Most of us don’t start our fishing lives on some storied fishery. Not many people spend their formative years on the Railroad Ranch of the Henry’s Fork nor in the lore-rich valleys of the Catskills, but a great many begin their journey at the exact same humble body of water; the neighborhood bluegill pond.
For Mike Mihalas, a surprise encounter in that pond (located in suburban Connecticut in this case) was the springboard to a life focused on fish, rivers and wild places.
“I grew up fishing there for bluegill and bass, and I fished all the time,” Mihalas said. “But one spring I caught a new fish — a fish that I later learned was a brook trout. It just blew my mind.”
Mihalas soon learned, to his astonishment, that the beautiful fish with bright blue and red spots he encountered was most likely a visitor to the pond from, of all places, the tiny stream that ran just behind his house.
“From then on, brook trout became my favorite fish,” he said. “For sure it was amazing to see them there. This wasn’t a wilderness; this was a neighborhood, but on the edge of a forest, where I could wander and explore.”
Mihalas spent his entire childhood living on that stream in Connecticut, exploring it in the hopes of encountering its vermiculated residents. Sadly, he also saw just how fragile the environments of these beautiful native fish are. A new neighborhood constructed upstream of the family’s home damaged the creek through deforestation and subsequent sedimentation, which took its toll on the tiny creek.
“By the time we moved away, there weren’t many brook trout left,” Mihalas said. “Basically, I saw what happens when we don’t take care of these places.”
Forging ahead
Mihalas experienced firsthand both the magic of a trout stream and the loss of it. And like so many others who want to protect the things they love, he decided to do something about it.
Mihalas first found his way to volunteering with Trout Unlimited some years later while living in coastal South Carolina. His love of trout fishing drew him from the coast up to the mountains of the Palmetto State (toward the southern end of his beloved brook trout’s native range), and before long Mihalas stepped up to serve as president of the Mountain Bridge Chapter of Trout Unlimited.
While his career in network technology took him from the coast of South Carolina to Wisconsin and finally the mountains of North Carolina, he continued to tirelessly offer his time and efforts as a TU volunteer.
Today Mihalas serves as the National Leadership Council representative for North Carolina, capping more than 25 years of dedicated service with Trout Unlimited.
A TU Family
“We always made being involved in the outdoors a central part of our family,” Mihalas said. “It was never something that was separate from our family life.”
It also was never about just fishing.
“I never asked the kids ‘Do you want to go fishing?’” he said. “But I did ask them if they wanted to go to the pond. Do they want to go to the river? Do they want to play in the woods? That’s how it started.”
Knowing a little bit about the Mihalas family, it’s clear that his desire to pass down his love of sharing the outdoors with his kids worked. His oldest son, Nick, was a member of one of TU’s first Youth Leadership Councils and is a part-time fishing guide while his youngest son, Alexander, is studying biology at Sewanee.
His daughter, Zoe, followed in Mike’s (wader boot) footsteps with Trout Unlimited and now works as TU’s Headwaters events coordinator.
“We just need more people to understand and value these amazing places where wild trout happen to live,” Mihalas says.
Retired from his network technology career, Mihalas now works part-time as a fishing guide. During the summer, he is committed to exploring more of those wild places where trout live, traveling, camping and fishing with his wife, Nicole, and their Boykin spaniel, Ghillie.
“The more people that care about these places – and the more they care about them – that’s how we make the big changes,” Mihalas said. “In Western North Carolina we have hellbender salamanders, and lots of people love them. I love that people care about them, because what’s good for them is good for the trout. Whether they like salamanders, whether they like paddling, bugs or whatever else, people just need a chance to find their why.”
His early why was right outside his back door, in the neighborhood pond, and Mihalas believes your why, your friend’s why, your children’s why, could be, too.
Pisgah National Forest
From his home in Brevard, N.C., Mike Mihalas is on the doorstep of the vast Pisgah National Forest and its numerous coldwater streams.
The Davidson River gets a lot of attention from anglers, as it should. Its deep pockets and pools and shimmering riffles are home to native brook trout and wild browns. The rugged Appalachian Mountains are also home to a network of smaller headwater creeks filled with wild trout.
Although some streams in the region were damaged by flood waters from Hurricane Helene in the fall of 2024, early indications are that trout populations were generally able to persevere. TU is committed to long-term restoration work in the region, including partnering with the Forest Service, to address habitat damage.
Spring and early summer are the best seasons for targeting North Carolina’s wild mountain trout. Simple attractor patterns like parachute Adams, humpies and stimulators are effective dry patterns. As with so many backcountry trout fishing areas, trout get more active and angler-friendly the farther away from parking spots and trailheads an angler gets.
The same free-flowing rivers that sustain trout and salmon bring clean water into our homes, give life to vibrant communities and feed a passion for angling and the outdoors.
But today our fisheries and rivers face enormous challenges. At Trout Unlimited, we are doing something about it, and we need your help. Sign up to be a champion for the rivers and fish we all love and help us unlock the unlimited power of conservation.