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…

Great Lakes Stream Restoration

Goals: With more than 20 percent of the Earth’s available freshwater flowing through its rivers, streams and lakes, the Great Lakes basin is an unparalleled natural resource. An immense network of coldwater rivers and streams exists, among many other important aquatic ecosystems, providing anglers with a variety of unique opportunities. Whether it is fishing for…

Voices from the River: Keeping the Faith

Nick Halle, TU’s volunteer operations coordinator, kept at it even after falling in over his head and was rewarded with this nice buck steelhead from Ohio’s Conneaut Creek during a recent TU staff steelhead outing. By Mark Taylor “I’ve lost all faith.” The admission came from Keith Curley as we stood in the snow on…