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Chill out and let others enjoy the river, too
I once observed a school of trout whacking away at PMDs have a canoe float right over them. How long do you think it took for them to turn back on?
I have to chuckle when I see anglers get so bent out of shape when a kayak floats by, or a dog takes a swim within barking distance of where they are fishing. I once watched a friend’s ears literally turn red every time a tuber drifted downstream. That’s silly for two reasons. First, we…
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Think (outside the) Tank: meet the beavers
It’s been over a month since we released our Think Tank brook trout into the Cross River, and we are finding that they have new neighbors moving in: beavers! Evidence of the beavers can be seen all along the stream—from dams to lodges, chewed down trees to flooded plains. Beavers have long been known to be ecosystem engineers and drastically change the stream in many ways. Beaver structures at Ward…
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What are fences good for?
In New Mexico, fences protect trout habitat and livestock It feels great to get out again on TU field projects. A few weeks ago, we journeyed to the Gila to take some stream measurements, and last week we went to the northwestern Jemez Mountains to replace some fence along the Rio de las Vacas. Our volunteer crew of women and men from regional TU chapters and our partner organization, New…
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Learn from the best at School of Trout
There’s a great deal to be said for doing one thing and doing it with excellence. My friend Todd Tanner and the folks at School of Trout do that with fly fishing. Boy howdy, do they ever. They bring together the planet's finest and most iconic fly fishers to share their experiences, their knowledge, their…
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Nothing beats the heat like a Bimini
This year I custom fit a stainless, Sunbrella material version from River Sombrero to my drift boat of all things
As an angler first when I started boating, I’ve been a little slow to the "shade game" on my vessels as it was never a priority. Since having kids (the main reason), doing extended desert floats, and multi-day trips where fishing isn’t really part of the equation, I’ve become a little softer in my old…
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Lower Snake River dam removal is a golden key, if not a silver bullet
Salmon return to the Columbia River in this 2104 photo of the fish viewing window at Bonneville Dam, the first of eight dams salmon and steelhead from the Snake River basin must pass on their way home to spawn. Removing the four dams on the lower Snake River would give these migratory fish a fighting…
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Chasing the Wyoming Cutt-Slam and keeping the wolves away
Looking back, I saw Sweet, who had coyly picked a honey hole on a backwater around a small island I didn’t even notice, who was looking upriver at me and grinning ear to ear. At that moment, I remember thinking he resembled a child showing off his hard work.
Sunset on Yellowstone Lake in Yellowstone National Park. Once the stronghold of Yellowstone cutthroat trout, invasive lake trout now threaten the native species in this iconic fishery. Daniel A. Ritz photo. Learning the meaning of refuge and what it means to defend it in the Cowboy State Daniel Ritz is fishing across the Western United States…
