Tying the Douglas Salmon Camp Swinger
Articulated streamers are quickly becoming some of my favorite patterns to tie at the vise
Search results for “great lakes”
Trees of Time: Expanding the Legacy of Boquet River Restoration
In the early 1990s, TU volunteer Rich Redmen had the idea to use large Willow stakes to resurrect a deeply eroding stream bank on the Boquet River in Wadhams, N.Y. At the time, it was a common practice to load eroding banks with large rocks, often called rip rap. But rip rap could cost 15…
30 Great Places: White Mountain National Forest
Region: New EnglandActivities: Fishing, hunting, hikingSpecies: Brook and brown trout; whitetail deer; ruffed grouse; moose Where: The White Mountain National Forest comprises more than 750,000 acres in the eastern New Hampshire counties of Grafton, Coos and Carroll with a small portion of the forest extending into Maine. The forest includes over 100 miles of the…
30 Great Places: Rio Grande del Norte
Region: Southern RockiesActivities: Hiking, fishing, rafting, hunting, mountain biking, campingSpecies: Rainbow and brown trout Where: The Rio Grande Del Norte National Monument is a swath of more than 240,000 acres of protected public land in Taos County, in north central New Mexico. Much of the land abuts about 50 miles of its eponymous river. The…
TU Costa 5 Rivers Club Spotlight: Sewanee
We recently chatted with Zoë Mihalas, a former TU Teen Leader, recipient of TU’s Distinguished Service Award for Youth Education, and current president of the Sewanee 5 Rivers club.
Video spotlight: Bass on a fly
As Orvis Guide to Fly Fishing Host Tom Rosenbauer notes, bass are the top sportfish in North America, and he’s right. Just about anywhere you go, from the lakes of Canada to the swamps of the Deep South, bass are readily available. But, as Tom notes, most folks don’t chase bass with flies. “The key…
Trout Tips: The still-water retrieve
Fly fishing lakes for trout can be tricky. With an entire of body of water at their disposal and no need to make quick decisions on food that floats by like it might in a river, trout tend to dial in on what’s in the water at any given time. Still Water Retrieve from Trout…
Sunny Days
I always look forward to the transition to wet-wading season. Here in the mid-Atlantic that usually hits in mid-May, unless you’re fishing a tailwater just downstream from a dam, in which case waders are still a must. Even with neoprene wading socks, the first steps into a chilly (but not frigid) trout stream can be…
Hope for the Everglades
No, southern Florida isn’t a trout fishery (at least not of the salmonid variety). But we’re all connected by water, and the Everglades might be the best living laboratory in the country that explains the virtues of water, not just to people, but to every living thing. Our friends at Orvis took to the Everglades…
A Lahontan cutthroat trout story from someone who knows them best
Today we only have Lahontan cutthroat trout in 73 streams across the Great Basin — almost all are isolated and most of those populations exhibit low genetic diversity
Short casts: Trophies in Idaho, Colorado; an ode to Lefty, Madison fly choices, and more
Photo courtesy of the Idaho Statesman ‘Tis the season for big fish, it seems. On Idaho’s Boise River—a fantastic urban fishery—Jason Waidelich latched into a massive rainbow trout that tipped the scales over 19 pounds, a highly unusual catch for the Boise. At first, Waidelich’s wife, was sure the fish was one of several steelhead…
Traditions: Fishing the High Uintas
By Brett Prettyman Among the many thoughts running through my mind while traipsing though the wilds is one that does more than the others to clear out the chaos and clutter of every day life. “Am I the first human to stand in this place?” The fact I am even pondering the possibility means I…
Fly tying: The Slumpbuster
The Slumpbuster is a John Barr creation, and it’s intent is exactly as the name implies. It’s big. It’s heavy. It pushes water. It’s the “look at me!” fly that we all search for when things are slow, the action suddenly ceases or under high water when finding fish might be a bit of a…
Fly tying: Damselfly nymph
If you fish in froggy water—slow-moving, maybe a bit muddy—you need to have damselfly nymphs in your fly box. They work well in long slicks in trout water or even in high-elevation trout ponds and lakes. And, of course, they’re great for warm-water critters like bass and bluegill in waters where they’re found. The originator…
Living Waters Fly Fishing stands with TU on Lower Snake
“Conservation is one of the pillars of the fishing community and as anglers we are meant to be stewards of the aquatic environment. The removal of dams unlocks so much more than just the water they hold – it unlocks the natural potential of anadromous fish. By deconstructing our own creations, we allow nature to rebuild itself in a way that we could never imagine! For this reason, as a business and as anglers, Living Waters Fly Fishing supports the removal of dams on the Snake River.”
Will more anglers bring more awareness to invasive species?
With a bit of encouragement and support, hopefully we can dramatically grow the ranks of those who advocate for clean water. The more voices the better
Royal Coachman Lodge
The Royal Coachman Lodge is one of the premier Alaska fly fishing lodges located in the heart of the world famous Bristol Bay sport fishing region of Southwest Alaska. The lodge sits on the banks of the Nuyakuk River, a quarter of a mile downstream from the outlet to Tikchik Lake, nestled in the 1.6…
Boys Becoming Men
Measuring the passing of time during a week in Canada
Native: Arctic char? Or Dolly Varden?
By Dave Atcheson “I cast out and try to be patient, waiting for my fly to sink. On my first cast I’m too patient and snag. On the next I begin my retrieve earlier, an excruciatingly slow retrieve, just a twitch of the line here and there to keep my fly undulating above the weed…
Tying the Franke Shiner baitfish imitation for migrating browns
Baitfish imitations work great in the fall, particularly where migrating brown trout are found. As these fish move out of lakes or upstream from big water to spawning habitat, they just get more and more aggressive