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Virginia Trout Slam a surprising, and fun, challenge
The cast was too good. The drift was too good. There was no way this was not going to work. And it did. A trout dimpled the surface as it slurped in the little olive Stimulator. It wasn’t a big trout, but I played it carefully in the fading light of a sultry Virginia May…
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Long-awaited raft a fishing game-changer
By Mark Taylor As we made our way through the final riffle, I dug the oars into the cool, green waters of Virginia’s Jackson River and aimed the stern toward the boat ramp. “Have I told you that I love this thing?” I said to my fishing partner, Sam Dean. My memory isn’t as good…
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Chance to go back to school a lockdown surprise
By Mark Taylor In normal times, as winter’s gray turns to spring’s green, those of us who love to fish would be eager to get on the water. But these aren’t normal times, which has forced many of us to change our ways. When allowed by lockdown mandates, some of us are still fishing, close to…
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Beer boost: Team effort improves habitat on Virginia’s Beaver Creek
By Mark Taylor A team approach is helping improve trout habitat on a popular fishing stream near Harrisonburg, Va. Trout Unlimited’s national staff partnered with the local TU chapter and a property owner to improve a section of Beaver Creek, a spring-fed stream that runs through private land but that is open to public fishing through a unique cooperative program. The…
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TU improving trout, salmon habitat in Michigan’s Bigelow Creek
Making fishing better in a Muskegon River tributary
Bigelow Creek located in Newaygo County, Mich., is a cold water trout stream that provides a thermal refuge for the marginal Muskegon River. The creek supports a self-sustaining population of brook and brown trout, and boasts runs of anadromous fish including coho salmon, chinook salmon and steelhead. Trout Unlimited and partners have been working to address barriers to fish…
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It’s OK to have a few secret spots
[et_pb_section admin_label="section"] [et_pb_row admin_label="row"] [et_pb_column type="4_4"][et_pb_text admin_label="Text"] Rabid protection of secret spots can be tricky. I think back to one I protected with a vigor that bordered on irrational paranoia. It was a small stream not far from Roanoke, Va., and I fished it for the first time not long after I moved to the…
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