Author

Nick Halle

Nick works out of Missoula, Montana as Trout Unlimited's Volunteer Operations Coordinator. If he's not at his desk you're sure to find him with his…

  • River Champions

    Building resilient rivers and communities  

    M.E. Sorci River Champion

    Generally speaking, hitchhiking in remote, mountainous areas is probably not a good idea. Simply put, there are a lot more bad possibilities than good ones. It’s certainly not a situation where one might expect to find a job that would change the direction of their life.    But in 2019, somewhere between Wyoming’s Wind River Range and Teton Valley, Idaho, in the passenger seat of…

  • River Champions

    Doing something to protect what you love

    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.

    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…

  • Snake River

    Legendary Red Shed Fly Shop says the Lower Four should go

    Legendary Red Shed Fly Shop says the Lower Four should go

    Anglers talk a great deal about the incalculable importance of fly shops. While they’re great places to drop a few bucks on a new spool of tippet, a tube of floatant and a couple hot patterns, we’re talking about more than their value as retailers. A good fly shop is far more than that. The…

  • Fly tying

    Tie One On: Rickety Cricket

    Here’s a fly to tie before you hit the new Gold Medal stretch of the Colorado TU is helping create.  This week in Colorado, TU celebrated the groundbreaking of a project that will reconnect a section of the upper Colorado River and, in a few short years, open up a new section of Gold Medal…

  • Snake River dams Fishing Fly tying steelhead

    Tying the Steelhead Coachman

    If you were to look in the box of a seasoned steelheader on the banks of the Snake, Grande Ronde or Clearwater chances are good you'll find.

    I can distinctly remember the first few flies I started fishing with. As I would imagine the case is with many people, that selection of a dozen flies was a 'who's who' of the classics. The Adams, Elk-hair Caddis, Muddler Minnow, Pheasant Tail, and Royal Wulff seem almost like names from scripture in the pantheon…