Fly tying: The GFA Hopper

For me and other dry-fly enthusiasts (and that’s putting it mildly, at least in my opinion), this month is the month. It’s “hopper time.” Here in Idaho, our backcountry streams are in great shape–runoff is well past done, night-time temperatures are a bit chilly, whcih serves to keep our high-country streams cold. The warm summer…

Dunoir Fishing Adventures – In the Heart of Wyoming

Dunoir – from the French “du noir,” literally “of black.” The footprints of the French trappers faded long ago from the upper Wind River country in Wyoming. But the place names live on in the black timbered ridges of the Great Divide. You cross the Wind River above Dubois at the mouth of the Dunoir.…

TU in Action: High stream temps in Colorado, Vermont; pipeline concerns; California water, and more

Photo by Breckenridge Outfitters For the first time in at least two decades, two high-country trout streams in Colorado are closed to fishing, albeit voluntarily. Stretches of the Fraser and upper Colorado Rivers are closed between 2 p.m. and midnight to give trout dealing with extremely warm water temperatures — tributary streams emptying into the…

Which pro athletes are the best anglers?

Paul Deeter and “Chuck Nazty,” the Colorado Rockies all-star center fielder. I’ve been very lucky to have had opportunities to fish with some sports professionals over the years. And while they all have some great stories to tell and are mostly really fun to be on the water with, I have to tell you that…

Voices: I-186 reminds us we all live downstream

Above: Sun filters down on the mountain town of Pony, Montana By Shauna Stephenson Each year, just about the time the poppies explode in meadow of the gold mine owner’s abandoned mansion, just when the quiet main street goes from ghostly to just a little more alive and the occasional tourist totters up to the…

Voices from the River: Browned out

By Mark Taylor The river was brown. Coffee-with-heavy-cream brown. It’s-been-raining-for-days brown. You-don’t-have-a-chance-in-hell brown. “Top off the raft and get the stuff down to the shore while I go drop off the truck,” I told my fishing partner for the day, Brett Prettyman. “I’ll probably be back before you’re done.” So, if conditions were more appropriate…

Yes on I-186

By Chris Wood “I-185 and I-186 have qualified for the ballot.” With that inauspicious tweet, Montana’s Secretary of State Corey Stapleton confirmed two state-wide ballot initiatives this November in Montana. One is of huge import to people who care about clean water, trout, and trout fishing in Montana. I-186 would require Montana to deny permits…