Rattlesnake Creek dam coming down

By Rob Roberts This week, Missoula Mayor John Engen announced the removal of the Rattlesnake Creek Dam, a barrier on a much-loved trout stream that runs through the city. Beginning in the Rattlesnake Wilderness north of Missoula, Rattlesnake Creek is one of the major sources of trout recruitment for the Clark Fork River and a…

Video spotlight: Welcome to Iceland

Good fly fishing films not only show good fly fishing. I think a good film is more than just great eats, tailwalking fish and unreal cinematography. I think a good film makes you think. Video of "Welcome to Iceland" Full Film In the full version of “Welcome to Iceland,” (above), the German anglers who crafted…

Why do I love brown trout so much?

Let me count the ways… I think they’re smarter than other trout. Just an opinion, and granted, it’s hard to compare IQs of creatures with brains the sizes of marbles. I think they fight like champions. I love that bulldozer plowing toward the river bottom after it sucks down a grasshopper fly. I know, I…

30 Great Places: Monongahela National Forest

Region: Central AppalachiaActivity: Fishing; HuntingSpecies: Ruffed Grouse; Brook, rainbow and brown trout Where: Monongahela National Forest (known locally as “the Mon”) stretches over 919,000 acres of rugged, mountainous terrain along the eastern edge of West Virginia. Though it rests within a day’s drive of half of America’s population, it boasts five federally-designated wilderness areas and…

Voices from the River: Bullish on hope

By Chris Hunt The sun filtered through the smoky haze, casting a tarnished glow over the high-country meadow in remote central Idaho. The state’s tallest peaks climbed through the murk, showing up more as silhouettes rather than snow-tipped crags in the near distance. Ma ny miles away, both human-caused and naturally ignited wildfires consumed timber…

Short casts: All about salmon…

Photo by Kyle Green, Idaho Statesman Welcome to the weekend edition of Short Casts, where today, it’s all about salmon and the many challenges facing their recovery in the Pacific Northwest. If you haven’t been following Rocky Barker’s summer-long series on salmon in the Idaho Statesman, you can still catch up with it and learn…