The photography of Trout Unlimited’s Josh Duplechian is featured the latest edition of This is Fly, an online fly-fishing magazine. Josh is a gifted photographer, and I’ve known him for well over 15 years—he and I worked together at the Idaho State Journal in Pocatello before we both escaped the newspaper industry and came to…
Small flies intimidate me. I’ve essentially relegated the tying of all flies smaller than size 18 in my fly box to the experts. But I might have to take the plunge after watching Tim Flager tie a size 22 Parachute Adams below. Video of Parachute Adams Size 22 The Adams and its many variants might…
Chapter Meetings to Build Community For the last 60 years, TU’s chapters have followed a membership meeting model that has served us well. That’s a part of our culture and community we don’t want to change, but it’s also a great place to start evolving our model to connect with more members and the community…
The venerable Pheasant Tail nymph is a fly box staple, and there’s a reason for that. It works. And it’s not the most onerous fly to tie, either, as demonstrated below by Matt Callies of Loon Outdoors, who cranks one out in just a few minutes. These great little nymphs also lend some versatility to…
Customizable Power Point decks to download General Resources From Citizens’ Climate Lobby
12/13/1999 Dam Removal Success Stories, Executive Summary Dam Removal Success Stories, Executive Summary Restoring Rivers through Selective Removal of Dams that Don’t Make Sense Contact: 12/13/1999 — — Few human actions have more significant impacts on a river system than the presence of a dam. Although dams can provide important societal benefits, dams also cause…
Since the mid-nineteenth century, the central question of the American West has been: How much water is there in the region, and how do we best use it? This question has been a topic of debate for more than the past 150 years, and we’re still trying to answer it now in the twenty-first century.…
TU and a number of conservation and fly-fishing industry entities helped Conservation Hawks with its newest film, Convergence, on the importance of enlisting anglers in the effort to combat climate change, both on the ground and in the halls of government. We highlighted the trailer earlier this year—the film is featured in the Fly Fishing…
There’s some great video footage out there of fish hitting flies. Violent rises to subtle sips, trout are the champions of the “take,” although I’ve seen some pike attacks that make me wonder if there’s a video yet to be shot featuring these voracious predators. The advent of drone videography, of course, has taken fly-fishing…
When the Trump administration indicated it would review all national monuments for size, scope and appopriateness earlier this year, one group of American hailing from all points on the political spectrum stood up and denounced the idea. That group? Sportsmen and women. We understand that national monuments that set aside land to protect everything from…
Being a western guy with roots in the Rockies, my angling experience in the mountains of New England is pretty limited. I did spend a great afternoon several years ago chasing fat rainbows in Connectictut’s upper Farmington River before being chased away by a rainstorm, and I got to fish some Adirondack streams for native…
Want to cast better? Maybe a little further, maybe a little straighter? Who doesn’t? I know I need work. Practice is the key, of course. And before you shell out the bucks for a spiffy new fast-action fly rod, take 10 minutes to do the one thing that will improve the cast you have, with…
Who doesn’t like catching fish on top? With poppers, no less. Several years back, while fishing with a great group of guys on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, I was introduced to the fact that pink salmon—yes, pink salmon—will hit poppers just as they’re reporting for spawning duty from the saltwater. We spent one glorious afternoon…
The book is as much about boat design as it is about the Adirondacks and the history of the people and landscape that were both shaped by the boats themselves and how the landscape shaped the boats for pleasure and work.
From the Stop Feeling Sorry for Yourself Department, I offer you this: A new Orvis film about a remarkable woman who had polio as a child and now goes fly fishing … with her feet. Video of ORVIS Presents: Toe to Toe Mary Loudder is pretty pragmatic about her disability. She’s lived a lifetime with…
Last week, about 300,000 farm-raised Atlantic salmon escaped from a Cooke Aquaculture net pen near Cypress Island in Puget Sound. The fish are not native to the Pacific and there are a host of really good reasons for anglers to get out there are try to catch as many of these fish as possible, not…
Over the last couple of years, I’ve learned a lot from Tim Flagler, fly-tying extraordinaire. Not only has he, through his video tying series that we feature each Friday here on the TU blog, helped become a better fly tier, but I really enjoy some of the simple little tips he shares to make my…
Want to feel small and insignificant? Take a look at this film below that follows a single trickle of water as it rises from vapor in the Pacific Ocean, moves west as part of a cloud over the Kitimat Range of northwestern British Columbia and then falls as a single snowflake high in the mountains.…
Russia’s Ponoi River might be the last, best place on earth to catch wild Atlantic salmon on the fly in appreciable numbers. And the river’s fish are incredibly resilient, largely due to the fact that their habitat is largely intact. The river is home to three runs of salmon (hence the title of the video…
I love fishing trips with a purpose. Here in the West, particularly in our backcountry streams, fly fishers can target specific species of trout and char just by choosing a destination. Wild rainbows? Try a great little creek that flows west off the Gallatin Range near the town of Ennis, Mont. Browns? Hit the Bear…
