Voices from the river
Point No Point
The deviation from the plan started when the app we were using to navigate across downtown Seattle in morning traffic guided us down appallingly skinny, twisted streets and a scenic tour of old neighborhoods that did not, in the end, deliver us to the ferry any more...
Fishing and aging
Aging. We all do it – every minute and second of every day. Why is wisdom gained only with age? Hitting a rather large, round number earlier this year, I’ve been reflecting on life – how to spend more time living my life, how to spend more time with the people I love,...
Two 20-something women put their heads together to protect the Tongass
If you’ve followed along with Trout Unlimited’s campaigns in Alaska over the past few months, you know that from Pebble Mine advancements to Roadless Rule rollbacks, incredible places like Bristol Bay and the Tongass National Forest are at great...
Think it’s going to be a great day? Think again.
There is a risk to presuming that the first few minutes of a fishing outing will portend how the entire day will unfold. How often do we struggle early, and then rally? How often do we dominate early and then fade? But we often can’t help ourselves,...
Coaching an elder to success
“One more cast,” I say to my brother from the bank above the Frying Pan River. A monster trout is rising with regularity and taunting my brother’s last nerve. I’ve been coaching him to place his fly in the exact spot from his perch on the opposite side of the run...
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Out of sight, out of mine?
An abandoned mine overlooks Lion Creek drainage near Empire, Colorado By Randy Scholfield We are bouncing along in four-wheel drive vehicles, high in the Clear Creek watershed west of Denver, overlooking beautiful forest vistas and steep hillsides laced with snowmelt...
Thistles and cutthroat trout
With such abundant water throughout Southwest Colorado this year, invasive plants are thriving. While Canadian and musk thistle, mullen and even spotted knapweed provide gorgeous colors dotting the landscape, I can’t help but cringe every time I see a field (or...
Rapanos
Interpretive sign on the Carmel River, spring 2019. It was while walking a seasonally-dry side channel of my local stream, the Carmel River, over the weekend that I started thinking about a guy from Michigan named John Rapanos. You should know this name, because this...
Tomatoes for trout
Earlier this month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out a report that told us what every good mother has been saying for decades: Eat your vegetables. Clean your plate. Eat less beef. Finish your beans. True, that’s an oversimplification. But...
Woodworking for brook trout in the Vermont forest
By Zack Hoisington On July 14, 2019, I found myself in uncharted territory, driving north through upstate New York on highway 87 into Adirondack State Park. As the sun started to lower, I noticed a sign for Montreal....
The Dark Side
By Zack Hoisington On July 14, 2019, I found myself in uncharted territory, driving north through upstate New York on highway 87 into Adirondack State Park. As the sun started to lower, I noticed a sign for Montreal....
On grayling and guilt
The author’s brother, gone over to the Dark Side. Last week I went to what my brother and lifelong fishing partner calls “the Dark Side.” That would be fishing in warm, still water for largemouth bass and northern pike, mostly with conventional tackle. We always...
Small-stream tactics in the age of non-native invasives
Returning to the valley a year after surgery. The way I figure it, they probably stopped her heart around 1 p.m. The bypass machines kicked on and in my mind they sounded like the soothing white noise of a ceiling fan. Peaceful. I don’t know if a person...
The Stream That Shall Not Be Named
Native Rio Grande cutthroat trout. Contrary to many conservation-minded anglers, I am one who believes that, along with cockroaches, coyotes and Siberian elm trees, brown trout will survive the apocalypse. They possess many of the traits we Americans admire most: they...
The fishing derby
The author and Cassie after the chase on The Stream That Shall Not Be Named. You know how it is when you develop an intimate relationship with a place. Especially if that place has large, lovely wild trout. You start to feel a sense of ownership—and a distinct...
Tangle Lakes
I was around 8 or 9 when I last participated in a fishing derby. Whenever we had a big runoff and the city let the Santa Fe River run, Game and Fish would make some pools with sandbags and dump in a few loads of stockers. The river was just a block away from my house,...
Raising Them Right
We were headed northbound for our second wedding anniversary. We had a van full of fishing gear and were set to explore fresh water that had been on the hit list for years. My wife, Brittney, and I were all smiles. What started as a seemingly innocent...
When all else fails, teach the kids to fish
Fighting brush and fighting browns in the Driftless
The author and Cassie after the chase on The Stream That Shall Not Be Named. You know how it is when you develop an intimate relationship with a place. Especially if that place has large, lovely wild trout. You start to feel a sense of ownership—and a distinct...
Honor Float
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,...
Fishing with the G Man
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...
Totally wicked
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...
An accidental trophy
By Zack Hoisington On July 14, 2019, I found myself in uncharted territory, driving north through upstate New York on highway 87 into Adirondack State Park. As the sun started to lower, I noticed a sign for Montreal....
Sunny Days
The author’s brother, gone over to the Dark Side. Last week I went to what my brother and lifelong fishing partner calls “the Dark Side.” That would be fishing in warm, still water for largemouth bass and northern pike, mostly with conventional tackle. We always...
Fathers
Earlier this month the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change put out a report that told us what every good mother has been saying for decades: Eat your vegetables. Clean your plate. Eat less beef. Finish your beans. True, that’s an oversimplification. But...
Voices from the River: From toys to necessities
With such abundant water throughout Southwest Colorado this year, invasive plants are thriving. While Canadian and musk thistle, mullen and even spotted knapweed provide gorgeous colors dotting the landscape, I can’t help but cringe every time I see a field (or...
How a guide became a great conservationist
We were headed northbound for our second wedding anniversary. We had a van full of fishing gear and were set to explore fresh water that had been on the hit list for years. My wife, Brittney, and I were all smiles. What started as a seemingly innocent...
High Water
The author’s brother, gone over to the Dark Side. Last week I went to what my brother and lifelong fishing partner calls “the Dark Side.” That would be fishing in warm, still water for largemouth bass and northern pike, mostly with conventional tackle. We always...
Q&A: Pat Byorth
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...
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