My Dad says it happened when I was about 7 years old. Some punk lifeguards and their hangers-on were tormenting a sand shark they had pulled from the surf down the Jersey shore. I marched in between the sea of tree-trunk legs and, through my tears, carried the dead fish back to the surf. My…
Trout Unlimited began organizing sportsmen and women in a coordinated manner in 2001–largely in response to my observation when I worked at the Forest Service that the voice of hunters and anglers was largely missing from the development of the Roadless Area Conservation Rule—an initiative that protected nearly 60 million acres of some of the…
Dave Kielar felt like he had to pinch himself. There he sat, surrounded by what amounted to fly fishing glitterati, at a dinner table at TroutHunter in Island Park, Idaho. Earlier in the week, he got to rub elbows with the venerable Craig Mathews, who for years owned and operated Blue Ribbon Flies in nearby…
It was the squid boats at sundown that did it for me. I had been holding on to a lot of tension. I knew this. Much of it was linked to my recent move halfway across the state. But most of the ways that I usually deal with stress involve activities, including fishing, that have…
TU is leading a coalition of sportsmen to permanently protect the Owyhee Canyonlands The thing that strikes me most about the Owyhee River is the incongruity. This amazing trout stream springs from, and flows for many miles through, a desert. Okay, most of this country is technically sagebrush steppe. But it’s dry, hot and largely…
TU Report Details Impact of Overuse of Water on Colorado’s Rivers & Streams TU Report Details Impact of Overuse of Water on Colorados Rivers & Streams Contact: Melinda Kassen Director, Colorado Water Project 303/440-2937 1/7/2002 — Denver, CO — A new report says that Colorados rivers and streams are beginning to show clear signs of…
Over the weekend I spent a total of 12 hours fishing. I landed two fish to show for it. It was nonetheless supremely satisfying. And no, I wasn’t fishing for steelhead. About 100 miles north of Lake Tahoe a lovely reservoir lies resplendent, framed by ponderosa pines, Douglas fir and the southern terminus of the…
Photo by Fly Out Media Protective measures will safeguard important salmon spawning rivers in Bristol Bay’s headwaters from large-scale mine waste disposal. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Nelli Williams, Alaska director, Trout Unlimited, (907) 230-7121, nelli.williams@tu.org Chris Wood, CEO and president, Trout Unlimited, chris.wood@tu.org Brian Kraft, president, Katmai Service Providers, owner, Alaska Sportsman’s Lodge, (907) 227-8719 …
For two decades Trout Unlimited has worked to protect and restore one of the most unique trout sub-species in North America — the Rio Grande cutthroat — by engaging numerous partners in protecting, reconnecting and restoring coldwater habitats in the Rio Grande basin.
Editor’s note: The TU Costa Five Rivers Program sent a handful of student-anglers on a road trip across America in search of native trout. On the team’s final stop, they visited California. Sequoia National Forest Located in south-ce ntral California, Sequioa National Forest encompasses slightly less than 2,000 square miles. It is named, as is…
Public lands are vital for trout fishing in America. Any decent map proves this. A hearing in the U.S. Senate on Oct. 19 provided a major opportunity to highlight the importance of public lands for coldwater conservation and to advance legislation that will better protect and restore some of the most famous trout, salmon and…
Crocodiles, cobras and the drug cartel are not common visitors to fishing camps — unless you are Thad Robison and other members of the “Fish or Die” team. Chris Owens, Brian Jill, Jay Johnson and Robison have explored the planet looking for unique fish, remote country and epic adventures in front of cameras for 15…
8-year, $10 million partnership will restore aquatic systems lost in the two largest wildfires in Colorado history Contacts: (September 19, 2023) – In 2020, the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests experienced the two largest wildfires in the history of Colorado (Cameron Peak at approximately 208,000 acres and East Troublesome at approximately 193,000 acres), in addition…
“It is crucial that as a community and a nation we take care of the land and river that acts as an oasis for this prize fish because if we don’t, we are at risk of losing one of the most beautiful and complex ecosystems. While many rivers have seen a loss in native cutthroat, the Snake watershed has managed to remain as a native cutthroat dominated river, and that is something worth protecting.”
Each fall, TU Camp and Academy graduates are invited to enter the TU Teen Essay Contest in which they share their camp experiences. This year we had four finalists, and Natalie’s essay is the first in this series as the third runner-up. Natalie is from Georgia and is pictured above on one of her favorite…
Monitoring steelhead and salmon using sonar
On December 17, Chris Wood, the chief operating officer of Trout Unlimited, spoke before a senate subcommittee hearing on Capitol Hill in support of Senate Bill 1470, also known as the Forest Jobs and Recreation Act. Wood joined a diverse contingent of Montana residents who helped craft the ground-breaking proposal to conserve land and provide…
A new agreement promises to resolve decades of conflict over water use on California’s third largest watershed––and a legendary salmon and steelhead river
Dean hollered from upstream as a steelhead took his fly, then hollered again a moment later as the fish released it. At another spot Dean had a nice fish on for perhaps a minute, his rod bowed and bobbing. But that steelhead, too, practiced detachment. Welcome to winter steelhead fishing.
The home away from home on the Ruby River, Montana. Public lands. by Chris Hunt Last spring, as I prepared for a lengthy summer trip to the Arctic, I marched myself into my local RV dealership and signed away a significant chunk of change for a brand new camper. The trip was amazing—I crisscrossed Idaho…
