Author

Mark Taylor

  • Brian Stranko to lead TU’s program in Maine

    Brian Stranko has joined the Trout Unlimited staff as its Maine program manager.  TU has many projects and initiatives under way in Maine, including enhancing streams with strategic wood additions and advocating for better fish passage for endangered Atlantic salmon. He will work closely with TU’s Maine Council and chapters.  Stranko succeeds longtime TU staffer…

  • Fishing

    Your next secret spot might be right under your nose

    “He was right!” My friend Sam Dean exclaimed this as the 10-inch wild rainbow jumped around the small pool trying to throw Sam’s size 16 Copper John nymph, which it had mistaken for actual food. “He” was the guy who had told me a while back that a certain non-trout-looking creek was actually quite trout-y.…

  • Restoration

    New York’s “Barrier Busters” on a roll

    On a recent early fall day, Tracy Brown and Jesse Vadala connected to reflect on what had been an extremely busy several months for them and the rest of TU’s Northeast Coldwater Habitat Program. “It can be a bit of a slog,” Brown said of TU’s field season, which generally wraps up in October for…

  • Science

    Stream surveyors work now for the future

    The plan, as so many good ones do, started over a beer.

    Two men with equipment in a stream

    The plan, as so many good ones do, started over a beer.  Well, several beers.  “We’re going to be at Hunting Creek next Wednesday with the EPA,” my friend Jason Hill said, a couple hours into another friend’s birthday bash at the Starr Hill Pilot Brewery in Roanoke, Va. “You should come.”  “Absolutely,” I said,…

  • Fishing

    To kill bass (or not)

    The thrill of the catch

    A South Umpqua bass next to a fishing pole handle

    The thrill of the catch. Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle…splash!  As I reared back and the fishing rod bent in a tight arc, I thought, “This is a good start!”  And it got better.  Seven casts. Seven fish. And 30 minutes of the best smallmouth bass fishing I’d ever experienced. Five of the seven bass were fat…

  • Climate Change

    TU projects fare well in Northeast flooding

    Rain water floods the side of a road, destroying the pavement

    When recent heavy rains pummeled the Northeast, the immediate priority was safety for the region’s residents.  Now that deadly flood waters have receded, New Englanders are grappling with both the emotional scars of the devastation to lives and property and assessing the damage and moving forward toward recovery.  Trout Unlimited seasonal stream technician Mo Ouren…