Author

Mark Taylor

  • Trout Talk

    Trekking into a Tongass wilderness

    The Forest Service's Roadless Rule makes this possible: Amazing fishing for trout and salmon in an old growth forest Like others before it, the trail eventually petered out. And, like we had done before, Chris Hunt, Sam Davidson and I huddled to talk about our options. Someone said, “The road should be that direction so…

  • Conservation Restoration

    Orvis backs Battenkill Home Rivers Initiative

    Friends are great. Generous friends are really great.  For the second year in a row, Orvis has chosen Trout Unlimited as the beneficiary of its Giving Tuesday efforts.  Orvis will donate 10 percent of profits from retail and online sales on Nov. 30 to TU’s Battenkill Home Rivers Initiative, where we are two years into habitat improvement projects on the famous trout stream and several tributaries.   "The…

  • Restoration Conservation

    Long road trip a journey through TU wins

    “You’re driving?”  The question came with an unmistakable tone of incredulity.  I had just told a friend that I would be driving from my home in Virginia to a conference in northern Vermont. Their surprise was understandable. The shortest route from my home in Roanoke to Jay Peak Resort is 824 miles.   There was a method to…

  • Trout Talk Featured

    Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good

    Wadering up on the banks of a Pennsylvania trout stream last week I faced a dilemma. Which rod? I had three choices. An 8-foot 6-inch 3-weight that’s perfect for dry flies. An 11-foot 3-weight Euro nymphing rod that is perfect for, well, Euro nymphing. And a 10-foot 3-inch 3-weight that is perfect for swinging wet…

  • Public Lands Featured

    Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge gives hope to coaster brook trout

    For two decades, Whittlesey Creek National Wildlife Refuge has been the site of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service efforts to restore self-sustaining populations of coaster book trout. Trout Unlimited has been a partner in the work. The efforts haven't been successful, but have increased knowledge about this unique form of brook trout and what could be needed to restore the fish to Lake Superior tributaries.

    Of the many forms of brook trout, one of the more unique is the coaster.  Coasters are potamodromous, spending much of their adult lives in nearshore waters of the upper Great Lakes and then migrating into streams to spawn. They can grow to larger sizes than brookies that live their entire lives in streams, and…