Gear test: Cabela’s Atoll saltwater rod

Sometimes the little things can make all the difference, and the Cabela’s Atoll 8-weight saltwater rod is all the proof I need. Its main purpose is to cast a big fly far and accurately, and it handles these tasks extremely well. In a side-by-side comparison with a considerably more expensive rod, the G III technology

Voices from the River: Frozen

By Mark Taylor BALDWIN, Mich. — My fellow passenger was friendly. “What is that?” she asked, looking at the 3-foot-long, cordura-covered tube in my grasp. “A fishing rod,” I said. “You’re going fishing in Michigan in February?” she said, raising her eyebrows. “Like, ice fishing?” Actually, I was going to a meeting with TU’s Great

Wisconsin TU honors retired Forest Service hydrologist Dale Higgins

By Nick Schmal and Laura MacFarland As stewards of more than 220,000 miles of America’s fishable streams and rivers, the U.S. Forest Service has long been an invaluable partner in protecting and restoring coldwater fisheries and their watersheds throughout North America. Perhaps most impactful in recent decades, has been their leadership in the advance of

Taking action to protect the places we live and love

This week’s news that the EPA was suspending the Clean Water Act’s protections for headwater streams was a stark reminder that elections have consequences. The previous presidential administration worked for years to write the rule, and the new one doesn’t like it. Game over, right? No. Don’t forget an unassailable fact—elected leaders are elected. By

Work on small tribs in Michigan creates big impacts

Trout Unlimited staff and partners braved snow and cold to finish a fish passage project on Hinton Creek in Michigan. By Jeremy Geist Headwater streams are a critical component to the overall health of a watershed and largely add to the biodiversity of a whole river system. These types of streams are the ones we

TU helping with Boardman Dam removal in Michigan

Trout Unlimited has been acting as a sub-contractor to provide construction oversight of the Boardman Dam Removal river restoration project in Traverse City, Mich., an effort that will continue through early 2018. The Boardman Dam, originally constructed in 1894 as a hydropower generation dam, had no fish passage capabilities. The project is one of three

Looking back at 2017

By Chris Wood Last week, I had an hour between meetings in Carmel, California, so I called Tim Frahm, who directs our CA coastal steelhead work. He invited me to look at a project that Christy Fischer, his spouse, and he had worked on. Over chicken sandwiches they told me a riveting story about how