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The Phoenix in the Elwha River
Editors note: This piece originally appeared in the opinion section of the Spokesman-Review. It is often difficult, if not impossible, to restore wild places to their former ecological and aesthetic glory once human development has altered them. But in some cases, the vitality of wild places can be recovered. The Elwha River on Washington state’s…
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Fly fishing’s trade association on the rise
As Ben Bulis stepped up to the podium at the annual industry breakfast, the opening event of the International Fly Tackle Dealer show, he looked out at a ballroom full of people. As the president of the American Fly Fishing Trade Association, Bulis had to grin. "There are more people in this room today than…
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Act, then put the Tongass on your bucket list
If you want to catch a very large steelhead in a very small stream, there’s probably no better place on the planet to do so than Southeast Alaska’s Tongass National Forest. The Tongass is almost 17 million acres of mountains, fjords, massive glaciers and wild rivers and creeks. With 18,000 miles of public waters that…
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Hanging with the pros
Dave Kielar felt like he had to pinch himself. There he sat, surrounded by what amounted to fly fishing glitterati, at a dinner table at TroutHunter in Island Park, Idaho. Earlier in the week, he got to rub elbows with the venerable Craig Mathews, who for years owned and operated Blue Ribbon Flies in nearby…
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Set your fantasy fly lineup
‘Tis the season. Over the weekend, my buddy and fellow TU-er Kirk Deeter and I faced off in fantasy football. We’re both underachieving this year--it seems we both have the bad fortune to play the highest-scoring opponents in the league every week this season, so we both find ourselves in the middle of the standings,…
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Longtime conservation officer now focused on steelhead and salmon
A fly fisherman searches the water of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho waiting for the elusive tug on the end of his line from a steelhead. Josh Duplechian/Trout Unlimited As a conservation officer with the Idaho Fish and Game Department, Eric Crawford’s work was largely reactive. “I could make a great…
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Alaska TU leaders on public lands: Be an advocate
By Karl Schultz, Josh Greiser, Pete Lyford, John Messick, Maggie Harings, Jon Heifetz, Kevin Miller and Jake Fleetwood With tourist season winding down, Alaska residents flock to public lands to enjoy the best our state has to offer. With fewer people along our riverbanks and trails, the rush to fill our freezers before the snow…
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