Russian River Falls. Photo from Flickr Creative Commons By Jenny Weis I was momentarily upset when a member/supporter event for work, “Community Fishing Day,” got scheduled the same Saturday as Ladies Backpacking Weekend. Summer goes by so fast, and with visitors, salmon fishing, travel and jam-packed calendars, it’s not uncommon to seldom see your Alaska
Luck, or skill? In the case of exceptional anglers like the Steelhead Whisperer, it’s mostly the latter. By Jim Burns Consider how much of your fly fishing is skill, how much is luck. This summer I excitedly boarded a plane with my fly tube and sat down, expecting nothing more than a peaceful flight, but
Hillary and youngest daughter, Susie, fishing on the Green River. Photo courtesy of Hillary Walrath. By Hillary Walrath “Mommy, tell me a real story from when you were a kid.” Recently, my oldest daughter became obsessed with me telling stories before bed. I started with fairy tales of make-believe but one night I was tired
Chulitna River. Photo by Laura Bartholomae By Jenny Weis For those of us in this community who fly fish with any regularity, it’s safe to say we’re pretty lucky. To go fishing is to set aside a few hours just for fun. It’s for breathing fresh air. For taking advantage of clean rivers, access to
Promising water for dry line steelheading. Note: Nearly three-quarters of all wild steelhead populations in their native range along the West Coast and in Idaho are threatened (TU’s CEO, Chris Wood, just penned this post on the recent closure of the winter steelhead season in Idaho due to low returns). TU and Wild Steelheaders United
Heidi Lewis, far left, took her friends Heather Hodson, Jen Ripple and Geri Meyer (left to right) on a Utah Cutthroat Slam adventure this summer. Brian Harris photo. By Heidi Lewis When Heather Hodson calls I know things are about to get good. I don’t see her often, but when I do it typically means
The salmon and steelhead fisheries of California’s Eel River were once bountiful — and could be again. California’s Eel River—the state’s third largest watershed—is legendary among anglers for its wild steelhead and salmon fisheries. Bu t like so many coastal watersheds north of San Francisco, the Eel has been hard hit over the past century
By Shauna Stephenson Before Lolo there was Olly the redtail hawk. And before Olly, FedEx brought me a box of rats, frozen, labeled and neatly arranged in Ziplock baggies, ready to be stacked alongside the Otter Pops and frozen peas. “If you’re going to be a falconer, you’re going to have to be ok with
Damage from the Nov. 30, 7.0 magnitude earthquake on the highway exit ramp nearest to the Trout Unlimited office in Anchorage. By Jenny Weis I found myself still tip-toeing around my house Saturday morning as I cleaned broken glass and straightened bookshelves, over 24 hours after the 7.0 earthquake that rattled Anchorage last Friday. I
A brown trout caught during an electroshocking fish survey on the Big Cimarron River in Colorado. Trout Unlimited photo. By Cary Denison The Big Cimarron River shouldn’t go dry. This may seem like an obvious declaration about any trout stream. But the truth is, here in Colorado’s Gunnison Basin, and many other places in the
By Shauna Stephenson If I’m in the presence of other humans – which, working from home, I rarely am – and we’ve been drinking (which, with two young children, is always a tempting way to solve one’s problems but as most moms can attest, that glass of wine isn’t nearly as nice when someone is
The California coastal stream where the author tried to begin again. By Sam Davidson The photos didn’t do justice to the fish. I had been waiting patiently for word from the Steelhead Whisperer, who had spent most of the day on his favorite winter water on the central California coast. But for hours all I
Goals The Upper James River watershed drains more than 3,000 square miles of western Virginia encompassing 10 counties and hundreds of tributary streams — the lifeblood of the James River. The majority of these mountain streams and high valley creeks historically sustained abundant populations of native brook trout and provided a steady source of clean
In April 2016, Trout Unlimited – along with a diverse group of community, landowner, and agency partners – launched an ambitious new initiative to restore and protect the headwaters and fishery of the upper Snake River in Wyoming. The Snake River Headwaters Home Rivers Initiative will leverage the capacity of the active Jackson Hole TU
Terry Prettyman enjoys lunch while sitting by the Logan River on a beautiful fall day in Logan Canyon. Brett Prettyman/Trout Unlimited By Brett Prettyman It was a fishing trip I will never forget. My dad, on the other hand, had forgotten we caught fish by the time we got home. I won’t forget for many
The goal of Trout Unlimited’s Chewuch River Permanent Instream Flow Project is to reduce the effects of irrigation withdrawals on late summer through winter low-flows in the lower eight miles of the Chewuch River.
by Toner Mitchell Editor’s Note: This post was first published on July 23, 2018, on the TU blog. Gordon Becker was in love with nature for as long as anyone can remember. He climbed it, hiked it, fished it, and boated it. After earning a master’s degree in fisheries biology, he built a career out
Thursday, May 9, delivered more good news on the Klamath River restoration front. PacifiCorp, the utility that owns the four old hydropower dams slated for removal under the Klamath Hydroelectric Settlement Agreement (KHSA), announced it has entered into a site access agreement with Kiewit Infrastructure West Company “to allow the firm to conduct initial surveying
The UPS man came to the door the other day, a pretty big package in his hands. It was from Simms. Not too long ago, the arrival of orders from outdoor gear retailers would make me giddy. Soon, I’d have my hands on a new rod. Or a new reel. Some cool flies or lures.
