Voices from the River: Shattered dreams

By Mark Taylor The linear shape protruding from my truck door looked strange and out of place. “What the heck is that?” I thought. I followed the item with my eyes and noted that it went toward the tailgate, where my buddy Sam stood. He was preparing to put a reel onto a fly rod.…

TU’s shale gas volunteers featured on PBS documentary

Over a couple of wet and chilly days in the fall of 2015, a cadre of Trout Unlimited volunteers were afield in Northcentral Pennsylvania with gear they use as part of TU’s Shale Gas Monitoring Program. A cameraman and producer followed their every move, recording their words and work for a planned documentary. Now, nearly…

Spotlight on Katahdin Area Woods and Waters

Brook Trout and the Ghost of Henry David Thoreau By Jeff Reardon Henry David Thoreau has always had a mixed reputation here in Maine. Sure, he may have been a giant of American literature and patron saint of th e environmental movement, but he got nervous when his Penobscot Indian guide left him alone at…

Beavers: Friend or foe?

What happened to my favorite little trout creek? It’s now a series of trout ponds! And most of this happened since last year! Most of you TUers know we’ve covered the issue of beavers in Trout magazine. In short, beavers can be extremely damaging to trout habitat in some places (like Wisconsin, where removal of…

Voices from the River: Fishing with worms

By Chris Hunt I’m an unabashed fly guy, so much so that I’m probably part of that snooty long-rod culture that inadvertently looks down their noses at bait fishers. But I have nephews and a niece who have yet to really get into fishing, so I’m coming to grips with my tweedy issues and making…

Short casts: Brookies, clingers and stillwaters

Bringing brookies back to the Southern Appalachians With all the divisiveness in the air these days, it’s refreshing to see people working together to protect fish that have lived in the same streams for almost 2 million years. The brook trout, which first a rrived in the southern Appalachians about 1.8 million years ago, has…