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Management matters
By Garrett Hanks Wolf Creek pass in the San Juan mountains of Colorado serves as the tipping point between the westward San Juan basin, home to the recently rediscovered San Juan cutthroat trout, and the Rio Grande cutthroat’s namesake river to the east. Unlike trout, bear, mule deer and other wildlife are unhindered by the ridgeline; their tracks freely cross the divide. Look north and you’ll notice the burn scar from the West Fork fire of 2013. Setting off south along the Continental Divide Trail, you quickly…
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Ode to the stocker
It was a cold, rainy day in April in the southern suburbs of Denver. I looked out my bedroom window, anxiously hoping the spring squall would go away. I’ll never forget my mother coming downstairs with the bad news. I was dressed and ready to go. Fishing shirt. Blue jeans. Old sneakers. I had a…
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The Gibralter is special
The place you catch a rainbow trout as big as a silver salmon is a place you hold with reverence. A place you plan to someday return.
Imagine a place that’s wild — save for an ATV trail, there are no roads leading to it, and no fences. Swap the idea of any buildings on the horizon for grass and fireweed. Add the awareness that there might be a brown bear around the next bend, or a fox watching from a gravel…
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Wild steelhead diversity is key to long-term survival
By Eric Crawford If only it was as simple as an adipose fin. The presence of an adipose fin is universally recognized as the mark. An individual with an adipose fin is, with a few exceptions, considered a wild steelhead. On the other hand, those marked, clipped, or ad-intact fish, they are the hatchery ones. Although it is…
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Spring Creek Trout Camp is a Pennsylvania legend
Pennsylvanians know trout fishing. And no wonder. With legendary fly anglers like Joe Humphreys, George Harvey and Charlie Meck to tell the tales, the reputation of trout streams in the Keystone State has been the stuff of dreams. At the heart of those tales is Spring Creek, near State College. Spring Creek is Pennsylvania’s premier…
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Warm winter days are nice — when they are rare
By Mark Taylor I probably shouldn’t have been surprised. The first truck was parked just past the “Special Regulations Trout Water” sign. A few hundred yards farther up the gravel Forest Service road I met an SUV coming my way. Two friends from my local Trout Unlimited chapter were in it. We rolled down our…
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Of chukar and steelhead in the Snake River country
By Michael Gibson Nothing clears the mind like a good chukar hike. So, when the boss called for a work/chukar retreat in lower Snake River Country, I got excited. Late-season chukar in some of the best, and most rugged, chukar country the planet has to offer. About now, you are probably wondering, what’s this got to do with fish? We’ll get…
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