Join our community of optimists and unlock the unlimited power of conservation.
Join our community of optimists and unlock the unlimited power of conservation.
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…
Check out TU’s Stream Temperature Monitoring Handbook. By Kurt Fesenmyer One great way to take the pulse of your local river is by monitoring stream temperatures. Inexpensive data loggers offer the opportunity to record water temperatures every hour for several years, providing easy access to important information on seasonal patterns, short-term trends, and the impacts…
With spring in full swing it’s time to get outside. All over the country, small fingerling trout and salmon smolts are leaving classrooms in the hands of their student caretakers and heading to local rivers and streams via TU’s Trout in the Classroom and Salmon in the Classroom programs. Now is the time for other…
Vote in the Spring Fly Showdown
The Caddis Fly Angling Shop in Eugene, OR has been around for over 40 years, long enough to see its influence expand from a great regional shop to a real force on the fly fishing scene.
Film screenings have become an increasingly popular way to engage and inspire communities across the nation. These films cater to an audience that is deeply devoted, passionate and excited about the opportunity to gather with friends, celebrate their sport, and dream about casts still unmade. The International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4) is our official…
I’ve had the good fortune to visit the Palometa Club in Punta Allen, about three hours by car south of Cancun, to chase bonefish and permit. When I saw this video, a rush of great memories came back to me—from our jovial driver, Manny, to the ride to the lodge where all the magic happens,…
Ah, sibling rivalries. Anybody who has a brother or a sister understands exactly what it’s like to compete with those closest to you for everything from the food put on the table at night to the fish that come to hand. Meet the Sallee brothers—one is a musician and the other is robotics application engineer.…
Years ago, just prior to going to the Bahamas for my first-ever flats trip, I must have watched the video below a hundred times. I was told by the folks I was fishing with that “You need to know how to double haul” if you’re going to chase bonefish on the flats. Man, were they…
Editor’s note: The following was inspired by the “A dog’s life” blog post last week. I have a black lab named Charlie and she is a great hunting and fishing dog. Charlie comes from great retrieving stock and I worked hard on a daily basis to teach her the game. She was about two when…
Fly-tying materials, particularly for new tiers, can be confounding. And it doesn’t help when professional tiers go all out with exotic materials that are both expensive and super hard to find. But some materials are easy to get a hold of, and, with some advice from seasoned tiers, can be put to use right away,…
Last week, RIO Product’s Simon Gawesworth showed us a great way to swing soft-hackle flies for big-river trout. This week, Simon shows us how to drift a soft-hackle for working trout. There are some notable differences, obviously. First is the technique. When swinging a soft-hackle, you’re interested in line tension and the action of the…
Foam flies revolutionized dry-fly angling a couple of decades ago. Flies that absolutely must float—think grasshoppers, big salmon flies and other terrestrial flies, like ants and beetles—got a big boost from the foam incursion into the fly-tying arena years ago. While foam can be really effective to use in any number of patterns, it can…
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…