The lifeblood of the Village of Pecos, the Pecos River flows through public and private lands in a narrow canyon flanked by in aspen, Gambel oak, and mixed conifer. The Pecos boasts a fun salmon fly hatch in early summer, and I love how spooky the fish are in autumn, when elk bugles echo, the banks blaze with yellow cottonwoods, and the water resembles the air above, cold, clear and
With a pump of their fists and a tip of their caps, Colorado sportsmen and women are celebrating another successful step toward protecting some 400,000 acres of prime public lands and commending the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources for advancing the Colorado Outdoor Recreation and Economy (CORE) Act out of committee this week. The legislation introduced by Colorado
Pat Byorth has long been an advocate for anglers in Montana and with his recent appointment to Montana’s Fish and Game Commission, he is continuing that tradition for the benefit of all Montanans. As a long-time TU employee, he has worked to restore some of our most iconic rivers such as the Madison and the
Theodore Roosevelt defined conservation as the application of common sense to common problems for the common good. For 15 years, Trout Unlimited has educated, organized and mobilized sportsmen and women to apply that definition to public lands across the West. When energy development, for example, threatened the iconic Wyoming Range and its three species of
According to one stereotype, a rancher’s commitment to the lifestyle is mainly self-serving. The fences they build are as much to keep the public out as to detain resident wildlife (translation: elk) for the purpose of selling high-dollar hunting opportunities. When not dewatering streams, they restore and stock them for their own fishing pleasure and that of paying anglers in search of lunkers in a crowd-free
Anglers should rejoice in the introduction of the CORE Act, particularly if they live or fish in Colorado’s iconic Gunnison Valley. The Curecanti portion of the Act, introduced by Sen. Michael Bennet and Rep. Joe Neguse, would establish permanent boundaries for the current National Recreation Area making management simpler and creating improved fishing access. In 1965, Blue Mesa Dam was completed
Last week, RIO Product’s Simon Gawesworth showed us a great way to swing soft-hackle flies for big-river trout. This week, Simon shows us how to drift a soft-hackle for working trout. There are some notable differences, obviously. First is the technique. When swinging a soft-hackle, you’re interested in line tension and the action of the
