If you are active in the outdoors, it’s hard to beat living in the American West. That’s because all states west of the Great Plains have big swaths of public lands available for fishing and hunting. Except when big swaths of extraordinary wildfire shut them down....
‘Tis the season for baitfish patterns. See Matt Callies of Loon Outdoors tie a simple baitfish pattern
Nature deprivation is a real thing, and I’m witnessing the impacts of both being exposed to the wild and willingly foregoing exposure in both of my kids
Baitfish imitations work great in the fall, particularly where migrating brown trout are found. As these fish move out of lakes or upstream from big water to spawning habitat, they just get more and more aggressive
For many within the ranks of TU, a river is not a river if no fish live in it. And until recently, I couldn’t have agreed more, but a recent trip to a very dry desert in southwestern Utah helped change my mind.
“From the very first day of this section, we could see all the way to where we would be in three days. Across a wide, high desert valley we could see a pass that we would eventually cross over to stay on the divide. To our right and in front of us there was a mountain range that the CDT climbs up into twice.”
Help us protect the places you love to fish, and to make your fishing better.
I’ve been using UV resins on my flies for several years now, all with the intent of making flies last longer on the water
Participants in Trout Unlimited summer camps across the country and annual teen summit are the usual contributors, but since those camps were cancelled this year, we are opening it up to all youth. Please share this information with teachers, parents and students who may be interested in participating.
Students have connected to our restoration projects and helped us improve sections of 5 watersheds and 50 river miles for our fish and wildlife. Our goal has been to inspire students to study their local river, appreciate the unique habitat, and empower our youth and families to care for each river now and into the future.
I love to fish glass. Love it. I love the slower cast, the softer feel. I love how glass gives smaller fish some heft. I love the bend in the rod that stretches into the cork. Glass fly rods, in my opinion, provide a more intimate, visceral connection with the fish we’re all after
In Arizona, TU members have been actively involved in policy, management, funding and more on USFS projects, large and small, affecting streams, watersheds and landscapes.
I was in a gloomy mood. Changing seasons, earlier sunsets and, of course, the inevitable prediction of that first high-country dusting of snow had me in a funk. Couple this with the constant challenges life throws in for seasoning, and it’s a recipe for the blues
The first couple weeks of September are usually pretty great dry-fly weeks as things cool off a bit and trout look up for big bites of protein
“The second to last day we crossed over Lemhi pass where Lewis and Clark came over the divide. The story is that they thought they had reached the westernmost side of the mountains. That must have been a shock, because there is another huge mountain range right there.”
In my cusped hands dripped a lustrous jewel. Its belly was streaked pink, and the rest of its body speckled in luminescent hues of amber and bronze. The overall effect was that of a fine watercolor, hand-painted by a master. It was a gem of a fish.
I recently had a video call with a Trout Unlimited volunteer in New York. I couldn’t help being distracted. Over his shoulder I could see a stream in the background. “What river is that?” I asked. “The West Branch of the Delaware,” he replied. “I actually was watching...
When the tube arrived from Scott, I expected it to be something special. So, I wanted the first analysis to more than a cursory shakedown. I headed to the grass field behind my house for some quality one-on-one time, poured myself a small mason jar of red wine, put on some Bose noise-cancelling headphones, strung up the rod, and got ready to “dance.” I put my playlist on shuffle, the first song that came on was AC/DC’s “Hell’s Bells”
The Fly Fishing Film Tour is available for online streaming right now, and if you’re interested in catching this year’s film offerings, you can buy tickets from an independent screening and help a local conservation cause in the process. So far, the F3T...
The loud booms forced us off the water and back to the trail, but we thought for sure it would be another dry storm just rumbling its way through the mountains. But, not this time
Fly fishing is arguably the ideal pastime for someone with obsessive tendencies. Inches matter on the stream, as do thousandths when it comes to spools of tippet or fly-tying thread. A guy I once fished with said he never saved leftovers from home-cooked meals; it was a sanitary thing. Sure
Local sporting businesses are helping to make the case for removing the four Lower Snake River dams Earlier this summer, TU released a report entitled, “Why We Need a Free Flowing Lower Snake River,” that lays out the scientific basis for the federal government’s...
Certain materials, when tied to a hook shank, just don’t take well to being secured with thread. The lack of friction between the material and the metal of the shank makes it very easy for some tying materials to spin, even after multiple wraps and efforts to tightly bound them to the shank
Some might say the effort is too daunting and without end, but the optimist knows that her swim, though difficult at times and across the flow, will become a habit rooted deep in muscle memory, a rhythm of life, if she allows herself to know, takes her confidence from can, not cannot
If the determining factor in the effort to save the native Yellowstone cutthroat trout of Idaho’s South Fork of the Snake River is how hard cutthroats fight at the end of a leader … well, then, the fight is already lost
Editor’s note: This post is the first of a series from Rene Henery, PhD, Science Director with TU’s California Program. Henery is an eminent ecologist leading TU’s efforts to improve the timing and volume of flows in the Sacramento and San Joaquin...
The annual Fly Fishing Film Tour was forced to hit “pause” earlier this spring thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, but, as they say, “The show must go on.”
There’s trout water, and then there’s trout water that also holds mountain whitefish. The latter is likely healthier. Whitefish (Prosopium williamsoni) are often greeted by anglers with the same enthusiasm they might afford a creek chub or a sucker. The slightly...
Late summer and early fall offer some of the season’s best dry-fly fishing on small creeks in the east. This isn’t hatch-matching fishing. It’s terrestrial season
I love to cast a long line, but it doesn’t happen often. If I do, it is ideally with no false casts. The longer my fly is in the air, the more likely it will be caught by a bush. Fewer false casts also means my fly is in or on the water in front of fish longer
The thin, cool air and the end of high mountain wildflower season were calling my name.
Keep the C2A short and sweet.
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