Category

River Champions

  • River Champions

    A modern (& fishy) meet-cute

    When Dalton Romanowski created his online dating profile, his buddies told him he had too many fish photos. It’s a common joke among young adults — especially in a mountain town like Bend, Ore., — that you’ll find hundreds of profiles of men showing off their best catch. Romanowski’s friends said he wouldn’t get a…

  • 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…

  • River Champions

    Where passion and career align

    USFS scientist Nat Gillespie's formative years fostered his desire to champion river health across the country The metro DC area isn’t exactly an outdoor mecca, but outdoor adventure is where you find it. As a kid growing up in Alexandria, Va., Nat Gillespie found plenty. “My parents were free-range,” Gillespie recalls. “They allowed me to…

  • River Champions

    Championing big projects in Oregon

    When asked if Oregon’s Clackamas River is his home water, Trout Unlimited’s Terry Turner chuckles and answers, “Well, it is certainly one of them.” Oregon is blessed with a wide variety of fishing opportunities, from rivers to lakes to saltwater. Salmon, steelhead, sturgeon, halibut and some solid trout fishing are all options, depending on the…

  • River Champions

    A Champion for Bristol Bay

    Lyon’s love for fishing and the outdoors has guided her entire life. Her father sparked that passion early on.

    Nanci Morris Lyon isn’t afraid of working hard when the odds are stacked against her. When describing her ascent from a working-class upbringing on a small farm in Eastern Washington, to being one of the first female guides in a world-class fishery, to owning a premier fishing lodge in a coveted destination, she has this…

  • River Champions

    River champion Steve Brooke never gives up

    Steve Brooke doesn’t actually remember his “first fish.” But there is a memento of that moment, a photo of a not-yet-year-old Brooke sitting on his mom’s lap, her holding a pretty cutthroat trout caught near the family’s home in Colorado Springs. Steve Brooke got an early introduction to trout. Not yet 1, here he sits…