Bill would help to advance renewable energy projects on public lands in a manner that protects fish and wildlife habitat, and strengthens local economies and communities On July 17, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) introduced the...
Stream
Join Trout Unlimited today
Help us protect the places you love to fish, and to make your fishing better.
Little streams make a big difference for our drinking water
We’ve made progress improving water quality since the Clean Water Act. Why undermine the law that can help us finish the job?
Trout Tips: Winter can offer hot fishing
Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean the fish aren’t eating — and that means they can be caught.
Conservation
Delivering science to Central Valley salmon and steelhead recovery
TUs California Science Director Dr. Rene Henery has been on a roll lately. Henery leads a small team of TU staff working on improving and restoring habitat, passage and flows for imperiled Central Valley salmon and steelhead. This effort has progressed in recent...
Congress introduces bipartisan bill to recover fish and wildlife
On Friday, July 12, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), along with 59 members of Congress introduced the bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). Click here to see a letter to Congress signed by TU and a broad coalition of...
Columbia Basin Partnership offers new vision for salmon and steelhead
The Columbia Basin Partnership has been flying mostly under the radar, but it could be the forum with the greatest potential to make a great leap forward in recovering wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin. Why, you may ask? Because it is the one place...
An accidental trophy
Every now and then, I like to explore and find new water, even in parts of the world I’m very familiar with. Earlier this week, I spent some time in the fringe country of Yellowstone National Park, along the Idaho-Montana border. It’s ranch and cabin...
Northern California summer steelhead could be listed by 2020
We love all steelhead here at Wild Steelheaders United and Trout Unlimited, but some anadromous O. mykiss populations may deserve more love than others. Consider wild summer run steelhead in Northern California. The available data for wild summers between Redwood...
Fishing
The black ant
Terrestrial season is upon us. Ants and beetles are likely already crossing the downed logs over your favorite trout stream, and I’m betting grasshoppers won’t be far behind. And trout love terrestrial bugs—they’re big mouthfuls of protein. Perhaps...
Fighting brush and fighting browns in the Driftless
By Duke Welter On a recent morning near Viroqua, Wisc., an angler didn’t know what to expect. Temperatures the day before had reached the upper 80s, the latest in a hot string. Overnight rains had some impact. Fields were wet and larger waters ran cloudy,...
Random Moments
Some fly-fishing scenes are universally appealing. Trout moving on a dry fly. The rise. Even the refusal. Cheers to the folks at Carpe Diem, the Swedish YouTubers who occasionally present some really great fly-fishing videography like the short film below. Chasing...
Honor Float
Paul Zimmerman teaches fly tying to military veterans. At 91 years of age, and as the sole care provider for his wife Patti, he is reluctant to leave her alone. He conducts all of his lessons at his home, an arrangement that’s also...
How to fish a dry fly downstream
The “upstream and dry” approach is a commonly accepted method—and on some European waters, it’s required—for fly fishing. Here in the U.S., we’re blessed with a lot of trout water, and, thankfully, a lot of public lands on which we can fish at...
Voices from the River
Fighting brush and fighting browns in the Driftless
By Duke Welter On a recent morning near Viroqua, Wisc., an angler didn’t know what to expect. Temperatures the day before had reached the upper 80s, the latest in a hot string. Overnight rains had some impact. Fields were wet and larger waters ran cloudy,...
Honor Float
Paul Zimmerman teaches fly tying to military veterans. At 91 years of age, and as the sole care provider for his wife Patti, he is reluctant to leave her alone. He conducts all of his lessons at his home, an arrangement that’s also...
Fishing with the G Man
The first thing to understand about fishing with the G Man is that he likes to combine wetting a line with some form of law enforcement. This is not all that surprising. When you have spent a portion of your career as a deputy sheriff, and all of it dedicated to...
Totally wicked
I was fishing a mouse pattern just for the hell of it.
An accidental trophy
Every now and then, I like to explore and find new water, even in parts of the world I’m very familiar with. Earlier this week, I spent some time in the fringe country of Yellowstone National Park, along the Idaho-Montana border. It’s ranch and cabin...
Trout Tips
How to fish a dry fly downstream
The “upstream and dry” approach is a commonly accepted method—and on some European waters, it’s required—for fly fishing. Here in the U.S., we’re blessed with a lot of trout water, and, thankfully, a lot of public lands on which we can fish at...
Sunny Days
I always look forward to the transition to wet-wading season. Here in the mid-Atlantic that usually hits in mid-May, unless you’re fishing a tailwater just downstream from a dam, in which case waders are still a must. Even with neoprene wading socks, the first steps...
How to Read a River
Reading the water is an acquired skill. It’s an ability that’s honed over time, and one that takes into account not only a river’s physical characteristics, but how certain stretches might fish at certain times of the year … or even certain...
Watch before you fish
You wouldn’t tackle a math problem—even the simplest of equations—without first taking a second to figure out the variables and determining where to start with your efforts to solve it, would you? Now, apply that logic to fly fishing. It’s always a good...
Summer steelhead on a skated fly
Editor’s note: This is the second of two posts on skating flies for summer steelhead from the director of TU’s Wild Steelhead Initiative. Go here to read the first. Recently, I shared some thoughts on the gear, techniques, and stream knowledge you might...
Video Spotlight
Random Moments
Some fly-fishing scenes are universally appealing. Trout moving on a dry fly. The rise. Even the refusal. Cheers to the folks at Carpe Diem, the Swedish YouTubers who occasionally present some really great fly-fishing videography like the short film below. Chasing...
How to fish a dry fly downstream
The “upstream and dry” approach is a commonly accepted method—and on some European waters, it’s required—for fly fishing. Here in the U.S., we’re blessed with a lot of trout water, and, thankfully, a lot of public lands on which we can fish at...
How to Read a River
Reading the water is an acquired skill. It’s an ability that’s honed over time, and one that takes into account not only a river’s physical characteristics, but how certain stretches might fish at certain times of the year … or even certain...
How to tie flies with foam
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....
Fishing dry flies over gravel runs
Those long, featureless gravel runs that can be found on a lot of western rivers–and freestone rivers throughout the country–might often be trout “dead zones,” but as Orvis’ Dave Jensen points out in the video below, during hatches, these...
Travel
Fighting brush and fighting browns in the Driftless
By Duke Welter On a recent morning near Viroqua, Wisc., an angler didn’t know what to expect. Temperatures the day before had reached the upper 80s, the latest in a hot string. Overnight rains had some impact. Fields were wet and larger waters ran cloudy,...
Random Moments
Some fly-fishing scenes are universally appealing. Trout moving on a dry fly. The rise. Even the refusal. Cheers to the folks at Carpe Diem, the Swedish YouTubers who occasionally present some really great fly-fishing videography like the short film below. Chasing...
A giveaway that gives back
Trout Unlimited has teamed up with Omaze, a company that organizes giveaways that give back, to offer one lucky winner and a friend a getaway fly-fishing adventure in Bristol Bay.
An accidental trophy
Every now and then, I like to explore and find new water, even in parts of the world I’m very familiar with. Earlier this week, I spent some time in the fringe country of Yellowstone National Park, along the Idaho-Montana border. It’s ranch and cabin...
Friendly faces
Molly Simpkins and Dan Gigone of Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston, Mont. Marketing a new book is a crapshoot, especially when it’s hyper-local content and writers are asked to a fair bit of promotion themselves to ensure the book’s success. So, when I...
Join Trout Unlimited today
Help us protect the places you love to fish, and to make your fishing better.
How a guide became a great conservationist
Thirty five years exploring the waters of Wyoming’s Carbon County as a fishing guide connected Jeff Streeter to the landscape of the region in a way few come to realize. After three decades of leading clients to fish on the Encampment and North Platte rivers, among...
Rivers connect people
I’m in Little Rock, Ark., this week for the Outdoor Writers Association of America conference. Our hotel is situated right on the banks of what looks to be an angry Arkansas River. Years ago, I worked as an editor and reporter for a couple of small newspapers...
Giving back
They look nervous. Until camp started, most hung by their parents, belying their teenage trend toward independence. Most are from Pennsylvania, but surprisingly at least seven of the 23 attendees at the 2019 Rivers Conservation and Fly Fishing Youth Camp are from...
Desert carp
We had a great winter here in Idaho. Lots of high snow. And then spring arrived with buckets of rain in the valleys and more snow up high. We’re closing in on the first day of summer, and our backcountry trout streams are still surging with runoff. High water is...
Get your boots wet for conservation
By Paul Burnett Trout Unlimited members often ask about opportunities to engage with active and ongoing conservation projects. Grassroots-based programs like willow planting and Trout in the Classroom are great ways to contribute, but are also seasonal in nature and...
Returning thanks
Saint Ambrose once said, “No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.” That sentiment defines the work of Trout Unlimited’s Veterans Service Partnership, and was visible at the recent “couples trip” hosted by the VSP and the Friends of the Upper Delaware....
The problem solver
My buddy Dennis is a nuclear engineer. He travels the globe through his job and works with disparate foreign governments who are turning to nuclear power as an alternative to fossil fuels. One of Dennis’ many jobs is to help those governments test various...
They’re back …
You know spring is taking its time in Yellowstone when ice floes are cruising down the river between Lake Village and Canyon on Memorial Day. It’s just been one of those years—lots of late snow, and, as of Monday, more than a solid week of high-country...
Using modern genomics to assess thermal adaptation in Lahontan cutthroat trout
Climate change is a major threat to trout and salmon. Their habitat is quickly changing and there will be a lot less of it in the future. But we still don’t have an understanding of if, or how, these cold-water fish might evolve to adapt to a warmer environment. ...
‘A Nation’s River’ highlights TU’s efforts in the Potomac headwaters
Dustin Wichterman lives trout. By day he manages Trout Unlimited’s restoration and protection work in the Potomac headwaters. Most of the rest of the time he’s either fishing for trout or dreaming about fishing for trout. And a big part of...
Hope for Idaho’s Salmon
“I have concluded that I am going to stay alive long enough to see salmon return to healthy populations in Idaho.” Those words by U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) at a conference at the Andrus Center last week may do more to project the recovery of the imperiled Snake...
International Year of the Salmon
This year is the International Year of the Salmon, and it couldn’t have come too soon. Wild salmon the world over are in peril—once plentiful stocks are dwindling in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Dams block migration. Proposed industrial development,...
‘Catching Yellowstone’s Wild Trout’
Editor’s note: The following is excerpted from the new book, “Catching Yellowstone’s Wild Trout: A Fly-fishing History and Guide,” by Chris Hunt, Trout Unlimited’s national digital director. The book, endorsed by TU, is available for...
Hope in the heart of the city
It was humid and drizzly—the warmest day of the year so far, but nothing could contain the excitement of these kids. “Are you excited to go fishing,” I asked a young boy named, Derrick. His smile was all the answer needed. More than 40 inner city kids met...
Why is it important that we recover southwestern trout?
Jim looked at me in disbelief. “What?” I repeated my question, “Why is it important that we recover southwestern native trout?” “Let me tell you a story,” he said. Jim Brooks was the longtime lead of the Gila Trout recovery team. Gila trout are native to the...
Overlooked brookies of Ontario
My TU coworker Mark Taylor has a great laugh. Kind of a mix between a giggle and guffaw. A guffawggle, if you will. I know this because I’ve seen Mark in any number of circumstances—mingling with conference attendees at a hospitality suite, surrounded by his...
Helping the Wood River to breathe
The room is full for the banquet. I first came across the Narragansett chapter of Trout Unlimited seven or eight years ago, when a few frustrated members contacted me and complained that the chapter was assisting the state in stocking over native fish in violation of...
Nudging streams back to health
Gary recalls talking to a road engineer more familiar with channelizing and straightening rivers in response to floods. As he looked over the work “his face fell from pink to grey, and he said, ‘We have been doing this wrong for 100 years.’”
Patience on the Denali Highway
I unhitched the camper just off the road in a trailhead parking area. It wasn’t occupied, and with the rain and wind of late, I didn’t expect company anytime soon. A lonely, soggy firepit adorned the center of the lot, but that was the only sign that anybody had been...
TU supports the Public Land Renewable Energy Development Act
Bill would help to advance renewable energy projects on public lands in a manner that protects fish and wildlife habitat, and strengthens local economies and communities On July 17, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) and Rep. Mike Levin (D-CA) introduced the...
Fighting brush and fighting browns in the Driftless
By Duke Welter On a recent morning near Viroqua, Wisc., an angler didn’t know what to expect. Temperatures the day before had reached the upper 80s, the latest in a hot string. Overnight rains had some impact. Fields were wet and larger waters ran cloudy,...
Random Moments
Some fly-fishing scenes are universally appealing. Trout moving on a dry fly. The rise. Even the refusal. Cheers to the folks at Carpe Diem, the Swedish YouTubers who occasionally present some really great fly-fishing videography like the short film below. Chasing...
Honor Float
Paul Zimmerman teaches fly tying to military veterans. At 91 years of age, and as the sole care provider for his wife Patti, he is reluctant to leave her alone. He conducts all of his lessons at his home, an arrangement that’s also...
Fishing matters
City Catch kids in Baltimore. Lately, when I am in town, I’ve taken to starting my mornings at Fletchers boathouse. I’ll row up or downstream for an hour with a strung fly rod. If I see a suspended gar, or a rolling carp, I’ll stop and cast. Even with the outing, I...
How to fish a dry fly downstream
The “upstream and dry” approach is a commonly accepted method—and on some European waters, it’s required—for fly fishing. Here in the U.S., we’re blessed with a lot of trout water, and, thankfully, a lot of public lands on which we can fish at...
Into the desert
Editor’s note: The TU Costa 5 Rivers Program sent a handful of college students to the Columbia River basin to fish and study the challenges facing the drainage. Leaving the coniferous forests of Mt. Rainier, the Odyssey crew traveled to the semi-arid desert...
Fishing with the G Man
The first thing to understand about fishing with the G Man is that he likes to combine wetting a line with some form of law enforcement. This is not all that surprising. When you have spent a portion of your career as a deputy sheriff, and all of it dedicated to...
Totally wicked
I was fishing a mouse pattern just for the hell of it.
Delivering science to Central Valley salmon and steelhead recovery
TUs California Science Director Dr. Rene Henery has been on a roll lately. Henery leads a small team of TU staff working on improving and restoring habitat, passage and flows for imperiled Central Valley salmon and steelhead. This effort has progressed in recent...
A giveaway that gives back
Trout Unlimited has teamed up with Omaze, a company that organizes giveaways that give back, to offer one lucky winner and a friend a getaway fly-fishing adventure in Bristol Bay.
Congress introduces bipartisan bill to recover fish and wildlife
On Friday, July 12, Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-MI) and Rep. Jeff Fortenberry (R-NE), along with 59 members of Congress introduced the bipartisan Recovering America’s Wildlife Act (RAWA). Click here to see a letter to Congress signed by TU and a broad coalition of...
Tourist season
A rider in the Tobacco Root Mountains We love having visitors in Montana. For one, it’s a huge driver for our economy—we’ve got an obscenity of riches when it comes to outdoor recreation opportunities and were I to live anywhere else, Montana is where...
Columbia Basin Partnership offers new vision for salmon and steelhead
The Columbia Basin Partnership has been flying mostly under the radar, but it could be the forum with the greatest potential to make a great leap forward in recovering wild salmon and steelhead in the Columbia Basin. Why, you may ask? Because it is the one place...
Isonychia Nymph
Classic flies tied by eastern fly fishers years ago are enjoying a renaissance of sorts. Tiers like Tim Flagler are helping make that happen. Below, Tim ties the classic Isonychia Nymph, a simple pattern that Tim says he’s fishing a lot with lately, and with...
An accidental trophy
Every now and then, I like to explore and find new water, even in parts of the world I’m very familiar with. Earlier this week, I spent some time in the fringe country of Yellowstone National Park, along the Idaho-Montana border. It’s ranch and cabin...
Sunny Days
I always look forward to the transition to wet-wading season. Here in the mid-Atlantic that usually hits in mid-May, unless you’re fishing a tailwater just downstream from a dam, in which case waders are still a must. Even with neoprene wading socks, the first steps...
Spend time with the future
Hunter and Alliegh getting it done Every year Trout Unlimited brings together 20-30 teenagers from all over the country for a teen summit. They are mostly veterans of TU youth camps. This year’s group met at Georgetown Lake in Montana. It is not a one-and-done...
How to Read a River
Reading the water is an acquired skill. It’s an ability that’s honed over time, and one that takes into account not only a river’s physical characteristics, but how certain stretches might fish at certain times of the year … or even certain...
Northern California summer steelhead could be listed by 2020
We love all steelhead here at Wild Steelheaders United and Trout Unlimited, but some anadromous O. mykiss populations may deserve more love than others. Consider wild summer run steelhead in Northern California. The available data for wild summers between Redwood...
Culverts, flooding and native trout in Wisconsin
By Chris Collier Culverts aren’t exactly known to be a reason that people get on a river, but that’s exactly what happened on a warm May afternoon in northern Wisconsin. On a beautiful Northwoods spring day, more than 50 local government, tribal, state, federal and...
Friendly faces
Molly Simpkins and Dan Gigone of Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston, Mont. Marketing a new book is a crapshoot, especially when it’s hyper-local content and writers are asked to a fair bit of promotion themselves to ensure the book’s success. So, when I...
Leave it to the beavers
With misty morning breaths, the Odyssey crew circled up at the entrance of Black Pine Lake in the mountains of Winthrop, Washington. Already dressed in our waders, for warmth more than anything, we stood with members of the U.S. Forest Service, Methow Beaver...
The Real Deal: Crystal Creek Lodge
Every spring, our friends at Orvis host their annual Orvis Guide Rendezvous. For the last eight years, they’ve been kind enough to invite me. And I love being there. One of the greatest parts of that event is the presentation of awards for outstanding guides,...
Double Your Gift
Get four free gifts when you donate to Trout Unlimited’s Embrace A Stream Annual Appeal. Your gift will double—maybe even triple—thanks to a local donation match and our sponsors.