-
Trout Tips: Let conditions choose your rod
An angler fishes a small mountain stream with a shorter, lighter fiberglass rod. For years, I've gravitated to lightweight and shorter fly rods, simply because I usually spend my summers chasing trout in tight quarters along snaking backcountry streams. The shorter rod length lends itself to fishing among overhanging willows, allows for tighter casts, shorter…
-
Voices from the River: The posthumous gift of the ‘bug’
Sam Weis, the author's late husband. By Jenny Weis My late husband had the fishing bug. He grew up fishing musky, walleye and panfish in the lakes of northern Wisconsin with his dad and grandpa. He eventually expanded his waters to Lake Superior, the Gulf of Mexico, and the driftless region of Wisconsin, picking up…
-
The Middlebury backstory
The tale of two Chrises: Chris Wood, above, president and CEO of Trout Unlimited; and Chris Santella, decorated outdoor writer. Both are alums of Vermont's Middlebury College. By Kirk Deeter There’s always a backstory. Someday, I’m going to write a book, called “Backstory” or “Deep Into the Backing,” or something like that, where I spill…
-
Keeping a fish factory intact
Caption: Lynn Finley alongside the Encampment By Chris Wood I met Lynn Finley last week when Beth and Bruce White hosted a fundraiser for Trout Unlimited’s North Platte restoration work. Lynn is a small, fire-cracker of a woman who runs a lodge in Riverside, Wyo. We were sitting in her kitchen overlooking the Encampment River,…
-
Five Rivers Odyssey: The role of commercial fishing in the Tongass
When people think of Alaska, they often think of large commercial fishing boats raking in their piece of the fortune that salmon bring to the waters off the coast of Alaska. Commercial fishing has shaped Alaska's economy and culture, and it has provided job opportunities in places where they might not normally exist. In Southeast…
-
Saying ‘no’ to risky mines
Public meetings aren't usually the stuff of great entertainment. But this spring a seemingly mundane exchange between bureaucrats underscored an big problem in Montana -- one TU and a whole pile of other Montanans are working to fix. Yes on 186 from Trout Unlimited on Vimeo. The Yes for Responsible Mining Initiative, I-186 would require…
-
How TU defines success in the Klamath River basin
TU's Tim Frahm swinging on the Klamath River near Weitchpec. The legendary Klamath River is the third most productive watershed for salmon and steelhead on the West Coast, after only the Columbia and Sacramento Rivers systems. The Klamath is also Ground Zero for one of the most challenging water conflicts in U.S. history. Trout Unlimited’s…
