I recently spoke about Trout Unlimited’s conservation work to a small gathering of anglers, most of whom had been Trout Unlimited members at some point but had drifted away and lost touch. They were surprised to learn that TU had grown to become an organization with 300,000 members and supporters who dedicate more than 700,000 volunteer hours annually, a…
The Trees for Tribs Program from New York’s Department of Environmental Conservation provides Trout Unlimited with bare root and potted trees to plant along trout streams. Being a stream guy, I had to take advantage of the offer, made possible by funding from the Arbor Day Foundation. Walking through the tree garden I had my…
It’s commonly said that fishermen go through an phases. First, they want to catch a fish. Then lots of fish. Then big fish. Then they just want to be out there and fish are simply a bonus. Here’s the thing, though. Unlike some forms of evolution, this one isn’t linear. You can be firmly established…
Dustin Wichterman lives trout. By day he manages Trout Unlimited’s restoration and protection work in the Potomac headwaters. Most of the rest of the time he’s either fishing for trout or dreaming about fishing for trout. And a big part of that dream is that one day the Potomac headwaters will again regularly churn out native brook trout pushing…
As part of its statewide Trout Management Plan, the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) is proposing to simplify angling regulations for all inland waters “to make them easier to understand, and to better align regulations with management objectives on each water.” CDFW is taking public comment on this effort, and on proposed changes…
The fishing ain’t what it used to be. We’ve all heard that familiar lament, usually uttered by an angler trudging back to the parking lot after getting skunked. As conservationists, we know it’s too often true. The losses of trout and salmon fisheries relative to their historic distribution are well known to all of us. But this…
This year is the International Year of the Salmon, and it couldn’t have come too soon. Wild salmon the world over are in peril—once plentiful stocks are dwindling in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Dams block migration. Proposed industrial development, like the Pebble Mine in Alaska, threaten intact populations. Pollution, salmon-farm escapees and disease…
