Trout Magazine

  • Snake River dams

    Snake Week – People on the Street Q+A’s

    Hardly a day goes by that our team doesn’t get asked “Why don’t they build fish ladders?” (they have!) or “Aren’t salmon doing great?” (they are not.) This week, we're answering them on Instagram.

    Wild Snake River salmon and steelhead are headed rapidly for extinction, unless we take drastic action and remove the lower four Snake River dams. This is a priority at Trout Unlimited, and we spend lots of time researching, writing, and talking about this challenge.   But we know many people, including our friends, are still getting up…

  • Snake River dams

    Snake TROUT – Behind the cover

    Professional photographer, Ben Herndon, sits down to talk about the latest cover of TROUT Magazine. Listen as he discusses his approach to photography and what compels him to speak up and use his photography to talk about the removal of the lower Snake River dams. https://youtu.be/YF5ffufHsjk

  • From the President Snake River dams

    We must save Snake River salmon and steelhead

    Half-measures will ensure the extinction of salmon and steelhead in the Snake River basin, and nothing more.

    I have spoken at four or five conferences with Shannon Wheeler, the Vice Chairman of the Nez Perce Tribe. And every time I do, I come away a little wiser, and a little more passionate, about the need to recover Snake River salmon and steelhead. And a little more hopeful that we can. When I…

  • Snake River dams

    The river that was

    On the Snake River, what was lost and what could still be.

    Dean Ferguson and his father Dwight have an annual tradition. They drive to Colton, Wash., a tiny farm town perched on a bench above the Snake River in extreme eastern Washington. They place flowers on the graves of ancestors, then drive another few miles to an overlook across a lake.  Here 80-year-old Dwight tells his…

  • Boats Fishing Gear reviews

    Holiday Gifts for River Rats

    Because you’re here reading this, you’re more than likely into fishing… and boats. Probably both! This guide to last-minute gift ideas was compiled by TU’s resident filmmaker and boat driver Josh Duplechian and our at-large photographer/oarsman Tim Romano. While it’s short on fishing gear, it’s long on accessories that make any boat lover happy. Costa…

  • Trout Talk

    Trekking into a Tongass wilderness

    The Forest Service's Roadless Rule makes this possible: Amazing fishing for trout and salmon in an old growth forest Like others before it, the trail eventually petered out. And, like we had done before, Chris Hunt, Sam Davidson and I huddled to talk about our options. Someone said, “The road should be that direction so…

  • From the field Conservation

    Update from the Madison River: Anglers rally to save trout

    In the early hours of November 30th Hebgen Dam (the source of the Upper Madison) had malfunctioned, resulting a 70% drop in flows.

    Long-term effects of dam failure still TBD When my colleague Bill Pfeiffer and I pulled into Ennis, we were met with some familiar sights. The grocery store parking lot was overflowing with people grabbing a couple of sandwiches to take with them to the river. As we drove upriver 287 nearly every pullout, boat ramp,…