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A F F O R D A B L Y A W E S O M E

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THE JOURNAL OF COLDWATER FISHERIES CONSERVATION SPRING 2017

28 l Watersheds John Atherton’s Magic Realism BY CHRISTOPHER CAMUTO 30 l Blue Lines Worms. BY TOM REED 32 l The Powerful Griphoist BY MARK TAYLOR 36 l “Trout Tips” BY TU MEMBERS 44 l Tie Like a Chef BY ERIN BLOCK 46 l Sight Fish Like a Kiwi BY KIRK DEETER

50 l Trout Tips: Photography BY JESS MCGLOTHLIN, TIM ROMANO, JOSHUA DUPLECHIAN, ADAM BARKER, BEN KRAUSHAAR, AND COPI VOJTA 56 l Voices from the River: Moving Water BY S. R. KINSELLA

s 6 l From the CEO t

n 8 l From the Editor e 101 l Our Contributors m

t 121 Our Readers Write

r l a 141 l Pocket Water p BrownsB Canyon; Great Lakes and e DDelaware River get Congressional D bboost; Stream Monitoring; TU’s ““Diversity” Initiative; Shops We Like and “A Native Odyssey.” 61 l Actionline Mentoring ; Youth Conservation Camps; Stream Champ Shannon Mayes; Embrace-A-Stream Grants; TU’s online resources, and more. 66 l Whitlock on Muddler Minnows On the Cover: 80 l Classics Cutbow in the Clark Fork River, Montana, Gravel Guards. BY PAUL BRUUN by Lon Lauber JEREMY ALLAN

INTRODUCING THE X ROD COMMAND THE WATER

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Chairman of the Board National Leadership Council Jim Asselstine, TYLER HILL, PA. Representatives State Council Chairs Chairman of National Leadership Council Mick McCorcle, FAIRVIEW, TEXAS Chair ARIZONA, Steve La Falce Mick McCorcle ARKANSAS, John Sturgis President/Chief Executive Officer CALIFORNIA, Cindy Noble Chris Wood, WASHINGTON, D.C. Secretary Paul Doscher COLORADO, Marshall Pendergrass Secretary CONNECTICUT, Alicea Charamut ARIZONA Nancy Mackinnon, MANCHESTER CENTER, VT. , Joe Miller GEORGIA, Carl Riggs ARKANSAS, Bill Thorne IDAHO, Ed Northen Treasurer CALIFORNIA, Mary Tealdi ILLINOIS, Darwin Adams Terry Hyman, MCLEAN, VA. COLORADO, Mac Cunningham IOWA, James Kelehan Secretary of the National Leadership Council CONNECTICUT, Keith Ainsworth KENTUCKY, Lee Squires GEORGIA, Mack Martin Paul Doscher, WEARE, N.H. MAINE, Kathy Scott IDAHO, Chris Jones MASSACHUSETTS/RHODE ISLAND, Mark Burton Legal Advisor ILLINOIS, Gerald Sapp MICHIGAN, Tom Quail David D. Armstrong, Esq., GREENVILLE, S.C. IOWA, Ryan Maas MID-ATLANTIC, Don Haynes KENTUCKY, Gene Slusher Trustees MINNESOTA, JP Little MAINE, Stephen Brooke MISSOURI (OZARK COUNCIL) Jeff Witten Bernard C. Bailey, BETHESDA, MD. MASSACHUSETTS/RHODE ISLAND, Garry Crago MONTANA, Chris Schustrom John Braico, M.D., QUEENSBURY, N.Y. MICHIGAN, Robb Smith NEW HAMPSHIRE, Thomas Ives Sherry Brainerd, RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIF. MID-ATLANTIC, Noel Gollehon NEW JERSEY, Richard Thomas Charlie Breithaupt, CLAYTON, GA. MINNESOTA, John Hunt NEW MEXICO, Art Vollmer Stoney Burke, KETCHUM, IDAHO MISSOURI (OZARK COUNCIL) Michael Riley NEW YORK, Ron Urban Noel (Skip) Dunn, LEWISVILLE, N.C. MONTANA, Daniel Short NORTH CAROLINA, John Kies Bill Egan, JACKSON, WYO. NEW HAMPSHIRE, March McCubrey OHIO, Tom Allen Scott Hood, BROKEN ARROW, OKLA. NEW JERSEY, David King OKLAHOMA (INDIAN NATIONS COUNCIL) Terry Hyman, MCLEAN, VA. NEW MEXICO, John Lopez David Games Patsy Ishiyama, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. NEW YORK, Scott Seidman OREGON, Terry Turner Richard Johnson, WILMINGTON, N.C. NORTH CAROLINA, Dale Klug PENNSYLVANIA, Charlie Charlesworth Howard Kern, WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIF. OHIO, Jim Augustyn SOUTH CAROLINA, Paul McKee BROOKFIELD, WIS. Henry Koltz, OKLAHOMA (INDIAN NATIONS COUNCIL)

Trout Unlimited Board of TrusteesTrout Unlimited Board of TENNESSEE, Mike Bryant Walt Minnick, CHEVY CHASE, MD. Phil Curtis TEXAS, Phil Dopson Stephen Moss, LARCHMONT, N.Y. OREGON, David Moldal UTAH, Jeff Taniguchi Dan Needham, WINNETKA, ILL. PENNSYLVANIA, Brian Wagner VERMONT, Clark Amadon James Nevels, PHILADELPHIA, PA. SOUTH CAROLINA, Malcolm Leaphart VIRGINIA, Kevin Daniels Ken Olivier, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. TENNESSEE, Steve Brown WASHINGTON, Rosendo Guerrero Daniel Plummer, EAST BRANCH, N.Y. TEXAS, Mark Dillow WEST VIRGINIA, Lee Orr Kevin Reilly, SANTA FE, N.M. UTAH, Kelly Marquart WISCONSIN, Linn Beck LONDON, ENGLAND Thomas Stoddard, VERMONT, Jared Carpenter LYNNWOOD, WASH. WYOMING, Cole Sherard Mark Taylor, VIRGINIA, Graham Simmerman COMMERCE TOWNSHIP, MICH. James Tolston III, WASHINGTON, Tim Gavin WILMINGTON, N.C. Raiford Trask, WEST VIRGINIA, Derek Edwards LIVINGSTON, MONT. Dan Vermillion, WISCONSIN, Kim McCarthy SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. Jim Walker, WYOMING, Jim Broderick K.C. Walsh, BOZEMAN, MONT. John Willis, CHICAGO, ILL. Coldwater Conservation Fund Board of Directors 2017

President R. Scott Blackley, LEESBURG, VA. Edmond Opler, WILSON, WYO. Kirk Wortman, STAMFORD, CONN. Matthew Fremont-Smith, NEW YORK, N.Y. Brain Paavola, KEY WEST, FLA. Steven B. Gewirz, WASHINGTON, D.C. Stewart Parker, SEATTLE, WASH. Executive Committee Jim Jackson, HOUSTON, TEXAS Steve Renehan, SUMMIT, N.J. Phillip Belling, NEWPORT BEACH, CALIF. Jim Kelley, ATLANTA, GA. Andrew Roberts, REDDING, CONN. Douglas Biederbeck, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. Cam MacMillan, BOULDER, COLO. Leigh Seippel, NEW YORK, N.Y. Stephan Kiratsous, NEW YORK, N.Y. Ivan Marcotte, CHARLOTTE, N.C. Robert Strawbridge, WILSON, WYO. Jeffery Morgan, DARIEN, CONN. Jeffrey Marshall, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ. Margie Taylor, SHERIDAN, WYO. Directors Gregory McCrickard, TOWSON, MD. Daniel Zabrowski, POCONO PINES, PA. J. Thomas McMurray, JACKSON, WY. Stephen J. Zoukis, SULLIVANS ISLAND, S.C. Bruce Allbright, STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. Stephen Moss, LARCHMONT, N.Y. John Bell, TRYON, N.C. Ken Olivier, SCOTTSDALE, ARIZ.

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From the President SPRING 2017 • VOLUME 60 • NUMBER 2 [ Chris Wood] EDITOR Kirk Deeter DEPUTY EDITOR Samantha Carmichael Take It Up a Level EDITOR-AT-LARGE Fishing is a celebration of earned skills. Every time I fish, I con- Erin Block sciously try to improve. Many of us joined Trout Unlimited because Trout Unlimited 1777 North Kent Street we thought we could improve our angling skills by associating with Suite 100 and learning from others who love to fish. Sure, I have picked up Arlington, VA 22209 Ph: (703) 522-0200 some tricks and tactics that help me catch more fish, but what I’ve Fax: (703) 284-9400 most appreciated about this organization is that the same mindset [email protected] of solving problems on the water also applies to conservation. www.tu.org DESIGN Last spring, I met Mike Cronin of the Califonia North Bay chapter, and spent an grayHouse design afternoon looking at the chapter’s latest coho and steelhead restoration work on Devil’s [email protected] Gulch tributary. I got chills when he pointed upstream to a constructed pool and told DISPLAY ADVERTISING me about helping his father, Leo Cronin, on that project 30 years ago. Tim Romano [email protected]______The late Duane Hyde, who retired after 30 years as a game warden with badge (303) 495-3967 number 001, was one of the most effective advocates for protecting the 1.8 million- acre Wyoming Range. Duane was one of a group of Wyoming sportsmen and women TROUT UNLIMITED’S MISSION: To conserve, we organized who pulled off one of the more stunning conservation achievements of protect and the past decade in convincing Congress to place the Wyoming Range forever off-limits restore North America’s to oil and gas development. coldwater fish- Alisha “Mutts” Decker is the only female master hunting guide in southeast Alaska, eries and their and the co-owner of Glacier Guides. When she came to Washington, D.C., recently watersheds. to advocate for stronger protections on Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, even the TROUT (ISSN 0041-3364) is experts at the Forest Service were moved by her description of how her family, and so published four times a year in many others’ livelihoods in southeast Alaska are dependent on healthy salmon fisheries. January, April, July and October by Trout Unlimited as a service Greg Hulver is a farmer from West Virginia. He contacted us about restoring his to its members. Annual individual membership for U.S. residents stream, and then came to Washington, D.C., to tell his members of Congress about the is $35, $40US for residents of experience. It is one thing for an elected leader to rail against government spending in Canada and $55US for residents of all other countries. TU offers 10 the abstract; it is another when a multi-generational farmer explains how EPA-funded different membership categories. programs improved his soil productivity and reduced erosion to the Chesapeake Bay. Join or renew online at www.tu.org. As happens every election cycle, the political landscape has shifted. The polarized TU does occasionally make its mailing list available to like-minded and discordant national dialogue is off-putting and bitter. So, just as we would when organizations. Please contact us fishing conditions get tougher, we need to dig deeper into our bag of tricks. We need at the address above if you would like your name withheld. to innovate; we need to practice. The more we practice our advocacy, education and Postmaster send address restoration skills, the better citizens we become. changes to: This political season has made me want to fish more. And I will. But we can’t check TROUT Magazine Trout Unlimited out—we need to step up and tell decision-makers that we won’t stand for unwarranted 1777 North Kent Street conservation funding cuts; clean water protections weakened; public lands auctioned- Suite 100 off; and places such as Bristol Bay opened up to industrial scale mining. Arlington, VA 22209 Your service to TU and the places you live and fish is an antidote to the disillusion- ment and cynicism that plagues Washington, D.C. In the next few years, we will need to educate, organize and mobilize more TU members and supporters than ever before. So go ahead and work on not dropping your thumb on the back-cast, and tightening up your double-haul, but remember to bring that same passion for improving your fishing skills to your conservation and advocacy skills. We need everyone to take it up ______a level, now more than ever.

TROUT SPRING 2017 6

7 TROUT SPRING 2017

From the Editor [ Kirk Deeter] The Two Things… At the end of the day, a high-quality trout fishing experience really boils down to two things: good resources, and good knowledge. If the fish aren’t there to begin with, that is a non-starter. On the other hand, if the fish are there, and you aren’t sure how to catch them, that’s also a problem. I’ve been in both places. I can remember plenty of days watching trout rise, and other anglers pulling on them with bent rods. Fortunately, I had mentors to lift me through the learning curve. Later, there have been times when I thought I brought an “A-game” to the river, only to experience a void. You need both things to line up to have the meaningful things happen. For nearly 60 years, TU has been in the business of making sure the trout are in the river. Nobody does that better. Now, we’re also going to pay more attention to helping you catch those trout. Granted, that’s always been part of the camaraderie and kinship of TU in one way or another. But we’re going to step up our “how-to” efforts. You’ll see more of that in this magazine, starting with this issue, almost entirely focused on “skills.” You’ll also see it online, at TU.org, and via E-newsletters, and through books, and much more. There’s a very simple method to this madness: success breeds interest and involvement. The more trout you catch, the more anglers will care about preserving that sacred experience, and pass it along to others. Feel free to join in, however, whenever you feel inclined. This ride is going to get a lot more interesting, I can promise you that.

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David Kinney is Mid-Atlantic Policy Director for Trout Unlimited. He organizes TU’s grassroots advocacy campaigns in the region, with a focus on protection of wild trout streams in the face of ongoing shale gas and pipeline development. He is based in the Delaware River Basin. He spent the first half of his career as a journalist and nonfiction author. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 2005 with a team of political reporters at the Newark Star-Ledger, and his first book, The Big One, has been optioned for a film. DAVID KINNEY

Jess McGlothlin is happiest on the road in the strange, far-off corners of Our Contributors the world. She sees her mission as a simple one: tell stories. Working as a free- lance photographer and writer in the outdoor industry, while on assignment in the past few years she’s learned how to throw spears at coconuts in French Polynesia, dodge saltwater crocodiles in Cuba and eat all manner of unidentifi- able food. She’s based out of Bozeman, Mont. See more of her work at www.______JessMcGlothlinMedia.com. JESS MCGLOTHLIN

As the former Outdoors Editor at The Denver Post, Scott Willoughby has written about trout fishing, national monuments and public lands in the Rocky Mountain West for more than 20 years. Now a full-time freelancer, he generally aims false casts toward the Upper Colorado and tributaries near his home at the crux of Hardscrabble Mountain and Bellyache Ridge.

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Our Readers Write

It’s because TU gets letters like has never been thought of before.” Thank you, When the 522-Rabun chapter contributed this (sent to Dakus Geeslin)… Dakus, for coordinating the GRTU Youth Camp. $1,000 to the Headwaters program earlier this I wanted to share with you how Guadalupe year, GRTU’s TU Tomorrow Fund matched it. River Trout Unlimited opened some doors That TU does things like this… Help us not leave this money on the table and for Martin. He came back from the GRTU The 066-Guadalupe River chapter has commit- ensure it is put toward the next generation. To Youth Camp inspired to trout fish more. Plus, ted ongoing support for the TU Tomorrow Fund, find out more about how your chapter or council the mentorship fueled his passion for one day a newly created opportunity that will benefit TU’s contribution to the Headwaters Youth Program going into something “fishy” for a career. He Headwaters Youth Program. GRTU’s annual can be doubled, contact Headwaters Director now thinks about what the fishing population $10,000 donation will serve as match for other Franklin Tate [email protected] will be in the future, not just for today, and he TU councils and chapters who want to show is advocating that to his friends… He started a similar commitment to getting the next generation TROUT readers will be hearing a LOT fly-tying class at his school (he’s already taught involved in TU’s important conservation mission. more about TU’s Youth programs and five of his classmates to cast)… He has some Funds will sustain TU Headwaters staff’s efforts events (and how you can be involved) long range, 10-plus-year goals for the sport to develop new and strengthen existing programs in coming issues, so please stay tuned. of trout and saltwater fly fishing and bringing and projects designed to involve young people from more opportunity for more people to join and kindergarten through college with TU—programs Your Letters: Readers are invited to enjoy the sport in new ways. Martin said: “It’s like the Youth Leadership Council, the TU Teen submit letters on anything that appears a little like ‘Karate Kid.’ I want to learn all I can Summit and the TU Costa 5 Rivers college network. in TROUT. We may edit submissions for from someone who is willing to teach me, for as GRTU’s Council Chair Phil Dopson emphasized clarity or length. Send letters to: long as they are willing to teach. And then one there is a critical need for the TU Tomorrow Fund, Our Readers Write: TROUT UNLIMITED 1777 N. Kent St., #100 day I am going to set out on a new path to bring adding: “There is no more important business of Arlington, VA 22209 something new to fly fishing, something that TU than educating our youth.” [email protected]

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TROUT SPRING 2017 12

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Pocket Water news bits and bytes JOSH DUPLECHIAN

Browns Canyon: Monumental Fishing We all have our favorite haunts. Maybe There are locations, primarily on to open, close, develop or carve it off it’s the place you grew up fishing, or the pubic lands of our U.S. National to the highest bidder without recourse. where you intend to grow old fishing. Forest or Bureau of Land Management It seems safe to assume that the Maybe both. Or maybe you’ve never (BLM) properties, where it would masterminds behind this public land even been there. Not yet, anyway. But seem the great American birthright of takeover ploy don’t have a favorite you know it exists, the image swirling walking into the woods to fish freely fishing hole, certainly not a public in your soul like some etherial eddyline on the rivers, lakes and streams of our one. It’s doubtful they care that loss of calling for a cast. Someday. dreams remains alive and well. And it access is regularly cited as the primary That’s the hope, at least, that these does, for now. reason why sportsmen quit fishing and coveted destinations ultimately outlast But the unsettling reality is that hunting altogether. And it’s likely they us all. And, more importantly, that there is, and likely always will be, a seg- only see dollar signs upon learning that access to such grand places remains ment of the American electorate that natural spaces about the size of a foot- equally as long. doesn’t agree with the concept of public ball field are currently lost to develop- Funny thing about access, though: lands managed for multiple uses by the ment every 2½ minutes in 11 Western Like preservation of the places them- federal government. Not for fishing states—a span of open land the size of selves, rarely is it guaranteed. And or anything else. That property, they Los Angeles every year. given the current pendulum swing of argue, would be put to better use by pri- Odds are even higher these master- political policy, access gates may be vate ownership, or in the hands of indi- minds have never cast a fly in Browns slamming shut right behind it. vidual states that can decide arbitrarily Canyon of the Upper Arkansas River.

TROUT SPRING 2017 14

Otherwise, they might see things from the map. But before the fishing and Such commitment clearly bodes Bill Dvorak’s perspective. hunting communities bought into the well for the fishery that is arguably the “There’s nothing like this anywhere,” national monument proposal, some key most underrated on the Arkansas. The said Dvorak, Colorado’s first licensed criteria had to be fulfilled. “Upper Ark” has made a name for itself river outfitter. “This is something that Among them, the locally-conceived as the favorite among Colorado anglers ought to be here for generations to proposal had to assure public access, since 2008, bolstered by CPW’s des- come, for people to come here and multiple use and appropriate wildlife ignation of a full 102-mile segment as enjoy forever.” management in Browns Canyon. Such Gold Medal trout water in 2014. Dvorak’s beloved Browns Canyon assurances establish enclaves of ongo- Although it sits in the heart of the came precariously close to becoming ing opportunity for the public to fish Gold Medal water—roughly 13 rug- a development statistic not long ago, and hunt in high-quality habitat within ged miles spanning between the towns when decades of preservation efforts monument boundaries. of Buena Vista and Salida—Browns went overlooked long enough to let That’s a powerful tool to wield in this Canyon is far better known for white- miners file a series of claims along the otherwise uncertain era of diminishing water rafting than for fishing. But Gold Medal trout fishing water that public access. The national monument below the rapids, a wild and self-sus- doubles as the nation’s most popular label offers a layer of protection in taining population of brown trout commercial rafting run. A legal scram- Browns Canyon that maintains tradi- stretching the tape to 20 inches mixes ble by then Colorado Senator Mark tional management structure, addresses with an increasing minority of hardy Udall held off the threat long enough sportsmen’s values and preserves the Hofer rainbows introduced in 2009. for the surrounding community to rally fishery forever. “One of the reasons we like fishing support for executive action. Like a growing number of national in Browns is because we get bigger fish In February, 2015, the rally paid monuments—including New Mexico’s here. Maybe not quite as many fish as off as Barack Obama stepped in as Rio Grande del Norte National we might get downstream from Salida, the 16th U.S. president to employ the Monument and portions of Colorado’s but we tend to catch a little higher qual- Antiquities Act of 1906 and established Black Canyon of the Gunnison, which ity fish,” Dvorak said. “I think that’s 22,000-acre Browns Canyon National Monument. Barring an unprecedented repeal of “It amounts to this: Without the Monument protections by protections of the national monument subsequent administrations, proclamation, the federal lands could the majestic river canyon be sold off, mined or mismanaged will remain open to anglers, under future federal administrations.” among others, in perpetuity. “I’ve been asked why we — Bill Dvorak JOSH DUPLECHIAN need to make Browns Canyon a national monument—why can’t we Congress approved as a national park sev- due to the lack of fishing pressure. just leave it as it is?” Dvorak said. “It eral years after receiving national monu- There’s just not as many people that fish amounts to this: Without the pro- ment designation—Browns Canyon falls Browns Canyon.” tections of the national monument into the National Conservation Lands Would-be anglers can be discour- proclamation, the federal lands could system that emphasizes conservation aged by the popularity of the raft- be sold off, mined or mismanaged alongside multiple use traditions like ing run, but the management plan in under future federal administrations. hunting and grazing that range beyond Browns Canyon forbids commercial Monument designation keeps it the typical National Park Service restrictions. rafting launches for all except float way it is.” “What’s cool about these designa- fishermen after 3 p.m. Caddis begin As a big game hunter on the sur- tions, this system is an opportunity to flourish just after Mother’s Day and rounding hillsides and president of the to showcase to the American people the whitewater crowds dissipate by mid- grassroots Friends of Browns Canyon that we are committed to conserva- August. coalition, Dvorak was instrumental tion,” said Jayson Barangan, lead public Time it right, and this monumental in engaging the voice of sportsmen in affairs specialist for BLM Colorado. fishery is sure to become a favorite, for the conservation battle alongside oth- “Conservation is a very important part life. ers who benefit from a new star on of our mandate.” —Scott Willoughby

15 TROUT SPRING 2017

fishing. The Basin, stretching from the Catskills to the Delaware Bay, also provides clean drinking water to more than 15 million people, offers world-class hunting, boating, birding and tourism, and pours $25 billion into the region’s economy. But the basin faces a number of pressing threats, from storm water runoff and habitat fragmentation to cli- Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and mate change. The new program makes Delaware River Basin Get Boost from Congress the Delaware River a national priority, and answers the need for a concerted A pair of focus areas for Trout nomic benefit comes in the form of restoration effort in the basin, some- Unlimited will benefit from the Water improved infrastructure, such as culvert thing on par with work underway in the Infrastructure Improvements for the replacements or dam removals, the use Chesapeake Bay, the Great Lakes, and Nation Act. of local contractors, and through the other major U.S. watersheds. The bipartisan legislation, passed spending of sportsmen and women The act creates a Delaware River by Congress in late 2016, reauthorizes as the improved habitat becomes an Basin Restoration Program to identify, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative angling or hunting destination. coordinate and prioritize the array of through 2021. TU will continue working to ensure conservation efforts in the basin, and It also includes the Delaware River that the GLRI program will receive the to provide technical assistance and Basin Conservation Act, first intro- maximum funding over the next five competitive matching grants to fund the duced in 2010 and long a priority for years in the annu- TU and our partners in the region. al appropriations The new program makes the Delaware River Since 2010, the GLRI has supported process. a national priority, and answers the need for more than 2,000 projects in the Great TU members Lakes region, including TU projects and other citizens a concerted restoration effort in the basin. improving stream connectivity, restor- have been impor- ing riverbanks, combating invasive spe- tant, outspoken supporters of the GLRI sort of on-the-ground work that groups cies and increasing habitat protection. and the DRBCA. like TU are doing in the watershed— Projects to improve fisheries have Tom Lager, president of the Fox whether it is replacing poorly designed been completed in places like the Little Valley TU chapter in Wisconsin and culverts, planting new riparian buffers Manistee, Menominee and Rogue vice chair for the state council’s Central or restoring in-stream fish habitat. River watersheds. Reauthorization and Region, traveled to Washington D.C. to Among their efforts supporting future funding will also allow TU to speak with legislators and their staff in the DRBCA over the past two years, increase its efforts in the region, includ- support of the GLRI. TU volunteers have twice traveled to ing planned restoration projects in “While we have a tremendous trout Washington D.C. to meet with legisla- Wisconsin’s Nicolet National Forest. fishery across the state, resiliency of tors and their staff to discuss the act, and “It has been critical to our restora- populations are hampered by barriers have attended a roundtable discussion tion work in parts of Wisconsin and to free passage within watersheds due TU organized with Rep. Ryan Costello Michigan,” said Keith Curley, TU’s vice to poorly designed culverts installed (R-Pa.). Twenty chapter presidents and president of eastern conservation. “The at many road crossings,” Lager said. council chairs signed a TU letter to federal funding combined with state and “GLRI grants are funding replacement House and Senate leaders supporting private grants and the work of volunteers structures that eliminate barriers.” the DRBCA and, in the fall of 2016, can get a lot done for trout, salmon and Lager also pointed out that GLRI hundreds of TU members responded steelhead in the Great Lakes basin.” funding has been critical to invasive spe- to a TU action alert and sent letters to GLRI projects often feature a 2:1— cies control efforts, and in development their senators and congressmen. or even 3:1—ratio return in matching of watershed management plans. —Taylor Ridderbusch and Mark Taylor. Taylor funds, which provides a boost to local To the east, the Delaware River is Ridderbusch is TU’s Great Lakes organizer. Mark economies across the region. This eco- home to some of our best wild trout Taylor is TU’s eastern communications director.

17 TROUT SPRING 2017

Pocket Water

Stream Monitoring Yields Deeper Understanding Growing up fishing with his father in where companies are building or pro- try knows that volunteers like him are southwest Pennsylvania, Dave Matta posing pipelines to transport the natural watching for signs of pollution. He knew early on what could happen to gas to markets on the East Coast. takes a long view: fallout from the shale good trout streams when people weren’t Volunteers attend five- to six-hour gas boom might not show up right away, paying attention. trainings led by Jake Lemon, Mid- but years on. He was born in Windber, Pa., a town Atlantic Angler Science Coordinator While he has not spotted problems in that was founded by coal barons. His for TU, where they add scientific con- the streams he has been monitoring yet, grandfather worked the mines for four servation skills to their fishing tool- the work has been revelatory in other decades; his father was lucky to have kit: how to measure key water-quality ways. Visiting the same stretch of water, survived a mining accident. But even parameters like turbidity, conductiv- he sees how it changes over time. He though Matta’s father made a living ity, temperature, flow and pH; how to has intimate understanding of stream from coal, he also knew that for every conduct pebble counts; how to iden- chemistry. And he has a new awareness healthy trout fishery in their neck of tify signs of erosion and problems with of what’s beneath the water’s surface. the woods, plenty of others had been erosion-control structures; how to “Just at that first training,” he said, “it destroyed by acid mine drainage. collect and identify benthic macroin- was like, ‘Wow, I’ve been missing all A half century on, that personal vertebrates—stream bugs. this stuff.” history informs Dave Matta’s view of Since the program’s launch in 2010, Which led to a fly-fishing epiphany the natural gas boom in the Marcellus more than 1,100 people have been at the ripe age of 58. What he’d been Shale region. Five years ago, when he trained. The corps has made more than told for years really was true: All those heard about TU’s stream monitoring 8,000 visits to almost 900 sites, and trout that he’d been trying to raise to program, he was in. collectedcollec some 85,000 data points. the surface with dry flies had an all-you- The Coldwater Conservationon Once or twice a month, Matta can-eat buffet of macroinvertebrates to Corps is a band of hardy vol- collectsc data from three streams gorge on under the surface. “It con- unteers who fan out across near his home in central vinced me that I needed to become a the Mid-Atlantic to monitor Pennsylvania. He is building much better nymph fisherman than I streams in areas where drill- baseline data, and watching was,” Matta said. “It opened my eyes up ers are fracking the Marcellus forf signs of pollution. What’s to what’s down there.” Shale, and more recently, areas importanti to him is that indus- —David Kinney

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Diversity Workgroup of the NLC of TU. Our chair, Bill Thorne approached the NLC with this resolution last fall and it was passed unanimously. Because increasing the diversity of the TU membership and leadership is called out as an organizational priority in the TU strategic plan, we feel it is fitting to expand the focus of the NLC Workgroup to help realize that vision. We have some chapters that want to focus on reaching out to Latino populations in their communities, others local Native American tribes, while still others may see that Millennials are missing from the table. By changing our name and expanding our tent, we hope to encourage more chapters to think beyond one type of diversity. That said, the main goal of the DI continues to be facilitating more women involvement in the TU mission. Despite all that we have done, we still have a long Women’s Initiative NLC Workgroup way to go before women are equally Changes Name to “Diversity” represented within our organization. Women’s Initiative Chairs will continue The Women’s Initiative Workgroup of started with five and now have close to exist at the chapter and state level the National Leadership Council was to 80. These chairs are creating a lot under the umbrella of the Diversity started after the TU Annual meeting in of momentum working at the state Initiative NLC Workgroup and their September 2011 with the mission state- and chapter level to increase women’s roles do not need to change. ment to create effective strategies and engagement and membership locally. We As a workgroup, we feel that increas- programs to recruit more women in TU, now have not only more women in TU ing diversity is the future of this organi- encourage more women TU members but nine percent all volunteer leaders in zation and we are very excited about the to accept leadership roles at the chapter, TU are women. name change and exploring new ways state and national levels, and ensure The current executive team of the that can allow TU to be more inclusive every chapter creates a welcoming envi- WI Workgroup consists of NLC Chair for all members. ronment for women members to achieve Bill Thorne (AR), The DI NLC the stated TU conservation mission. Co-Chair Kerri By changing our name Workgroup and The members of the workgroup Russell (AR), Vice- and expanding our tent, we TU staff are in the include women and men, TU volun- Chair Kelly Buchta process of analyzing hope to encourage more teers and staff from across the country. (NJ) and Secretary data from the recent In the past five years, the accomplish- Jackie Kutzer (VT), chapters to think beyond Women in TU sur- ments of this workgroup have had far as well as our one type of diversity. vey. This informa- reaching impacts improving the engage- Diversity Consultant, tion will inform the ment of women in membership and Stefan Jackson (ME). As an executive workgroup as we refine our strategies leadership within TU. team, we agreed we wanted to expand the and develop new tactics for addressing One prominent accomplishment focus of the workgroup to include addi- this important topic. Look for the sur- was the development of the Women’s tional under-represented demographics. vey analysis in upcoming issues of the DI Initiative Chair at the local and state After discussing it more with the larger newsletter “On The Rise” and elsewhere levels. We now have WI chairs in almost workgroup and many of our WI chairs, in the Tackle Box. all of the states represented by TU. We it was agreed to change our name to the —Kerri Russell

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Pocket Water

FLY SHOPS WE (REALLY) LIKE BY WALT GASSON

Angler’s Covey et’s say you want to fish in Colorado. Anglers club. Becky was the force behind the iconic fisheries of the Upper South Platte Who doesn’t, right? Maybe you live women’s programs at Angler’s Covey, real- were imperiled. The Trees for Trout program L there, but probably not. Maybe you’d izing that women often learn better side by was conceived of by David and other dedi- like to know a little more about fishing there, side with other women. Together they work cated anglers who wanted to harvest burned no matter where you live. Here’s what you with Casting for Recovery and in 2015 won trees and strategically place them to restore need: Angler’s Covey. They’re located at Project Healing Waters’ Patriot Award for wintering, breeding and feeding areas for the foot of Pikes Peak in beautiful Colorado their work over the past 10 years. fish and create habitat where none previ- Springs, Colo., on your way to the mountains Male or female, newcomer or experienced ously existed. This award winning program and less than an hour away from some of the angler, Angler’s Covey has classes to help you has improved over 50 miles of stream and best fishing in America. get more out of fly fishing. Check out their continues to grow each year. They have over 6,500 square feet full classes in nymphing, dry fly fishing, streamer As a result of their commitment to con- of the latest fly fishing gear. They have two fishing, aquatic entomology and fly selection servation and to bringing new anglers into casting ponds, always ready for you to test and also their top notch guide service which the world of fly fishing, Angler’s Covey is the the newest rods in the industry. They have won them the 2012 Orvis Outfitter of the newest Gold Level TU Business member in one of the largest tying centers in the region. Year Award. Colorado. But to know this shop, you need to know In recent years, Angler’s Covey and TU the owners, David and Becky Leinweber. have worked together on numerous projects Angler’s Covey David is a giant in the outdoor to protect sensitive habitats and David and Becky Leinweber industry. He’s been doing this for fisheries, including their great Colorado Springs, CO 80904 over 35 years and has spent his Trees for Trout program. In the (719) 471-2984 entire life pursuing backcountry wake of the devastating Hayman [email protected]______adventures. He’s fished over 100 fire of 2002, the future of the www.anglerscovey.com different locations in Colorado, and no one knows the water better BUSINESS than he does. He’s been GOLD LEVEL a part of the TU team for years as an individual, business member and board member of the Cheyenne Mountain Chapter. He currently leads several groups about faith, conservation and business development including founding Pikes Peak Outdoor Recreation Alliance (PPORA.org).______Becky is a Colorado native and devoted fly angler who finds joy in sharing her passion with those new to the sport, especially other women. She has been instructing fly-fishing for women for over 13 years and founded and leads the Pikes Peak Women

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Pocket Water

FLY SHOPS WE (REALLY) LIKE BY WALT GASSON

Wind River Outdoor Company f there’s one thing I’ve learned in my when Ron opened his shop in 2010, I made Do it this year. And on your way, stop in work with Trout Unlimited Business a point of stopping in. Before long, WROC at Wind River Outdoor Company. Or check members, it’s this: “If you want to know was a TU Business member. That made me them out online. Their new website is simply aboutI the outfit, you’ve got to know the stop in even more, since I believe in buying awesome. You can even shop for gear on boss.” I suppose that’s true almost across stuff from the good folks who ride for our their new e-commerce site. Or check them the board. Organizations, whether they’re brand. Here’s what I’ve learned: out on Facebook or Instagram. multi-nationals or mom-and-pops, tend to These guys know fishing. They You’ll like what you see. reflect the qualities of their leaders. And know what catches fish. One of But if you’re interested in a nowhere is this truer than with Wind River Ron’s staff put me on to a stim- guided fly fishing trip (and you Outdoor Company—Wyoming’s only Gold ulator pattern that absolutely should be) you really should book Level TU Business member. If you want to knocked ‘em dead in three dif- a trip on the Big Horn or the know something about this outfit, you have ferent drainages no matter what highly acclaimed Green River on to know Ron Hansen. time of the day I fished them. BUSINESS the Seedskadee National Wildlife Ron is a Wyoming guy, through and These guys know anglers. GOLD LEVEL Refuge with them. Their guide ser- through. He’s from Lander, went to the Real anglers, because they’re vice is top notch and they are the University of Wyoming. He’s a diehard hunt- real anglers themselves. No froufrou stuff only Wyoming based operation permitted to er, angler and a family guy. What’s more, he’s here. This is real outdoor gear for real out- operate on the Green at Seedskadee. The a staunch TU supporter, a guy who’s been a door people, sold by real outdoor people. guys at Wind River Outdoor Company are tremendous ally for us on issues that affect Poseurs need not apply. our kind of people. all of us. He’s involved at the chapter, council These guys care. They know about the and national level. He’s flown to Washington importance of cold, clean fishable water for Wind River Outdoor Company D.C. to lobby for us. By his own admission families, communities and for all of us. They 8114 Hwy 789 he’s an outdoor guy, an action guy and the support TU every day, and they represent Lander, WY 82520 shop reflects that. This is a hard-core out- us every time someone comes in the shop. (307) 332-7864 door shop for hard-core outdoor people. If you haven’t fished the Wind River [email protected] I get to Lander a lot. It’s on the way to country in a while, you should. It’s big, it’s www.windriveroutdoorcompany.com our home water, and I love the place. So wild and it’s my favorite part of Wyoming.

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LATE WINTER & Pocket Water SPRING IS THE TIME FOR BIG RAINBOWS

TU and Costa to Launch “A Native Odyssey” “I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use the natural resources of our land; but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob, by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.”- Theodore Roosevelt Today, Theodore Roosevelt’s public land legacy and the wildlife that he sought to protect are under siege. Some people are seeking to dismantle his legacy through the sale of OUR public spaces. Thereby threating many of our nation’s endangered species, and denying Americans their fundamental right to explore our country’s last untouched wildernesses. This summer, several students from the TU Costa 5 Rivers College pro- LAND OF ENCHANTMENT GUIDES gram will embark on a journey for the ages. Fishing, exploring and discover- The late winter and into the spring, just before the snowmelt, is when we catch our ing the public lands and the native trout that inhabit them; the way Teddy biggest wild rainbows here in Northern envisioned all of those years ago. New Mexico and Southern Colorado. Together, we can share the stories of our native fish and the importance Offering day trips and all inclusive, multi-day packages. Exclusive access to over 21 miles of of conserving those lands for future generations. Stand up and tell congress private water. Please call for more information. to keep their hands off OUR public land! (505) 629-5688 Follow @tucosta5rivers and www.loeflyfishing.com @Troutunlimited on Instagram for trip updates and to follow the Odyssey! For more information, please reach out to Andrew Loffredo, the TU Costa 5 Rivers Coordinator, at [email protected]. —Andrew Loffredo

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It’s one of the oldest sports. But it sure never gets old.

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Watersheds [ by Christopher Camuto]

John Atherton’s “Magic Realism”

MOST BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARIES ON hyper-reproduction of products that object or form could be more suggestive John Atherton do not mention what sell commodities in advertising. He of life and movement containing the would interest an angler most, his also excelled at producing idealized reflections and influences of its sur- 1951 The Fly and the Fish: Angling Instructions cultural moments: “Fishing Still Life,” roundings when painted with broken and Reminiscences, recently reprinted by a 1944 cover illustration for The Saturday color made up of the pure tones of Skyhorse Press. This work is one of Evening Post, makes you want to reach the spectrum. These artists taught us those iconic classics that appear every out and pick up the bamboo rod with to see how light affects the forms in now and then, books simultaneously its well-worn reel, snatch a fly off the nature, building their pictures with dated and timeless, like Art Flick’s, A battered hat and add another fat fish or small spots of bright color which New Streamside Guide, Ernest Schwiebert’s two to the brace of brook trout shown together gave the effect of light play- Matching the Hatch, or Datus Proper’s lying on the grass. But Atherton’s ing upon the form.” We might expect What the Trout Said. Such books are artistic work—the pieces that ended up any painter to be sensitive to light and often technical and instructional in in galleries and museums—drew, in color. Atherton put the techniques of their original purpose but cultural part, on European surrealism, which French Impressionism to work at his or historical in their ultimate import. spurred his imagination toward what vise where he developed an “impres- Eventually we learn how to tie flies and he called the “spirit of the forms” hid- sionistic theory for trout flies, using fish and we don’t need basic instruc- den in things, a tendency that gained the broken color principle of the tion, or advice about soaking silk gut him serious consideration as a painter impressionist painters.” leaders or dipping nymphs into mason who bridged realism and what art Now, all fly tying, from Dame jars of lacquer becomes outdated. We critics termed “magic realism.” Berners to Caucci and Nastasi to A. outgrow one purpose of the book and find another in it. Such works tend to As Atherton seems to suggest on almost every page, fly tying and fly fishing be written by thoughtful craftsmen, amateurs in is a craft that, nudged by nature, takes us to the edge of artfulness. the original sense of that word, people who love what they do. Art history aside, what phrase bet- K. Best and Darrel Martin, is one These authors are anglers, of course, ter describes the appeal of angling, form or another of impressionism. but probably not professional outdoor especially fly-fishing for trout, than What else could it be? Atherton writers. Proper was a diplomat, Flick a “magic realism”? And what is a wild was being neither revolutionary nor tavern-keeper, Schwiebert an architect, native trout but an embodiment of the unique—and made no such claim. and John Atherton a successful painter. “spirit of forms,” an always-stunning, But his way of discussing fly design Atherton’s career bridged the divide always-pleasing form we try to conjure is still fresh and exciting; his genial between commercial and artistic out of a river with our magic-wand-like attentiveness to detail—the forte of the endeavor—he rode the lavish energies casting? As Atherton seems to suggest amateur—still instructive. He attends of early 20th century America, that on almost every page, fly tying and fly not only to color, but to the profile of exuberant growth spurt from the teens fishing is a craft that, nudged by nature, flies, their manner of cocking up on through the forties, producing work takes us to the edge of artfulness. their hackle tips if they are a dry fly or for venues that ranged from the folksy In his book’s first chapter, “Birth of of folding themselves into the flow of Saturday Evening Post to the edgy Modern an Idea,” Atherton gives us a pleasant current if they are to represent a living Museum of Art. His commercial work lecture on Impressionism and how nymph swimming to the surface. His was in demand because he knew how that school of art helped him improve precise but charming way of discuss- to create the illusion of realism, the his fly patterns: “They found that an ing fly design and construction, as

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well as casting and presentation,on, represents the flowering of Easternern fly-fishing practice as it evolvedd in the Catskills, Pennsylvania, NewNew York and New England. Athertonton fully acknowledges the work of tthehe Darbees, Dettes and Rube Crossoss in tying, as well as the demandinging mentoring of Ed Hewitt on troutout behavior and stream conservation.on. He is also well aware of new tyingng practices emerging in the Westest from Dan Bailey, Don Martineznez and others. His own work is bothth a summing up and a moving for-r- ward—that it was written almostost exactly at mid-century is aproposos of its significance and stature. Ultimately Atherton wanteded angling to lead where art lead:d: to an understanding of ourur place in nature. Angling “bringsgs the angler a particularly acutete consciousness of his surround-d- ings. He is frequently alone onn stream. His conversation…isis with nature rather than withh individuals. He is made subtlyly aware of nature’s reaction to hisis presence there.” And the magicc realism of angling is never farr from his thoughts: “Is theree not a response to the angler asas he responds to his environment?nt? Do anglingangling as ““awarenessawareness of eenvironmen-nvironmen- JohnJohn Atherton’sAtherton’s lovelove ofof angling,angling, thethe not the stream, the trees and the rocks tal contact” into the environmental artistry of his regard for the trout fly react to his presence? Are they asleep? efforts of the latter half of the 20th and the intensity of his craftsmanship, Or are they active, alive and offering century. Skyhorse has also published has rippled out through three genera- a subtle contact?” her fine memoir, The Fly Fisher and the tions into our own time when we have Atherton died on the Miramichi River, due largely to the efforts of her so much work to do protecting trout while salmon fishing, a pointed if granddaughter, Catherine Varchaver and rivers. untimely death. His widow, Maxine who is a senior stewardship officer at Wit’s End Anderson, fished on around the the World Wildlife Fund. Impressive, Wolftree Farm world taking John Atherton’s love of I think, the way the magic realism of

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BLUE LINES

BY TOM REED

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In the beginning there was bait. dentally stepped in at the dog park. Tent campers denigrate Worms, mostly. trailer campers and vice versa. Are we not all in this together? Thick, juicy earthworms threaded onto hook point, Isn’t the point in the “do” instead of the “what with?” Is the squirming, wincing, bleeding worm blood and guts. Not enemy really the guy with the bait caster who takes a few a pretty business. Tip-toeing the line between cruel and legal fish home for supper or is it the development company cool as hell judged with the synapses of a 10-year-old boy. that diverts the stream and builds trophy homes so close to The same brain that burned ants with a magnifying glass river banks that septic seepage is likely? In an increasingly and yet loved the family Schnauzer more than life itself. citified world, don’t we need more of the outdoors ilk, The worms came from the soil, black thick loam that no matter their passion? grew Grandpa’s strawberries and carrots fattened with the And so. Bait. It would not be what it is today if it had rich miracle that is sun and dirt and seed and water. The not been for those grasshoppers and worms and Balls spade sliced the earth, sometimes severing hapless worms O’ Fire. There would be no fishing life, no conserva- in the cut. Each shovelful was a treasure of life, worms tion ethic, no passion for sport. Because without bait, for the coffee can, worms for the creek. at least for a young blood-thirsty boy, there is not This was early summer, before the browning much catching. bake of August when the bait switched to hoppers. A few years ago, I stepped to the bank of a small Grasshoppers caught in a net that caught all manner stream in Wyoming next to a colleague who was a of quarry: butterflies and tadpoles and mudpuppies bait fisherman to the core. I was nymphing. He was and frogs. The hoppers went into a jar instead of a worm-dunking. We were teaching kids how to fish and start can for it was important to be able to see the insect campfires and shoot guns at a camp high in the mountains. before it met its fate on a hook. Worms do not jump The creek was cold and off-color and although we stood out of coffee cans. So the hoppers scrabbled against the side-by-side, he caught a half dozen trout before I even had glass, puking their tobacco juice, awaiting something my first one on a fly. The kid who catches fish will catch the that no hopper brain could imagine. If you hooked the passion before the kid who catches none. hopper just right through the head, it I learned how to fly fish by bait would still kick when it landed on the fishing. Nymphing with a so-called water. Kick. Kick. Slurp. Fish on. The kid who catches fish will strike indicator was a technique that A monthly allowance and an catch the passion before the was long ago perfected by dead-drifting income grown from a winter’s snow- kid who catches none. a worm with a sinker through an eddy shoveling business was used on gear. line. A true bobber was the “strike Line. Sinkers. Swivels. Bobbers. An indicator” or better yet, just an eye occasional lure like a Mepps or even a treasured Rapala. watching bare monofilament for a tiny twitch, a skill mastered But bait—unless it was the occasional jar of Pautzke’s and still used. Hoppers flipped onto the stream evolved into Balls O’ Fire salmon eggs—was free. If you are 10, free is dry fly fishing. It was about reading water and about the web good. Really good. that is insect and fish and the earth itself. Free is a boy under a Western sky with a fishing pole and There is true value in killing a few fish for dinner, in a summer at his toes. Free were the brook trout that swam in learning how to slit with a good pocket knife from anus to Chicago Creek or Cow Creek or in the spring-fed creek that throat, how to thumb out the blood line, to rinse and store will forever remain a secret near Grandma’s ranch. Like my in a creel’s nest of wet grass. There is value in turning a spade father before me, fishing tiny streams with jittery trout was a of soil, catching the bait, catching the fish and killing it for craft custom-made for a boy who played cowboys and Indians that night’s dinner or the next morning’s breakfast. Frying in and lived life sneaking through the woods with a BB gun. bacon grease in a cast iron skillet on a small fire. Life doesn’t I have often wondered why outdoors folk stand on a get any better than that. moral pedestal when it comes to choice of gear. Those who But mostly bait made fishing fun and fun is not just bow hunt with traditional bows eviscerate those who hunt for kids. with “wheelie” compounds, or, heaven-forbid, that lowest of low-brow, the crossbow. Same for fishermen. Fly anglers Tom Reed works for TU from his home outside Pony, Montana. He is the peer down long noses at gear fishermen who in turn avoid author of several books and a sometime bait fisherman with a five-year-old the bait folk as if they are something they might have acci- partner doing the worm-digging and most of the catching.

31 TROUT SPRING 2017

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TU RESTORATION CREWS PUT POWERFUL GRIPHOIST

TOOLS TO WORK — BY MARK TAYLOR

ust as streams are always evolving and maturing, crews working to restore degraded streams are constantly looking for ways to do their work better and more efficiently. For the past several years at project sites in Vermont and West Virginia, TU crews have been using an innovative technique to add wood cover to streams. The strategic wood placement work using a Griphoist tool is showing promise, with surveys showing impressive increases in trout populations in the restored areas. Joe Norton, restoration manager for TU’s Upper Connecticut Home Rivers Initiative, has been working in New Hampshire and Vermont to restore streams that were degraded by poor logging practices, such as dredging rivers and creeks or channelizing them so loggers could send cut timber down the streams.

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Until about five years ago, Norton said Norton, adding that the crews River watershed in the Monongahela was using a technique commonly called were also now able to use trees that are National Forest. “chop and drop” to add woody habitat away from the streambank, using the “We have tripled the amount of to streams that lacked such cover. hoist to bring them from the forest to large wood in that system,” said Chad “You’d chop down a tree with a the stream. Landress, fisheries biologist for the chainsaw and it would fall into the The staff who carry out the work Monongahela National Forest, where stream,” Norton said. “That’s about receive special training, and the projects long ago clear-cut logging damaged all you could do.” are done under regulatory permits that streams and reduced availability of old

“We’ve seen, on average, a 150 percent increase in brook trout biomass in the restored sections. I wasn’t expecting to see it that clearly that quickly.” –Jud Kratzer

Unfortunately some of those trees ensure they’re designed and carried out growth wood that would naturally fall would move during subsequent high in a way that doesn’t reduce riparian into streams. water events. They might not completely cover and maximizes benefits to the When structures stay in place they leave the system, but the movement ecosystem. are more likely to accomplish restora- did limit restoration crews’ ability Jud Kratzer, a fisheries biologist tion crews’ goals of improving aquatic to carefully tailor their work to the with the Vermont Fish & Wildlife ecosystems, and are also allowing stream’s needs. Department, has been working with streams to function more naturally. Then Norton heard about a tech- Norton in Vermont’s portion of the Kratzer and Norton also have been nique being used in Maine by crews upper Connecticut River watershed tracking populations of native brook with the Salmon Habitat and River since 2012. trout in restored sections, comparing Enhancement program. Instead of “We have added wood to 374 sites on those figures to numbers prior to chopping and dropping trees, the approximately 7.9 miles of river,” said restoration as well as to sites that have SHARE crews were partially digging Kratzer, who had first mentioned the not been improved. Those results are up streamside trees, then using a tool Maine Griphoist work to Norton. “We outstanding. called a Griphoist to bend the trees have been successful in getting most of “We’ve seen, on average, a 150 per- into the stream. Because the trees the wood to stay put and count only 10 cent increase in brook trout biomass were still partially anchored by their sites as complete losses.” in the restored sections,” said Kratzer, roots, they were less likely to move in Says Norton: “The stability of our who has two years of pre-restoration high water. structures is what everybody notices.” data in hand. “I wasn’t expecting to A Griphoist is a lever-operated tool So it shouldn’t be surprising that the see it that clearly that quickly.” that utilizes mechanical advantage for technique is expanding to areas where At one such spot, sampling turned heavy pulling and lifting. it is deemed an appropriate approach up 49 trout in the summer of 2016. Norton acquired a Griphoist with a to restoration. Trained by Norton, Prior to the restoration work that 2-ton capacity and, with a trained crew, crews in West Virginia have used same spot previously produced just got to work on the East Branch of the both Griphoist and modified “chop six trout. Nulhegan River in Vermont. and drop” with winching approaches The West Virginia crews don’t have “Instead of just dropping the trees, to restore habitat on more than 30 extensive fish survey data in hand yet, we’re able to strategically place them,” stream miles in the Upper Greenbrier but have done some snorkel monitor-

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ing. They are seeing more and bigger work to drop trees while two laborers Landress said crews in the native brook trout in new pools, actually use the Griphoist to pull the Monongahela forest have restored 33 Landress said. trees into place. A supervisor helps stream miles with wood additions in “And we’re getting a lot of good direct the efforts. two years. feedback from the angling community,” “It’s hard work,” said TU’s Nathan “We have plans to do 15 more miles Landress noted. Heavener, who helps oversee the in 2017,” he said. From a stream dynamics standpoint, Griphoist teams in West Virginia, In total, the West Virginia crews the addition of wood structures can help where the work started in 2015. have moved and placed about 12,000 a stream reconnect to its floodplain, Often, crews partially dig out pieces of wood. and such diversion of high flows often trees so the root ball stays intact. The Some restored sections are included reduces downstream flooding risks. Griphoist is then used to pull the tree among the streams the Forest Service Wood additions decrease channel- out of the ground and to haul the tree surveys every few years so eventu- ization and focus the stream’s energy into place. Sometimes, crews cut sharp ally there will be data to support the to scour deeper pools and increase “pencil points” on the end of the trees anecdotal and visual evidence that the refuge for adult and young brook trout. and then pull the pointed end deep work is paying off. Scouring can help expose gravel and into the streambank to anchor it. “But there is a plethora of literature enhance spawning habitat. Other times the trees may be wedged that proves adding wood is good for The structures also trap leaf litter, into standing trees along the banks. stream systems,” Landress said. which supports macroinvertebrates “It’s really more of an art than a And what’s good for stream important to trout and other fish. science,” notes Kratzer, who said crews systems is good for trout and good Typically a Griphoist work crew in Vermont plan to restore another 10 for anglers. consists of five people. Two sawyers stream miles in 2017.

35 TROUT SPRING 2017

EXCERPTS FROM THE FORTHCOMING BOOK BY TU MEMBERS

Trout Unlimited and Skyhorse Publishing will soon be releasing a book titled Trout Tips. The book features around 250 nuggets of practical advice from TU members throughout the country. Covering everything from the fly cast to reading water, picking out flies, and much more, the tips range from old standards to the off-kilter… slap-your-forehead, “I should have thought of that” to “I can’t believe that could possibly work.” In all regards, they’re straight-shot from the heart, in simple language and an appealing format (with color photos and illustrations) specifically to help other anglers get a little bit more out of their trout fishing. Most importantly, all the author royalties for this book go directly to TU to help fix and protect rivers, and mentor the next generation of stewards for our coldwater fisheries. So please, pick up a copy when you can (only $16.99)! For now, here’s a smattering of some of what you’ll read. MATT GUYMON MATT

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37 TROUT SPRING 2017

ON FLIES

The Windshield Never Lies Colors Change The windshield never lies. I recently took a long drive through Kootenay, Banff, in Water and Jasper national parks along the border with British Columbia and Alberta. Throughout the entire drive, delicious, glacial-tinted trout water paralleled my Do you ever wonder why a Purple path. Trouble was, save for the lower Bow River in Alberta, most of that water isn’t Prince Nymph works, even though worth more than a cast or two. A lot of high-country rivers are the same way—the there are no purple bugs that look environment is so austere exactly like that, anywhere? It’s (rock and ice do not make because trout do see colors, and they great habitat for bugs are more perceptive to the violet side and, therefore, for trout) of the spectrum. Part of that also has to do with the fact that red turns to that fishing isn’t really an gray as light is absorbed the deeper option. one goes in water. Red actually looks But, when I finally gray 10 feet under the water (that’s arrived in the high-country why you often need to add a red filter resort town of Jasper, I when photographing under water). knew I was back in trout On the surface, with dry flies, you country. Within miles can’t go wrong by being as natural as of town, my windshield possible—or as “standout” as possible became a crime scene for with an attractor. But depending on green drakes and some small-ish caddis. As I drove west out of town, I found how deep you are fishing nymphs, myself spraying down the windshield every few minutes to wipe off the remnants matching colors to match exact bugs of the hatch I just passed. may not be a big deal, and you might If you’re not sure you’re in trout country, check your windshield. If you never want to skew more toward an atten- run out of wiper fluid, chances are you’re not in a great place to fish. tion grabber, with the right profile. —Chris Hunt, Idaho Falls, Idaho —Kirk Deeter, Pine, Colo.

Don’t Be Afraid of a Mouse In late summer on a stream with hungry big browns and rainbows, try a mouse pattern. Sure, they look funny, and maybe you’ve thought of them as kind of a gag gift for anglers. But mouse patterns actually work. Cast, keep the slack out of your line, and twitch the rod tip while retrieving in spastic little jerks to imitate a swimming mouse. This works great at dusk for browns. Hang on, they hit hard! —Tom Reed, Pony, Mont. TIM ROMANO

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Follow a Path Less Traveled The part of the world I fish most is full of small, clear, and very tight spring creeks. To most, that means delicate presentations of small dry flies, and sometimes I’ll do just that. More and more, however, I’ll tie on a leech pattern and fish it directly upstream using short, staccato jerks of my line (above) to make the leech behave like a wounded minnow; normally on a 2 or 3 weight. My friends chide me that my favorite leech pattern doesn’t look much like a leech, that I certainly don’t fish it like one, and that throwing streamers on a 2 weight is preposterous. But, the whole show works and it catches me a lot of fish. The lesson is that following a path less (or perhaps not) traveled will sometimes get you lost. Other TIM ROMANO times, however, it will take you to great places, and sometimes those places are full of nice browns and Taming Mega-Hatchess brookies. Don’t be afraid to try new things and techniques, or to go rogue with Terrestrials perfecting strange arts that your Everyone likes a mega-hatch, when flies come off in droves and just as friends will make fun of you about many are stuck in the surface film tempting every trout in the stream. over a beer at the end of the day. But, when mayfly and caddis hatches are dense, trout may be overly —Henry Koltz, Brookfield, Wisc. skeptical of your offerings, and they might, in fact, have trouble even finding your fly among the masses of real insects on the water. I’ve encountered that situation many times, especially on south-central Idaho’s Silver Creek, where clouds of Trico spinners fall to the water all at once, and the trout sucking them up turn that normally flat-surfaced spring creek into what appears to be a set of riffles. Expecting the creek’s big rainbows and browns to find your size 22 Trico spinner among that mass of real flies can be maddening. When that type of situation occurs, be the angler who steps out of line and knots a terrestrial to the end of your tippet. These, fish, even when keyed in on a particular hatch and GoG DarkDktNi at Night sucking bugs down one after the other, often pounce on a terrestrial. Fishing topwater at night? And why wouldn’t they—they would have to eat at least a hundred Trico While it may seem illogical, use spinners to equal the amount of protein they take in with just one dark flies, not light ones. No grasshopper. Ants and beetles offer big results in a minimal amount matter how deep the sky, the of effort, too. Think about risk and reward, effort versus gain, and fish are just seeing silhouettes, you’ll quickly see why this tactic makes sense when you’re fishing these not colors, and a black fly will mega-hatches, be it caddis, PMDs, Tricos, mahogany duns, or even Baetis. show better than a white. —Greg Thomas, Missoula, Mont. —Mike Sepelak, North Carolina

39 TROUT SPRING 2017

ON CASTING

Casting in the Dark Improves Your Feel and Timing A good friend and I once put on a fairly placid section of the Colorado River at 7 p.m., and we floated until almost 1 a.m. It was a section I know like the back of my hand, and it barely has any real obstacles to maneuver around. That said, we did bring some very powerful headlamps and flashlights as back-up. The objective was to throw large streamers and mice patterns for anything that might eat them. Namely, very large brown trout. The Mirror Effect Unfortunately for us, the night turned much, much colder than the weather had predicted or than we had anticipated, Just like it’s always shocking to hear your own and basically shut the fishing down. voice, it can also be surprising to see what Undaunted, we cast and cast and cast again. For hours and you look like when you cast. There’s a reason hours, with really nothing to show for it. We lost some bugs ballet studios and music rooms have large and dealt with a few tangles, but the next morning waiting for mirrors: this is the way you see and correct coffee to brew, we both came to the conclusion that casting mistakes. It’s not only that artist-types are all night in the pitch black actually helped our skills out and narcissists. So set up a tripod or get a friend maybe we should do it more often. It sounds strange, but you to film you (every phone nowadays has a video learn to “feel” takes, the bank, bushes and current lines much option). If you sincerely want to improve, have better than if you were simply fishing during the day. While that same friend view the footage with you, you’re definitely not as accurate, I do think you end up losing analyzing form and identifying what might fewer bugs after gaining that sense of touch that you can only be holding accuracy or distance back. Then acquire at night. It’s tough to describe, but I think we both felt take that constructive criticism, fix what at a certain point that we knew exactly how far to cast even was broken, and get back out on the water. though we could barely see the bank. When to mend, even Better this time. though we couldn’t see eddy lines. We just felt a lot more “in —Erin Block, Boulder, Colo. tune” with our lines and rods. —Tim Romano, Boulder, Colo. Rifle Shoot That Cast When prospecting for trout, don’t flock shoot and cast to the top of the run where you think there might be a fish and let your fly drift through the whole run. Split the pool or run into thirds or halves. Cast to the water in front of you first and then move up. The other way will have you catching only one fish and spooking the rest with drag or lining the fish. Similarly, only cast the length of the leader or less so there is no impact on the fish from your line hitting the water. Doing this will also let you have a drag-free drift of your fly. —Alice Owsley, Riverside Anglers, West

TIM ROMANO Yellowstone, Mont.

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Hunt for the Trout of a Lifetime: Walk, No Pressure! Spot, Stalk . . . and THEN Cast Remember What Too many anglers waste precious time You’re Really blind casting hoping to hook fish. Fishing Fishing For for the trophy fish is much like hunting big game. The dedicated big game hunter Enjoy the moment. Most important, walks, spots, stalks and shoots; of course, when we forget it is fishing, to have you don’t shoot (perhaps line), but the fun and enjoy, we miss the point. You ritual is the same if you want success on never know when or if you may be the stream. Anyway, the more you walk, in this river with your fishing buddy the farther you will find yourself “away watching brookies rise to tricos with mad passion like the time before. from the annoying crowds.” Relish every moment. —Conway Bowman, Encinitas, Calif. JIM KLUG —Brian Kozminski, Boyne City, Mich. ON READING WATER

Think Like a Fish When you are out fishing and are on new water, trying to find fish, remember that fish are basically lazy, just like human beings. They don’t really like to work any harder than they have to, and they want to feel safe. So think about All Fish Love Changes

where the softest current with the TIM ROMANO most food going by might be that My close fishing buddies tease me about this now, because they’ve heard me say appears the best protected, and this so many times, over and over. But when it comes to targeting casts at ANY cast in those areas if you hope to fish species with a fly rod, this is the golden rule. When I’m with an absolute take the bigger fish. The smaller beginner who is looking anxiously at the water and wondering where the heck fish are going to be in the areas they should cast the fly, this is always my first piece of advice. It’s never failed. the big fish aren’t kicking them Look for changes. Changes might be where fast current meets slow current, out of, which also tend to be the or shallow water transitions to deep water. Changes also include structure; areas easiest for a fisherman to where there is structure changing an otherwise uniform bank or river bottom. reach and fish. Color changes often indicate depth and structure changes. Those transition —Nanci Morris Lyon, Bristol Bay, Alaska areas, where water goes from fast to slow, or shallow to deep, or unblocked to blocked… that’s usually where the trout are going to hang. As I approach a run, if I see two or three changes in the same spot, like a color change, a current seam (caused by structure) and maybe a dropoff, that’s exactly where I’m going to pinpoint my first cast when I am prospecting for trout. The more changes the better. Flat, even, uniform water is a total crap-shoot. Go ahead and try. It might work. But spend 90 percent of your effort focused on “change” water, and you will improve your efficiency by 90 percent. —Kirk Deeter

41 TROUT SPRING 2017

Most anglers are taught how to read the water Have Someone Read to You by observing what’s happening on the surface— riffles, runs, eddies, seams. I believe they need When I was learning to read books, I learned by to look beyond the surface and understand having someone read to me. Soon I was able to pick what’s happening underneath, all the way to out a word or two, then sentences, paragraphs, etc. the bottom. Read the stream vertically as well Eventually I was able read an entire book by myself. as horizontally. Water velocity can vary widely Reading the water is similar. When I began trout from the surface to the stream bottom. A fishing, almost all my fishing experiences were on dead drifted strike indicator on the surface is lakes and ponds. Locating fish was a matter of looking actually dragging a nymph along the bottom at for structure or depth. When I began trout fishing, a very unnatural speed. The friction of water I learned quickly that most of the time, I would be against the stream bottom dramatically slows fishing moving water, which I had no experience down the flow in this zone, so it can be difficult with. My first five trips to my local trout river were to get a natural drift with the surface current fishless. Each piece of water looked as good as the next. pulling your indicator and line along at a much Frustrated, I began asking questions and observing faster rate. Whether it be additional weight on where others were fishing successfully… in other the fly, more persistent mending of the line, or words, I asked those with more experience than I specially constructed leaders that allow the fly to sink more easily, it’s imperative the angler had to read (the water) to me.

Reading Water VerticallyReading learn how to better control the drift of their Soon I could pick out one or two likely spots. fly when it’s not visible. Then a few more. Eventually I was able to identify —Jimmy Harris, Georgia the most likely water on longer stretches by applying what worked in the smaller sections. Eventually the entire stream became readable and less intimidating.

LON LAUBER LON —Mark Dillow, Ex-Officio and Texas State Council Chair

Wood is Good—Foam is Home There is no truer truism that I know. If you’re thinking like a trout, you will catch trout. If you’ve re-trained your brain to approach a stream in pursuit of log piles and foam lines, you will catch large trout. Wood is good. Foam is home. —Beverly Smith, Jackson, Wyo. ON PRESENTATION

The Taper Is the Key to Presentation Tapered dropper: When you use big, wind- (in Missoula, that’s typically 2X-3X even 1X resistant foam dries (standard Western style) during salmon fly hatch!). Four inches or less and long, lighter tippet droppers, about 80 is plenty. Then tie the desired tippet size and percent of the fishing day is spent untangling length for the dropper with a triple surgeon the dropper tippet from around the foam. You or blood knot. could heavy up the dropper tippet, but the Not only will you spend less time tangled, dropper nymph won’t sink fast enough or the you’ll spend less time tying on after a break second dry might be overlined and not produce. off. The dropper will break at the taper knot My brother and I devised the tapered drop- losing one fly instead of two. And in the end, per to minimize tangles and keep clients in the only constant in fly fishing is a bug in the the water. Simply tie a short stick of the same water always outfishes one in the hand. diameter tippet as the primary dry is tied on —John Herzer, Missoula, Mont.

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Make Your Streamer Dance to the Beat of the Current As anglers become more experienced, they want to catch bigger fish, and this inevitably leads them to streamer fishing. Presenting big, heavy flies to the largest fish in the river brings with it a whole new set of challenges, including a new way of thinking about presentation. Your presentation is no longer passive, but active, and it is the action of your fly that must excite the predatory instincts of the fish. With time you will find your own style of retrieve, and while it’s fair to TIM ROMANO Trout DoDo Not Not Like Like Being Being Attacked By By Food Food This sounds absolutely silly, but that’s exactly what it looks like—to a say that there is no “wrong way” to fish a fat old brown trout—when you swim a streamer fly that is supposed streamer, there are some guidelines that to look like a baitfish, directly toward its mouth… or skitter a dry fly will help you be more successful. One is (because you missed the casting target by six inches) to the spot that the relationship between the speed of just happens to be exactly overhead of a sipping cutthroat. Permit the water and the speed of your retrieve. aren’t used to crabs jumping toward their mouths, for that matter, Have you ever made an impulsive and you’ll even freak a shark out by dragging a big fly on a collision purchase that you later regretted? Then course with its toothy maw. you have some insight into the mind We anglers aspire to be perfect. We see fish. We cast the fly. We of the fish who eats a streamer. Like a want the fly to be as close to fish as possible, because the closer it bargain shopper, fish don’t like to miss an is, the more likely that the fish will see it. Fish sees fly, and fish eats opportunity. Your fly must be a limited- fly. Right? Wrong. time offer. If the fish has too much time to inspect and think his decision through, A fly imitates a natural food source. Real minnows know they are he’ll decide to pass. On the other hand, food. They swim away from Mr. Brown Trout when they see him. no fish wants to engage in the pointless Mayfly duns on the river surface are stuck in the current. The instant pursuit of a bullet train. Remember to they don’t look helpless is the instant they no longer look like food. think about the environment where the Sure, a trout’s brain is the size of a marble, but you are ultimately fish and fly meet. If the water is moving tricking thousands of years of instinct. And one of the base instincts slowly, your fly should scorch off the bank, of a trout is to ignore those things that act really weird. sending the message that it’s now or Thus, always consider your angles. Yes, you can dead-drift a never. If your fly is in fast-moving water, streamer like a Muddler Minnow, but that makes it look like a it’s already moving quickly in relation to drowned grasshopper. If you want it to look like a sculpin, it has to a holding trout. Slow your retrieve down swim. Put it just close enough for the trout to see it, and then make and give the fly a twitching action like a it look like it wants to escape. wounded baitfish. Always remember, a —Kirk Deeter predator takes what he wants. It’s your job to make him want the fly. —Louis Cahill, Atlanta, Ga. TIM ROMANO

43 TROUT SPRING 2017

TIE LIKE A CHEF: Know Your Ingredients BY ERIN BLOCK

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taketake recipes recipes as suggestions, as suggestions, as helpful as helpful little little pokes pokes in the in side.the side.Some Some of the of dinners the I’vedinners served, I’ve however, served, havehowever, reflected have reflected my laxity my in laxity the most in the unflattering most unflattering of ways. In my of defense,ways. In mythose defense, failed thosedishes failed were dishes largely were before largely I understood before I understood how recipes Iwork, how ingredients operate individually and together. Ihow recipes work, how ingredients operate individually and together. Materials KnowingKnowing the the rulesrules and properties of of materials materials you’re you’re working working with with can can improve improve Natural and synthetic materials have developmentdevelopment of of new new patterns patterns as wellas well as informas inform substitutions. substitutions. Tiers Tiers often oftenget hung-up get unique strengths and weaknesses, onhung-up specific on ingredients. specific ingredients. However, knowingHowever, what knowing will work what in will much work the in same much way the can and it’s important to identify these worksame in way your can favor. work Substituting in your favor. butter Substituting for oil can butter save for your oil cake.can save your cake. Some of the food, some of the flies, I love the most don’t have recipes. It’s a make- characteristics and understand how Some of the food, some of the flies, I love the most don’t have recipes. It’s a make- they will work for your recipe. A few it-your-ownit-your-own deal deal andand you can’tcan’t havehave thethe goods goods until until you you figure figure things things out. out. Pinches Pinches and dashes make for memorable, if frustrating dishes—asking your matriarch for her things to consider: synthetic fibers are and dashes make for memorable, if frustrating dishes—asking your matriarch for pie recipe to find it written on an oily index card in “handfuls” and “skoshes.” Good durable and won’t absorb as much water her pie recipe to find it written on an oily index card in “handfuls” and “skoshes.” cooks, good tiers, work with their mediums so often it’s rote. They know what an as natural fibers; therefore they will not Good cooks, good tiers, work with their mediums so often it’s rote. They know extra egg, or tie-in of bucktail for the purposes of this article, will do. encumber weight to your fly. However, what an extra egg, or tie-in of bucktail for the purposes of this article, will do. I have a chef friend who says if you learn to sauté, you can sauté anything. Meaning, they can have an unnaturally perfect I have a chef friend who says if you learn to sauté, you can sauté anything. that if you get the gist of the thing—how to oil, salt, sweat and deglaze, perhaps, with look—too manicured, like over-plucked aMeaning, bit of red that wine—well if you get then, the gistthe ofworld the thing—howis your potato. to oil, salt, sweat and deglaze, eyebrows, or cropped and blocky like perhaps, with a bit of red wine—well then, the world is your potato. a middle school gym teacher’s hair cut—and often lack the movement of natural materials. Natural materials, on the other every time. The sweet spot: strength, hand, provide more realistic tapers and Hooks yet an easy hook-set. This will vary for are inherently lively and buggy. Furs Maintain a diverse individual anglers and species. and hides, however, are hydrophilic selection of hooks in and will absorb water, adding weight both size and style. Likee to your fly, cast and presentation. Also, cooking with a garden out the back natural feathers such as peacock herl door, on-hand options allow innovation Thread and palmered hackle can be more and creativity. Inspiration is somehow There are three aspects of thread to brittle than their synthetic counter- lost if you have to stop, make a list and consider: strength, size and configura- parts, especially as the quills age. run to your local fly shop. tion. If you are lashing down bucktail Both types of materialsals There are three hook-eye configu- for streamers or bass bugs, priority will offer varying degrees rations to consider: upturned, down- be strength. But tie a pattern involving of rigidity: a stiffer turned and straight. For each pattern, foam and size and configuration should synthetic fiber will there should be a logical reason a hook take point—thick flat thread will be work better for long is picked. Review and re-think. Make less likely to cut through the material. streamer wings but will it your own; make it better. For sleek-bodied flies—dainty mayfly compromise movement, Some examples: the rear hook in nymphs, say—thin and flat thread and a softer natural featherer willwill provide articulated streamers should be straight works best. more movement but willl beb prone to eye, so as to not adversely affect move- But there are no hard-and-fast rules. foul a hook. A combination is often a ment of the streamer in the water. And When tying small thread-bodied flies, good solution. Match materials like when tying a fly to ride hook-point up, using larger thread than the recipe lists pairing food and wine; know what choosing a downturned eye will help can be more time efficient. Another you like and why. you achieve this, as it is essentially a consideration is what you plan to tie Become a master of dubbing. You miniature 45-degree jig hook. on top of the thread. On midge pupa, have to know how to deal with corn- Using a downturned eye for a round thread on curved starch to make good gravy, and in the nymphs, as many patterns do, often hooks will help hold thee ssame way, know the consistency causes the fly to drift downstream wire ribbing in place. of materials—Antron or natural upside down. With this in mind, the Lastly, don’t forget to fibers, independently and mixed most important thing when tying new, plan ahead. How much together. Fiber length and density or even just new to you patterns, is to room will you have behind will also affect the final product, sink test. Fill the kitchen sink with the hook eye? Leaving a aand don’t forget the same ingre- water and see how your new fly reacts. reasonable amount of spacepace dientsdien can behave differently under Finally, use what you have confidence enables use of a thicker thread, which contrasting conditions: the raw, the in. This is the recipe that turns out can be more durable in the long run. cooked and the rotten.

TROUT SPRING 2017

FAN WU FAN 45

10 TIPS THAT WILL TAKE YOUR ABILITY TO TARGET BIG, SMART TROUT TO AN ENTIRELY NEW LEVEL BY KIRK DEETER

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learned more about sight fishing for trout in 10 days on the South Island of New Zealand than I have in the last 10 years splashing around in rivers and streams throughout North America. If you’ve been, you already know why. If you haven’t, you should put NZ on your bucket list, because although those waters are literally half-way around the world, and there’s absolutely nothing cheap or easy about getting to them, they are, without question, “top of the game,” at least when it comes to sight fishing for massive, wild brown trout. Nowhere in the world is that sight-fishing game more complex and challenging, yet nowhere can it be more rewarding. Brown trout are not native to New Zealand (just like they aren’t native to North America, South America, or Africa), but here, these fish simply seem different than anywhere else. Evolved over the past century to be loner, apex predators in crystalline rivers, they’re dogged fighters, and extremely fickle. When a Kiwi guide talks about a “double-digit” fish, he or she is talking pounds, not inches. The typical scenario goes something like this: New Zealander guide marches American angler along the river until they both spot a tannish shape finning over pea gravel. Guide sets angler in a spot, and they decide on a fly pattern. Excited angler makes what he/she believes is their best cast, only to have a puff of wind blow the fly 15 inches off course... which causes an awkward plop, spooks the fish, and sends the beast bolting away. At that point, the guide usually says something like, “Aw… bad luck, mate… let’s press on, shall we?” Which really means marching another quarter-mile or so. Eventually, everything comes together, and when it does, it’s life-changing. Fishing with Nic Robertson out of Riverview Lodge near Hanmer Springs, somewhere past Hope and edging on Despair, I managed my first NZ brown—a legitimate 10-pounder that ate a dry fly. Nic later took me to another river where I landed 10 browns, the smallest being around seven pounds. From there, I flew further south to Queenstown (the “Aspen” of New Zealand) and drove to the Makarora where I heli-fished for three days out of Cedar Lodge, in rivers so unspoiled that we dipped tin cups and drank right from them. Lastly, I went to the “Top of the South” and fished near Nelson, out of Stonefly Lodge, with guide Steve Greaney among vineyards and kiwi fruit orchards, and by helicopter deep in the Kauhurangi National Park. It all seemed so sporting… you see them, and do battle… lose more often than you win… as perhaps it should be. Most importantly, you learn. Apply these 10 lessons when you chase any trout, from Michigan, to the Upper Colorado, to the Delaware in New York and Pennsylvania, and you could be a more effective angler.

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Fly line color boots. Kiwis are famously cautious THE NUMBER 1 matters… use about invasive species, so no felt… just muted, natural hues. walk more deliberately on rubber soles. ONE FACTOR Slowing down to avoid falling has the THAT SPOOKS FISH I spent years arguing that fly line color added benefit of making you a quieter MIGHT BE SHADOWS does not matter for beans. I still contend wader. And we spent much more time that if a bright color helps you see and walking out of the rivers than we spent AND MOTION DIRECTLY control your line as you cast and mend, in them. OVERHEAD, BUT NOISE that’s probably not bad. But no NZ guide AND VIBRATIONS is going to let you cast a bright fly line Lengthen your over a laid-up trout, and dull colors can’t TRAVELING THROUGH 4 leader for dry fly and hurt. I will never again cast a fly line WATER COMPRISE A that isn’t a muted gray, green, sky-blue, single nymph sight fishing

CLOSE SECOND. LAUBER LON or brown. Remember that trout have situations. conical vision, they can see colors and Why do most of us fish 9-foot leaders sense shadows behind them. I think tippet gives you a little more leeway than straight out of the packet… maybe add a bulky fly line… provided you can get they see bright neon colors behind a little tippet to the end… and call it them, both when the line is in the air, it straightened out. It’s a big ask, I know, good? Because we can! And because and I still fish short leaders in small and after it hits the water. That might it’s easier to turn-over a 10- or 11-foot be total baloney, but why chance it if streams. But on big western waters, I leader with a terrestrial fly than it is now almost always throw around 15 feet. you don’t have to? to toss a 15- or 17-foot leader! That’s especially true in tight quarters, where Abandon your false Factor the current you’re only plinking 20-foot casts or 5 2 you stand in before shorter. But with a little practice and casts. you cast. a good fast-action rod (and a healthy This is a no-brainer that any trout weight-forward taper on the fly line), you angler should already understand and You spent a lot of time and effort to can, and should throw longer leaders—at embrace. Shadows and motion spook spot big daddy. Don’t wreck it now by least when you’re targeting tricky trout, fish. So if you want to mete out line and standing in the wrong spot. Before you and you are casting at a distance where whip back and forth in order to drop fire that cast, you need to take a hard you can load the rod well (25 feet plus). the perfect shot in the perfect place, do look at your feet. If you’re standing in Part of the advantage of the long leader that off target, and then drop the last a babbling current, but casting into flat is more invisibility factor, distancing cast on the money. Or just trust that a water, that current is going to grab and the colored line further from the fly. simple lift and shoot is going to get it drag the fly line as you strip in your slack, The other part is micro drag, and fine done. By the time your seventh false cast rendering even the best cast ineffective. Micro-drag matters, more than most of us think, and that starts, more often than not, at foot level. A well-placed step to the right or left into calm water that won’t grab your fly line can make a huge difference.

Don’t grind the 3 gravel with your feet. The number one factor that spooks fish might be shadows and motion directly overhead, but noise and vibrations traveling through water comprise a close second. The first thing John Gemmell, legendary NZ guide and owner of Riverview Lodge, handed me when I showed him my gear was a screwdriver to remove the metal cleats from my

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and you’re just passing through. If the fish doesn’t freak out and leave, by all means, let it keep doing its thing, and you just wait and adapt and think. It’s perfectly okay to wait 15-20 minutes between casts, if you’re casting at a fish that can change your life!

Switch down 9 (in the water column) on a refusal. Standard wisdom in North American parlance is to size down on an obvi- ous refusal. That’s not a bad idea. But has flown over the fish, it’s either gone, behind the license plate. If the current instead of switching from a #16 BWO to or highly disturbed. It doesn’t matter if is on the right, you want the fly to land a #18 BWO dry fly, think of dropping you put it right in the bucket if it took you on the right tail light. If you hit the left the same size bug in the water column seven false casts to get there. Granted, tail light, it’s game over. If you hit the as well. Switch to a #16 Barr Emerger doing this with the long leader is even license plate, it’s probably also game BWO, for example, and let it hang just harder. Just practice. You’ll get there. over. Hit the current side tail light. At below the surface. Think less about the least err to that side—if you’re going to same bug in different sizes on the top, 6 Always shoot to the miss, miss in moving water. and instead think about the same bug current side. in the same size, one step below the Show a fly to the If you see a trout laid up and looking 7 surface, to earn the eat. upstream, your shot needs to go to the trout once. current side, not the slack side. Think Once only. If you drop your bug in the Don’t get hung up on of it like looking at the back of a car right zone, be that the right tail light 10 tippet diameters. or truck. The fish is a few feet directly or whatever, and the fish doesn’t chase It’s all about the drift, and a well-placed, well-drifted fly on 4X tippet is almost IT DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU PUT IT always more effective than a cruddy drift on more slender tippet. The Kiwi guides RIGHT IN THE BUCKET IF IT TOOK YOU SEVEN FALSE all have a conscience, and so should CASTS TO GET THERE. you… you shouldn’t hook a fish on a tippet or leader that doesn’t give you the fly and eat it, switch your bug. If a realistic chance of landing that fish. you know they had a really good look, That’s just not cricket. but decided no there’s no reason not to switch. You’re usually not going to make them comply by showing them the same thing again and again (what is it that FOR MORE INFORMATION: Einstein said?). That’s counter-intuitive Bestofnzflyfishing.com for most of us and it takes self-control; the fish that almost ate your bug is the Riverview Lodge one you especially want to pull the www.flyfishinglodge.co.nz/ switcheroo on. Cedar Lodge www.cedarlodge.net 8 Know that time is on Stonefly Lodge your side. www.stoneflylodge.co.nz/ This might be one of the few advantages an angler has in these situations, but the trout is making a living in that spot,

49 TROUT SPRING 2017

Six professional outdoor photographers and photo editors share their tips for getting the best images on the water… and that one piece of gear they can’t do without.

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51 TROUT SPRING 2017

qM qMqM Previous Page | Contents |Zoom in | Zoom out | Front Cover | Search Issue | Next Page qMqM Qmags THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND® TROUT WINTER 2017 JESS MCGLOTHLIN TIPS: otherwise could be a “busy” image, image, bea“busy” could otherwise towhat clarity salmon’son the gives eye Focusing image. compelling less a far it be would size the half was fish this we were able to shot! get the bit of preparation alittle water, but with when shooting under- difficult to work with is water silty Dark, had. into what little light we me, looking facing was fish the toensure and minimized fingers his he to ensure kept guide the asked I’d Alaska, in salmon king this For to happen needs for day, the how and workflow when we is hook plan the held, what fish to seethe into like how ideally I’d explaining afishing, fish. I’ll work with an angler before we start possible—is always the best way to go. habitat—whenever own their in fish JESS MCGLOTHLIN Don’t be afraid to fill the frame—if frame—if the Don’t tofill beafraid I’m a firm believer that shooting shooting that believer I’m afirm rvosPg otns omi omot|FotCvr|Sac su etPage Issue | Next Cover | Search out | Front in | Zoom Page | Contents Zoom Previous | rvosPg otns omi omot|FotCvr|Sac su etPage Issue | Next Cover | Search out | Front in | Zoom Page | Contents Zoom Previous | fill the frame—ifthis

fish was half the size size the half was fish it would be a far less less afar wouldbe it Don’t beDon’t afraid to compelling image. compelling –Jess McGlothlin GEAR: first-aid bag. group has has group the in someone or myself where trip a issues there. toavoid way one is easy this and reused So far, I haven’tin third-world countries needles are been for ride—often along the always also is on aid afirst pack It’s Ialways inevitable. motion of an active fish. the freeze and sharp eye able the tokeep Iwas water murky and low light in even that speedmeans shutter Afast a hurry. somewhere in going and released being he’s that feeling the gives of water open bit atiny into head of his turn the and Things go wrong on shoots. not needed to delve into the the needed into todelve bags, etc. A suture kit kit etc. Asuture bags, can easily I that bag dry a small toss in in lives boat everything and needs, and my purpose so it’s gear what’s kit tomized the in I know suits I’ve trip. the cus- to last with enough antibiotics along basics, the with kit 52 TIPS: silica gel packs to help with this. this. tohelp with packs gel silica or free about it. Munchers Use Moisture forgetting and quickly itthere placing camera in the cooler my left for Iforgot Ihad because ruined an hour after was image use. This hour before first its for afull environment toits accustomed get camera your Let happen. will thing cold same out the into right march it’s you and hot inside winter—if the in for goes shooting same ment. The or out ahumid hot into environ- A/C of cool air the broughtfog from up if freezer, a cold out beverage of bringing the like your camera will “sweat” and should start holding his breath as soon he that replied Marshall out water of the how long he holdhe could fish asked the take pictures of a fish he to caught. trying was friend one his day Whenfishing beout forshould of aphoto. water Out for how long afish yardstick best the Cutchin of midcurrent.com might have TIM ROMANO TIM Be nice to the fish: My friend Marshall Marshall friend My fish: the to nice Be Be aware of condensation: Much Much condensation: of aware Be q q H OL’ NEWSSTAND WORLD’S THE NEWSSTAND WORLD’S THE q q q q M M M M M M q q Qmags Qmags q q M M M M ® ® qM qMqM Previous Page | Contents |Zoom in | Zoom out | Front Cover | Search Issue | Next Page qMqM Qmags THE WORLD’S NEWSSTAND® TIM ROMANO Colorful sunsets, as the fish came out of sunrises, gatherings for getting the best shot side of the frame or your buddy’s fishing the water. When you run of migratory birds, of your fish. Drop your rod hover into your shot from out of out of breath it’s time to strange animal arms to your sides, face nowhere. Isolating your subject matter let the fish go. behavior, incredible your palms out. Now without all the distractions will improve Stop and look around: landscapes, friends think about the fish the overall composition of the shot. Anglers get to see some doing silly things... resting on just the very amazing sights when shoot this stuff. tips of your fingers and GEAR: I have to have “dealer cloths” out in nature. Colorful letting your thumbs slide from sunglass companies on shoots. In fact, shoot this sunsets, sunrises, gath- behind the fish, partially They are basically oversized lens cloths erings of migratory more than just your obscuring them from but are more absorbent and four times birds, strange animal standard trophy view. Be very cognizant the size. I’d be dead in the water without behavior, incredible or grip-and-grin. of damaging or covering a handful. They’ll be good for everything landscapes, friends doing It can be far more up the gill cover and from cleaning the front of your lens, silly things... shoot this interesting when pectoral, pelvic and to camera bodies, sunglasses, etc. They stuff. In fact, shoot this looking back at your anal fins. Position your also double for me as padding between more than just your trip as a whole. hands behind the head lenses and other equipment in my case. standard trophy or grip- –Tim Romano and in front of the tail. Another necessary piece is my and-grin. It can be far If the fish is larger and Patagonia Stormfront bag. The BEST more interesting when you need a little bit of piece of camera gear ever made for looking back at your trip as a whole. Tell elbow grease to hold it, simply switch the playing around water. a story, not just a piece of one. position of your tail hand to the front of Learn how to hold a fish for a better the fish grasping with your entire hand grip-and-grin: Remember that heroic around the front of the tail. JOSHUA DUPLECHIAN fight, the run down the bank, the last Always look for distractions in the ditch effort by your fishing partner to photo: This is harder to do than one TIPS: As anglers we are used to moving net the fish of a lifetime? After all that, might think. It’s a practiced skill, but will up and down a river looking for different don’t waste the shot by holding the fish vastly improve your images. For example, features and habitat. As an exercise, use awkwardly. Here’s a foolproof method don’t let cousin Joe’s backpack into the your feet as a zoom. What I mean by that

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The more you move is simply pick a day and the more you see. is significantly more it’s critical, much like the expensive do one of two things. affordable than a fancy sunglasses that many of us own and One can either lock What you see from zoom lens. The second is take fishing. The step down rings are a down your zoom lens that distance could the weight savings when good choice as well because I only need to a specific focal length be magical. carrying your camera gear to have one filter to fit several different with a piece of tape or –Josh Duplechian into the backcountry for lenses, and they’re also very inexpensive. do what I do and carry a trip. It all comes down One last question I often get is what a prime lens like the with being comfortable at camera I carry when I’m out on the water reliable 35mm f/2 lens. Zooming with my each focal length and knowing exactly or hunting by myself. Hands down the feet has opened me up to many different what the lens is going to do for you prior best camera for that is my trusty Fuji perspectives rather than being locked to to capturing the big moment. X100t. It’s durable, lightweight and has a spot and relying on the zoom to get me incredible files. You’ll often find me with closer or further away from my subject. GEAR: I’m known for not being a gear this around my neck while rowing a boat Put simply, the more you move the more freak. To that end there are a number for those moments that come quick and you see. A great example is maybe you’ve of items that go in my pack on a regular I’m without my larger DSLR cameras. It got enough hero shots of fish for the day basis. A photographer “hack” I often use is a bit pricey but well worth the money. and when a fish release happens you decide is sticking a bunch of bright colored tape, to take 20 steps backward to recompose like a Gaffers tape, on the bottom of my with your given focal length. What you camera and on my lens hoods. I don’t ADAM BARKER see from that distance could be magical. A do this to be flashy. I do it for a number wide open scene with an angler composed of reasons. One, it protects my camera TIPS: If I could recommend one pho- within the context of the landscape. Of against any scrapes from rocks or metal. tography skill it would be to find the con- course on the opposite side you move Another is I can easily identify my camera nective moments in what you’re shooting. closer with your feet and see something in lower light when I’m setting up a late This is obviously not as straightforward as that many don’t as well. A couple of other evening time lapse. “nail the exposure” or “utilize the rule of big advantages to this exercise is one will Another item that I won’t live without thirds with your compositions,” but it is a find that the cost of a prime lens, like is a simple circular polarizing lens and a skill that requires more than just pushing the 35mm f/2 lens I mentioned earlier, bunch of step down rings. On the water a button or adjusting a dial. Learn to

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recognize and capture the moments that adequately convey these special moments fish more accurately, and also let’s you truly resonate with those that know and across a two-dimensional medium. remove the sheen or reflection from love what you’re shooting. For fly fishing, the water surface. Additionally, it helps this might be admiring a fish just before GEAR: The one piece of gear I really to deepen skies and make clouds pop the release, it could be standing on the can’t live without are my filters—both against the sky when used properly. riverbank observing risers or it may be polarizing and Grad ND filters. Grad a high five after you just caught the fish ND filters allow me to accurately expose of a lifetime. It may be images that are otherwise BEN KRAUSHAAR stringing up a rod with beyond the ability of the a buddy, or telling stories Learn to recognize camera to capture as TIPS: Taking a good fishing photo- around the campfire at and capture the the human eye sees it. graph doesn’t require thousands of dol- the end of an epic day. moments that truly Think sunrise/sunset, or lars of photo gear or any sort of formal It may be that first step resonate with those anytime you’ve got a huge education. I started taking photos with into the river in the early that know and love disparity in light between an inexpensive DSLR, and thanks to light of day. what you’re shooting. highlights and shadows. YouTube, I quickly learned the ins and Much of the time, –Adam Barker These filters allow me to outs of my camera, how to properly these moments are capture dramatic scenic expose an image, and the general rules neither the most obvi- fishing images with bold of composition. In my experience, my ous, nor the most action-packed and color and detailed skies. Polarizing filters best photographs are the direct result it requires a disciplined photographer remove glare from water (and fish) and of exploring remote waters in beauti- with a true understanding of the sport reveal the color and detail under the ful settings. I am particularly fond of (and the medium of photography) to reflection. It allows you to capture the continued on page 60 ADAM BARKER ADAM

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BY S. R. Kinsella

hen I stand alone, toe deep on the Great Plains. There, we would at the edge of a trout stream fish for carp, bullheads, catfish, and the on a summer day, the water occasional crappie or bass. Sometimes lappingW against the laces of my wading we went to a favorite small creek just to boots, something magical and mysterious watch the herons and mink that would happens. The rhythmic slosh of water wade and scurry about the creek, provid- coupled with the heat fills me with a ing a beautiful yet tragic contrast to the sense of comfort and peace. Sound and nearby sound of bulldozers and backhoes warmth, warmth and sound, a soft, carving up a housing development on the gentle swirl. It’s not so much a trans- hills above it. Sometimes we just went formation as it is a journey—a journey there to smoke cigarettes pilfered from to a place that is familiar yet, unlike the a parent’s dresser drawer, taking in the water about my feet, never fully in reach. sounds and the movement of the water I have always loved moving water. as we talked about what we would do One of my earliest memories of it was and where we would go the minute we at the age of four or five standing thigh graduated from high school and could deep in the swirling brown pulse of the escape the flat, dry town we lived in. Missouri River a mile from my home. Most of my friends opted for construc- I, and a couple of older friends (I think tion jobs in Alaska and Wyoming with they were six), walked to the river, their mountain-broken landscapes; I unbeknownst to our parents. There chose college. we stood, almost one with the river, When I was 18, I moved to a small the current pushing hard against our university town that stands on the legs, as fragments of driftwood and a bluffs above one of the last remaining trail of foam raced by. We never knew wild sections of the Missouri River. It we were in danger; we felt worldly and was down river from a wall of earth, in complete control of ourselves, the concrete and rock that had been erected sharp, earthy smell of the river and in the late 1940s and early ’50s by the the towering cottonwoods it nourished U.S. Army Corps of Engineers—the hanging in the air around us. We lin- federal agency that had come to cham- gered far longer than we had intended, pion what it viewed as a worthy and finally leaving reluctantly to race back important mission to place high-dollar before someone we knew discovered us. chokeholds around some of the nation’s Years later, when I recounted that day’s wildest and most beautiful rivers—and adventure to my mother, she gasped. upstream from the unnatural channels As I grew older, even though we that had been carved into the river to moved away from the Missouri River, accommodate commercial barges. Being a stream or a river was never far away. that close once again to the Missouri In grade school and junior high, my River became an excuse to skip class on friends and I would sometimes bike or warm days—although I seldom needed walk miles to get to the small creeks and an excuse. We would swim out to the rivers that wound through prairie and wild sandbars that shifted day by day

JEREMY ALLAN corn fields on the edge of my hometown like water-saturated dunes. There we

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played touch football; or lay in the mouse—and become one with the river ogy, investing in a small plastic audio warm, muddy sand, drank cheap beer and its fish. But it’s the smell of a trout device that emitted a dozen different and watched the clouds drift by; or used stream that makes it distinguishable sounds. I brought it home, plugged it in a piece of driftwood to show the world from any other piece of moving water. It next to his crib, and pushed the “white (or at least low-flying airplanes) our comes back to you every time you return noise” button. He squirmed and fussed. broadening university-based knowledge to a river or stream and step back into I pushed the button for the sound of a by writing in five-foot letters, along the the water. It’s like the familiar, intoxi- heartbeat, which startled him. I tried long expanse of a sandbar, philosophical cating aroma of the neck of a former several other sounds, with little positive musings about life and learning. lover you hooked up with again. The reaction. About to give up, thinking that Grizzly bears once wandered the water, its movement, its smell. I feel the purchase was ridiculous, I pushed banks of the Missouri River where unhealthy and unbalanced if too much the button marked “mountain stream.” we swam, as did elk. William Clark time has passed since I have stood toe The device emitted a gurgling, rushing recorded in his journal that he saw deep in a trout river. sound. He stopped moving, turned in many signs of elk in the area as he and I am not alone in my love for rivers. the direction of the sound, and looked Meriwether Lewis and their fellow Poets, writers and philosophers have in the air searching, not so much for its explorers moved up the river. The long immortalized the tie humans have source it seemed, but for his connection grizzlies and the elk are long gone, but with moving water. Do a Google search to its familiarity. He calmed and fell their ancient aquatic brethren—the of “poems about rivers” or “writings asleep. For months the machine sat by paddlefish, gar and sturgeon—still about rivers” or “river stories” and his crib for use whenever he began to remain, protected by a thin watery bar- the results seem almost without end. fuss and cry. I still have it in my closet. rier from the two-leggeds who plowed Dickinson, Thoreau, Longfellow, Even in the afterlife, humans and fields, paved roads, straightened the Kipling, Angelou, Hemingway. Indeed, rivers are sometimes inseparable. In river and built massive earthen dams. one of the earliest known human Western cultures, the dead are buried, a

“Rivers flow not past, but through us.” – John Muir

Rivers and moving water continued writings—the Sumerian Script—was tradition that carries forward in spite of to wander in and out of my life for years created in the fertile river valley of the the increasing popularity of cremation. after I left college. And then I discovered Euphrates and Tigris Rivers. The script But in other cultures, rivers and death fly fishing for trout. I had long fished for water was an outgrowth of the image are just as intertwined as rivers and life more for an opportunity to be near of flowing water—a river. Maybe the are. The Hindus and some Buddhists moving water than as a serious vocation. Sumerians created a written language, immerse the cremated remains of their One summer day, I watched an angler in part, because they too were inspired dead in rivers as an offering to the gods, standing waist deep in a small river, by moving water? to be carried away to become part of the line in the air, casting an undiscernible Humans are one with water, espe- river. I have read that for some Hindus, fly to rising fish, some of which visibly cially moving water. We always have the chosen place of death is along the broke the surface in pursuit of the fly. been. It is with us from before birth. A bank of a river, preferably one they He was not only fishing the water, he child in utero develops its ears at about hold sacred, to have the aura of a river was part of it! Within weeks I gave up my eight weeks. A few weeks after that, it in their last breath. spin-casting rods and bought a cheap begins to hear its first two sounds—the I am not a Hindu; I am a fallen fly rod and a set of waders and flies. rhythmic beat of its mother’s heart Catholic. But if I could choose a place It was on the third or fourth time I and the flow of blood being whooshed to die it would be on the bank of one of went fly fishing, when I slowed down river-like through the umbilical cord. the trout streams I have long held sacred and quit focusing so much on tech- When my son was just a few weeks in the Black Hills of South Dakota. nique, that I discovered something even old he suffered from colic—the mysteri- The unmistakable odor of trout water greater. Healthy trout streams explode ous, parent-frustrating affliction that in my nostrils, the sound of its rolling, with life, and that life, combined with causes an otherwise healthy infant to gurgling flow in my ears, the heat of the the water, emits an aroma that is part fuss and cry. My wife and I would rock sun warming my body. And when I die, water, part earth and part life. As a fly him, feed him and rub his back, but my soggy, decomposing body feeding angler you imitate small fragments of little seemed to work. When human the worms and insects that will feed that life—nymph, mayfly, minnow, interaction failed, I opted for technol- the trout, giving something back to the

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earth as my final act rather than just genetic material makes us one with the when I stand alone, toe deep in a taking something away, as we humans land and water? Maybe the comfort we river, it flows through me, and with have become so adept at doing. get from a flowing river is because of it my past, my present, my future and Long before our ancestors Homo a fragment of genetic memory of the everything around me. When I stand erectus and the Java and Peking people safety and comfort we had surrounded next to moving water I am one with all with their stone tools, long before their by warm flowing, embryotic-like water humanity, one with all living things. ancestors, the upright primates who before our gills disappeared. I breathe the earthy water in through had the unique ability to both walk on I am not alone in my love of mov- my lungs, holding it, finally releasing the ground and climb trees to evade ing water. Amidst its updates and it, retaining its magical essence. Sound enemies, water was our home. Roughly fundraising appeals, the conservation and warmth, warmth and sound, a 400 million years ago our ancestors organization American Rivers has on soft, gentle swirl. When I stand next began to crawl out from their watery its website a page of river quotes—which to a river, I am never alone. stations to venture in search of the they oddly entitled “Famous Quotes opportunities that the great shifting about Rivers.” Among the quotes from Steve Kinsella is a writer, communications con- land masses provided. The ancestors politicians and newscasters and others sultant, and avid fly angler living in Saint Paul, of all mammals—including us—had legs (maybe it should have been entitled Minn. He served as the editor of TROUT, and lungs and gills. They could breathe “river quotes from famous people,” but TU’s award-winning quarterly magazine, and in the water, and, for short periods of I guess that doesn’t read as poetically), is his book, 900 Miles from Nowhere: time, out of the water. It was as though this statement from John Muir, one of Voices from the Homestead Frontier they couldn’t decide to be animals of America’s first naturalists and himself (Minnesota Historical Society Press), was a the water or animals of the land, and an admirer of rivers: “Rivers flow not finalist for the Great Plains Book Award. He is the evolutionary process was helping past, but through us.” also the author of Trout Fishing the Black them hedge their bets. Eventually the Rivers do indeed flow through Hills. His clients have included TU’s Western lungs won out and the gills disappeared. us. Maybe that’s why I prefer to fish Water Project, Montana TU and the Theodore Can it be that some thread of ancient without human companions. Because Roosevelt Conservation Partnership.

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continued from page 53 The experience is lugging my photo gear everything. Go on surroundings only helps GEAR: A hand towel. Mostly because deep into the backcountryy an epic adventure me anticipate those little of the rain, but also can serve dual to document my addiction and the images will things happening, maybe purpose to dry gear and hands with. to chasing high-countryy inevitably follow. its the knowledge that I A newer addition since relocating to trout in Colorado. It’s only have 25 feet behind the Pacific Northwest, it’s an ongoing hard to take a bad photo –Ben Kraushaar me and any longer of a battle shooting in wet weather. There when you are surrounded backcastb and I’ll be hung is some good weather sealing built into by spectacular peaks, hills blanketed in in the trees, or the knowledge that in cameras but there is an added comfort wildflowers and eager cutthroat rising 20 seconds a boat is going to appear level when I can drape a towel over my to take dry flies. So instead of spending from behind this tree and I know I’ve camera while waiting or moving between thousands of dollars on the latest camera put myself in the right place at the right angles and it’s not quite worth packing gear, buy some backpacking equipment time to make a good image. up into the pack. and go chase some wild trout in the wilderness. The experience is everything. Go on an epic adventure and the images will inevitably follow.

GEAR: My favorite piece of camera gear that I always bring fly fishing is my 35mm, f/1.8, prime lens. I absolutely love this lens for shooting dramatic grip and grins, landscapes and close-ups of fish. The low f-stop results in a wide open aperture and a shallow depth of field that can be a powerful tool in drawing the viewers’ attention into the photograph. These prime lenses are generally sharper than lenses without a fixed focal length, and are great for showcasing the intricate and subtle details of fish. Another bonus feature of prime lenses is the cost. My favorite prime lens costs just a fraction of my telephoto.

COPI VOJTA

TIPS: Anticipation and situational awareness. While it may be a bit abstract, it crosses over between the act of fly fishing and photography pretty simply and intuitively. So often in both activities, I can anticipate a rise or a slight gust of wind to help float a cast if I am fishing. Or when photographing, anticipating a certain movement or trajectory from an uncontrolled subject, maybe a break in cloud cover is about to light up a subject in frame, or a certain chemistry of a passing interaction between anglers. Being able to recognize those intu- itions, or having that sixth sense, even though they don’t always happen, are pretty rewarding when you’re able to

pick up on them. The awareness of your COPI VOJTA

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ActionlineNews from the Field How I Came to TU James Fraser reconnects with fly-fishing mentor at TU’s Annual Meeting. 62

Cleaning up the Schuylkill New Philadelphia Habitat project cleans up the Schuylkill River. 62

Summer Camps 2017 Youth Conservation Camps and Academies. 63

Stream Champion Shannon Mayes. 64

“Trout 101” Clinics in Indiana Little Elkhart Chapter’s annual spring outing. 65

Tools & Tips Embrace-A-Stream grants, TU chapters teach local conservation skills, TU trainings. 66

HOW I CAME TO TU: James Fraser Cleaning up the Schuylkill PENNSYLVANIA

he New Philadelphia Habitat Project took place Sept. T10-13, 2016, on the Schuylkill River in Schuylkill County, Pa. This was a very unique project as it encompassed several organizations working together on a stretch of stream that was laced with AMD from the local anthra- cite mines as well as raw sewage just a few years ago. Schuylkill County TU, Schuylkill Headwaters Association, Schuylkill Conservation District, Borough of New Philadelphia, Blythe Water Authority and Blythe Township all participated in the project. Phil Thomas, TU Habitat Project Coordinator along with Wayne Lehman from SCD designed the project in March 2016. It entailed constructing 17 deflectors and two log-framed cross vane devices requiring 72 logs ranging from n September, I reconnected with the man who first put a fly rod in my hand and told 10 feet to 25 feet and over 400 me about Trout Unlimited. tons of stone along 1,200 feet I The story starts 18 years ago, when I was a fishing-obsessed 10-year-old, dedicated to of stream. fishing with bait and soft plastic lures. My family was attending an event at a YMCA camp in The project was funded par- northern Wisconsin, and at lunch a gentleman heard me talking about fishing. Duke Welter tially from a $5,000 Embrace- introduced himself and said he had a couple of fly rods outside. Over lunch, he told my dad A-Stream grant from TU along and me about the Driftless Area trout fishery, TU and the Orvis fly-fishing school. After the with funds raised by the chap- meal, Duke gave me my first fly-fishing lesson. ter. Most of the equipment used I’ll admit, at first I was convinced that catching fish on a “fly” was a sham. I didn’t think it was donated by the township and was possible; the fly line was too thick, and the lure much too small. Nevertheless, I enjoyed borough. the challenge of learning to control a fly line, and I cut my teeth fishing Illinois bass ponds with a St. Croix fly rod. When my dad joined me on the water, he reminded me to cast the way that Duke had demonstrated. In high school, I became a fanatical trout fisherman. I spent my college years fishing around the Pacific Northwest, Patagonia and New Zealand. After college, I worked in fisheries research in the Tetons. But until the Annual Meeting, I hadn’t seen Duke again. On the second day of the Annual Meeting, I attended the Watershed Conservation Tour. During the roll call, I recognized the name “Duke Welter.” After touring a restoration project north of Bozeman, Mont., I saw Duke and introduced myself: “Excuse me, Mr. Welter? My name’s James Fraser, and you taught me to fly fish.” We spent much of the weekend catching up over our shared interest in law and policy—and of course—fishing. The Annual Meeting was an excellent place to network, learn more about TU and have a lot of fun. However, the thing I’ll remember most about the event is reconnecting with Duke for the first time since my childhood. I owe deep gratitude to him for his kindness in introducing me to the wonderful sport I love so much. I’ll always remember our mutual astonishment at the opportunity to meet again, and I’m grateful to TU for fostering such a great community of anglers and conservationists.

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2017 Youth Conservation Camps and Academies

Idaho New Hampshire Tennessee Dates: July 17-21 Dates: June 21-25 Dates: June 19-24 Contact: Richard Oehlschlager Contact: Phil Donovan Contacts: Steve Young [email protected][email protected][email protected]______Location: MK Nature Center, Boise, (603) 225-2511 (832) 256-3228 Idaho Location: Quimby Country Lodge Location: Great Smoky Mountains www.tedtruebloodtu.org and Cottages, Averill, Vt. Institute at Tremont, Townsend, Tenn. www.tntroutadventure.org Illinois New York Dates: July 23-28 Dates: July 9-14 Utah Contacts: Willie Beshire Contacts: Ron Urban Dates: June 26-28 [email protected][email protected] Contact: Scott Antonetti Location: Ralph A MacMullan (845) 339-5938 [email protected]______Conference Center, Location: Scotts Resort, Deposit, N.Y. (801) 946-4556 Roscommon, Mich. Location: Paradise, Utah www.obtu.org North Carolina Arkansas Dates: June 18-23 Dates: July 5-7 (Beginners camp) Maine July 26-28 (Advanced camp) Dates: June 24-25 Contacts: Joyce Shepherd Contact: Paul Holden Contact: Wendy Luna Dates: June 25-30 [email protected]______Contact: Willie Grenier (980) 322-5723 [email protected][email protected] (435) 757-1647 Location: Dry Run Creek, (207) 872-2014 David Vigue Location: Stokes Nature Center, Mountain Home, Ark. Location: Evergreens Campground, [email protected]______Solon, Maine Location: Lake Logan Center, Cache Valley, Utah arkansaswhiteriver.tu.org/annual-______logannature.org youth-camp-at-dry-run-creek http://www.troutcamp.org/ Canton, N.C. ______www.rivercourse.org California Michigan Vermont Dates: June 25-29 Dates: TBA Dates: June 25-29 Contact: Kurt Budliger Contact: Sam Sedillo Contacts: Greg Potter [email protected][email protected][email protected]______Location: Jackson’s Lodge, Location: Sagehen Creek Field (269) 339-4686 Cannan, Vt. Station, Truckee, Calif. Alan Brooks www.vermonttroutcamp.com www.facebook.com/TruckeeTU [email protected]______(269) 370-3269 Colorado Location: Ralph A. MacMullan Washington DC, Virginia, Conference Center, Maryland, & West Virginia Dates: June 11-16 Roscommon, Mich. Contact: Jeff Florence Dates: June 25-30 www.kvctu.org Oregon [email protected] Contacts: Paul Kearney ______Dates: July 27-30 Larry Quilling [email protected]______Minnesota Contact: Dave Tenney [email protected] (540) 229-0563 [email protected] (303) 440-2937 Dates:TBA ______George Gaines (503) 408-4898 Location: N I Ranch, Weston, Contact: Diane Weyandt [email protected]______Location: Mt. Hood Natl Forest, Ore. Colo. [email protected]______(202) 904-3547 www.clackamasrivertu.org www.Coloradotu.org/YouthCamp (651) 773-2000 Location: Graves Mountain Lodge, Location: Eagle Bluff Environmental Pennsylvania #1 (Rivers Syria, Va. Colorado Learning Center, Lanesboro, Minn. www.tucamp.org www.tunecamp.info Conservation & Fly Fishing Dates: July 31-August 5 Camp) Washington Contact: Dennis Cook Montana Dates: June 18-23 [email protected]______Dates: June 18-24 Contacts: Clark Hall (970) 372-9229 Dates: TBA Contacts: Mike Clancy [email protected] Location: Fort Collins, Colo. Contact: [email protected] ______(360) 753-1259 (717) 697-4549 www.rockymtnflycasters.org (406) 543-0054 Jim Brosio Location: Camp Watanopa, Location: Messiah College, (360) 943-9947 Georgia Georgetown Lake, Mont. Grantham, Pa. [email protected] www.montanatu.org www.riverscamp.com Dates: June 4-9 Location: Gwinwood Conference Contact: Charlie & Kathy National TU Teen Summit Pennsylvania #2 (Keystone/ Center, Lacey, Wash. Breithaupt TU Teens Camp) www.nwycffa.org [email protected] Dates: June 21-25 ______Dates: June 18-24 Wisconsin (706) 782-6954 Contacts: Franklin Tate Contact: Charlie Charlesworth Rodney Tumlin [email protected] Dates: July 20-23 [email protected] [email protected] Tara Granke ______Contacts: Linn Beck ______(570) 954-5042 Location: Rabun Gap- [email protected][email protected] Location: Keystone College, Nacoochee School, Rabun Location: http://www.wcu.edu/ Wayne Parmley LaPlume, Pa. Gap, Ga. Ralph A. MacMullan Conference [email protected]______https://www.facebook.com/ http://georgiatu.org Center, Roscommon, Mich. Location: Pine Lake Bible Camp, www.tu.org/teensummit KeystoneTUSummerCamp/______Waupaca, Wis.

63 TROUT SPRING 2017

STREAM CHAMPION Shannon Mayes

hannon Mayes confesses to three obsessions, a trilogy of activities Swhere he is “all in.” In no particular order, they are: ruffed grouse hunting, fly fishing and educating children. Mayes fuels two of the three as leader of TU Teens of Gallipolis—an after school fly-fishing club affiliated with the Mad Men Chapter #477 in southern Ohio. The club meets at Gallia Academy Middle School, where Mayes teaches sixth grade language arts. Founded in 2013, TU Teens of Gallipolis has filled a void for many students who have not excelled at traditional after school pastimes like athletics or academics. And while boasting a diverse

In addition to bestowing important lessons, Mayes has had to wear other hats, including that of fundraiser, a necessary role to ensure the long-term success of the club—especially since his school is located in an economically distressed part of the state. “I began reaching out to community members and business owners in an effort to generate additional resources and the support and money poured in,” says Mayes. “I have been blown away by how membership, it has managed to attract When the club organizes at the begin- many people appreciate the importance of a number of students with a history of ning of each academic year, Mayes goes investing in our youth in this way.” poor attendance, low grades and few over the basics of fly fishing. Through The support has made it possible extra-curricular activities. classroom and outdoor activities, stu- for Mayes to expand the club, acquire “Many of these kids have discovered an dents learn how to operate the rod and equipment and take the club on the activity that makes them feel included— reel, identify fish species, care for equip- road—from local ponds in southern Ohio something that gives them a feeling of ment, tie flies and cast a rod. Along the to world-class fly-fishing destinations in self-worth,” says Mayes, who requires way, they acquire knowledge that might West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee. members to sign a contract committing be applied to fishing and life: Generous donations have also made it to participate in the club for a full year. • Listen and observe your possible to accompany one club member In return, the students receive goodies like surroundings. to the national TU Teen Summit and stickers, calendars, a TU annual member- explore opportunities for sending other • Don’t crowd others. ship and a t-shirt and hat—a “uniform” members to summer fly-fishing camps they are known to wear during local • Respect the outdoors. where they might meet others who share parades and other community events. • Take time to laugh and enjoy the day. the same interests.

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“While educating youth remains a passion and priority, Shannon goes beyond what is required as a school teacher to provide a place where these kids feel like they belong and opportunities they may not have otherwise had a chance to experience,” says Jamie Eggers, a volunteer who helps with fundraising, tying flies and chaperoning trips. “He takes an interest not only in their education, but in their well-being, by introducing them to a passion they can carry with them the rest of their lives.” Now, four years in, the TU Teens of Annual Outing of the Little Elkhart Chapter Gallipolis has grown to more than 50 INDIANA members comprising fly-fishing clubs n-stream demonstrations of five trout fly-fishing techniques captivated attendees from two school districts. Mayes meets at the 10th anniversary Annual Spring Outing of the Little Elkhart Chapter of TU with each group once a week for an Iin Middlebury, Ind., on May 7, 2016. These “Trout 101” clinics evolved due to hour during the academic year. He is requests by local anglers who were struggling to understand the unique anatomy of also involved with replicating his work in the Little Elkhart River with its woody debris trout cover, sandy bottom and short other parts of Ohio, Washington D.C., deep under-log pockets. Brandon Rasler demonstrated and described nymph fishing in undercut banks, Chicago, Montana and Kentucky. deep holes and fast runs. Andy Kitson pointed out the excitement associated with However, while the club’s increas- using dry flies as well as the areas of the river that allow this technique to be success- ing membership and financial support ful. He also explained where and how to fish terrestrials at certain times of the year. is impressive, they pale in comparison Leonard Gustin noted the classical methods to fish soft hackle flies as well as how to another measure of success—an ever- to use them in place of dry flies. Chris Miller emphasized the importance of casting streamer flies close to cover as well as along current breaks. Mike Beachy described growing collection of “fish stories” shared techniques used to fish log-jams, brush piles and wing dams. He emphasized that the by older students and newly mined club fly pattern is not as critical as is the weight and density of the fly in this type of fishing. veterans. With every fishing trip, the Each clinic session started with a description of a tactic or technique and then library grows. moved to the instructor presenting an in-stream demonstration. All instructors “When I started this club, I had no covered what type of water to look for, best time of year to use the technique, suggested equipment and leader set up and the all-important arsenal of flies to use. idea of what it would become—from the Aquatic biologist Daragh Deegan followed the in-stream presentations with a enthusiasm of the kids to the outpour- demonstration of stream shocking to show and discuss information about the vari- ing from the community,” adds Mayes. ous species captured. In addition, he discussed how each relates to the ecology of “Organizing weekly gatherings, interact- the Little Elkhart River. ing with parents, raising money, planning President Mike Beachy described the stream habitat improvements that have taken place during the past 10 years. He pointed out that local TU members took trips and consulting on similar efforts a fairly barren small stream and turned it into the vibrant stream of today that sup- around the country makes it a part-time ports reproducing brown trout. Beachy also noted how the local chapter obtained job—one I wouldn’t trade for the world.” permission from the state DNR to establish a two-mile stretch that is catch and release only. All the efforts to both develop and improve the Little Elkhart River have been funded by the local TU chapter. Favorite Fly: Throughout the day, casting instruction was available to anyone attending by Yellow soft hackle. Charlie Ray, our local TU casting instructor. Tim Pote was on hand to demonstrate fly tying and to discuss the favorite flies of local experts. Bill and Penny Myers Favorite Place to Fish: served a cookout style lunch followed by the fundraising portion in the afternoon. Chattooga River in South Carolina. Most Memorable Fish: A 22-inch rainbow caught on the Madison River in Montana (that required a guide to get out of the Got Big News from Your Chapter? We want to hear about it. boat, wade to middle of river and The Actionline section of TROUT provides a perfect forum for exchanging information and sharing successes. free a line wedged under a rock). Do you remember your first TU project? The first TU member who reached out and connected fishing to conservation? How did you come to TU? Let us know. Email Samantha Carmichael at [email protected]______with a short tale of 200 words or less. Photos are welcome (digital images are preferred).

6565 TROUTTROUT SPRING FALL 20162017

By Jeff Yates [Director of Volunteer Operations ] EMBRACE-A-STREAM: WIN YOUR SHARE OF GRANTS & PRIZES FOR LOCAL PROJECTS Details and Information Online at www.tu.org/eas

ince 1975, Trout Unlimited’s Embrace-A-Stream grassroots grants program has provided over Win A Custom $4.5 million in grants to more Bamboo Fly Rod! thanS 1,000 local chapter and council conservation and education projects Two chapters or councils that that are leveraged on the ground by apply for Embrace-A-Stream thousands of volunteers who carry out grants this year will walk away our mission locally. with a custom bamboo fly Now in its 42nd year, Embrace-A- rod lovingly crafted by former Stream is bigger and better than ever— Embrace-A-Stream committee with a large pool of grant funds available representative Bill Lamberson! thanks in part to new corporate partners like Sweetwater Brewery, a new online One rod will be given away fundraising competition sponsored by The Orvis Company and TU, and a chance in a random drawing of all for your chapter to win one of two limited edition Embrace-A-Stream custom eligible applications submitted bamboo fly rods to support your conservation projects! by the July 15 deadline. The Don’t wait to apply for a grant of up to $10,000 to support your chapter’s second rod will be given to local project. Applying is easy, and your chapter will be helped every step of the the project that is ranked the way by your regional Embrace-A-Stream representative—a TU volunteer like you highest by the all-volunteer —and by our staff. Embrace-A-Stream grants Key deadlines to note are: committee. • April 15: Contact your regional SUPPORT THE Your chapter will likely have representative. Embrace-A-Stream Program better than 1-in-25 odds of • May 15: Submit your draft winning one of these beautiful proposal. Trout Unlimited’s Embrace-A-Stream fly rods to auction off and grant program has helped hundreds further support your great • July 15: Submit your final proposal. of chapters and thousands of local projects—but the only way • Sept. 29: Embrace-A-Stream grant volunteers protect and restore the winners announced at TU’s 2017 rivers they love. Please support this to have a chance to win a rod Annual Meeting in Roanoke, Va. grassroots effort with a donation is to submit an Embrace-A- online at www.tu.org/easfy17. Not only Stream application! • Nov. 6-12: NEW THIS YEAR: will you be helping restore rivers across Embrace-A-Stream Challenge the country, you can also get some Online Fundraising Competition. great gear in thanks for your support!

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TU Trainings: Online Resources to Improve Your Efforts mproving your skills as a chapter or council Ileader, and connecting your entire board of volunteers to the resources they need is a great way to grow your impact in conservation, education, community engagement and more. From simple “how-tos” to more compre- hensive trainings, there are a wealth of videos and guides online to make it easy for you to succeed locally. Check out the full selection of trainings built just for TU volunteers like you at www.tu.org/training. Some of the most popular training topics include: • Planning a Volunteer Planting Project • Running A Successful Fly Fishing Film Tour • TU Who? Getting the Publicity Your Chapter TU Chapters: Teaching the Skills of Deserves • Building Partnerships to Increase Impact Conservation & Angling In a Very Local Way • 5 Easy Ways to Recruit and Retain New Members rout Unlimited’s army of nearly 400 local chapters, and the thousands Tof volunteers who make them tick, help bring our mission to local riv- • Strategic Planning: Building A Roadmap for ers and schools in a way that ensures the skills of coldwater conservation Growth will continue into the future. In fact, very few organizations can marshal the knowledge and skills our volunteers possess and connect them to a community interested in learning how they can help. As we head into another spring season, now is the perfect time to calendar develop chapter events and activities that engage your members and the All web conference trainings are local community in fun, skill-building activities that make our rivers held at 8 p.m. EST. Register online at ___www. healthier. tu.org/training Some great activities you can develop, or simply incorporate into your April 15: Embrace-A-Stream: Deadline current chapter events include: to Contact Your Regional EAS Committee • Entomology: Teach members, kids and everyone you can about the Member bugs trout eat and how they can be measured to provide a picture of a April 21-22: Southeastern Regional river’s overall health. Rendezvous: Gatlinburg, Tenn. • Riparian Buffers: Turn a stream-planting project into a learning lesson on the importance of stream buffers and the plant species native to April 28-29: Western Regional Rendezvous: your local watershed. Scottsdale, Ariz. • Fishing: Connect to new members, non-members and families May 5-7: Northeastern Regional Rendezvous: throughout your territory with a one-day, or series, of fishing classes, Clinton, N.J. courses or workshops. Focus on the basic skills, but include knowledge on trout behavior and river characteristics to broaden the lesson May 15: Embrace-A-Stream: Draft to coldwater conservation. Applications Due For more ideas and specific plans on these skill-building activities June 15: Embrace-A-Stream: Final and more, visit the Tackle Box online at www.tu.org/tacklebox, peruse Applications Due the youth-specific lesson plans at www.tu.org/headwaters, or contact a member of the Volunteer Operations staff at www.tu.org/staff/volunteer- Sept. 27-30: 2017 Annual Meeting: operations.______Roanoke, Va.

67 TROUT SPRING 2017

Art of Angling [ By Dave Whitlock]

The Incredible Muddler Minnow THE MUDDLER MINNOW IS A FLARED wing, gray squirrel tail for the underwing, sized 5/0 down to size #16. Dan Baily’s deer hair, fat-headed streamer fly origi- wide, flat, gold tinsel on the body and Missoulian Spook and Marabou Muddler nally conceived by Don Gapen in 1936, the same mottled turkey quill for the tail. as well as Donnie William’s Spuddler are while fishing below Virgin Falls on the Bailey’s version, tied on a Mustad very effective muddler-head spin offs. I Nipigon River, north Ontario’s brook 9673, 3XL, substitutes white and brown truly believe that flared deer-hair has an trout haven. Don’s guide showed him how calf tail for the underwing and made almost mystical attraction to fish and that’s deadly live cockatush (sculpins) were on the deer-hair head denser and more why I created both my Dave’s Hopper and the seven- and eight-pound brookies. Don neatly trimmed. Also, Bailey used more Matuka Sculpin using muddler heads and then produced a tying kit from his pack intricately marked and mottled turkey for collars. Troth’s Bullhead had a very neat and, on the canoe’s thwart, tied the first the wing and tail. I’d describe Bailey’s shape and trim and was a big influence Muddler Minnow to imitate these scul- muddler as being more neatly tailored for me also and helped lead me to develop pins. He not only created a killer fly for than Don’s. Although the original color a method of using multiple colors for the those Nipigon giants, but also an 80-year pattern of dun gray, mottled brown and head—deer-hair stacking and flaring—that fly revolution for catching big trout on the gold is still the most popular and most gives us the ability to realistically match Muddler all around the world. correctly suggestive, muddlers are tied in the sculpin’s intricate head color pattern. News of the Muddler Minnow’s suc- a variety of white, black, yellow, brandy A buoyant Muddler can be made even cess spread rapidly, and many noted brown and olives. The live sculpin has an more effective as a sculpin imitation by northeastern fly fishers and fly-fishing exquisitely detailed camo-marked body weighting the hook shank with wire, writers praised its effectiveness. Al (A.J.) that, just like a chameleon’s, changes to metal beads, cone heads, lead-headed jig McClane and Joe Brooks, two highly whatever the colors are of the stream skilled and respected writers, penned bottom where they live. The Muddler Minnow with magazine and book features about this Although the Muddler Minnow was Variations and Spin-offs fly and were probably most responsible originally tied as a minnow streamer fly for its eventual world appeal as a very that suggests sculpins, gobies, darters, Top to bottom, left to right effective pattern for big trout of all spe- stonecats, suckers and chubs, it is often Row 1: Sculpin, Cottidae. Common names: cies, Atlantic salmon, steelhead, bass and used as a surface fly to imitate grasshop- Muddler, miller’s thumb, bullhead, even saltwater fish. It may be interesting pers, cicadas and adult stoneflies. Joe cockatouch or cockatush. to note that there are actually more types Brook’s favorite hopper fly was a Bailey’s Row 2: Dan Gapen’s original Muddler of sculpin in saltwater than in freshwater. muddler minnow dressed with floatant. Minnow. When Joe Brooks introduced the Fishing it at the surface makes it a very Row 3: Dan Bailey’s Muddler and variations: Missoulian Spook, Muddler Minnow, White Muddler Minnow to Dan Bailey, Dan effective waker for salmon and steelhead, Marabou Muddler. created his own version, the Missoulian with or without a riffle hitch. It’s also a Spook and Marabou Muddler, and began popular night fly, especially when tied Row 4: Three Muddler spinoffs: Kennebago Muddlers (drake emergers by Brett Dam making large numbers of this fly available with black deer hair and silver tinsel. used mainly in the Rangely Region of Maine); to the public, along with many varia- I’ve never heard anyone disagree that Atlantic Salmon Muddler Minnow; Conehead tions. This is when the popularity of the the Muddler’s most important part is the Muddler Minnow. Muddler really took off, both nationally spun and flared deer-hair head and collar. Row 5: Al Troth’s Bullhead, Dave Whitlock’s and internationally. Don’s son, Dan, It looks so natural, seems to feels like food Matuka Sculpin, Spuddler by Donnie Williams heads the Gapen Fly Company in Becker, to fish, has a wide, low-frequency sound and Dan Bailey. Minn., and continues to produce his profile and excellent water movement. Row 6: Dany Byford’s Muddler Zonker. dad’s design commercially. Don’s original Fish will actually try to eat a muddler- Row 7: Muddler Periodic Cicadid, Dave’s Muddler Minnow was tied on a 4X long, headed fly as if it were live food. The Hopper (Dave Whitlock), Muddler Adult Allcock streamer hook using the body hair magic of the flared deer-hair head is that Stonefly, Hornberg Muddler by Frank Horberg of whitetail deer for the head and collar, you can improve almost any fly design (Dave Whitlock added a muddler head). mottled turkey secondary feather for the by adding a muddler head… from flies Row 8: Midnight Muddler (Dave Whitlock).

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4 3 2 1. MudMuddlerdlerh head:ead:O One-thirdne-third of the hook’shook’ss shank.hank. MaterialMaterial is bodyboddyh hairair of whitetailwhitetaia l or mule deer, spun around hook shank, then flared, trimmed and shaped. 2. Muddler collar: The untrimmed tips of the deer body hair that was used to form the muddler head. Lengths can be variable and average about one-half hook Order yours today! shank length. 3. Body: Flat, gold tinsel or dubbing ribbed with the same tinsel. visit eztiesystem.com 4. Tail: Paired sections of mottled turkey secondary wing quills. Tail length approximately one-third length of hook. 5. Underwing: Gray squirrel tail hair or gray fox tail hair. Length is equal to hook length. 6. Wing: Matched pair of mottled turkey secondary wing feather sections. Approximately three-fourths length of hook. 7. Hook: 3x or 4x long, turned-down-eye streamer hook in sizes 10 to 1/ 0. ______hooks or split shot and/or by fishing it Don Gapen’s revolutionary Muddler on a short leader and sinking-tip or full- Minnow gets my vote for our most effec- sink fly line. These will quickly sink the tive trout fly design. The Muddler and Muddler close to the bottom where trout its family of variations and spin-offs are most often encounter sculpins as they live true classics. It’s a design that, thanks to and scurry around on the stream bottom Don, Joe and Dan, has enriched every much more than they suspend above it. trout fly fisher’s world. It has also given fly One of Joe Brook’s favorite ways to fish tiers a design that can be infinitely varied the Muddler Minnow was to add floatant to create more and more effective trout to the head, cast it up and across stream flies for as long as we fish for big trout. and then fish it on a natural drift at the There’s a current commercial that surface until it was well downstream. always concludes with “what in your He would then pull it under and give wallet”? I’d ask a similar question it various swimming retrieves. Joe fully … “are there Muddlers in your fly understood the awesome versatility of box”? An assortment of Muddlers will this fly! When I was much younger, empower you to catch more large trout one of my favorite memories is watching wherever you are. Joe fishing Muddler Minnows for big, For more thorough and historic hook-jawed browns on the Big Hole and coverage of the Muddler Minnow, I Yellowstone River on ABC’s “American recommend Mike Valla’s The Founding Flies Sportsman” television series. (Stackpole Books), chapter 22.

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Fly Rod Ruler measure your trout with the original Rodrule™ or Boatrule™. Guide tested and approved! Advertise in Made in the USA. Online at: www.rodrule.com TROUT Classifieds Buy and selling flyrods and reels Bamboo and graphite rods lots of fly reels 410-296-1746; CCP 8307 Reach more than 150,000 anglers for just Alston Rd Towson, MD 21204 $2.25/word ($2.05/word for members). Steelhead fly shop liquidation. 1500 various col- Send text of ad and payment to: ors and sizes of eggs, nymphs and streamers. $750 724-925-8546 TROUT Classifieds 1777 North Kent Street, Suite 100 BAMBOO RODS Buy Sell Consign Arlington, Virginia 22209 www.coldwatercollectibles.com (616) 554-6239 StoneyCreek flytying desk, bookshelf, chair. Ads may be faxed to (703)284-9400 $1,700. Lisa Montgomery. [email protected]. or e-mailed to [email protected]______. (928)814-8900 Classifieds must be prepaid. Count ______Golden Trout Lanyards Quality Fly Fishing phone number, fax number, ZIP code, Lanyards Visit us at www.goldentroutlanyards.com street number, abbreviations and email Hardy Perfect 3 1/8, agate ring, ivory knob, LHR, new, or website address as one word each. never used, boxed, guaranty card, $1050 Robert. K. Bolt, rare collector bamboo rod, 8.5’ for 5W , 2/2, new, never Summer Deadline May 1 used, $2050 [email protected] To request a media kit for display BRIGHTWATER FLY ANGLER Visit our website and advertising, call (703)284-9422 check out our custom license plate frames, unique fly fishing and tying products. www.brightwaterflyangler.com

TROUT SPRING 2017 72

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Streamtech Boats Gene Bahr • Master Fish Carver For those magic moments in life

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Flying Hoppers on the Middle Fork - Watercolor painting by Link Jackson

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FOR SALE Palsa Pinch On 1838 Kennebago River Rd Stetsontown Twp, Maine Strike Indicators Rangeley Area

One of the most visible, subtle landing,

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TROUT SPRING 2017 74

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Pet Champion Rise Up River Trips Crystal Fly Shop Pet Products Monica Stark David Johnson Trout Unlimited Business members Bentonville, AR 72712 Placerville, CA 95667 Carbondale, CO 81623 (479) 254-8445 (530) 957-9148 (970) 963-5741 are TU ambassadors in protecting, Shawnee/Supreme Boats [email protected] [email protected]______restoring, reconnecting and sustaining Rob Williams riseuprivertrips.com www.crystalflyshop.com Roadwire North America’s coldwater fisheries. Mountain Home, AR 72654 GOLD LEVEL (870) 507-0902 Dave Edmondson ii Cutthroat Anglers To become a TU Business member [email protected]______Santa Fe Springs, CA 92866 Jim Buckler (951) 965-6390 contact Walt Gasson at (307) 630-7398 www.supremeboats.com Silverthorne, CO 80498 White River Trout Lodge [email protected]______(970) 262-2878 or [email protected].______Jo Anna Smith www.roadwire.com [email protected] Cotter, AR 72626 Rodney Strong Vineyards www.fishcolorado.com Kim Sayre BUSINESS Outfitters Guides Lodges (870) 430-5229 Denver Fly Shop [email protected] Healdsburg, CA 95448-9523 Ross Guillen www.whiteriverlodge.com (800) 678-4763 Denver, CO 80222 www.rodneystrong.com CALIFORNIA (303) 736-9320 Sierra Trout Magnet Fly Shop [email protected] ALASKA EPIC Angling & Adventure, American River Resort David D'Beaupre www.denverflyshop.com LLC Wilderness Place Lodge Adventure Denali/Fish Denali Jason Rockvam/Cory Wendt Tom Van Noord Bishop CA, 93514 Rus Schwausch Coloma, CA 95613 Drifter Fly Fishing Kirk Martakis Anchorage, AK 99519 (760) 873-0010 Michael Kopp Cantwell, AK 99729-0127 Alaska Peninsula, AK (530) 622-6700 (661) 364-6981 (512) 656-2736 (877) 753-3474 Denver, CO 80220 (907) 768-2620 [email protected]______www.americanriverresort.com [email protected] [email protected] (303) 884-0130 [email protected] www.wildernessplacelodge.com Bix Restaurant and Supper Club www.sierratroutmagnet.com [email protected] www.fishdenali.com www.epicanglingadventure.com Douglas Biederbeck Women’s Flyfishing The Trout Spot www.drifterflyfishing.com Alaska Alpine Adventures Expedition Broker San Francisco, CA 94133 Richard Desrosiers Jr. Greg Schlachter Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf Duranglers Flies & Supplies Dan Oberlatz Anchorage, AK 99524 (415) 433-6300 Arnold, CA 95223 Haines, AK 99827 [email protected] John Flick and Tom Knopick Anchorage, AK 99518 (907) 274-7113 (209) 795-4540 Durango, CO 81301 (907) 301-9997 (907) 766-3977 www.bixrestaurant.com (800) 822-7129 (877) 406.1320 [email protected] (970) 385-4081 [email protected] www.womensflyfishing.net Elm Company [email protected] [email protected] www.alaskaalpineadventures.com [email protected]______Brett Wiley www.thetroutspot.com www.expeditionbroker.com www. duranglers.com Alaskan Angling Adventures ARIZONA Los Angeles, CA 90031 Upcountry Web Services Expeditions Alaska (323) 221-9202 Dvorak Fishing and Rafting LLC. Cole Wealth Management Dustin Rocksvold Carl Donohue [email protected]______Pioneer, CA, 95666 Expeditions Mike Adams Martin T. Cole Bill Dvorak Anchorage, AK 99507 Scottsdale, AZ 85260 www.elmcompany.com (209) 295-7551 Cooper Landing, AK 99572 (770) 952-4549 Nathrop, CO 81236 (907) 595-3336 (480) 275-6354 The Fly Shop [email protected]______www.expeditionsalaska.com/contact. www.upcountrywebservices.com (719) 539-6851 [email protected] (480) 205-7435 Michael Caranci (800) 824-3795 [email protected] Redding, CA 96002 www.AlaskanAnglingAdventures.com www.expeditionsalaska.com COLORADO [email protected] www.colewealth.com (530) 222-3555 www.dvorakexpeditions.com Alaska Fly Fishing Goods Fishology Alaska Bradley Elfers Dossigan Digital LLC [email protected] Andes Drifters Mark Wackler www.theflyshop.com Kevin Landon Fishpond, Inc. Juneau, AK 99801 John Doss Ben Kurtz Soldotna, AK 99669 Phoenix, AZ 85022 Hatch Outdoors Denver, CO 80247 (907) 586-1550 (907) 394-8378 Denver, CO 80223-1346 [email protected]______(623) 229-8335 Andrew Dickinson (720) 425-6270 [email protected][email protected] (303) 534-3474 www.alaskaflyfishinggoods.com [email protected] Vista, CA 92081 benkurtz@fishpondusa______www.akfishology.com www.dossigan.net (760) 734-4343 www.andesdrifters.com www.fishpondusa.com Alaska River Adventures Grizzly Skins of Alaska (866) 634-4343 George Heim Fly Fish Arizona and Beyond GOLD LEVEL Freestone Aquatics, Inc. Rochelle Harrison and [email protected] Cooper Landing, AK 99572 www.hatchoutdoors.com ii Angler’s Covey Clint Packo Phil Shoemaker Cinda Howard David Leinweber (888) 836-9027 King Salmon, AK 99613 www.josephfamilyvineyards.com Littleton, CO 80127 [email protected] Springerville, AZ 85938-1216 Colorado Springs, CO 80904 (303) 807-7805 (907) 376-2234 (480) 217-5089 Little River Inn (800) 753-4746 www.alaskariveradventures.com [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Mel McKinney [email protected] www.freestoneaquatics.com GOLD LEVEL www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com www.flyfisharizona.com Little River, CA 95456 www.anglerscovey.com Front Range Anglers ii Alaska Sportsman's Bear Naknek River Camp Imus Wilkinson Investment (707) 937-5942 [email protected] Angling Trade Magazine Steve McLaughlin Trail Lodge Jim Johnson Management Tim Romano Nanci Morris Lyon King Salmon, AK 99613 www.littleriverinn.com Boulder, CO 80302 Eb Wilkinson Boulder, CO 80304 (303) 494-1375 King Salmon, AK 99613 (907) 439-2895 Tucson, AZ 85718 Lost Coast Outfitters (303) 495-3967 Lodge: (907) 246-2327 [email protected][email protected] (520) 777-1911 George Revel [email protected]______www.frontrangeanglers.com Cell: (907) 469-0622 www.naknekrivercamp.com [email protected]______San Francisco, CA 94901 www.anglingtrade.com [email protected] (415) 483-2278 The High Lonesome Ranch No See Um Lodge www.imuswilkinson.com Ascent Fly Fishing www.fishasl.com/naknek/ John Holman [email protected]______Lees Ferry Anglers Peter Stitcher Alaska’s Bearclaw Lodge King Salmon, AK 99613 www.lostcoastoutfitters.com Scott Stewart/Scott Bystol Terry and Wendy Gunn Littleton, CO 80128 DeBeque, CO 81630 Rob Fuentes (907) 232-0729 Marble Canyon, AZ 86036 Matt Heron Fly Fishing (720)580-9558 Dillingham, AK 99576 [email protected] (970) 283-9420 (800) 962-9755 Matt Heron [email protected] (907) 843-1605 www.noseeumlodge.com Truckee, CA 96161 [email protected] [email protected]______www.ascentflyfishing.com www.thehighlonesomeranch.com [email protected] Painter Creek Lodge www.leesferry.com (518) 225-6587 www.bearclawlodge.com [email protected]______Aspen Fly Fishing Irwin Guides Jon Kent Orvis Retail Store–Scottsdale Chris Lemons Classic Casting Adventures Pilot Point, AK 99649 www.mattheronflyfishing.com John Bocchino Fishing Manager (970) 920-6886 Crested Butte, CO 81224 Tad Kisaka (907) 248-1303 MindShift Gear Aspen, CO, 81612 Sitka, AK 99835 [email protected] Scottsdale, AZ 85254 Gene Sutton (970) 349-5430 (480) 905-1400 [email protected] [email protected] (907) 738-2737 www.paintercreeklodge.com Santa Rosa, CA 95401 www.aspenflyfishing.com [email protected]______www.orvis.com (855) 757-2727 www.elevenexperience.com Pride of Bristol Bay AvidMax www.flyfishsitka.com Matthew Luck Oxbow Ecological Engineering, [email protected] JP Fly Fishing Specialties www.mindshiftgear.com Cory Anderson James Pushchak Coastal Alaska Adventures Ketchum, ID 83340 LLC Centennial, CO 80112 Keegan McCarthy (208) 720-4226 George Cathey Mountain Hardware and Sports (719) 275-7637 (866) 454-5523 Canon City, CO, 81212 Douglas, AK 99824 [email protected] Flagstaff, AZ 86005 Bran Nylund [email protected] [email protected] (907) 723-3006 www.prideofbristolbay.com (928) 266-6192 Truckee, CA 96160 www.avidmax.com [email protected] www.jpflyfish.com ______Rainbow King Lodge [email protected] (530) 587-4844 www.coastalalaskaadventures.com [email protected]______Black Canyon Anglers Last Exit Goods Iliamna, AK 99606 www. oxbow-eco-eng.com Derek Kehmeier Copper River Lodge 800-458-6539 www.mountainhardwareandsports.com Ryan Mayo Peace Surplus, Inc. Austin, CO 81410 Louisville, CO, 80027 Pat Vermillion [email protected] North Coast Solar (970) 835-5050 Iliamna, AK 99606 www.rainbowking.com Flagstaff, AZ 86001 Brian Hines [email protected]______(888) 779-4521 [email protected] www.lastexitgoods.com (406) 222-0624 Royal Coachman Lodge Santa Rosa, CA 95407 www.blackcanyonanglers.com [email protected]______Pat Vermillion [email protected]______(707) 575-3999 North Fork Ranch www.copperriverlodge.com www.peacesurplus.com [email protected]______Blessing Enterprises Dean and Karen May Dillingham, AK 99576 Gregory Blessing Crystal Creek Lodge (406) 222-0624 www.ncsr.com Shawnee, CO 80475 ARKANSAS Colorado Springs, CO 80904 (303) 838-9873 Dan Michels [email protected] Off the Hook Fly Fishing (719) 337-5084 King Salmon, AK 99613 www.royalcoachmanlodge.com Dally’s Ozark Fly Fisher Mike and Carrie Copithorne (800) 843-7895 www.troubleblessing.com [email protected] (907) 357-3153 Tidal Vision Steve Dally Napa, CA 94559 www.crystalcreeklodge.com Cotter, AR 72626 (707) 287-2939 Colorado River Outfitters www.northforkranch.com Juneau, AK 99802 Paul Killino [email protected] (907) 988-8888 (870) 435-6166 [email protected]______Odell Brewing Company [email protected] www.offthehookflyfishing.com Bond, CO 80423 Karla Baise Denali Fly Fishing Guides [email protected] (970) 653-3474 Rick McMahan www.tidalvisionusa.com www.theozarkflyfisher.com Reverse Hackle Tenkara Ft. Collins, CO 80524 McLellan's Fly Shop Michael Willis [email protected] (970) 498-9070 Cantwell, AK 99729 Tikchik Narrows Lodge www.coloradoriveroutfitters.net (907) 768-1127 Bud Hodson Fayetteville, AR 72703 Elk Grove, CA 95759 [email protected] [email protected]______(479) 251-7037 [email protected] Confluence Casting www.odellbrewing.com Anchorage, AK 99522 Jack Bombardier www.denalifishing.com (907) 243-8450 [email protected] Paul’s Pipes www.mcflyshop.com Paul Menard Eagle County, CO 81637 [email protected] (970) 524-1440 www.tikchiklodge.com Los Gatos, CA 95033 [email protected] [email protected] www.paulspipes.com www.confluencecasting.com 75 TROUT SPRING 2017

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OneFish Engineering, LLC GOLD LEVEL GEORGIA Quadrant Consulting HMH Vises Krag Silversmith Suzanne Huhta Steve Sweet Jon Larrabee Wendy K. O’Neil ii Trout’s Fly Fishing GOLD LEVEL Fort Collins, CO 80521 Tucker Ladd Boise, ID 83705 Biddeford, ME 04005 Stockbridge, MA 01262 (970) 237-0739 Denver, CO 80218 ii Atlanta Fly Fishing School (208) 342-0091 T: (207) 729-5200 (413) 446-4788 [email protected]______(303) 733-1434 Mack Martin [email protected]______F: (207) 729-5292 [email protected]______www.onefishengineering.com [email protected] Cumming, GA 30040 www.quadrant.cc [email protected] www.kragsilversmith.com www.troutsflyfishing.com (770) 889-5638 www.hmhvises.com Over and Out [email protected] Tight Line Media Overwatch Outpost Mike DelliVeneri Umpqua www.atlantaflyfishingschool.com Kris Millgate Eldredge Bros Fly Shop & Charles Ricko Lakewood, CO 80215 Luke Wennik Idaho Falls, ID 83405-0242 Guide Service Charlemont, MA 01339 (303) 319-8830 Louisville, CO 80027 Blue Ridge Fly Fishing (208) 709-0309 Jim Bernstein (413) 339-8800 [email protected]______Jeff Turner [email protected]______Cape Neddick York, ME 03902 (413) 339-8801 (fax) (303) 567-6696 Blue Ridge, GA 30513 www.overandoutusa.com [email protected]______www.tightlinemedia.com (877) 427-9345 [email protected]______(706) 258-4080 ______www.overwatch-outpost.com Palace Hotel www.umpqua.com TroutHunter [email protected] [email protected] www.eldredgeflyshop.com Fred Klein Upslope Brewing www.blueridgeflyfishing.com Rich Paini Postfly Island Park, ID 83429 L.L.Bean Inc. Brian Runnals Salida, CO 81201 Henry Wood Escape to Blue Ridge LLC, (719) 207-4175 Boulder, CO 80301 (208) 558-9900 Chris McCormick Boston, MA 02210 [email protected]______Blue Ridge, GA [email protected] Freeport, ME 04033-0002 (888) 310-3357 (303) 396-1898 Pamela Miracle ______www.SalidaPalaceHotel.com [email protected]______www.trouthunt.com (207) 865-4761 [email protected] Alpharetta, GA 30023 Waterworks-Lamson www.llbean.com www.postflybox.com Rainbow Falls Mountain Trout www.upslopebrewing.com (866) 618-2521 Richard Johnson Vail Valley Anglers Ryan Harrison Red River Camps Vedavoo (706) 413-5321 Hailey, ID 83333 Scott Hunter Woodland Park, CO 80866 Patrick Perry [email protected]______Jen Brophy-Price (208) 726-1513 Portage, ME 04768 Lancaster, MA 01523 (719) 687-8690 Edwards, CO 81632 www.EscapetoBlueRidge.com [email protected] [email protected] (207) 554-0420 (307) 399-0780 (970) 926-0900 Fly Fish Blue Ridge www.waterworks-lamson.com [email protected]______www.rainbowfallsmt.com [email protected] (877) 926-0900 Gene Rutkowski www.redrivercamps.com www.vedavoo.com [email protected] GOLD LEVEL Rancho Del Rio Cherry Log, GA 30522 The Wooden Fly Jeff Gibson www.vailvalleyanglers.com (706) 455-5640 ii WorldCast Anglers Western Maine Guide Service Bob Harkins Bart Estes Bond, CO 80425 Western Anglers [email protected] Mike Dawkins Victor, ID 83455 Bethel, ME 04217 Easthampton, MA 01027 (970) 653-4431 Ned Mayers www.flyfishblueridge.com (413) 588-1125 ______(800) 654-0676 (207) 357-9592 [email protected] Grand Junction, CO 81501 NPDES Stormwater Training Institute [email protected][email protected] www.ranchodelrio.com (970) 244-8658 T Luke Owen [email protected] www.worldcastanglers.com www.westernmaineguideservice.com www.etsy.com/shop/TheWoodenFly Reeder Creek Ranch [email protected] Buford, GA 30518 Paul Bruchez www.westernanglers.com (505) 577-9625 ILLINOIS MARYLAND MICHIGAN [email protected]______Kremmling , CO 80459 Willowfly Anglers Mossy Oak Pursuit Energy GOLD LEVEL RiverMade (970) 531-2008 www.npdestraining.com Three Rivers Resort Luke and Brett McGreaham ______Beverage Co. ii Beaver Creek Fly Shop [email protected] Almont, CO 81210 Pickle Barrel Café and Sports Pub Peter Fowler James Harris Traverse City, MI 49684 www.reedercreek.com (888) 761-3474 Bob Jaworski Lake Zurich, IL 60047 Hagerstown, MD 21740 (231) 357-4589 Rep Your Water [email protected].______Milledgeville, GA 31061 (303) 885-5080 (301) 393-9090 [email protected]______Garrison Doctor www.willowflyanglers.com (478) 452-1960 [email protected]______www.rivermade.us [email protected] Lafayette, CO 80026 Wolf Waste Removal [email protected] www.mossyoakpursuitenergy.com www.beavercreekflyshop.com Steve Lynch Wealth Management www.picklebarrelcafe.com (720) 883-4645 Jeff Black Whitetail Fly Tieing Supplies Ecotone, Inc. Stephen Lynch [email protected]______Fort Morgan, CO 80701 Reel Em In Guide Service Nancy Richardson Jim Morris Albuquerque, NM, 87110 www.repyourwater.com (970) 483-5299 James Bradley Geneva, Il 60134 Jarrettsville, MD 21084-0005 (888) 881-7526 RIGS Fly Shop and Guide [email protected]______Ellijay, GA 30536 (630) 402-0423 (410) 420-2600 [email protected]______Service www.wolfwaste.com (706) 273-0764 [email protected] [email protected] www.stevelynchwealth.com [email protected] Timothy Patterson Yampa Valley Anglers www.whitetailflytieing.com www.ecotoneinc.com U.P. Fly Angler www.reeleminguideservice.com Randy Berndt Ridgway, CO 81432 Ryan Herbert INDIANA GOLD LEVEL (970) 626-4460 Yampa, CO 80483 River Through Atlanta Guide Trout Creek, MI 49967 [email protected] (970) 819-4376 Service Walton Rods ii Great Feathers (715) 570-5438 www.fishrigs.com [email protected] Chris Scalley Brad Smith Mike Watriss [email protected]______www.yampavalleyanglers.com Roswell, GA 30075 Westfield, IN 46062 Sparks, MD 21152 www.upflyangler.com Ripple Creek Lodge (770) 650-8630 (317) 644-9912 (410) 472-6799 Dan and Kerri Schwartz ______Wolfe Outfitters CONNECTICUT [email protected][email protected] [email protected] Capt. Ben Wolfe Meeker, CO 81641 www.riverthroughatlanta.com www.waltonrods.com www.greatfeathers.com (970) 878-4725 J. Stockard Fly Fishing Beulah, MI 49617 Kent, CT 06757 Southern Highroads Outfitters Savage River Lodge (231) 883-4265 [email protected] IOWA Mike Dreisbach www.ripplecreeklodge.com (877) 359-8946 David Hulsey (877) 442-4294 [email protected] Blairsville, GA 30512 Des Moines Embassy Club Frostburg, MD 21532 www.wolfeoutfitters.com Rocky Mountain Rod Shop www.jsflyfishing.com (706) 781-1414 Michael LaValle (301) 689-3200 [email protected]______Kent Hoff [email protected] Des Moines, IA 50309 [email protected]______Lakewood, CO 80214 DISTRICT OF www.southernhighroadsoutfitters.com (515) 245-3766 www.savageriverlodge.com MINNESOTA (720) 689-1059 COLUMBIA [email protected] Savage River Outfitters Lewiston Area Trout Guides ______GOLD LEVEL www.embassyclub.com [email protected] The Angling Report Mike Evans Mark Reisetter www.rockymountainrodshop.com ii Unicoi Outfitters Locally Grown Clothing Company Swanton, MD 21561 Lewiston, MN 55952 Mike Lyons John Cross St. Peter’s Fly Shop Washington, DC 20007 Fred Scott (703) 517-1040 (507) 523-2557 Ft. Collins, CO 80524 Helen, GA 30545 Des Moines, IA 50309 [email protected][email protected]______(202) 770-9942 (706) 878-3083 (970) 498-8968 [email protected] (515) 554-1254 www.savageriveroutfitters.com www.minnesotatrout.com [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.anglingreport.com www.unicoioutfitters.com Waterwisp Flies Namebini www.stpetes.com www.locallygrownclothing.com Jim Greene Carl Haensel Scott Fly Rods FLORIDA IDAHO Wilderness Lite LLC Chevy Chase, MD 20815 Duluth, MN 55804 Montrose, CO 81401-6302 A Fishing Guide North 40 Fly Shop Phillip Hayes (800) 462-2935 (218) 525-2381 (970) 249-3180 Steve Friedman Maurice, IA 51036 [email protected] [email protected] Dillon Given [email protected] Islamorada, FL 33036 Ponderay, ID 83852 [email protected] www.waterwisp.com www.namebini.com (305) 393-3474 www.wildernesslitefloattubes.com www.scottflyrod.com (208) 255-5757 MASSACHUSETTS Rose Creek Anglers Steamboat Flyfisher [email protected][email protected]______KANSAS Rich Femling www.afishingguide.com www.north40.com Cheeky Fishing Roseville, MN 55113 John Spillane ARC Fishing Ted Upton Steamboat Springs, CO Costa Far and Away Adventures (763) 807-5878 Dayne Glass & Travis Thompson Arlington, MA 02476 ______(970) 879-6552 Marguerite Meyer Middle Fork – Salmon River [email protected] Lenexa, KS 66285 (339) 707-3017 www.rose-creek.com [email protected] Daytona Beach, FL 32117 Sun Valley, ID 83353 (844) ARC-FISH [email protected] Solid Rock Masonry www.steamboatflyfisher.com (386) 274-4000 (208) 726-8888 [email protected] www.cheekyfishing.com ______Eric Moshier Steel City Anglers (800) 447-3700 [email protected] www.arcfishing.com www.costadelmar.com www.far-away.com Deerfield Fly Shop Duluth, MN 55803 Ben Wurster K & K Flyfishers Mike Didonna (218) 343-2978 Pueblo, CO 81003 Dream Sporting Trips Henry’s Fork Lodge Kevin Kurz South Deerfield, MA 01373 Tristram Allen Island Park, ID 83429 [email protected] (719) 778-3059 Overland Park, KS 66212 (413) 397-3665 www.solidrockmasonry.com [email protected]______Sarasota, FL 34232 (208) 558-7953 (913) 341-8118 [email protected]______www.steelcityanglers.com (941) 677-2264 [email protected] (800) 795-8118 www.deerfieldflyshop.com MISSOURI [email protected] www.henrysforklodge.com Tenkara USA [email protected] DeRosa Environmental Extant Publishing www.dreamsportingtrips.com The Lodge at Palisades Creek Daniel W. Galhardo www.kkflyfisher.com Consulting Inc. Landon Weidenman Southwick Associates Boulder, CO 80305 MAINE Michael DeRosa St. Louis, MO 63108 (888) 483-6527 Rob Southwick Justin Hays Rowley, MA 01969 (408) 674-9804 [email protected] Fernandina Beach, FL 32035 Irwin, ID 83428 Appalachian Mountain Club 978-356-5408 [email protected]______www.tenkarausa.com (904) 277-9765 (866) 393-1613 Maine Wilderness Lodges [email protected]______www.extantpublishing.com [email protected]______Telluride Outside [email protected]______Casey Mealey www.derosaenvironmental.com www.southwickassociates.com www.tlapc.com Greenville, ME 04441 MONTANA John Duncan (207) 695-0392 High Hook Oregon Wines Telluride, CO 81435 Pride of Bristol Bay T. Mark Seymour A Lazy H Outfitters Matthew Luck [email protected]______Joseph Haas (970) 728-3895 www.outdoors.org Leverett, MA 01054 [email protected] Ketchum, ID 83340 413-218-0638 Choteau, MT 59422 www.tellurideoutside.com (208) 720-4226 [email protected] (800) 893-1155 [email protected]______www.fishhookvineyards.com [email protected] www.prideofbristolbay.com www.alazyhpacktrips.com TROUT SPRING 2017 76

Absaroka Beartooth Gallatin River Guides Missouri River Ranch, Inc. Ruby Springs Lodge NEVADA Watershed Artisans Outfitters, Inc. Patrick Straub Chip Anderson Alder, MT 59710 Nevada Cattlemen’s Craig Sponholtz Cameron S. Mayo Big Sky, MT 59716 Craig, MT 59648 (406) (406) 842-5250 Association Santa Fe, NM 87505 Big Timber, MT 59011 (406) 995-2290 (406) 235-4116 [email protected] (505) 577-9625 Stephanie Licht ______(406) 579-3866 [email protected] [email protected]______www.rubyspringslodge.com Elko, NV 89803 [email protected] [email protected]______www.montanaflyfishing.com www.missouririverranch.com Simms (775) 738-9214 www.watershedartisans.com www.aboadventures.com Gallatin River Lodge Montana Angler Fly Fishing Diane Bristol [email protected]______NEW YORK Angler’s Roost Steve Gamble Brian McGeehan Bozeman, MT 59718 www.nevadacattlemen.org John Cawley Bozeman, MT 59718 Bozeman, MT 59718 (406)585-3557 Amberjack Outfitters Inc. Patagonia Jerome Tufte Hamilton, MT 59840 (888) 387-0148 (406) 522-9854 business [email protected] Reno, NV 89523 (406) 363-1268 [email protected]______(406) 570-0453 cell www.simmsfishing.com New York, NY 10013 ______(775) 746-6878 (800) 902-3474 [email protected]______www.grlodge.com [email protected] Sportsman and Ski Haus (800) 523-9597 www.anglersroost-montana.com/ www.montanaangler.com [email protected] Glacier Anglers Joe Rudolph www.patagonia.com www.amberjack.com Beartooth Capital Darwon Stoneman Montana Cutthroat Guide Kalispell, MT 59901 Lauren Cummings West Glacier, MT 59936 Service, LLC (406) 755-6484 NEW HAMPSHIRE Cortland Line Company, Inc. Cortland, NY 13045 Bozeman, MT 59715-4695 (406) 888-5454 Chris Stroup Outfitter #20,187 [email protected] CastaFly Outdoors [email protected] Missoula, MT 59808 (607) 756-2851 (406) 551-4073 www.sportsmanskihaus.com Will Schmitt [email protected] www.glacieranglers.net (406) 370-8146 [email protected] Spotted Bear Ranch Lebanon, NH 03766 www.cortlandline.com www.beartoothcap.com Green Anchors [email protected]______Tara McCreedy (802) 922-0029 Beartooth Flyfishing Mike Storms www.mtcutthroat.com Bigfork, MT 59911 [email protected]______Dette Trout Flies Dan and Nancy Delekta Hamilton, MT 59840 Montana Fishing Outfitters (406) 270-5235 http://www.castaflyoutdoors.com Roscoe, NY 12776 Cameron, MT 59720 (406) 821-4758 ______(607) 498-4991 [email protected] Northern Waters Outfitters ______(406) 682-7525 [email protected] Pat Straub and Garrett Munson www.spottedbearfishing.com [email protected] Thomas Damour www.detteflies.com [email protected]______www.green-anchors.com Helena, MT 59601 Stillwater Anglers Fly Shop Errol, NH 03579 Douglas Outdoors www.beartoothflyfishing.com Grizzly Hackle Fly Shop (406) 431-5089 and Outfitters (603) 482-3817 Big Hole Lodge Brendan Bannigan [email protected] [email protected]______John Boyle Chris Fleck Phoenix, NY 13135 Craig Fellin Missoula, MT 59802 www.montanafishingoutfitters.com Columbus, MT 59109 www.northernwatersrafting.com Wise River, MT 59762 (406) 721-8996 (315) 695-2000 Montana Fly Company (855) 785-5987 ______(406) 832-3252 (800) 297-8996 Jake Chutz NEW JERSEY [email protected] [email protected]______www.douglasoutdoors.com [email protected] [email protected] Columbia Falls, MT 59912 www.stillwateranglersmt.com GBW Insurance www.bigholelodge.com www.grizzlyhackle.com (406) 892-9112 Glenn Tippy Fisher Guiding Stockman Bank Edward Hill GOLD LEVEL Healing Waters Lodge [email protected] Jim Drummond Cranford, NJ 07016 Mike and Laura Geary www.montanafly.com (800) 548-2329 (434) 989-8341 ii Blackfoot River Bozeman, MT 59718 Brooklyn, NY 11238 Twin Bridges, MT 59754 Montana River Lodge [email protected]______(406) 556-4100 [email protected] Outfitters, Inc. (406) 684-5960 Ray Baier ______www.insctrs.com John Herzer and Terri Raugland [email protected] www.fisherguiding.com [email protected] Missoula, MT 59872 www.stockmanbank.com Ramsey Outdoor Missoula, MT 59808 www.hwlodge.com Marty Brennan Groudas Art (406) 542-7411 (406) 207-0673 Studio Pandora Hubley, Phillips and Williams [email protected] Succasunna, NJ 07876 Nick and Nancy Groudas [email protected] Karahan Balli Islip, NY 11751 PLLP www.montanariverlodge.com Missoula, MT 59802 (973) 584-7798 www.blackfootriver.com [email protected]______(631) 942-1406 Kevin Hubley Montana Troutfitters (406) 549-5100 [email protected]______The Bozeman Angler Fly Shop Bozeman, MT 59715 www.ramseyoutdoor.com Rod and Pam King Justin King (877) 549-5101 www.groudasart.com (406) 586-0281 Bozeman, MT 59715 [email protected] Bozeman, MT 59715 GOLD LEVEL North Flats Guiding [email protected] (406) 587-4707 www.studiopandora.com ii Shannon’s Fly and (800) 886-9111 www.hpwcpas.com Captain David Blinken [email protected] [email protected] Sunrise Pack Station Tackle Shop East Hampton, NY 10028 www.bozemanangler.com Journey Rent-A-Car www.troutfitters.com Shane McClaflin Jim Holland (917) 975-0912 Taylor Hartzheim Montana Trout Stalkers Belgrade, MT 59714 Califon, NJ 07830 [email protected]______Bozeman Reel Bozeman, MT 59718 Dan Rice Joe Dilschneider (406) 388-2236 (908) 832-5736 www.northflats.com (406) 551-2277 Ennis, MT 59729 [email protected][email protected]______(406) 548-2858 [email protected]______Orvis Retail Store–Buffalo Bozeman, MT (406) 581-5150 www.sunrisepackstation.com www.shannonsflytackle.com www.journeyrentacar.com ______Adam Cook [email protected][email protected] Sweetwater Fly Shop Tightline Productions Williamsville, NY 14221 www.bozemanreel.com GOLD LEVEL www.montanatrout.com Dan Gigone Tim and Joan Flagler (480) 905-1400 Budget Host Parkway Motel ii Linehan Outfitting Parade Rest Guest Ranch Livingston, MT 59047 Califon, NJ 07830 [email protected]______Vanessa Haines Company Marge Wanner (406) 222-9393 (908) 832-6677 www.orvis.com/buffalo [email protected]______Livingston, MT 59047 Tim Linehan West Yellowstone, MT 59758 [email protected]______Orvis Retail Store–Rochester (406) 222-3840 Troy, MT 59935 (406) 646-7217 www.sweetwaterflyshop.com www.tightlinevideo.com ______Jim Wallace [email protected]______(800) 596-0034 [email protected] Sweetwater Travel Company Rochester, NY 14618 www.budgethostparkway.com [email protected] www.paraderestranch.com NEW MEXICO (585) 586-3956 Cardinal Distributing www.fishmontana.com PRO Outfitters Dan, Jeff & Pat Vermillion Brazos River Ranch [email protected]______Keith Dunn Lion Head Ranch Brandon Boedecker Livingston, MT 59047 Bo Prieskorn www.orvis.com/rochester Helena, MT 59624 Bozeman, MT 59718 McLeod, MT (888) 347-4286 Las Vegas, NM 87701 Tailwater Lodge (406) 586-0241 [email protected] (406) 442-5489 [email protected] (505) 453-1212 Chris Tucciarone [email protected][email protected]______www.sweetwatertravel.com [email protected] Altmar, NY 13302 Lithia Toyota Missoula www.prooutfitters.com www.cardinaldistributing.com Jeremy Nelson Triple-M-Outfitters www.nmoutfitter.com (315) 298-3434 Claire Kleese Design, LLC Missoula, MT 59804 The Ranch at Rock Creek Mark Faroni High Country Anglers [email protected]______Claire Kleese (406) 532-1300 Patrick Little Dixon, MT 59831 Doc Thompson www.tailwaterlodge.com Bozeman, MT 59715 [email protected] Philipsburg, MT 59858 (406) 246-3249 Northern New Mexico Trout Haven (406) 370-9130 www.lithiatoyotamissoula.com (406) 859-6027 [email protected]______(575)376-9220 Andrew Trelease (877) 786-1545 [email protected]______Lone Peak Outfitters www.triplemoutfitters.com [email protected]______Oneonta, NY 13820 www.clairekleeseartworks.com [email protected]______Trout On The Fly www.flyfishnewmexico.com (607) 643-1415 Bryce Connery www.theranchatrockcreek.com CrossCurrents Fly Shop Bozeman, MT 59771 Nate Stevane Land of Enchantment [email protected] Chris Strainer (406) 599-9158 The Resort at Paws Up Outfitter #8533 Guides www.trouthavenguide.com Craig, MT 59648 [email protected] Mindy Marcum Butte, MT 59701 Noah Parker (406) 235-3433 www.lonepeakoutfitters.com Greenough, MT 59823 (406) 580-7370 Velarde, NM 87582 NORTH CAROLINA [email protected]______(406) 244-5200 [email protected] (505) 629-5688 Biltmore Estate Long Outfitting (877) 580-6343 www.crosscurrents.com Matthew A. Long www.montanatroutonthefly.com [email protected]______Dale Klug [email protected] Trout Scapes River www.loeflyfishing.com Asheville, NC 28803 Dan Bailey Fly Shop Livingston, MT 59047 www.pawsup.com John Bailey (406) 222-6775 Restoration, LLC Steve Lynch Wealth Management (828) 225-1583 Livingston, MT 59047 [email protected] The River’s Edge Brian Cowden Stephen Lynch [email protected]______(406) 222-1673 www.longoutfitting.com Dan Lohmiller Bozeman, MT 59715 Albuquerque, NM 87110 www.biltmore.com [email protected] Bozeman, MT 59715 (201) 230-3383 (505) 881-7526 Casters Fly Shop Madison Valley Ranch, LLC (406) 586-5373 www.dan-bailey.com Kaitlin Groundwater & [email protected] [email protected] Dave Hise [email protected] www.troutscapes.com www.stevelynchwealth.com Hickory, NC 28601 ERA Landmark Real Estate Manu Redmond www.theriversedge.com Bozeman, MT 59715 Ennis, MT 59729 Wild Trout Outfitters The Reel Life (828) 304-2400 (406) 586-1321 (800) 891-6158 The River’s Edge West J.D. Bingman Nick Streit [email protected][email protected] [email protected]______Dan Lohmiller Outfitter #614 Santa Fe, NM 87501 www.castersflyshop.com www.eralandmark.com www.madisonvalleyranch.com Bozeman, MT 59718 Big Sky, MT (866) 804-7335 www.castersonlineflyshop.com (406) 284-2401 ______Flint Creek Outdoors Missoula River Lodge (406) 995-2975 [email protected] Clearwater Memories Joe Cummings [email protected][email protected] www.thereellife.com Alan Folger Matthew Churchman www.theriversedge.com Philipsburg, MT59858 Missoula, MT 59808 www.wildtroutoutfitters.com GOLD LEVEL Hendersonville, NC 28739-9644 Riverside Anglers, Inc. [email protected] (406) 859-9500 (877) 327-7878 Yellow Dog Flyfishing ii Taos Fly Shop [email protected] Alice Owsley www.clearwatermemories.com [email protected] Adventures, LLC Nick Streit www.flintcreekcoutdoors.com www.montanaflyfishingguide.com MT Outfitter #9435 Bozeman, MT 59715-4630 Davidson River Outfitters West Yellowstone, MT 59758 Taos, NM 87571 Four Rivers Fishing Company Missoulian Angler (406) 585-8667 Kevin Howell (406) 640-1698 (575) 751-1312 Pisgah Forest, NC 28768 Chris Knott and Seth McLean Russell Parks [email protected] [email protected] Missoula, MT 59801 [email protected] www.yellowdogflyfishing.com (828) 877-4181 Twin Bridges, MT 59754 www.riversideanglers.com www.taosflyshop.com (406) 684-5651 (406) 728-7766 (888) 861-0111 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]______www.4riversmontana.com www.missoulianangler.com www.davidsonflyfishing.com 77 TROUT SPRING 2017

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Due South Outfitters The Rogue Angler The Nature Inn at Bald GOLD LEVEL VERMONT Northwest Fly Fishing Patrick Sessoms Mark Koenig Eagle ii Living Waters Fly Fishing Jackson’s Lodge Academy Boone, NC 28607 Eugene, OR 97402 Cody Wolfe Chris Johnson Gloria Jackson Doug Pendleton (828) 355-9109 (800) 949-5163 Howard, PA 16841 Round Rock, TX 78664 Canaan, VT 05903 Leavenworth, WA 98826 [email protected][email protected] (814) 625-2879 (512) 507-7733 (802) 266-3360 (206) 605-6286 www.duesouthoutfitters.com www.therogueangler.com [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]______Flymen Fishing Company Royal Treatment Fly Fishing www.natureinnatbaldeagle.com www.livingwatersflyfishing.com www.JacksonsLodgeVT.net www.nwflyfishingacademy.com Martin Bawden Joel La Follette Sky Blue Outfitters Maven Fly Quimby Country Lodge and Peninsula Outfitters West Linn, OR 97068 Brevard, NC 28712 Rick Nyles Lise Lozelle Cottages Capt. Bill Drewry (704) 846-2634 (503) 850-4397 Fleetwood, PA 19522 Austin, TX 78704 Poulsbo, WA 98370 ______Ray Dagile [email protected] [email protected] (610) 987-0073 (800) 369-0038 Averill, VT 05901 (360) 394-1599 www. flymenfishingcompany.com www.royaltreatmentflyfishing.com [email protected] [email protected] (802) 822-5533 [email protected] Hunter Banks Company Sawyer Paddles and Oars www.skyblueoutfitters.com www.mavenfly.com [email protected]______www.peninsulaoutfitters.com Frank Smith Zac Kauffman Wild for Salmon Reelfly Fishing Adventures www.quimbycountry.com Sea Run Pursuits Asheville, NC 28801 Gold Hill, OR 97525 Steve Kurian John C. Hicks (828) 252-3005 (541) 535-3606 Bloomsburg, PA 17815 Brent Hodges VIRGINIA Lacey, WA 98503 [email protected][email protected] (570) 387-0550 Canyon Lake, TX 78133 CJM Wealth Advisers, Ltd. 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Company Lee Irwin Orvis Retail Store–Greenville [email protected] fliesbytwobrothers.com Fly Rod Chronicles Seven Valleys, PA 17360 www.fishwest.com Bedford Heights, OH 44146 Mark White Matt Miles Fly Fishing Curtis Fleming (440) 232-5020 (717) 428-9368 Flaming Gorge Resort Bridgeport, WV 26330 ______Greenville, SC 29601 Matt Miles [email protected][email protected] (864) 240-4284 Woody Bair (540) 550-5151 Lynchburg, VA 24504 ______www.alertstamping.com www.arrc1.com [email protected] Dutch John, UT 84023 (434) 238-2720 [email protected] Ascent Market Research, LLC Arnot Sportsmen’s Assoc., Inc www.orvis.com (435) 889-3773 [email protected] www.flyrodchronicles.com Steven Vickner Ron Signor Southern Fried Cotton [email protected] www.mattmilesflyfishing.com Greenbrier Brewing Company Columbus, OH 43219 Arnot, PA 16911 www.flaminggorgeresort.com Wil Laska Chris Bandy GOLD LEVEL (614) 551-1916 (570) 638-2985 Clemson, SC, 29633 Flare Construction, Inc. Maxwelton, WV 24957 ______steven.vickner@ascentmarket- [email protected]______(864) 653-0947 Jeremy Richins ii Mossy Creek Fly (304) 520-4669 _____research.com Catch-A-Lure [email protected] Coalville, UT 84017 Fishing [email protected] www.ascentmarketresearch.com AGD Innovations LLC www.southernfriedcotton.com (435) 336-2888 Colby Trow www.gvbeer.com Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Tall Man Outfitters Easton, PA 18042 Tradd’s Flies [email protected] North Fork Fly Shop and Graham Stokes (610) 462-4491 (540) 434-2444 Tradd Little JANS Guide Service aka JANS ______Outfitters Gambier, OH 43022 [email protected] [email protected] Chuck Huggins Greenville, SC Travis Vernon www.mossycreekflyfishing.com/ (740) 501-3180 www.catchalure.com [email protected] Park City, UT 84060 Circleville, WV 26804 [email protected]______Cross Current Guide Service www.traddsflies (435) 649-4949 South River Fly Shop (304) 567-2082 www.tallmanoutfitters.com and Outfitters (800) 745-1020 Tommy Lawhorne [email protected] Tight Lines Jewelry Joe Demalderis TENNESSEE [email protected] Kevin Little www.northforkflyshop.com Renee Schatzley Gall Starlight, PA 18461 Beverage Solutions Group www.jans.com Waynesboro, VA 22980 (540) 942-5566 WISCONSIN Toledo, OH 43606 (914) 475-6779 Steve Thompson Park City Outfitters (419) 535-8888 [email protected]______Maynardville, TN 37807 [email protected]______Fisher King Winery Brandon Bertagnole southriverflyshop.com [email protected]______www.crosscurrentguideservice.com (888) 798-5171 Park City, UT 84098 Alwyn Fitzgerald www.tightlinesjewelry.com FishUSA, America's Tackle Shop [email protected] (866) 649-3337 Tangent Outdoors Mount Horeb, WI 53572 Time Timer, LLC Fairview, PA, 16415 www.buybsg.com [email protected] Steve Phlegar (608) 437-6020 ______David Rogers (800) 922-1219 Dun Magazine/Fly Squared www.parkcityoutfitters.com Pembroke, VA 24136 [email protected] (540) 626-4567 www.fisherkingwinery.com Cincinnati, OH 45243 [email protected] Media R.A. Smith Custom Fly Rods (877) 771-8463 www.FishUSA.com [email protected]______Fontana Sports Specialties Jen Ripple Ross Smith www.newrivertrail.com [email protected] The Fly Crate Dover, TN 37058 Fountain Green, UT 84632 John Hutchinson www.timetimer.com Nathaniel Treichler (734) 846-3708 (435) 445-3497 WASHINGTON Madison, WI 53717 [email protected] [email protected] (608) 833-9191 OREGON Northampton, PA 18067 Bass Pro Shops–Tacoma ______(484) 838-9981 www.dunmagazine.com www.bamboosmith.com [email protected] BlackStrap Industries, Inc. Silky Y. Tankelewicz www.fontanasports.com [email protected] Little River Outfitters Red Canyon Lodge Tacoma, WA 98408 Abe Shehadeh www.theflycrate.com Daniel Drake Mark Wilson Stream Dreams Outfitter Bend, OR 97702 T: (253) 671-5700 Gleim Environmental Group Byron Begley Dutch John, UT 84023-9732 F: (253) 671-5736 (541) 213-2500 Townsend, TN 37882 (435) 889-3759 Wisconsin John Guides Again [email protected] Stephanie Rider [email protected] Carlisle, PA 17013 (865) 448-9459 [email protected] www.basspro.com Menasha, WI 54952 www.bsbrand.com [email protected] (920) 722-4004 (717) 258-4630 www.redcanyonlodge.com Cabela’s–Union Gap GOLD LEVEL [email protected]______www.littleriveroutfitters.com [email protected]______Spinner Fall Guide Service Stacy Wilson www.streamdreams.net ii The Caddis Fly Angling www.jwgleim.com TyWheel Scott Barrus Union Gap, WA 98903 Shop Gogal Publishing Company Joseph Tyler Pettigrew Dutch John, UT 84023 (509) 941-2117 Tight Lines Fly Fishing Chris Daughters Michael Gogal Joseph Tyler Swisher (877) 811-3474 [email protected] Tim Landwehr Eugene, OR 97401 Warrington, PA 18976-2114 Oakland, TN 38060 [email protected] www.cabelas.com/uniongap De Pere, WI 54115 (541) 505-8061 (215) 491-4223 (901) 870-0930 www.spinnerfall.com (920) 336-4106 [email protected][email protected][email protected] GOLD LEVEL [email protected] Tacky Fly Fishing www.tightlinesflyshop.com www.caddisflyshop.com www.gogalpublishing.com www.tywheel.com Shaun Curtis ii Emerging Rivers Guide www.shannonsflytackle.com Services Innovative Reel Technologies, Ltd. TEXAS American Fork, UT 84003 WYOMING Fly Water Media Brian J. Lengel (801) 803-2667 Derek Young Action Angler [email protected] Ellensburg, WA 98926 Adbay.com Inc. Gabe Parr Pine Grove, PA 17965 Shawn Houck Bend, OR 97701 (570) 915-1500 Chris Jackson www.tackyflyfishing.com (425) 373-6417 New Braunfels, TX 78132 [email protected] Casper, WY 82601 (831) 212-1201 [email protected] Wide Angle Art ______(830) 708-3474 www.emergingrivers.com (307) 268-4705 [email protected] www.irtreels.com Nathan Wotkyns [email protected]______www.troutbus.com [email protected] Maxxon Outfitters The Lodge at Glendorn www.actionangler.net Saint George, UT 84770 www.adbay.com (435) 652-3652 Justin Cameron LaunchPack Damon Newpher Arrow Land and Water, LLC Erik Johnson Bradford, PA 16701 [email protected] KENT, WA 98031 www.wideangleart.com (253) 373-0166 Chad Espenscheid Bend, OR 97703 (814) 362-6511 Big Piney, WY 83113 [email protected][email protected] [email protected] www.maxxonoutfitters.com (307) 231-2389 www.launchpack.co www.glendorn.com [email protected]

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Bear Basin Adventures Guild Outdoors Pioneer Anglers Spur Outfitters Wyoming Newspapers, Inc. CANADA Heath & Sarah Woltman Adam Guild Mike & Christy Carlson Dave Sturm Mike Jensen Frontier Farwest Lodge Fort Washakie, WY 82514 Afton, WY 83110 80 Hwy 89 Encampment, WY 82325 Mark Tesoro Derek Botchford (307) 349-4630 (307) 799-6409 P.O.B. 2935 (307) 327-6505 (307) 632-5666 Telkwa, BC V0J 2X0 (307) 840-3579 (cell) [email protected] Alpine, WY 83128 [email protected]______Cheyenne, WY 82009 (877) 846-9153 [email protected] www.guildranchwyoming.com (307) 654-3330 www.spuroutfitters.com [email protected][email protected]______www.bearbasinadventures.com Dave Hettinger Outfitting [email protected]______Sweetwater Fishing Wyoming Trout Guides Fly Shop www.bulkleysteelhead.com Cottonwood Ranches Dave Hettinger [email protected]______Expeditions, LLC Blake Clark www.pioneeranglers.com Nootka Marine Adventures Freddie Botur Pavillion, WY 82523 George H. Hunker III Cody, WY 82414 Big Piney, WY 83113 (307) 709-0153 The Reef Fly Shop, Cottages Lander, WY 82520 (307) 578-8217 James Fisher (307) 730-8000 [email protected]______and RV (307) 332-3986 [email protected]______Black Creek, BC V9J 1J7 [email protected] www.hettingeroutfitting.com Trent Tatum [email protected]______www.wyomingtroutguides.com (877) 337-5464 Alcova, WY 82601 www.sweetwaterfishing.com Drift Fly Fishing JD High Country Outfitters INTERNATIONAL [email protected]______John Blumenthal Jackson, WY 83001 (307) 232-9128 Thin Air Angler www.nootkamarineadventures.com Saratoga, WY 82331 (307) 733-7210 [email protected]______Bob Reece ARGENTINA Scott Lake Lodge 307-223-2042 [email protected]______www.northplatteflyfishing.com Cheyenne, WY 82009 Rhinelander, WI 54501 (307) 256-2741 Andes Drifters [email protected]______www.highcountryflies.com Reel Deal Anglers JH, Inc. Kevin Landon (888) 830-9525 www.saratogaflyfishing.com Live Water Properties Rhett J. Bain [email protected][email protected]______www.facebook.com/ThinAirAngler Denver, CO 80247 Dunoir Fishing Adventures, LLC Macye Maher Jackson, WY 83002 (720) 425-6270 www.scottlakelodge.com Jackson, WY 83002 (877) 744-0522 Turpin Meadow Ranch [email protected] Jeramie Prine (866) 734-6100 [email protected]______Ray Wojcikewych www.andesdrifters.com CHILE www.reeldealanglers.com Moran, WY 83013 Lander, WY 82520 [email protected]______Carrileufu Valley Lodge Magic Waters Patagonia (307) 349-3331 www.livewaterproperties.com Rock Creek Anglers (307) 543-2000 Eduardo Barrueto [email protected] Pancho Panzer [email protected] Clark Smyth El Bolson, Rio Negro (8430), Coyhaique, Chile Maven www.turpinmeadowranch.com 056-67-241532 www.dunoirfishing.com Brendon Weaver Saddlestring, WY 82840 Argentina Extreme Surveys, Inc. (888) 945-3876 Two Rivers Emporium +54-9-2944-330254 [email protected]______Lander, WY 82501 www.magicwaterspatagonia.com Neil Neumeyer (800) 307-1109 [email protected] Mike Kaul [email protected]______Dubois, WY 82513 [email protected]______www.rockcreekanglers.com Pinedale, WY 82941 www.carrileufuvalleylodge.com SPAIN Rocky Mountain Ranch (800) 329-4353 (307) 455-2796 www.mavenbuilt.com Salvelinus Lodges [email protected]______Management [email protected] AUSTRIA North Fork Anglers www.2rivers.net Ivan Tarin www.extremesurveys.com Tim Wade Jim Broderick Association Die Bewirtschafter Sagasta 32-36. Local Fish the Fly Guide Service Jackson, WY 83002 Uncle June’s Lightning Beads c/o Clemens Gumpinger Cody, WY 82414 Brian Childers 50006. Zaragoza. Spain & Travel (307) 527-7274 (307) 690-9189 Tb Gewässeroekologie +34696164810 [email protected] Cheyenne, WY 82007 4600 Wels Jason Balogh [email protected]______(307) 256-7058 [email protected]______Jackson, WY 83001 www.rockymountainranch Austria / Europe www.northforkanglers.com [email protected]______www.salvelinus.com (307) 690-1139 management.com 436648333208 North Platte Lodge www.lightningbeads.com [email protected][email protected] Erik Aune SHIFT Festival UK Christian Beckwith www.diebewirtschafter.at www.fishthefly.com Alcova, WY 82601 GOLD LEVEL WALES Grand Teton Fly Fishing (307) 237-1182 Jackson, WY 83001 ii Wind River Outdoor BAHAMAS (307) 690-1561 Llyn Guides Scott Smith and Mark Fuller [email protected]______Company Deep Water Cay J. Noel Hulmston Jackson, WY 83002 www.northplattelodge.com [email protected] Ron Hansen www.shiftjh.org Fort Lauderdale, FL 33315-3566 Nefyn, PWLLHELI LL53 6LF 307-690-4347 Lander, WY 82520 (888) 420-6202 (307) 332-4402 T Int + (0)1758 721654 [email protected][email protected]______C Int + (0)7774 610600 [email protected][email protected]______www.deepwatercay.com www.windriveroutdoorcompany. [email protected] www.grandtetonflyfishing.com www.llynguides.co.uk com__

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79 TROUT SPRING 2017

GRAVEL GUARDS

Gravel Guards: Putting Your Foot Down… Made Nicer! BY PAUL BRUUN

and John Simms any Ball wearer trademarks. Pulled over covered the joint between waders and material scraps and this stocking foot waders, such bulky knits boot tops. Hcraftsman can formulate inside boots eliminated foot slippage, Offending sands and gravels were something useful. John’s fledgling protected the softer wader material stopped in their tracks! Life-Link International introduced from pebble punctures and cushioned Gravel Guards ended the sight of the first screw-together ski pole wearers’ feet. hobbling fishermen pitiably hauling probes for avalanche rescues as well However, after an hour of wading siliceous materials in wading boots. An as airweight pack shovels with Lexan most stocking foot users recognized an unfortunate residual was Gravel Guards blades. Simms’ cramped workplace awkward intrusion inside their boots. terminated the educational inspection was littered with bits of stretchy wet- Each underwater step suctioned silt of boot socks for timely emerging suit neoprene, which as a sidelight, and sand from the bottom, which the insects trapped in exposed wool. he trimmed into wading belts, reel current trapped against wader legs. Gravel Guards grew in length to spool tenders and head gasket visors Capillary action created by walking cover boot laces. And a small lace for fishing pals. Gluing together allowed the sand to work downward hook was added to insure a proper some punched-out head gasket holes into the boots where it accumulated position. Regardless of these improve- created Reel Deals, a marvelously uncomfortably under the feet. ments—when I was in a hurry—my protective fly reel sheath. How much misery a stocking foot oft-repeated stunt was to forget to Gravel Guards were another early fan could endure normally dictated slide Gravel Guards over my waders 1980s Simms-devised fishing aid, the timing of complete boot and outer before pulling on and lacing my boots. which came even before this Jackson sock removal for sand disposal. Ugh! Hole-founded operation delivered its Innovative Idaho trout chaser Bing Despite the fact that Simms wad- first lined neoprene waders. Lempke discussed the annoying sand- ers came with accompanying Gravel Anglers who covered lots of river in-the-wading-shoe problem Guards, John was repeatedly asked, territory and tackled tricky with Simms on the Henrys “Why don’t you put Gravel Guards bottom conditions Fork and demonstrated on the waders themselves?” Whenever preferred slim fit- the “wader-gaiters” they’d that idea was tried, routinely, users ting stocking-foot fashioned. To simplify grabbed the Gravel Guards and tore waders over more Bing’s lace-up xc-like them off while pulling on their waders. traditional boot-foot ski apparatus, John Improved manufacturing eventu- models. Seal-Dri snipped and glued ally thwarted this destructive practice (stretchy latex rub- together a pair and today Gravel Guards are universal ber) and Red Ball of short neo- equipment on all waders worldwide. (thin coated nylon) prene cuffs Whenever examining contem- were lightweight and that tightly porary waders my first inspection is easily packable models. Gravel Guard’s design and fit. A bag When fitted with lace- of John’s early Gravel Guard iterations up, felt soled leather lives in the garage, just in case roofer shoes, wearers they’re ever needed, like dominated treacherous on saltwater flats riverbeds. wading boots Gray wool hunting and booties. socks with red stripe trim were Seal-Dri/Red

TROUT SPRING 2007 80

SEWING FOR SECOND-GENERATION WADER MAKER MICHELLE HELVEY, THERE WAS SKILLS NEVER A TOR CH. JUST A NEEDLE AND THREAD AND AN INNATE ABILITY TO R U N WITH IT. A WINDFALL OF U NFLINCHING WORK ETHIC INHERITED FROM A MOTHER HER MOTHER, LEONA, WHO SPENT A DECADE INNOVATING AND EXECUTING THE WORLD’S BEST WADERS AT SIMMS. HERE, IT'S A HERITAGE ROOTED WOULD BE IN HANDCRAFTED QUALITY. PART OF A PRODUCT LINEAGE DEFINED BY HARDWORKING PEOPLE WHO DRIVE THE PROCE SS. ONE THAT FEELS PROUD OF. FAMILIAR. A LOT LIKE FAMILY. W A D E R MA K P R OD U C T I ON S E CIAL , M IC HE LLE L VE Y ,

# WADERMAKERS S IM MSFIS HI N G. CO M ______