I first met Bob Jacklin as a new arrival to the Yellowstone region some 20 years ago—he was tying flies at the Eastern Idaho Fly Tying Expo here in Idaho Falls, and I immediately did my best to soak as much of his fly fishing wisdom as I could. From his shop just outside the…
Finding 45 brook trout in a single pool in a small creek may sound like a good thing. In the case of a small stream in Virginia’s mountains it was anything but. The fish were trapped in a small plunge pool beneath a perched culvert on Railroad Hollow, a small brook high in the Dry…
Nestled on 65-acres in the Alleghany Highlands of Virginia, Beaverdam Falls is a private nature preserve that maintains ¾-mile of Sweet Springs Creek, the main tributary of Dunlap Creek, & offers 7-unique lodging options on-site & off-site. Nestled in the old community of Earlehurst in Alleghany County, between Covington & Roanoke, Beaverdam Falls are an…
The annual gathering on the banks of Washington’s mighty Skagit River was a great time.
THERE’S STILL TIME TO HELP LOCAL TU PROJECTS WIN A SHARE OF $25,000 FROM ORVIS The Embrace A Stream Challenge is in full swing and our local chapters have already raised more than $50,000 for 17 important local restoration projects. But they need your help to improve rivers across the country and unlock $25,000 in…
A decade ago, Garrison Doctor was a young guy from Colorado looking for a job to replace the freelance architectural rendering gig he lost during the Great Recession. He was guiding, working some odd jobs and spending a lot of time in fly shops. A talented artist and passionate fly angler, Garrison noticed that there…
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This week the United States Senate will consider the S. 3422, the Great American Outdoors Act, which includes provisions to provide full, dedicated funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) and also provide $9.5 billion in funding to address the deferred maintenance backlog on public lands.
Just after the signing of the Great American Outdoors Act, Donald Trump Jr. retweeted former Chief of Staff to the Vice President, Nick Ayers. In the tweet, Ayers opposed the Pebble mine and called on mine’s key permit to be denied.
“Fly fishing is one of the few sports where you don’t have to be great at it or in perfect shape to enjoy it. It doesn’t matter if you’re old or young, or if you make the perfect cast; it’s still a lot of fun. Fly fishing is a beautiful art form, and women take to that. I think it’s a great sport for women because women are much more about the experience than they are about the catch.”
We had a great 4th of July/Independence Day celebration with our VSP couples and TU volunteers on Slough Creek in Yellowstone Park. Complete with a delicious BBQ featuring the basic BBQ food groups of Brats, burgers, hot dogs, and baked beans, we all enjoyed wrangler Clinton’s lessons in roping and how to crack the bull…
Loon’s Matt Callies ties some great flies, and he’s really good at making it look easy. I’ve got a saltwater trip coming up, so I’ve been watching the Loon fly-tying series for some baitfish pattern ideas, and I haven’t been disappointed. Video of Basic Deceiver Above, Matt ties the Basic Deceiver, a super-simple pattern that…
Business members like Cory and Jason align their business plans with principles of conservation. They don’t just talk about it – they do it.
Emerging is the official podcast of the TU Costa 5 Rivers program and has been running for four seasons. The show began in the fall of 2020 when University of Georgia fly fishing club president, Joseph Berney, had the idea to share stories using this medium. Thanks to early support from Simms and Costa, the…
Each fall, 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 Natalie’s essay is the first in this series as the third runner-up. Natalie is from Georgia and is pictured above on one of her favorite…
By Chris Hunt Every move I made seemed amplified in the little jon boat—every time I set my fishing sling down on the aluminum deck or shifted my flip-flopped feet or repositioned a fly rod, it sounded as if I was ringing an off-key church bell. The little boat was new to me, as was…
This year, TU and Orvis asked teens to write about their special connection with nature. Read what the next generation of conservationists have to say.
I have often heard of a seemingly mythical place where you don’t really care if you catch any fish or not. “Bull-corn,” I thought.
By Ben Tayloe A spoiled, seven year-old yellow lab named Chester and a six-week stay in Germany for my wife’s job made the drive across the country a necessity. The only family member who volunteered to watch our dog happened to live on the central coast of California, a great place to visit but nearly…
Thoughts of recreation and even fishing now feel indulgent
