Mike Sepelak casts to Okefenokee bowfin with the Redington Crux. I’m not shy about my affinity for Redington. Over the last decade or so, I believe the fly-fishing gear manufacturer has taken more chances than any of its competitors in its class. Yes, its affiliation with Farbank (and Sage, in particular), certainly helps Redington’s optics,
Nick Milkovich looks through a transparency tube to help assess water quality. (Photo: Josh Martz) By Jake Lemon Citizen Science Day 2018 celebrates the work of the amazing volunteers who power the field. Nick Milkovich is a citizen scientist who recently participated in a Water Quality Snapshot Day event in the Allegheny National Forest. This
By Chris Wood My friend, Blaine, who works for The Conservation Fund, was telling me about the project tour he and his son, Witt, took to Mossy Creek in Virginia on property managed by the great TU Business leader, Mossy Creek Outfitters. Keith Curley, who directs our eastern conservation work, led the tour of work
My name is Morgan Bradley and I am from Telluride, Colo. From a young age, I began fishing with my dad, who has been a life-long angler. It started with a spin rod, fishing with worms and other bait for species like catfish and bass back when I used to live in Phoenix, Ariz.. When
Editor’s note: The biggest sporting event of spring, the NCAA basketball tournament, is simply not happening this year thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. Anglers, though, can still effectively “social distance” and go fishing in areas where it’s safe and legal to leave the house, using their favorite flies. In that spirit, TU and our friends
For Douglas Outdoors founder David Barclay, growing up on the Salmon River instilled a deep love and passion for the area and provided a reason to follow his dream of creating a local upstate New York business that would offer high quality fishing equipment and could provide jobs for the local communities.
To say 2020 has been a challenging year would be an understatement. But, perhaps what the year has provided us is an opportunity to reflect on what’s really important
March 10 can’t come soon enough. The Fly Fishing Film tour, otherwise known as F3T, provides a time when I can’t wait to sit in front of a screen. While the snow still flies in Colorado, I revel in films that whisk me away to far-off adventures. I can drool over beastly fish. I get my adrenaline pumping with insane footage, and this year, we can do all this from the
Kris spent a decade in TV news before starting Tight Line Media in 2006. With a quarter century of multimedia storytelling, she’s forever in search of dynamic topics. She researches the issues thoroughly, then translates the core elements via video, photo and words with the credibility that comes from experience. That credibility comes through in her series Ocean to Idaho in which she follows the 850-mile migration of salmon from the Oregon coast to the headwaters of the Snake River in Idaho.
“Our lives are full of problems that have no clear answers. Often, the simple solution is hard to find, and the black and white is hidden somewhere in all the gray areas. This isn’t one of those situations. If we want to have wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River Basin, the Snake River is the place. These fish are now at only 1 to 2 percent of their historic populations. Why? Dams. Vedavoo is proud to stand with our partners at Trout Unlimited in support of the proposal to Remove the Lower Four.”
People are the backbone and the force of our conservation efforts. However, money keeps the lights on late at night while we’re planning those conservation projects. Funds raised can pay for the tank at the new Trout in the Classroom program across town or buy two hours of a bulldozer and backhoe to move boulders
Trout Unlimited and SweetWater Brewing Company teamed up again in 2019 to work toward cleaner water for people and for trout. The Atlanta-based craft brewery invited TU to participate in their Save Our Waters campaign for the fourth consecutive year. As part of the program, SweetWater pledges a donation of up to $20,000 to match donations made to TU. Trout
By Garrett Hanks Wolf Creek pass in the San Juan mountains of Colorado serves as the tipping point between the westward San Juan basin, home to the recently rediscovered San Juan cutthroat trout, and the Rio Grande cutthroat’s namesake river to the east. Unlike trout, bear, mule deer and other wildlife are unhindered by the ridgeline; their tracks freely cross the divide. Look north and you’ll notice the burn scar from the West Fork fire of 2013. Setting off south along the Continental Divide Trail, you quickly
On a map, it doesn’t look all that far. A quick jaunt up the freeway. A race across a sea of potato fields and a good section of the Idaho National Laboratory, where plans are in place to build a dozen modular nuclear reactors to help power some 36 western communities starting in less than a decade. Finally, there’s the run up the river valley to where the desert meets the Lemhi Range
Two years ago, I took possession of a weathered 15-year- old wooden fishing dory from my friend Andy Toohey. “Took possession,” because I didn’t buy it, and he didn’t want it. He let me have that boat, but only after I had promised that I would fully restore it, and I wouldn’t bring it back, whether I lived up to promise number one or not.
A fly fisherman searches the water of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho waiting for the elusive tug on the end of his line from a steelhead. Josh Duplechian/Trout Unlimited As a conservation officer with the Idaho Fish and Game Department, Eric Crawford’s work was largely reactive. “I could make a great
TU has magic when it comes to attracting great people
As Tim Flagler notes in the video below, the Cream Variant is “an oldie, but a goodie.” Indeed, I remember seeing this pattern for the first time as a child—it is the epitome of delicate fly fishing, and I remember thinking that all flies used for fishing should be this beautiful. Video of Cream Variant
Wading while fly fishing is one of the more visceral experiences the craft offers. There’s something very primal about feeling cold trout water working its way around your legs—I’ve always felt that is makes me part of the river rather than just a visitor. But wading safely is important, and Orvis’ Tom Rosenbauer, in the
We’ve all been there. The fish are rising on the far bank, and you can reach them … if only you had enough room behind you for a backcast. But you don’t. What to do? In the video above, TU’s Kirk Deeter demonstrates a simple technique borrowed from spey casters that simply helps you get
