By Eric Booton I felt a slight hesitation as the group collectively chose to avert our former plans in order to float Willow Creek. I had the thought but I didn’t dare say it out loud. Was this going to be another fishless story from Willow Creek? I can’t recall how many times, but it
by Jenny Weis The only thing that made sense to do on our second marriage anniversary was to go fishing. A voracious lifelong angler, my husband, Sam, introduced me to fly fishing. He supplied me with the rod, reel, and meticulously organized bead box I used today. The net I used to land the rainbows,
By Eric Booton Chrome. Silver. Red gold. All the worthy descriptions of fresh, wild Alaska salmon imply monetary value, and for good reason. Here in Alaska, wild salmon attract tourists from around the world. These trusted fish provide employment for guides, commercial fishermen, processors, chefs, pilots and many others. In the final frontier, salmon, fortunately,
By Mark Taylor “We’re moving.” My parents delivered the news to me and my sister in the spring of 1986, while we were away at college in the Midwest. While it was a little odd to think that I’d never go back to the home I grew up in, I was excited about the new
Editor’s note: This piece originally ran on the White Mountain Woman blog. By Robin Robison As an avid female angler, I am always looking for ways to connect with other women who love to be on the water. I have been fishing my entire life and some of my favorite memories are of time spent
A Firehole River brown trout caught on a small soft-hackle. By Chris Hunt For years and years, fly fishing for trout, for me, was a three-period game, not a four-quarter contest. It was hockey, not football (even though I’m not much of a hockey guy). Depending on the season, the time of day or the
It was the movie that brought thousands of new people to fly fishing. Director Robert Redford’s interpretation of Norman Maclean’s classic novella about family and fly fishing was an overwhelming success when it came out in the fall of 1992. Set in Missoula, Mont., in the 1920s it brought the beauty of wild fish and
This hefty Virginia wild brown trout didn’t hit a tiny midge. It hit a big streamer. By Mark Taylor My brother is five years my junior but that didn’t stop us from being competitive as kids, especially once he transformed from a skinny grade schooler to a surly teen. Our tiny shared bedroom was the
by Chris Hunt There’s a great little run on the South Fork of the Snake that’s only wadable when water managers lower the river in the fall, after harvest is all but done and the demand for downstream water subsides a bit. During high summer, with the river literally the potential energy for Snake River
Director and producer Robert Redford eyes a shot during filming of “A River Runs Through It”. Courtesy photo. By Brett Prettyman While most people talk about Brad Pitt’s shadow casting and the family drama the troubled soul Paul brought to his clan, I have different memories of “A River Runs Through It.” Like so many
Bob Capron has helped move countless trout from sure death in irrigation canals back to the mainstem of the Shoshone river near Cody, Wyoming. Brett Prettyman/Trout Unlimited By Dave Sweet Any angler lucky enough to have caught trout near Cody, Wyoming, may want to send Bob Capron a thank you note. Capron, who recently stepped
For immediate release Contact: Ty Churchwell (970) 903-3010 / ty.churchwell@tu.org Upper Animas River named top priority for cleanup Bonita Peak Mining District makes list of highest priority Superfund sites December 8, 2017 (Durango, Colo.) The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced today that it would include the site of 2015 Gold King mine spill, plus 47
Trout landed at Confluence Park in downtown Denver, with an amazed Mayor Hancock in background. By Randy Scholfield For many years, the South Platte through Denver, like many urban rivers, was an industrial sewer—a place where people dumped trash and chemicals into the river and hoped it all washed downstream. Out of sight, out of
One on a fly, one on a lure. Does it matter how you catch it? By Chris Hunt Maybe it’s a sign of the times. Or perhaps it’s a permanent change to our national psyche brought about the relative anonymity that comes with free-wheeling access to social media coupled with a polarized political landscape. But
By Dustin Wichterman As I crested the edge of Swago Mountain at daybreak, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of nostalgia. Thinking back to excerpts from GD McNeil’s The Last Forest, his accounts from the early 1900s of brook trout by the hundreds and fish as big as 18 inches made me yearn for
Ask a child to choose between a river and a mine and they will choose the river without hesitation. You need not explain the river belongs to all of us. You need not explain the mining company is owned by a foreign conglomerate whose only interest is to wring every short-term dollar from the landscape.
By Natalie Stauffer-Olsen I recently enjoyed an intense discussion with a dear friend. I have known this thoughtful fellow since I was a teenager—his passion for science and research, and his encouragement, were influential in my decision to pursue a career in freshwater ecology. In this particular conversation, I found myself intently listening to his
Trout Unlimited is leading a major project to protect clean water in the New Jersey Highlands, as a member of the Delaware River Watershed Initiat ive (DRWI). The William Penn Foundation announced more than $40 million in new funding for the DRWI, which is among the country’s largest non-governmental conservation efforts to protect and restore
By Eric Booton Learning to fly fish is always a mild struggle-fest. I personally endured the process with choice words, and extended periods of time with my rod catching more dust than fish. In the past few years I’ve watched friends and family go through a similar love and hate relationship with their fly rod,
By Chris Hunt Years ago, after being abruptly transplanted from the high-mountain meadows of Colorado to the hot, sticky pine forest of East Texas, I found solace in the loss of my Rocky Mountain roots in the writings of men like Bob Saile, Ed Dentry and Charlie Meyers. And I found the spirit to laugh
