Articles

Trout are in hot water in 2021

Another year of dangerous water temperatures is on tap for trout, here's what you can do

by Ben Kryzinski - Wednesday, May 26th, 2021

Trout handling practices become paramount when water temperatures rise (photo: Chad Shmukler).

Whether the calendar agrees or not, summer has arrived to much of trout country, and it won’t be long before we start hearing about heat-induced fishing restrictions, or fishing closures altogether. Many eastern locales have experienced a rain-starved spring, leading to below-normal streamflows and reservoir levels, and above-normal stream temperatures. In the West, it’s another lean water year in a series of lean water years.

Wild fish need wild fish activists, says Patagonia

A new initiative aims to inspire anglers to fight for wild fish

by Hatch Magazine - Friday, May 21st, 2021

Indigenous activists protest, calling for the removal of the lower Klamath River dams (photo: Patrick McCully / cc2.0).

We all know what happens to wild rivers and wild landscapes when those places lack defenders. Inevitably, the wheel of so-called progress turns, and irreplaceable and invaluable wilderness is left used up, despoiled, and often irrevocably damaged. For more than the last century, we've watched this wheel turn in realtime.

The tiger king of alpine lakes

There's a new tool in the battle to control invasive brook trout populations in the west

by Spencer Durrant - Thursday, May 20th, 2021

Photo: Utah Division of Wildlife Resources

The stocking report had to be wrong. A typo, a coding problem – something reasonable explained what I read.

Cottonwood Reservoir – MUSKIE TIGER

Donkey Lake – MUSKIE TIGER

Bullock Reservoir – MUSKIE TIGER

Why in the world would the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) stock tiger muskie into those lakes?

And the oscar goes to ... Florida

Southern Florida's aquatic invasive species are likely here to stay

by Chris Hunt - Wednesday, May 19th, 2021

Photo: Harum Koh / cc2.0

Sometime in the late 1950s, an aquarium fish farm in southeast Florida — apparently dissatisfied with just selling exotic fare to enthusiasts around the U.S. — decided to deliberately introduce a small South American fish into the canals of suburban Miami.

Fly fishing 101: Knowing your bugs, made easy

The need-to-know essentials of mayflies, caddisflies, stoneflies and midges

by John Juracek - Thursday, May 13th, 2021

A March Brown (Rhithrogena germanica) mayfly (photo: John Juracek).

Insects are the root of flyfishing. Without them, there is no basis for our sport. This fact alone is justification enough—to my way of thinking, at least—for possessing a working knowledge of insects and their behavior. Practically speaking, a knowledge of insects helps us predict where and when the best fishing is likely to occur, greatly increases our chances of finding feeding fish when we do get on the water, and informs our choice of fly pattern in any given situation.