Articles

Shoshone River smothered by sediment release causing massive fish kill

Dam maintenance has choked out miles of Wyoming's prized wilderness river
Anglers throwing line on the Shoshone River near Cody, Wyoming in July. Dam maintenance downstream in mid October smothered the Shoshone in sediment killing thousands of fish (photo: Kris Millgate).

I worried more about grizzlies than sediment when I fished the Shoshone River in July. The clear, cold water I expect in the West looked right as can be near Cody, Wyoming. Fly-fishing guide Tim Wade of North Fork Anglers told me the river hosts native Yellowstone cutthroat trout and he was telling the truth. I caught a few. I also believed his statement about the area being a grizzly bear hotspot. I kept bear spray clipped to my waders.

“Makes it more interesting. People are afraid of bears,” he’d said. “They’re good for my business because people don’t want to be alone.”

A waypoint towards Atlantic fisheries recovery

ASMFC must stay the course on menhaden management
Big bass eat big bunker (photo: Captain John McMurray).

Somebody once said that sound, science-based fisheries management amounts to “addition through subtraction.” When confronted with dangerously low numbers in a fish population, managers may reduce short-term harvest levels so that populations rebound. When that population is forage fish such as the Atlantic menhaden—one that is vital to predator health and one which has nearly disappeared from a large part of its historic range—management action provides cascading benefits to both marine ecosystems and coastal economies.

Among brook trout and lake monsters

Mining wonder in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom
Photo: Matthew Reilly

As devoted to the science of angling as I’ve become, I sometimes lament its sobering effects on the endeavor. It seems to me that installing physical definitions upon such fascinating muses as underwater ecosystems takes the romance out of spending time with a wandering mind in the company of water. Luckily, the beauty of wild things features an enigmatic mechanism for anomaly which, humans and fishermen both, have learned to mine, religiously. I’ve found New England to be thick with such a culture.

Review: Hardy Sirrus Glass fly rod

Hardy's unique, new fiberglass-graphite hybrid rod has a lot going for it

To be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect when my local Hardy rep loaned me Hardy’s new glass-graphite hybrid. I’ve thrown my fair share of Hardy rods — the Zenith was incredible — but have typically found them to be a bit too fast to serve as a go-to rod for the type of Rocky Mountain small-stream fishing I spend most of my time doing.

Slam dunk

Utah's new cutthroat slam program has netted $10k for stream restoration
Photo: Kris Millgate

My time on earth is split evenly between two states. Utah and Idaho. Two decades in each. I was born in one and I’ll die in the other. Based on the stellar home water I have now, I’m content staying in Idaho. That is until I have lunch with Brett Prettyman. He’s Trout Unlimited’s Intermountain communications director. We both have roots in Utah media and remained friends as our careers evolved. We meet for lunch on the six-month anniversary of his pet project: Utah Cutthroat Slam.

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