By Dave Atcheson Most Alaskans are painfully aware of the recent downturn in king salmon runs on many of our streams. The numbers of returning Chinook salmon have remained alarmingly low for the last several years, prompting fishing closures in many areas, including the previous season’s closure of the entire Southeast region. It was with…
Editor’s note: The following is exerpted from TU’s book, “Trout Tips,” available online for overnight delivery. As somebody who has covered fishing for more than 25 years, I have realized, hopefully not too late, that I relied too heavily on the people I was writing about. Too often, I let them tie the knots, pick…
In the Rio San Antonio, TU is working to restore a vital and vulnerable watershed.
On Tuesday, the President signed this year’s massive $1.5 trillion funding bill into law … Here are four reasons why Trout Unlimited is excited about the passage of the federal government funding omnibus bill.
Congress’ lame-duck session offers opportunities for trout and salmon
TU volunteer Steve Zakur found the right place for his adventure a couple years ago. I’m always a bit apprehensive about dropping big money on a far-flung fishing adventure to some distant lodge in the middle of nowhere. There are just so many things to consider, and the price and location are just a couple…
Tailing bonefish. A daisy chain of 80-pound tarpon. The reflection of the Caribbean sun off the sythe-shaped tail of a permit. A striper blitz. And rising trout. These are the images that raise goose bumps on our arms and up our blood pressure. The are, for lack of a better term, potential. They represent the…
Garrison Doctor of Rep Your Water has some great advice for anglers heading out in the winter to chase trout. It’s simple, really, and it oozes with plain, old common sense. Be ready for anything. Trout Tips – Winter Fishing Intro from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo. Conditions in winter can vary from blue-bird skies (like…
Winter or early spring fly fishing can be a lot of fun. I swear by the Henry’s Fork this time of year—some of the best fish I’ve caught in this storied river have come when I’ve had to slide down the bank over two feet of snow to get to the river. But winter fly…
Photo by Tim Romano I’m very excited, humbled and honored to have been invited to take part in a new endeavor called the “School of Trout.” Guide, author, and Conservation Hawks lead man Todd Tanner is the School of Trout’s creator and headmaster. It’s a weeklong school that will allow students to dive into the…
When I first waded the flats some years back, one of the Bahamian guides explained to me that I should have a good amount of line out on the water at all times, and if I wasn’t fishing, I should have the fly pinched between the thumb and forefinger of my non-casting hand. That way,…
By Helen Neville I think it’s safe to say that rarely in my life have I been inspired performing grant reporting. But in a recent effort to compile progress toward metrics for the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Lahontan Cutthroat Trout Keystone Initiative, whi ch funds much of TU’s work on LCT, I had one…
Tying parachute-style flies can help anglers see the dry flies they’re fishing. This time of year, particularly on backcountry streams or during prolific big-bug hatches (think big salmonflies, for instance), it’s often just as important for you to see your fly as it is for the fish you’re after to track your offering. As I’ve…
By Paul Doscher I’ll admit it. I was what some call an environmentalist (I prefer conservationist) before I was a TU member. Of course, I had angling in my history, but that was back when my father would wake me up at 5 a.m. on summer mornings so we could go out and catch our…
Yeah, I know… it’s only Tuesday. It’s probably not fair to be getting all excited about getting out on a small stream with full week of work ahead. But it’s summer. And for a lot of us, by the time summer finally gets here, it’s almost over. So I’m enjoying, even from the confines of…
At first blush, the idea of spotting rising trout seems pretty simple. But think about it for a minute—how many times, during low light, have you struggled to see exactly where rising trout are working, simply because you don’t have the right background to help you differentiate between water m ovement and honest-to-God risers, sippers…
Editor’s note: The following is exerpted from TU’s book, “Trout Tips,” available online for overnight delivery. Too many anglers waste precious time blind-casting, hoping to hook fish. Fishing for the trophy fish is muc like hunting big game. The dedicated big-game hunter walks, spots, stalks, and then shoots; of course you don’t shoot (perhaps line),…
A side-by-side before and after illustration shows how much water was added to help sportfish in the Provo River thanks to extra flow from an endangered fish program. Photos by Brian Wimmer/Alpine Anglers TU Chapter. By Brett Prettyman Anglers are almost always the first to notice issues in the environment. When anglers on the popular…
Remember, it’s about how flies look to the fish. Photo by Chris Hunt. Some flies are meant to catch fish, and some flies are meant to catch anglers. I am always surprised by how some of the patterns I think are sure-fire winners because they look so snazzy turn out to be duds. And sometimes,…
One of the best days I ever had on my local river—the South Fork of the Snake—was spent almost exclusively fishing riffles with big stonefly nymphs, maybe a week or so before the river’s fabled salmonfly hatch that generally happens sometime around the Fourth of July. The upper South Fork is a braided, fishy wonderland…
