Latest Blog Posts

A sliver of silver

We lingered in the currents, bathed in sunset afterglow

by M. Robbins Church - Friday, Mar 22nd, 2024

Photos: Marvin T. Williams.

The bright, 14-inch rainbow trout launched into the air, silhouetting itself against the June sky, mirrored in the shining surface of the stream as it fell back to the water with a satisfying smack. It was not the grandest rainbow of my life, but the one that brought me the most joy. It was my first Silver Creek rainbow. My first western trout. Yes, I said to myself. This is it!

Lyme disease: Running riot

I've got it. You may have it, too.

by Richard Wilson - Friday, Mar 15th, 2024

Photo: Mislav Marohnić / cc2.0.

This is a good time to be a tick with Lyme to share. You and I may bemoan the weirdness of the weather, but ticks love it.

As the world gets warmer and wetter, they’re partying. 10 years ago, in the wooded valley I call home, we had two distinct tick seasons — from mid-March to June, and a shorter burst in the autumn. Last year I picked up my first in early February and my dog had his last in November, and they continued without a break right through summer.

10 things we can do to protect our fisheries in 2024

Angler activism takes many forms, here are just a few

by Todd Tanner - Wednesday, Mar 13th, 2024

The North Umpqua Wild and Scenic River in Oregon (photo: Bob Wick / BLM).

It’s 2024 and far too many of our fisheries here in the U.S. are in serious trouble. Fortunately, there are some positive steps each of us can take going forward. While not every suggestion below will be a good fit for every single angler, be sure to check as many as possible off the list this year.

Have we taken our love for native trout too far?

It’s time to embrace wild trout. Wherever they swim. Whatever their pedigree.

by Chris Hunt - Wednesday, Feb 14th, 2024

A wild, wonderful brown trout swimming in non-native waters (photo: Chad Shmukler).

It’s possible we’ve taken our passion for native trout a bit too far. Not that North America’s native fish should be held in disdain. Far from it.

In putting the notion of Manifest Destiny into practice — first by identifying it as the inevitable future for European Americans in the mid-1800s and then by actively pursuing it as an ideal — our predecessors doomed more than just the Indigenous people of our continent.

Synchronicity

Broncos, Nuggets, tarpon and dive bars

by Chris Hunt - Thursday, Nov 30th, 2023

Photo: Chris Hunt

Carl Jung coined the term “synchronicity.” The term applies when multiple, unrelated events play out in a way that makes them seem intertwined, even when there’s no evidence that they are linked in any way.

In February of 2016, I was in tiny Punta Allen, Quintana Roo, steeped in Mexico’s wild and jungly Yucatan. I’d spent a perfectly lovely Sunday prowling the flats for bonefish and permit, catching the former and getting an abrupt middle finger (fin?) from the latter.