Voices from the River: What makes a ‘trophy?’

by Kirk Deeter I love catching big fish. How can you not? After all, size is the benchmark that is ingrained to matter most to many anglers. My mother doesn’t fish much, but when I call her to say I spent the day fishing, she always asks: “Did you catch any?” Question two… “How big?”

Beavers: Friend or foe?

What happened to my favorite little trout creek? It’s now a series of trout ponds! And most of this happened since last year! Most of you TUers know we’ve covered the issue of beavers in Trout magazine. In short, beavers can be extremely damaging to trout habitat in some places (like Wisconsin, where removal of

Short casts: Cross-breeding in the Great Lakes, muskies in Indiana, know your knots

Biologists in Minnesota have come to the conclusion that two non-native species of rainbow trout are cross-breeding in Lake Superior tributary streams. Introduced steelhea d are now spawning with and alonsgide introduced Kamloops-strain rainbow trout. As for what this means for both contrived fisheries, it’s still up in the air. The good news for anglers,

Short casts: Opening day, beer, growlers and conservation funding

Major League Baseball’s first pitches will start flying in less than a week. In generations past, another spring opener generated even more excitement among certain folks. The annual trout season opener was a major event. Trout openers have gradually faded away. Some states still have them — such as Missouri, pictured above — but many

Winter Blog from the TU Teens of Gallipolis!

TU Teens of Gallipolis stays quite busy over the winter months. Students use this time to practice casting skills outside on the grass or in the gymnasium. We spend time working on knot tying skills and get familiar with the different types of flies that are used in fly fishing. Santa Claus was very generous

Grand Prize camp essay: Thomas L!

Each year, TU Camp and Academy graduates are invited to enter the TU Teen Essay Contest in which they share their camp experiences. This year we had four finalists, and Thomas’ essay is the last in this series as the grand prize winner! He received a TFO BVK rod for his heartfelt essay. Thomas is