Bipartisan effort needed to protect Great Lakes Restoration Initiative

By Taylor Ridderbusch   For the third consecutive year, the Trump Administration’s budget proposal looks to cut critical programs that protect and restore coldwater resources and that form the foundation of multi-billion dollar commercial and recreational fishing economies.   The proposal would significantly cut funding to the EPA and other agencies, essentially eliminating programs such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative (GLRI), Section

Great Lakes Newsletter, Winter 2019

Trout Unlimited’s efforts in the Great Lakes region continue to expand and 2018 was a big year for accomplishments in both the field and in advocacy efforts. TU staff and volunteers worked on dozens of major stream restoration, protection and reconnection projects in the region. TU’s active involvement in important issues helped move the needle on issues

Connecting people to policy

TU’s government and policy staff. By Chris Wood Several of the bright lights in the Trout Unlimited policy world came into the intergalactic headquarters last week. Their recent accomplishments are pretty amazing. Dave Kinney of New Jersey helped organize efforts to pass and then fund legislation for restoration in the Delaware Basin; Taylor Ridderbusch of

Fly tying: Last Chance Cripple Hendrickson

As I watched Tim Flagler tie the Last Chance Cripple Hendrickson, I inadvertantly cringed at the language used in the video below. Fly tying may the last refuge for the antiquated term, “cripple.” Meant to imitate a mayfly that, for some reason or another, is struggling to break loose of the water’s surface film while

How the shutdown is harming anglers

By Chris Wood “Good riddance. Think of all of the money we are saving.” I looked at Max in exasperation. He is one of the most hard-core sportsmen I know. I have hunted for whitetail with him in driving rainstorms in West Virginia, and stalked catfish on the Potomac using hummus-impregnated Clouser-minnows. He is a

Getting started: Know your trout

The brook trout is actually char, native to Appalachia, eastern Canada and the upper Midwest. Photo by Chris Hunt. Editor’s note: This the third in a series of posts geared toward new fly fishers. More installments will follow.  A couple of years ago, I was fishing a small, backcountry trout stream on the Island Park

Great Lakes Stream Restoration-Wisconsin

A majority of Wisconsin’s 115 fish species, including native brook trout, need to move throughout a watershed seasonally or at varying stages in their lifecycle to feed, find cooler water, avoid predators and reach spawning habitat. Research conducted in the early 1990s in Northern Wisconsin documented the seasonal movement of trout. When water temperatures reached