The True Cast – On Guides, Ghillies and the Great Ones
I now get asked, all the time, whether guides these days, on average, can stack up against the guides from a generation ago…
Search results for “great lakes”
Photo of the week – taking flight
Our field work season is just about to take off just like this drone that’s headed up over rivers in the Great Lakes region to monitor coldwater refugia for trout. Using a drone outfitted with thermal imaging technology allows TU to look for groundwater influences. Knowing where cold water is entering streams helps restoration…
Short casts: Atlantic salmon in Detroit River, Farling moving on, American Fork restrictions
This may surprise many—it certainly surprised me. Atlantic salmon were once native to Lake Ontario. They are not native to the other Great Lakes, but according to Bring Back the Salmon, a Canadian conservation group seeking to restore Atlantic salmon to Lake Ontario, this was once the case. But, that initial population of salmon has…
Short casts: Pike in the shallows, good water in the West, hope for Skagit steelhead
From ice out until late spring, pike are in the shallows and ready to hit a fly. Here in the Lower 48, it’s prime time for pike. From ice out until lakes “turn over” in the late spring, pike can be found cruising the shallows of lakes and in the froggy water of rivers in…
Fly of the week: Half and Half
I have a secret. I’ve never fished in saltwater. I’ve just never had a chance. In fact, I’ve barely fished in the ocean at all. However, I recently moved to a new house just a few blocks from Lake Michigan, and not far from a handful of renowned carp flats — which I’ve been told…
Fly tying: JC’s Electric Steelie Stone
Being a western angler, I’m not terribly familiar with the steelhead flies used in Great Lakes tributaries. Most western steelhead patterns are purple or pink or some color variation that just looks loud and gawdy. Higher up in the steelhead drainages, like here in Idaho, it’s easier to get awa y from the “eggy” and…
Overlooked brookies of Ontario
My TU coworker Mark Taylor has a great laugh. Kind of a mix between a giggle and guffaw. A guffawggle, if you will. I know this because I’ve seen Mark in any number of circumstances—mingling with conference attendees at a hospitality suite, surrounded by his great family having dinner, casting to Arctic grayling in Alaska,…
Introducing ‘Tying One On,’ with TU’s own Nick Halle
Like a lot of us, Nick’s passion is fly fishing, and, like a lot of us, he ties his own flies
Celebrating 13 years of coldwater conservation on Michigan’s Rogue River
The Rogue River Home Rivers Initiative culminated in a celebration this spring with the wonderful community of partners, businesses and volunteers that worked together for coldwater conservation for a memorable 13 years.
Introducing ‘Tying One On,’ with TU’s own Nick Halle
Like a lot of us, his passion is fly fishing, and, like a lot of us, he ties his own flies
Great Work for Our Vets by Bellevue/Issaquah TU!
On 4/15, the Bellevue/Issaquah Wa. TU #109 and the North Bend, Wa Daughters of the American Revolution chapter jointly held our 4th Annual PHW Fish Out for the PHW chapters in Wa. state. The event was held at Langlois Lake and was attended by 28 Vets from Joint Base Lewis McCord, the Seattle VA Hospital…
Trout Tips: Lessons from the gear guys
Editor’s note: You can own TU’s newest book, “Trout Tips,” and have it delivered overnight. The book is a compilation of tips and tricks from TU staffers and volunteers from all over America. I’m in Duluth, Minn., for the annual Outdoor Writers Association of America conference, and got the opportunity to do some great public…
Work on small tribs in Michigan creates big impacts
Trout Unlimited staff and partners braved snow and cold to finish a fish passage project on Hinton Creek in Michigan. By Jeremy Geist Headwater streams are a critical component to the overall health of a watershed and largely add to the biodiversity of a whole river system. These types of streams are the ones we…
Short casts: Help stock trout in PA, salmon in Michigan, wild trout in Virginia
A Mossy Creek brown trout. Photo courtesy Mossy Creek Fly Fishing. Not everyone is lucky enough to live next to a naturally reproducing trout stream, even in a state like Pennsylvania, where wild trout waters are generally quite plentiful, and designations of new wild trout waters are growing. For instance, many anglers around Potstown are…
Spawning salmon approve of Michigan fish passage improvement project
While I knew increasing the size of a road crossing is always better for lowering flood flows, it is also incredibly beneficial to not just fish but also terrestrial species that use river corridors to migrate
Voices from the River: Public discussions on Lahontan cutthroat and a new beer
Doug Ouelette, Sagebrush Trout Unlimited Chapter board member, with a 21-pound Lahontan cutthroat trout caught at Pyramid Lake in Nevada. Courtesy photo. By Brett Prettyman If you dream of landing big trout chances are you have heard of the mighty Lahontan cutthroat of Pyramid Lake in Nevada. While the native fish approaching 30 pounds are…
Conservation Success Index
The CSI is TU’s original conservation planning application. Beginning in 2010, the CSI provided the first range-wide summary of watershed-scale information related to salmonid distribution, population attributes, habitat conditions, and future threats. Information from the CSI served as the base data for TU’s 2015 State of the Trout report. The CSI approach has evolved into…
Refuge Field Guide: Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge
The Red Rocks Lake National Wildlife Refuge, hidden away in the sparsely populated southwest corner of Montana, is the largest wetland complex in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Zero Limit Adventures, the New York ‘Dream Team’
What do you call a team of great and passionate guides who love to do nothing but fly fish? In western New York, we call them Zero Limit Adventures. Zero Limit Adventures is a uniquely staffed guide service with expertise in various skills as well as diverse interests, backgrounds and personalities. ZLA provides guests with…
Friendly faces
Molly Simpkins and Dan Gigone of Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston, Mont. Marketing a new book is a crapshoot, especially when it’s hyper-local content and writers are asked to a fair bit of promotion themselves to ensure the book’s success. So, when I visited Livingston, Mont., earlier this week for a book-signing and presentation at…