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TROUT U NLIMITED • WW______W.T U .OR G • FALL 2 0 1 5

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The Journal of Coldwater Fisheries Conservation www.tu.org FALL 2015

26 l Watersheds Rain on the Roof. BY CHRISTOPHER CAMUTO 28 l Blue Lines Time. BY TOM REED 30 l A “Retro” Perspective BY KIRK DEETER 36 l Return to the River BY THOMAS R. PERO 50 l A Time of Reckoning for Montana’s Smith River BY HAL HERRING 60 l Take it to the River BY CHRIS SANTELLA 68 l Voices from the River: Brown Trout BY KIRK DEETER AND TIM ROMANO

s 6 l From the CEO 8 l From the Editor 10 l Our Contributors 12 l Our Readers Write 14 l Pocket Water Animas spill implications; Veterans on Slough Creek; Transboundary film resonates; Women in TU; Gila Trout management; Contribute to a TU book on fishing tips. Department 77 l Actionline Activist youth push for healthy streams; Atlas Dam reconnection; Lynn Camp Prong update; Chicago TU studies macroinvertebrates; Stream Champ Jackie Jordan, and more. 86 l The Art of Angling Classic Feathered Trout Streamers. BY DAVE WHITLOCK 96 l Classics Ed Zern Inspiration. BY PAUL BRUUN

On the Cover: Reliving the day the bank of the Salmon River, Idaho.

ARIAN STEVENS Photo by Joshua Duplechian.

Chairman of the Board National Leadership Council Jim Asselstine Representatives TYLER HILL, PENNSYLVANIA Chairman of Chair National Leadership Council Mick McCorcle Mick McCorcle Secretary Unique Gifts for Fishy People. FAIRVIEW, TEXAS Paul Doscher President/Chief Executive Officer ARIZONA, Joe Miller Chris Wood ARKANSAS, Kerri Russell WASHINGTON, D.C. CALIFORNIA, Brian Hines COLORADO, Mac Cunningham Secretary CONNECTICUT, Bill Lanzoni Use Promo Nancy Mackinnon GEORGIA, Mack Martin MANCHESTER CENTER, VERMONT IDAHO, Christopher Jones Code TU2 Treasurer ILLINOIS, Gerald Sapp IOWA, Ryan Maas Barrett Toan KENTUCKY, Gene Slusher SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO MAINE, David Van Burgel Secretary of the MASSACHUSETTS/RHODE ISLAND, Garry Crago National Leadership Council MICHIGAN, David Smith Paul Doscher MID-ATLANTIC, Noel Gollehon WEARE, NEW HAMPSHIRE MINNESOTA, John Hunt OZARK (MISSOURI) Jeff Witten Legal Advisor MONTANA, Dan Short David D. Armstrong, Esq. NEW HAMPSHIRE, March McCubrey GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA NEW JERSEY, David King & get Trustees NEW MEXICO, William Owen NEW YORK, Roger Olson Kai Anderson FREE NORTH CAROLINA, Dale Klug WASHINGTON, D.C. OHIO, James Geary Nick Babson FREIGHT INDIAN NATIONS (OKLAHOMA) Chuck Kaminski MISSOULA, MONTANA expires October 23rd Trout Unlimited Board of TrusteesTrout Unlimited Board of OREGON, Dave Moldal John Braico, M.D. PENNSYLVANIA, Monty Murty QUEENSBURY, NEW YORK SOUTH CAROLINA, Malcolm Leaphart Sherry Brainerd TENNESSEE, Steve Brown Call for your Free Catalog RANCHO SANTA FE, CALIFORNIA TEXAS, Rafael Torres Charlie Breithaupt UTAH, Paul Holden 800.949.5163 CLAYTON, GEORGIA VERMONT, Jared Carpenter Stoney Burke VIRGINIA, Graham Simmerman KETCHUM, IDAHO www.therogueangler.com WASHINGTON, Tim Gavin Valerie Colas-Ohrstrom WEST VIRGINIA, Phil Smith NEW YORK, NEW YORK WISCONSIN, Kim McCarthy Mike Dombeck WYOMING, Jim Broderick STEVENS POINT, WISCONSIN Bill Egan JACKSON, WYOMING State Council Chairs Scott Hood BROKEN ARROW, OKLAHOMA ARIZONA, Steve LaFalce Patsy Ishiyama ARKANSAS, Bill Thorne SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA CALIFORNIA, Drew Irby HO>K+)):LLHKMF>GML Richard Johnson COLORADO, Marshall Pendergrass ?k^^F^f[^klabi3 CONNECTICUT, Jim Glowienka WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA +.H__?Z\mhkr&=bk^\mLZobg`l Howard Kern GEORGIA, Carl Riggs WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CALIFORNIA IDAHO, Edward Northen MkhnmNgebfbm^]Lihglhk Henry Koltz ILLINOIS, Darwin Adams BROOKFIELD, WISCONSIN IOWA, Brett Lorenzen Walt Minnick KENTUCKY, Lee Squires CHEVY CHASE, MARYLAND MAINE, Donald Abbott Stephen Moss MASSACHUSETTS/RHODE ISLAND, John Troiano LARCHMONT, NEW YORK MICHIGAN, John Walters Dan Needham MID-ATLANTIC, Don Haynes WINNETKA, ILLINOIS MINNESOTA, JP Little OZARK (MISSOURI) John Wenzlick Ken Olivier :]]bmbhgZe*)]bl\hngm_hkMNf^f[^kl SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA MONTANA, Chris Schustrom Daniel Plummer NEW HAMPSHIRE, Thomas Ives EAST BRANCH, NEW YORK NEW JERSEY, Rich Thomas Kevin Reilly NEW MEXICO, Art Vollmer SANTA FE, NEW MEXICO NEW YORK, Ron Urban Thomas Stoddard NORTH CAROLINA, Jim Mabrey LONDON, ENGLAND OHIO, Tom Allen Steve Strandberg INDIAN NATIONS (OKLAHOMA) David Games SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA OREGON, Terry Turner Mark Taylor PENNSYLVANIA, Brian Wagner LYNNWOOD, WASHINGTON SOUTH CAROLINA, Jim Hopkins Raiford Trask TENNESSEE, Dick Geiger WILMINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA TEXAS, Mark Dillow Dan Vermillion UTAH, Jeff Taniguchi LIVINGSTON, MONTANA VERMONT, Clark Amadon Jim Walker VIRGINIA, Kevin Daniels SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA WASHINGTON, Rosendo Guerrero K.C. Walsh WEST VIRGINIA, Lee Orr BOZEMAN, MONTANA WISCONSIN, Linn Beck John Willis WYOMING, Calvin Hazlewood CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

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From the President FALL 2015 • VOLUME 57 • NUMBER 4 [ Chris Wood] EDITOR Kirk Deeter DEPUTY EDITOR Samantha Carmichael I’ve often talked about the healing power of fishing and time on the water. EDITOR-AT-LARGE This is what it means: Erin Block Trout Unlimited 1777 North Kent Street The Fisherman Suite 100 By Stanley Munson Arlington, VA 22209 Ph: (703) 522-0200 I stand here in the river, the water almost to my knees, Fax: (703) 284-9400 [email protected]______And for the first time in forever, my mind is now at ease. www.tu.org The water pushes against my waders, my feet set firmly in the sand, DESIGN As the river flows gently past me, I begin to understand. grayHouse design I can hear the burbling of the water, the breeze blows gently on my face, [email protected] And I know deep in my heart, that I have found the perfect place. DISPLAY ADVERTISING Tim Romano There is a faint touch upon my forehead, I hear the buzzing of a bee, [email protected] There is a slight musty smell in the air; I’ve never felt so free. (303) 495-3967

I lift my rod up by my head, my motion sharp and clear, TROUT UNLIMITED’S MISSION: My fly line makes a hissing sound, as it goes past my ear. To conserve, I wait for just a moment, until I feel a gentle tug, protect and restore North Then I snap my arm back forward, and I launch my little bug. America’s I feel the line roll over, and my fly lands gently on the stream, coldwater fisheries and their And I am thinking to myself, that this must surely be a dream. watersheds. For the river, it has called me, my stress left back there on a shelf, As the peace I feel around me, I take deeply into myself. TROUT (ISSN 0041-3364) is published four times a year in The rhythm of my arm, is like the waves rolling towards the beach, January, April, July and October And the fly that I am casting, looks exactly like a leech. by Trout Unlimited as a service to its members. Annual individual My fly drifts on the river, between the fast water and the calm, membership for U.S. residents I can feel the cork of the handle, nestled firmly in my palm. is $35, $40US for residents of Canada and $55US for residents My heart starts beating faster, as I feel a gentle bump, of all other countries. TU offers 10 I lift my rod tip gently, and I feel a big one jump. different membership categories. Join or renew online at www.tu.org. I point my rod towards the sky, as I let the salmon play, TU does occasionally make its My heart says reel in quickly, but I know that slowly is the way. mailing list available to like-minded organizations. Please contact us My rod is bent almost double, as I let him take some line, at the address above if you would But I let it feed out slowly, because I know this fish is mine. like your name withheld. I can feel the difference in the line, as it crosses from the fast water to the slow, Postmaster send address As I feel him coming closer, I know there isn’t long to go. changes to: TROUT Magazine Carefully I reach out, and lift him in my net, Trout Unlimited But I make sure not to touch him, until my hands are wet. 1777 North Kent Street Suite 100 For not doing so would damage him, and that would not be right, Arlington, VA 22209 For this indeed I owe him, for such a noble fight. As gently as I can, I remove the hook and set him free, As I felt him swim out of my hands, that fish I’ll never see. For I am blind, but just for now, the both of us are free, As I stand here in this river, the one I’ll never see.

This poem was written by one of the vets that TU helped guide last May on ______the Beaverkill.

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From the Editor [ Kirk Deeter] A Thousand Pictures In this day and age, some people are starting to wonder about the importance of words. The Millenials don’t read. Everyone would rather watch videos and surf the Internet than sit down with a good book. Magazines aren’t cool, and reading is a bother. It’s a visual world, and trout fishing is a visual sport, right? And yet, every now and then, if you pay close enough attention, you’ll find a reminder that words are indeed, as Norman Maclean alluded, timeless and often haunting. This issue highlights how some of the words written decades ago in TROUT proved to be prophetic, and are still relevant today. Read on, and you will see that we literally returned to the “river of no return.” And yet there may be no better testimony for the enduring power of words than what Chris Wood ran on his column page. For many issues now, Chris has wanted to dedicate a column to talking about the value and impact of TU’s Veteran’s Service Partnership. And then he read that poem. And he insisted that we run that piece in his space, “right up front where it will be noticed.” If you happened to glance over that, please flip back a page and read it carefully, because it will give you a very clear idea of what TU’s VSP is all about… better than anything Chris and I could have conjured up to put in that space. And it will boost your faith in words. Because while the saying may go that “a picture is worth 1,000 words,” in that case, the words are worth a thousand pictures.

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TROUT FALL 2015 8

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Thomas R. Pero was just 18 when he started the Southeastern Massachusetts Chapter of Trout Unlimited, the youngest chapter president ever. In 1977, at age 23, he was named editor of TROUT magazine. During his 16-year tenure, TROUT was twice named Conservation Magazine of the Year by the Natural Resources Council of America. In 1992, Pero co-founded the non-profit Wild Salmon Center. In recent years, his company Wild River Press has published such books as A Passion for Tarpon by Andy Mill and Wild Steelhead by Sean Gallagher. Many of these titles have won international awards for excellence, including multiple gold and silver Benjamin Franklin Awards from the world’s largest association

Our Contributors of independent publishers. In 2010 Pero himself was awarded the prestigious Starker Leopold Wild Trout Medal at the Wild Trout Symposium in Yellowstone

JONATHAN BARTA JONATHAN for a lifetime of influential writing about coldwater fisheries conservation. Tom has spent the last three years writing a major book about the Civil War Battle of Gettysburg, which will be released next January.

Photographer Tim Romano and TROUT editor Kirk Deeter’s first professional collaboration was a story on brown trout, in Chile, in 2003. Since then, they’ve co-edited Angling Trade, hosted the Field & Stream “Fly Talk” blog together, and gotten into a few more browns (and stories) along the way.

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TROUT FALL 2015 10

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Our Readers Write

Thank you, first of all, for the massive outpouring of positive comments on the “State of the Trout” report we ran in the Summer 2015 issue of TROUT. Kudos belong to the TU Science Team for their incredible work. We are lucky to have them on our side.

About Those Bonnevilles… “You have provided your readers with a prodigious service in the Summer issue of TROUT, but I have to differ with your reason given for the demise of Bonneville cutthroat trout in Utah Lake (p. 61). Overharvesting? No. Pollution, pure and simple. As one living near Utah Lake for some half a century, I would like to see Trout Unlimited do something about it. Hartt Wixom Ivins, Utah

More on Catch and Release… ______“There is room in this country for dissent, but there is also room for compassion and reconciliation. I never keep a fish unless it has been harmed in some way by me, for it, so it is returned to the waters and in my opinion ‘healthy.’ And I contribute a lot to the health of the fish in my region through being a Trout Unlimited member. We are entitled to an opinion and to our rights as American citizens to free speech. But how would I know what a healthy fish looks like if I did not take a good look at them… therefore “fish out of water?” We live our lives by compassion, by example, by principle, and maybe those misguided fishermen could find it in their hearts to accept what they cannot change. The pictures of fish keep us ‘somewhat’ honest.” Joseph Barani Sheridan, Wyoming

From the blogs at www.tu.org (do check in and be part of those lively conversations)… On the recent Animas spill, fish4rgct wrote: “Dare I say that the Animas spill was a ‘blessing in disguise’ if it brings to the surface the problems associated with abandoned mines and our antiquated mining regulations. We must address this problem now. This problem was not caused by government but by the lack of government over mining and its legacy wastes.”

And in response to a thread on “How far would you drive to fish?” Sargo583 (Deane Gonzalez) said: Okay, for some us the question is “How far would you FLY to fish. I live on Oahu, Hawaii. I like trout. I fish for trout. I have to FLY to the island of Kauai. It is the nearest place I can fish for WILD rainbow trout… Aloha.

Your Letters: Readers are invited to submit letters on anything that appears in TROUT. We may edit submissions for clarity or length. Send letters to: OUR READERS WRITE: TROUT UNLIMITED ______1777 N. Kent St., #100 • Arlington, VA 22209 [email protected]______

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Pocket Water news bits and bytes JERRY MCBRIDE/DURANGO HERALD/POLARIS MCBRIDE/DURANGO JERRY

Animas Disaster a ‘Wake-up Call’ on Mine Pollution Anglers across the nation were shocked potential for contaminated sediment these old mine sites, but their efforts and saddened by the catastrophic spill on the river bottom to choke off mac- have been thwarted by complicated and on Aug. 5, 2015, that dumped three roinvertebrate bug life. costly federal regulations. TU is actively million gallons of toxic mine runoff Trout Unlimited CEO Chris Wood working with industry, agriculture, into the Animas River in southwest called the disaster a “wake-up call to elected officials and other stakeholders Colorado. As the spill plume pushed the nation on the need to clean up to find a policy solution that provides its way downstream, through the Gold abandoned mines.” more support and incentives for taking Medal trout waters of downtown An estimated 500,000 on these difficult cleanups. Durango, residents lined the bank abandoned hardrock mines “These mines are disas- and watched in stunned disbelief as dot the landscape across An estimated ters waiting to happen,” the river turned a sickly mustard color. the nation—23,000 in said Ty Churchwell, Some wept at the sight. The Animas Colorado alone—and 500,000 abandoned coordinator of TU’s is a beloved river, the heart and soul affect some 40 per- hardrock mines dot abandoned mine cam- of community life and the foundation cent of headwaters in the landscape across paign. “We need a sense of Durango’s important recreation the West. Many of these the nation. of urgency in finding a economy. mines are inherently solution.” While initial tests showed the toxic unstable, seeping a toxic To learn more about the plume had little impact to the river’s brew of heavy metals that poison abandoned mine problem and fish and aquatic life, TU staff cau- rivers and aquatic life. how to take action, go to www.sanjuan-______tioned that there could still be seri- For years, TU and other conserva- ______cleanwater.org. ous long-term impacts, including the tion groups have worked to clean up –Randy Scholfield

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Veterans Tap Slough Creek Magic I shouldn’t have been surprised that weather was perfect, the accommo- and most of them had very little expe- night falls so late and dawn comes dations were amazing, and the fish- rience with a fly rod, or with trout, for so quickly on Slough Creek. With its ing for Yellowstone Cutthroats was that matter. northern latitude, and the fact that we unbelievable. Few who fish the fabled After a 12-mile wagon ride to our were there during the summer solstice, Slough Creek make it beyond the destination and a good night’s rest, I should have expected it. What I didn’t Second Meadow. We were domiciled our anglers geared up on day one, expect was to be wakened by a howling many miles upstream, just outside of got paired with their volunteer guides timber wolf. Yellowstone Park in Montana. and headed for the “crick,” as Dave “We,” were a group of four dis- Sponsored and funded by the TU Kumlien, the VSP western coordina- abled veterans and their spouses and Veterans Service Partnership through tor, called it. five TU volunteer guides on a one- a very generous foundation grant, our Around mid-morning, as was to week adventure to arguably the best couples traveled from Massachusetts, occur throughout the week, the Green dry-fly waters on the planet. The New York, Oklahoma and Colorado, Drakes emerged and the water was dimpled with rising fish. At the direc- tion of their volunteer guides our couples cast their dry flies into the foam lines as whoops and hollers of joy were heard throughout the valley. The TU guides included Tese Shekitka, Harry Murphy, Beau Freund, Dave Kumlien and myself. For six straight days the fish counts rose as their casting, fly selection, and stream reading skills improved. On a daily basis our guests learned the intricacies of dry fly, streamer and nymph fishing, all the while taking in the beauty of our surroundings. And yes, we guides wanted our folks to catch fish on this trip, but equally important, we wanted to equip them with the knowledge to fish independently and catch fish on their home waters for years to come. Each couple received a EyesEthPi on the Prize free TU membership, and once they are settled into their assigned chapters, we At TROUT magazine, we aren’t much about self-promotion, or taking bows, or fully expect to hear of their continued any of that. But sometimes, we cannot help ourselves. As such, we are proud to success. point out that two of the top three 2014 “Excellence in Craft” honors for conser- As great as the fishing was, the smiles vation writing, awarded by the Outdoor Writers Association of America, were we saw and the quiet healings that we earned by contributors to TROUT. Hal Herring took first place for his story witnessed were the true meaning of this “Rotenone Reality,” and Nate Schweber earned third place for his eloquent event. The healing powers of the water homage to the late Dr. Robert Behnke, “Dr. Trout.” Yes indeed, we are endeav- were experienced by everyone and as oring to shape this magazine in ways that highlight “lifestyle” and “fishing,” our Veterans Service Partnership grows but these awards reaffirm our primary commitment to providing best-in-class and prospers we hope to continue add- reporting on the essential topics that make fishing for trout possible in the ing similar healing experiences to the first place. Congratulations and thank you to Hal and Nate, and the rest of the nation’s finest—our veterans. TROUT team, for making this happen. –Alan Folger

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Planning Your Future?

Including Trout Unlimited in your estate plans is one of the most simple ways to make a lasting impact for the resources and traditions you value. Visit tu.org/giftplanning to learn how to make TU a beneficiary of your will, trust, life insurance policy, or retirement plan. No amount is too small to better the future of trout, salmon and clean water.

For more information: [email protected]______| tu.org/giftplanning | (703) 284-9421

JOSHUA DUPLECHIAN JOSHUA TROUT FALL 2015 16

Pocket Water

and sport fishermen, tourism opera- tors, First Nations and Alaska natives. It showcases the rugged beauty of the transboundary region, an area about the size of Maine, spanning northern B.C. and southeast Alaska. To collect footage, Peterson and his frequent collaborator, Travis Rummel (whose films include Red Gold and DamNation) embarked on an epic 100-mile journey from the headwaters of the Unuk River in B.C. to Alaska’s Misty Fjords National Monument, where the Unuk drains. The Unuk watershed is where Seabridge Gold, a Canadian mining company, plans to develop the Kerr- Xboundary Film Exposes B.C. Mining Impact Sulphurets-Mitchell deposit. If built, KSM would be North America’s largest Alaska filmmaker Ryan Peterson loves tourism industries as well as indig- open-pit gold and copper mine, devel- steelhead fishing in northern British enous cultures. The result is a short opers say. Columbia. For years he would drive to film, Xboundary, sponsored in part Peterson and Rummel’s filming B.C. from his home in Anchorage, fol- by TU, that’s making the rounds at expedition involved a 35-mile bush- lowing a two-lane road through pristine film festivals around the country. whack through dense rainforest until boreal forest. Peterson skipped a few Most recently, Xboundary screened at reaching the Unuk headwaters where trips and then returned in 2012. What Telluride Mountainfilm and the Yale they began a multi-day paddle through he saw shocked him. Environmental Film Festival. Class 5 whitewater. “It looked like hell on Earth. They Xboundary gives voice to people direct- “I wanted to understand and film were burning all these huge trees to ly impacted by B.C. mining: commercial the place from the inside out. The make way for electric stan- upper watershed is especially remote. chions, and there were new It definitely gave us both a taste of how roads jutting off in all direc- rugged the place is and exactly how tions,” said Peterson. crazy it is to consider putting North What Peterson saw was the America’s largest open-pit mine in the rapid industrialization of north- middle of it,” Peterson said. ern B.C. playing out. A slew –Paula Dobbyn of large-scale Canadian mines powered by a new transmis- sion line are being developed in the remote province, several of them in key salmon-producing watersheds that drain into southeast Alaska and the lush Tongass National Forest. The mines could leach pollutants downstream, tainting Alaska fish habitat, clean water and coastal communities. “The scope and scale of it is staggering,” Peterson said. The storyteller and fly-fishing guide decided to show people what’s hap- pening and how it threatens southeast Alaska’s billion-dollar fishing and

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Pocket Water WOMEN IN TU

Sharing the Love: Spokane Women on the Fly, Spokane Falls TU Heather Hodson’s enthusiasm for fly Hops” fly tying evenings, four women’s Women’s Initiative chair of the Spokane fishing is infectious. In a little more beginner fly-fishing classes at Silverbow Falls TU and a member of Heather’s than a year, Heather’s Facebook site, Fly Shop (24 women completed this SWOTF, saw a huge opportunity. Like “Spokane Women on the Fly” has class), 10 walk and wades in three differ- many of TU local chapters, Spokane gathered nearly 800 followers from ent states and several off-water events. Falls TU had few female members. around the country. The lucky women Due to demand, they’ve added At the same time, the rapidly grow- in Spokane get to share her enthusiasm three additional Women’s ing SWOTF needed orga- in person! Fly Fishing 101 classes at nizational help that Spokane Women on the Fly gives Silverbow Fly Shop. A recent SFTU provides. So this the women of the Inland Northwest, walk and wade event on month, we officially whether new or experienced anglers, Idaho’s North Fork joined forces! an opportunity to connect with other of the Coeur d’Alene SFTU’s goal is women fly fishers. SWOTF provides a River was attended by grow the chap- safe, open and supportive avenue for 15 women! Heather ter member- women to get “hooked” on fly fish- says, “2015 has been ship generally ing. In 2014 there were 25 events with pretty amazing!” No and to increase more than 35 women attending. These kidding. active member- events included two “gear setup” and Hilary Hart, ship. We’re hop- “casting practices,” three “Hackle and board member and ing that more

TROUT FALL 2015 18 Hilary Hart and Heather Hodson

women become involved and bring their families along. Spokane Women on the Fly is interested in helping keep our local rivers cold, clean and fishable, too. Spokane Women on the Fly’s first official event as a part of Spokane Falls TU was the inaugural “Summer Suds and Cast Off” picnic held on June 13, 2015 at Riverside Somerset Show, TU Women’s Initiative State Park—the largest state park in Making Impressions Washington. Annual awards such as “Most Conservation Minded,” “Most hree years ago, The Fly Fishing Show at Somerset, N.J., hosted the first Improved,” “Fill Your Waders” and TWomen’s Forum for the increasing number of women involved in the angling the “First Fish on a Fly Tied” were community. The Somerset Women’s Forum has expanded in size as the focus handed out. Everyone who caught continues to support and enhance women’s contributions in the fly-fishing com- their first fish on the fly was rec- munity. Last January, a weekend-long women’s showcase was added as part of the ognized. Of the 30+ women who show. This event covered an array of topics that included the history of women in attended this event with their families, fly fishing, techniques of making bamboo fly rods, fishing with tenkara and packing more than half participated in the for a destination trout trip. casting competition for distance and Trout Unlimited NLC Women’s Initiative Workgroup, including Kerri Russell, accuracy. They plan to make this an Kelly E. Buchta and Jackie Jordan, also hosted a roundtable discussion. The topic annual fundraiser for Spokane Falls was The Reflection Pool: Women in the Angling Community. Women discussed TU/Spokane Women on the Fly. Next their roles within the industry, conservation efforts or groups they are involved year’s event is planned on Saturday in at home, and shared ideas on how we can improve the lines of communication June 11, National Get Outdoors Day. to each other in the future. The two-day roundtable brought forth the necessity SFTU offered a free new member- for communication resources and building connections as more women become ship to women attending the picnic. involved. The power of social media is emerging as a strong platform for women 20 women signed up. SFTU covers to network and connect with each other. It has also been effective as a market- the $17.50 fee with $15 returned to the ing tool for TU events and recruitment. Women from various states spoke to the chapter from National TU. message of hosting events for women, inclusion at TU chapter programs and We are spreading the love! On taking on leadership roles. Though the number of women TU members is grow- Oct. 9-11, 2015, Heather and ing, the leadership and volunteer hours are falling short. The momentum of the SWOTF are traveling to Yakima free introductory membership has increased participation of women in their local River Headwaters TU in Roslyn, chapters. The focus of the WI is to support chapters in sustaining and providing Wash. for a Women’s Weekend with strong chapter programs that will interest both new and women members alike. Spokane Women On The Fly. The The NLC WI workgroup addresses these topics and others in our monthly focus will be on learning, meeting conference calls. The creation of WI Regional Ambassadors to support Council other women anglers, and develop- Chairs, Chapter Presidents and other WI State Coordinators will provide assis- ing skills on the Yakima River. Join tance and support. We encourage all leaders to seek out WI Coordinators at state them there, at a regular SFTU meet- and chapter level and promote WI efforts within TU. For questions on the NLC ing, or on Facebook. WI workgroup, contact Chair Kerri Russell at [email protected].______–Heather Hodson and Hilary Hart –Kelly Buchta and Jackie Jordan

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Pocket Water

Conservation Genetics Steers Gila Trout Management A trout that once stared at extinction offers wilderness angling opportunities The trout stole its color from a southern and Recovery Center in Dexter, N.M., ors and diseases in wild populations,” New Mexico summer sunset. Gila Trout knows Gila Trout like few others can; Wilson adds. sport a painter’s palette of pink and he’s a geneticist and can de-code the “Here’s how we get it done,” explains olive, rose, yellow and copper. Beneath language. It’s his charge to help ensure an enthusiastic Nate Wiese, Mora’s man- the black pepper flakes on its side lies a that the diversity of genetic characters ager and lead fisheries scientist. “Each lexis—a language carried forward from unique in Gila trout stay in the fish fish gets a microchip injected just under another time. It’s an ancient language going forward. the skin just like your vet can do for your coded in molecules of proteins written Wilson works adjunct with another dog. That chip gives each fish a per- by the press of time and experience in a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service facility sonal ID, like a social security number. land turned arid. in New Mexico, the Mora National Fish Knowing each fish at an individual level Gila trout, native only to headwater Hatchery where captive stocks are held. is a first step in securing the future of streams that vein over the Mogollon Hatchery biologists are fully immersed Gila Trout.” Rim of New Mexico and Arizona, have expressed “The more genetic diversity that exists among the fish, the better in their genetic makeup chance those future generations of Gila Trout can adapt to changing a mapping of how to survive in the vestiges of environments and stressors and diseases in wild populations.” what surely was a large and contiguous range. Their genetics in Gila Trout captive breeding, and it’s With every captive fish in the hatchery equip them to face what nature may done smartly and carefully, through the marked as such, biologists take non- hurl at them in an already harsh envi- consult of Wilson. lethal tissue samples from the fish, a ronment. “We monitor genetic diversity in tiny piece of fin. From there it’s up to It’s those innate characteristics captive trout to ensure that what we Wilson and his staff using leading-edge coiled in the double-helix of DNA have in the hatchery represents what technology to look deep at each fish—at that U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service we have in the wild,” said Wilson. That the molecular level. Wilson will pinpoint biologists strive to preserve in the fish. mixture is essential for the future. “The individual fishes with the rarest of genet- Conservation genetics is at its heart an more genetic diversity that exists among ics in the captive populations and suggest investment in the future with an eye the fish, the better chance those future what Wiese calls “pair-wise spawns.” It’s on the past. Dr. Wade Wilson with the generations of Gila Trout can adapt akin to arranged marriages but with the Southwestern Native Aquatic Resources to changing environments and stress- express scientific purpose to ensure that

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the rarest of genetic characters found by and fast-flowing water. “We get them Wilson are carried forward in the next off the couch and on a treadmill,” said generation of fishes. Males and females Wiese. “They are going to be better that differ among various genes make suited for real streams. It’s like tough- the best partners. love for your children.” The Gila Trout was described by Those real streams are still healing science a mere 65 years ago. Through from the 2012 fire and the Silver Fire much of that intervening time—50 that scorched headwaters atop the Black years—it had been closed by law to Range in 2013, and fish will return to angling as the fish stared at extinction. them this autumn. Myers makes that Its lot improved with conservation and call as to what streams are ready for was down-listed from “endangered” to trout. “Since the Whitewater-Baldy “threatened” in 2006, and opened to Fire we’ve replicated Whiskey Creek BE A TU FAMILY fishing a year later. And so it remains, lineage in McKenna Creek and Upper The next issue of this magazine will threatened and fishable, despite a welter White Creek,” said Myers. “Whiskey have a “family” theme, and that’s of catastrophic wildfires—the sort that fish will also go into Sacaton Creek this no coincidence. We really want to makes the evening network news broad- year. But Whiskey Creek itself is still encourage members to sign up cast for days on end. healing and we have to wait for habitat or renew as a family. Individual “An integral part of the conservation conditions to improve.” memberships to TU are $35. But for strategy calls to replicate in the wild the It’s about the habitat—including $55, you get all the regular member distinct genetic lineages,” said Wiese. ensuring that Gila Trout waters remain benefits, plus the Stream Explorers It’s a measure of conservation secu- free of nonnative trouts that com- magazine for family members under age 12 (it’s never too early rity to give a geographic spread between promise the genetic integrity of pure to start!), and the ability to cre- populations. “But what happens when a lineages via interbreeding. Barriers, ate unique member profiles for massive fire threatens to gobble up the made on site, or natural waterfalls are every member of your household. original and replicate populations? The a means of separating fishes. Toward Moreover, as you include your hatchery is the back up.” that end, Myers recently worked with family members in TU, the orga- Fire is hard on trout, particularly the Forest Service to restore a vital bar- nization expands its ranks. That’s when a mountain stream turns into rier, a natural waterfall, by blasting out more people, and more clout, when a slug of ash slurry at first rain post- lodged boulders to ensure 21 miles of it comes to protecting, conserving, fire. The Whitewater-Baldy Fire that prime Gila Trout habitat in the West reconnecting and restoring the decimated the Gila Wilderness in 2012 Fork Gila remain free of unwanted resources that make quality trout necessitated a trout rescue ahead of such fishes. fishing possible in the first place. If trout fishing is indeed part of your circumstances. New Mexico Fish and The lack of habitat has been a vexa- family tradition, we encourage you Wildlife Conservation Office biologist tion in Gila Trout conservation. But to include and involve those closest Dustin Myers led rescues enabled by science married with the resolve of to you in the effort. Please see ____www. pack-horses, helicopters and hatchery individuals who care about this beau- tu.org for more information. trucks from streams sure to be slugged tiful bright trout is a way forward. A by ash. Now, Mora National Fish certain splendor in the spectra reflect- Hatchery is home to the only known ed by a wet Gila Trout call to mind population of the Spruce Creek lineage Emerson: “If eyes were made for see- of Gila Trout. Three other strains are ing, then beauty is its own excuse for held there, too: Main Diamond Creek, being.” But the beauty is richer than 5 RIVERS RALLY Whiskey Creek and South Diamond what strikes the eye; it’s that Gila Trout Calling all college students: Creek lineages. sheltered in a hatchery and those facing Want to add to the curriculum Aside from the robust genetics plans the rigors of the wild still carry today and have a great time to boot? that steer captive breeding, Wiese man- the impress of the past. Plan to take part in the 5 Rivers ages the hatchery to produce Gila Trout –Craig Springer Rally, an event coordinated conditioned toward a wild environ- Craig Springer works for the U.S. Fish and by TU and Costa, to be held ment. Even their captive environment Wildlife Service in Albuquerque, N.M. Oct. 23-25 at Graves Mountain mimics nature—with boulders, plants Lodge in Syria, Va.

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Be On Top of Dam Relicensing TU members should learn when local Hydropower generation had turned will mean that half as much water will hydroelectric dams are up for relicens- the Little River into nothing more than be used. For us, this is a lesson to keep ing by the federal government and get a sluiceway. Once a day, the valves were pursuing the relicensing process until involved in the process in order to opened for power generation and 600 conservation flows are established, or restore conservation flows. cubic feet per second (cfs) of water else wait another 50 years to protect For decades, many hydroelectric scoured the banks and flushed out the trout habitat. dams have choked off the water supply Little River. The rest of the time, 13 The Little River from the dam to the from downstream habitat and altered cfs of water reduced the Little River to main stem Winooski River has poten- the chemical and thermal makeup of a mud puddle. tial for significant thermal refuge in the water. The relicensing process is But this is all about to change thanks warm summer months and spawning the best chance to change this and to the perseverance of our chapters. potential in spring and fall for rain- restore trout habitat. And, because By writing public comments, speak- bows and browns respectively. The bot- these are 50-year federal licenses, this ing at public forums, forming coali- tom flows from the dam also cool the is the only chance to do it in a lifetime. tions with like-minded groups and main stem Winooski for many miles In Vermont, members of the pursuing the process despite frustra- downstream, while lower upper end Central Vermont and MadDog tions, conservation flows will be estab- flows and higher minimum flows could Chapters got involved in the reli- lished to restore downstream trout ensure the establishment of a healthier censing of the Waterbury Dam above habitat. riparian zone for the Little River. the Little River, a tributary of the Power generation will still occur, –Jared Carpenter Winooski River. but compromise and new technology

Everyone wants their released fish to survive and live to fight another day. But we have few good studies that guide anglers as to what techniques work and which do not. A new study brings into question the common practice of holding fish in the current as a way to help them recover from the stress of the catch. The authors of a large study of sockeye salmon caught and released on the Fraser River found Catch & Release Study that “assisted ventilation” seldom was worthwhile. In Examines Recovery some cases, mortality actually was higher when anglers Techniques held fish to help them recover. Rather than helping, the ‘assistance’ just resulted in additional handling stress. The exception was when fish were stressed to the point that they could not maintain equilibrium. In those cases, it may help fish to be held in the water and let the water pass over the gills, but otherwise, it is better simply to let them go as quickly as possible. Regardless of handling methods, mortality rates were rather high in the study (near 30 percent). Females especially seemed susceptible to harm with relatively few released fish reaching spawning grounds. NEWS FROM THE WORLD THE WORLD NEWS FROM OF FISHERIES SCIENCE. REEL SCIENCE –Jack Williams, TU’s Senior Scientist Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. 2015 Link to article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/00028487.2015.1031282

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Toward A Natural Forest. The Forest Service In Transition By Jim Furnish

(Oregon State University Press, $19.95)

FOR YOUR Toward A Natural Forest. The Forest Service in Transition is not just a chronicle of the Forest Service’s rise and fall in the last half of the BOOKSHELF 20th century. It’s a personal story of change both of the author and the agency. The book’s author, Jim Furnish, began his career in 1965 when the Forest Service was in the midst of striving toward its pinnacle of growth after WWII by building roads, cutting trees and supplying lumber to a nation hungry for housing. He retired from the Forest Service 34 years later after a barrage of lawsuits when its most loyal employees were either sheathing themselves in the armor of the past or questioning their Have you ever wanted to write (or most cherished beliefs about their roles in the free-fall of the nation’s forests from ecological contribute to) a fly-fishing book? reserves to simple tree farms. Here’s your chance to be a part of Because of ample rainfall, deep soils and a moderate climate, the Siuslaw National Forest a book that will no doubt become on the Oregon coast is one of the best places in the world to grow trees. It was also one of one of the definitive works on fly the best places on the earth to grow salmon and steelhead. It’s also the classic stage for the fishing for trout. TU is now start- battle that took place between the Forest Service as the forest managers and the public as the ing a project that will involve the owners. When Jim Furnish came to the Siuslaw National Forest in the early 1990s he found best tips in that regard. The book himself thrust into a storm of timber wars that will feature simple, straightforward, pitted an entrenched timber industry built on practical advice that keeps the a publicly-owned wood supply against powerful complicated physics and biology environmental groups who saw this transforma- lessons to a minimum, and makes tion as responsible for the disappearance of readers more effective anglers. salmon runs and natural diversity. When Furnish So we are asking TU members left the Siuslaw for Washington, D.C., nearly a and their friends to submit their decade later to finish his career with the agency, ideas. What is the single best tip the Siuslaw was no longer annually producing you’ve ever been given that’s made millions of board-feet of timber. Its web of rivers you a better angler? It could be and dark, old-growth rain forest had begun a about casting, or reading water, or transformation back to its roots as a nursery for picking flies… your call. salmon and wildlife diversity. Yet trees were again Please keep it short. Email your being removed from the land and log trucks were ideas to [email protected]. And hauling them to mills. But these weren’t the giant please limit your submissions to a old-growth trees of the 20th century; these were handful or less (we’re not looking the product of thinning the second generation of for manuscripts). trees that had grown back in their place. If we include your tip in the Toward a Natural Forest is the story of our book, we will credit you by name, National Forests in transition and the people and you will be paid exactly what tasked with guiding that change as they are most authors make on fly-fishing thrust from a century of clearly defined paths into one off changed h d public bli values. l But B t FFurnish i h books… nothing. But you will doesn’t leave us with a picture of our public lands (and its management agency) in shattered indeed be immortalized as part of disarray; he ends his book with hope, and a plan, for the restoration of both. He met the the team that brought a tour de challenges on the Siuslaw National Forest by building back the agency and the forest with new force text on fly fishing for trout to tools applied with the traditional work ethic and loyalty gained from his decade of working life, and that book will ultimately for the Forest Service. benefit TU efforts. We’ll start with “(The Siuslaw National Forest) is a Forest starting to grow back into its natural self again,” fly fishing, and consider other top- Furnish says toward the end of his book. “My greatest satisfaction in my long career is the ics and approaches down the line. feeling of taking something broken and putting it right.” Thanks for your involvement! –Scott Stouder

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Shops We Like: Soul River Runs Deep

first met Chad Brown at the Orvis Guide Rendezvous this funky little place in the Kenton part of North Portland. He sells spring in Missoula, Mont. He is, to put it plainly, a guy who gear and books trips out of a storefront in a mostly African- Istands out in a crowd. Built like a linebacker, sporting no American, urban neighborhood. And when I say gear, I’m not small amount of bling, he wasn’t your average fishing guide. It talking about the gear you find in every other shop. Sure you wasn’t long before we were talking, and I learned the real story can buy flies here—fair trade flies. This is a flat-brim hat kind on this great guy and the great work he’s doing. of place, and you can get a cool one here. Or a messenger bag He’s a Navy vet who served in Operations Desert Storm or a jacket that’s both urban cool and river functional. You can and Desert Shield. Chad also served at Guantanamo Bay and also buy a shemagh or a kaffiyeh—the Middle Eastern versions in Somalia. And like hundreds of thousands of other veterans, of the neck tube and hood to protect your neck and face when he came home with post-traumatic stress disorder. Things got you’re fishing. This is not your grandfather’s fly shop. pretty desperate. But that’s where the story takes a turn. Like But the shop is just the beginning. From the back room, a lot of other vets, Chad found that fishing gave him peace. Chad runs Soul River Inc. Runs Wild—a non-profit he uses to He had to start at the beginning, never having been much of pair at-risk kids with veteran mentors who teach them to con- an angler before, but he watched and listened and learned. nect with wild things and wild places. He hustles grants, does He actually started catching fish, and he started feeling the some public speaking, and works with manufacturers and retail- calm and focus that comes from being on the water. He looked ers to get gear for the kids and vets. And they do trips—they around and saw underserved kids who needed that same con- do trips that any angler would love to take. As I write this, nection, that same peace. An idea began to take shape: Kids they’re returning from Alaska, on a gig called Cross Cultural and veterans together on the water—an idea whose time had Exploration Alaska 2015. They’re fishing for trout and salmon come. Chad recognized that in order for him to recover, he and getting up close and personal with America’s great salmon needed to help other people. forests. What’s more, they’re strengthening themselves and He started up a business called Soul River Runs Deep in each other. And that’s what Chad Brown is all about. Portland, Ore. Like the man himself, it’s not your average, run We’re grateful Chad and Soul River are part of the TU Team. of the mill (or for that matter, run of the mall) operation. It’s a –Walt Gasson

Soul River Runs Deep Chad Brown Portland, OR 97217 (503) 954-7625 [email protected] www.soulriverrunsdeep.com

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888.512.8812 www.tflats.com [email protected]

25 TROUT SUMMER 2015 ______

Watersheds [ by Christopher Camuto] Rain on the Roof

JUNE RAINS GOT THE RIVERS FLOWING Office at Weikert, Pa., a classic fish- state forest roads leaving Penns well out like it was April. When storms rolled ing hamlet well known to devotees of of view on its old meanders through two through at night, I would half-wake a river that’s been synonymous with ridges that pass for mountains on our to the thunderclaps, try to remember trout fishing for a few hundred years maps. Briefly back on hard-surface, we if I had closed the windows on the now. There are locals and summer eased through Coburn, Pa., as fine a windward side of the house, and then people who have had fishing cabins little rural river town as you could want, go back to sleep thinking groggily of around Weikert since the 1940s and and smushed into a grassy pullout. This local trout streams coming back to 1950s—from rickety, propped-porch was near the head of the fly-fishing, life. Every other night, downpours leaners to well-pointed stone beauties catch-and-release trophy water, a realm drummed the standing seam steel roof, to four-square log jobs. Generally of hatches and wild trout, including some and I could hear the gusting winds toss speaking, central Pennsylvania looks big browns and feisty rainbows along the tall pines and rustle the red maple and feels old to begin with, but you with brook trout in the spring holes, and big-tooth aspen. I could imagine get down on upper Penns and you’ve wild trout that feed, unseen except for the nearby wetland filling—too late slipped into another era. hatches, in the shadows of a fine mixed- for the nesting wood ducks I missed We switched Andy’s Bell to my racks aged forest of hemlock and pine, oak, this year but enough to support a few and stowed his paddles and poles while hickory and hard maple while a cool, more frog orgies and maybe bring a we chatted about boats and gear, the bright river thrums the roots and rocks heron or a bittern wading around for river, the day. Andy’s a paddler, not and toothy strainers scattered in its way. I fished the rain on the roof for a day, rushing June water that made the wild brook trout quick and careless to take a fly again.

a looksee. Summer was coming on, a fisherman—one of those. He paddles Penns was bank-full if not flooded but trout fishing was back in the air. some serious mileage every year, here- and way too fast to fish—else I would I knew the rain wouldn’t bring the abouts and in New England, and never have drifted it myself—and Andy spring hatches back—the fat March gets the itch to cast a line. He poles seemed a bit disappointed that his Browns and graceful Hendricksons as much as he paddles, and is skillful eight-mile paddle was only going to last that signaled the beginning of weeks of enough to make his way upstream a few hours. A lot of the structure he

prime fishing—but there is something when he wants against some pretty wanted to fool with was under the flow. BECK AND CATHY BARRY about the thought of rushing water stiffish currents. As guides in Maine I doubled back downstream and in the woods, flashing through the and Canada used to do, he stands as then up a narrow watershed that rocks like flint on steel—that will reset easily in a canoe as he sits, a vantage drained a low-gradient flat between an angler’s early season eagerness to he claims you won’t give up once you two ridges. The trib flowed opposite try small waters with a fly. We’re all get used to it. Old school. He enjoys a to Penns for miles through woods suckers for flowing water. river’s currents and eddies, its ledges, and meadows until a bulge of sand- A friend with a weekday off needed rock gardens and log jams without any stone doglegged it south into the big a canoe shuttle on Penns Creek, a favor interest in the trout and bass under his river. I hiked in as high up this rill of which gave me an excuse to explore a keel. Each to his own. I’ll try to sabotage headwater as I could get, outfitted for trib I’d never taken the time to fish. him by teaching his boys to fish. the backcountry angling I have always I met Andy in front of the old Post We had to loop around upstream on loved. I wore swamp boots and carried

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careless to take a fly again. I played the game of moving downstream careful as a bear, setting up without hurry, and patiently getting flies into impossible places. I primed myself to enjoy the difficulties of this kind of angling and not to be frustrated by the tight quarters. I enjoyed the discipline of scaling down my chances to making one good presentation to the one choice spot in a hundred tangled yards of stream. I didn’t try to cast where there wasn’t room and I didn’t grudge all the break offs and flies lost to soggy logs and rhododendrons. I fished well enough to feel good about my backcountry skills, releasing my share of chunky trout, including two pleasant surprises, with a quick twist of the hemos. Nothing fancy on the tippet—a small Humpy or bushy Adams, a p-tail or Hare’s Ear, a yellow stone. In the end I felt I had been no more intrusive than a a bedraggled canvas shoulder bag with reach and roll cast I would need in the bear, a good standard of conduct in my backcountry fly box, a few spare tight, promising spots one hunts for such places. When late in the afternoon, leaders, some 4x and 5x tippet. Hemos, in this kind of angling. Since I wanted I heard thunder beginning to organize compass and my favorite Remington to enjoy the woods without getting itself to the west, I started to look for a bullet knife for slicing up a lunch of distracted by them, I left the binos in game trail or a fisherman’s trail back up apples and cheddar. A ratty river hat the car so I wouldn’t wander off after to the road, pleased that in this setting completed the ensemble, leaving me every warbler and flycatcher. they were indistinguishable. looking more like something out of Fish, So I fished the rain on the roof Fur and Game than the Orvis catalog. A for a day, rushing June water that Wit’s End battered 8-foot 4-weight gave me the made the wild brook trout quick and Wolftree Farm

27 TROUT FALL 2015

BLUE LINES

[ by Tom Reed]

his day—this bright, clear, the outdoors, trout, open country, out to find he has only traveled 100 unbelievably sharp mountain life, our work. Three friends who yards or so from the parking lot. Or, Tmeadow day—has me thinking happen to work together and yet can as we are doing now, one can walk on of time. set it aside to join for a few rare days the bench and make some time. Most We walk outside the willow wall of just fishing. I caution my pals to people, near as we can tell from the that hugs the creek’s meander. Up on live in the moment. This moment. tracks, start fishing at the parking the bench above the stream among It is day one. Soon it will be day two lot, so the far water is where we head. elk thistle and cinquefoil, fly rods in and then it will be over. Days go like We take turns. In the deep pools, hand. It is day one. that. Years too. Decades. we spot fish. Sometimes, we look at We do this every year. Not this So, the stream. It is a bending the water and it is blank, even though place. New places when we can. Old number, doubling back on itself. One we are cautious and quiet in our places too. The point is not so much can drop into a bend, walk into the approach. Other times, a polarized the place as it is the rendezvous. We creek’s coolness, work upstream for an peer discovers a half-dozen good-sized don’t see each other often, for we are hour screened by willow jungle from fish moving and feeding. busy men with a shared passion for the road and the pickup, and then peek I am up first. So I cast to the head

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have gone from wearing animal skins tanned with brain, to poly-blend shirts with pockets everywhere and built in sun-protection. Yet still here he is. Still in this stream despite the odds. A special fish. He has a wound in his side, perhaps a heron stab, or a miscalculation when swimming among the sharp willow of a beaver dam, but he is vigorous and healthy. A tail flips and he is back in the water. Next man is up. We look for more fish, walking slowly, push- ing through willows, slapping bugs, thinking of pissed-off moose mothers and maybe even a bear in the cool shade, but mostly just there, spotting fish, helping each other. Another grayling rises to a well- placed fly and we admire and take pictures and then carefully release and the next man steps into the pool and catches his own bit of treasure. The hour passes as hours do, and then the sun leans back a bit and we light cigars and sit on the bank and watch clouds and their shadows on the mountain. In this moment on the bank, on this annual assemble, we have each touched

I have caught something as rare as a comet in the night sky. A survivor.

of a small run where the visible music A big fin. A sail fin. I think of flying a precious living diamond. A fish from that is current coming together from fish on a brilliant ocean and then the time. A survivor. This moment in time all angles forms a liquid line, a feeding fish is in my hand. Grayling. I have will be enough to hold us for another lane. Mend just right and the fly drifts caught something as rare as a comet year. For the next time. well, looking good. There’s a rise and in the night sky. A survivor. He and the fish is on, putting a good kink in his kind have lasted 10 or even 12,000 Tom Reed has worked for Trout the light rod. I can’t tell what kind of years, left here by ice melt and glacial Unlimited for a decade from his home fish it is until it comes within two feet dam. Now living in a mountain stream in Montana. He is the author of several of my outstretched hand in the clear in a high country valley alongside books, including Blue Lines, A Fishing Life. water. Then I see blue and purple modern man. He has seen our kind Contact him at [email protected]______and iridescence brighter than that traveling by foot, on horseback, Model wonderful sea of blue yonder above. A and Audi and yet still here he is. We

29 TROUT FALL 2015

By nature, magazine editors are always looking forward. Crank it out. Print it. Hope it sticks. Hope it matters. Uphold the “standard.” Expect the critical dings, and wish for a couple pats on the back. Then forget everything and move on. By the time you all are reading this, for example, the TROUT team is already wading far downstream, making the Winter issue, reading story drafts for Spring and thinking about what the heck we might run next Summer. It can be a tough grind. And sometimes, the best way to set the compass as you chart a course forward is to take a long, hard look at where you’ve already been. As such, over the past year or so, I’ve been spending free time pouring through the archives of TROUT, going back to the very first broadsheet issue printed in 1959. (Thank you to those of you who sent me old issues.) I’ve now read through five-plus decades of diligent, often eloquent, work on trout fishing. What struck me most of all was the consistent sense of community that spanned generations. It was a humbling exercise. Because while I came into this editor role fully fired up, wanting to publicly establish TROUT as the “conscience” of trout fishing in America, what I learned was that TROUT has been this “conscience” all along. Sure, the magazine has changed form and format. It has yielded things like the “how-to” and the “where-to” to other commercial magazines. It grew. It shrank. It grew again as TU’s membership blossomed. But it always made the clear connection between habitat and fishing opportunity. That’s the foundation upon which all the art, and science, and literature and commerce associated with trout fishing depend. Reading 50 years of TROUT will show any angler that without the water, and without the concern for the fish, none of the other stuff really matters.

In the 80s, amongg So Has TU many other topics, TROUTT was all over the threatss Made a to migratory fish likee steelhead, and salmonn Difference? on both coasts. In the 1990s, we won- Of course it has. If TU hadn’t made a dered aloud what would difference, you wouldn’t be reading this happen if the Elwha right now. Sure, we’re fighting some of Dam in Washington the same battles now that TU fought were ever removed. Now years ago, and TU members are hashing it’s gone. TU was a major out some of the very same concerns. part of that. We knew Would it shock any of you, for example, what could happen, and, to know that the “hatcheries vs. wild based on what we’ve seen fish” debates raged in this magazine thus far, we were right. in the 1960s? Whirling disease also In a “From the President” column hit us in the 1990s. TU of a 1966 issue of TROUT, Martin K. was, and is, on the front Bovey penned: “When I am asked to line there too. state as briefly as possible what Trout In the 2000s, up Unlimited is all about, this is what I am jumped this worry we now callll “Pebble“P bbl likely to say. Our aim is to preserve as Mine,” and much, much more. I don’t it would be the non-government much fishing for wild trout as possible.” think the work will ever be done. organizations like TU that would shape Nearly 50 years later, I’d say our current Going way back to the 1960s, this policies that would impact trout waters, president, and our current mission, are magazine ran a piece that said: “Hope more than any other interests possibly both true to that vision. Seen in Groups Like TU.” In it, Frank could. Prophetic indeed. Editions of TROUT from the 1960s Dunkle, then director of Montana That responsibility is only growing and 70s were packed with stories on Fish and Game, said that as the nation these days. Because in many places, threatened native trout species, and weighed commerce versus recreation recreation IS commerce. what we can do to keep them around. interests of a burgeoning population,

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TROUT what science suggested about It’s About what trout feel, what they see, and how they best survive after being caught. the People On the cover of a 1984 issue, I noticed the familiar face of Dave Yes, of course, the TU mission revolves Whitlock. And now I get to “edit” a around the fish themselves, but TU column Dave still produces for TROUT. and TROUT magazine have always been (Which really means there’s about a distinguished by the personalities who month and a half every quarter when have embraced the cause. I know stuff 99.99 percent of anglers Reading past issues of TROUT high- in America don’t know, but that’s only lights a veritable “who’s-who” of those because I read Dave’s column first.) who shaped the history of modern Which leads me to another point: trout fishing. Roderick Haig-Brown on TROUT magazine always involved the angling ethics… Lee Wulff on skating best writers, and the most insightful terrestrials for salmon… Joe Brooks on the sacred nature of brown trout… Ernest Schwiebert on the value of wild TROUT magazine always involved the best writers, and the fish. It literally goes on and on, and on. most insightful perspectives on trout behavior, trout (and salmon) Long before anyone wondered in science, and the cultural aspects of hooking trout as a passion. “chat rooms” or on “blogs” about the virtues of catch-and release, grip-‘n-grin photos, or any of that, “Dr. Trout,” the perspectives on trout behavior, trout (and there’s no doubt they did so for the late Robert Behnke, was telling us in (and salmon) science, and the cultural cause, more than for the money); but aspects of hooking in 50 years from now, I also have no troutt as a passion. doubt that anglers will reflect on what It still does. One Whitlock contributes to TROUT, and the can look back 40 or essays of Christopher Camuto (who first 50 years and value appeared in the 1990s and still pens a what Wulff, or regular column), or Paul Brunn, or Brooks, or Haig- Tom Reed… Erin Block, Chris Santella, Brown had to say or myriad others who now contribute about trout fishing regularly, and say, “Wow… they got it.”

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Oh… wait. Now I see the Springg Treble Hooks 1984 issue of TROUT, and brown trout with a treble hook in its mouth. Guess we have, after all, been there and done Is TU about trout and salmon fishing, that. Maybe Tom Pero was a visionary. or fly fishing for trout and salmon? Reading all of those issues, when TROUTT We now bandy about the notion of was simply billed as, ‘The Magazine for including more conventional tackle Trout and Salmon Anglers” is refresh- in this magazine. After all, there are ingly shocking by current standards. more “gear” anglers than fly fishers in America. While almost all TU members today profess affinity to fly fishing, 70 percent say they throw lures now and “Mad Men” Go AdhAnd how about b 1984, 84h when the hGlf Gulf then also. The late, great John Merwin, Oil Corporation placed an ad in TROUT a mentor from Field & Stream magazine Trout Fishing that led: “There are places on earth suggested within my first weeks on that seem unchanged since the seventh the job that if I really wanted to grow One of the most interesting telltales of day of creation and it is one of society’s membership, I’d run a photo of a brown how times may have changed is seen great dilemmas that the spiritual need trout with a Panther Martin hanging in the advertisements that ran in past for these beautiful places is as great as out of its mouth on the cover of TROUT issues. the practical need for the energy that magazine. That rang in my ears like the Take, for example, 1966, when may be hidden beneath them.” Wow. scrape of fingernails on a chalkboard. Abercrombie & Fitch ads looked a lot Times have indeed changed. I thought then, “Over my dead body different than they do now. A lot dif- Then again… maybe not so much. will I ever run…” ferent. Back then, the snaps and zippers Going back to the late 1960s, I noticed opened and low- the closing page ad slot in TROUT was ered revealed… filled by an innovative company from sexy creels and Michigan that specialized in making fly fly rod cases! lines. In 2015, the back page in TROUT Abercrombie & is occupied by that same company— Fitch made fish- Scientific Anglers. Now that’s loyalty ing gear? Who’da over 50 years that deserves consideration thunk that? by any TU member shopping for a new fly line.

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And we can never go back to undo in Idaho. Thirty years ago, when he was Ah, Yes… the what’s been done. editor of TROUT, he wrote a gripping But we can go back to the waters, to piece on the Salmon River. (See www.___ Grip ‘n Grin keep tabs. That’s what we do. tu.org/riverofnoreturn to see the full Which is exactly why we sent Tom article.) In the following pages, he gives In this day and age, we run one photo Pero to visit “The River of No Return” us, “Return to the River.” in a 100-page magazine that shows a And now you know why. single trout lifted out of the water, andd we catch hell from the “keep ‘em wet”” crowd. Thirty years ago, TROUT ran a cover with a steelhead hanging fromm a scale. We’ve all learned, no doubt,, some things about catch-and-releasee since those days. But given that we’ree all still fishing, and the fish are stilll swimming despite the glory shots off yesteryear, one has to wonder a little bit,, at least, how far the “PC” boundariess have been pushed. We live. We learn. We evolve. Andd we point forward.

In this day and age, we run one photo in a 100-page magazine that shows a single trout lifted out of the water, and we catch hell from the “keep ‘em wet” crowd.

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Return to theRiver A Steelheader’s Dispatch from Idaho’s Wild Salmon River, 30 Years Later By Thomas R. Pero

You cannot step into the same river twice, goes the twist on the ancient Greek aphorism about the flow of life. Yet that’s exactly what I was poised to do as I tightened the laces on my wading boots in the autumn sunshine—30 years, almost to the day, since I first stepped into Idaho’s Salmon River. I was drawn here in October 2014 for the same reason I had been in October 1984: steelhead. Three decades ago, I had just moved from Massachusetts to Oregon. I was crazy for steelhead. I thought of them as quintessentially coastal fish, gray phantoms homing to the roots of mist-shrouded fragrant firs as tall as city buildings. I imagined them holding like sleek torpedoes in crystalline tailouts. I wanted to live where they live. Summer-run steelhead were indeed waiting for me in such poetic places. But I learned that multitudes more were also making their way to improbable places—far inland hundreds of miles, to desert rivers draining high, onto harsh plateaus; to murky, slime-bottomed streams edged by sagebrush, blazed by summer sun, grazed to the nub by fat white and brown cattle the locals called slow elk. We launched on the blood moon. The day was dazzling, the dry air still and smelling of brittle late-summer golden grasses. Ancient, alligator- barked ponderosa pines stood etched against an incandescent blue October sky. Bright yellow willows lit up the riverside. There was that crisp, cool river smell and the surge of the green current. We were off. The takeout lay 80 river miles ahead. The man at the oars of the raft was the same man who had been at the oars 30 years earlier: Jerry Myers. He isn’t as slim as he was back then, but neither am I. His whiskers are no longer rusty. On the plus side, these days he is packing better scotch. And his wife, Terry, hasn’t left him—and she casts an impressive two-handed rod. Terry Myers grew up in central Idaho in a family of river guides. Jerry Myers grew up in a sea of wheat in the picturesque Paloose prairie region of northcentral Idaho and southeastern Washington. He is the son of a rancher. He remembers piling into the family station wagon with his brothers and sister to watch cement poured into Dworshak dam. The impassable wall blocked the North Fork of the Clearwater River. The stream was home to magical rainbow-colored fish. Every spring, shoals of these slender fish the size of fat ballpoint pens turned silvery. They disappeared, migrating hundreds of miles down another long and wind- ing river, then swimming across the largest ocean on earth to as far as the shores of Siberia and back: tough, long-distance marathon survivors weighing as great as 30 pounds.

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“You have to learn to work with other people you don’t agree with. There are going to be setbacks. You have to learn this is going to be a long campaign.” –Jerry Myers

“This is going to change everything,” In 2005, after more than two decades his beaming father told them. It did. of successfully running his family outfit- It was the last of the New Deal binge: ting business, Jerry began working for truckloads of free federal dollars that TU, focusing his energies on improving would make a seaport out of Lewiston, freshwater habitat in streams around Idaho, and move seasonal barge-loads Salmon, Idaho. of subsidized wheat down the sprawl- “I’ve changed the way I look at ing Snake and Columbia rivers to the things,” Jerry said. “Back in the ’80s Pacific and markets beyond. Good for I thought we were going to lose these the wheat growers. Bad for the steelhead. fish. I wanted to grab someone and start From the 1930s through the 1970s, kicking ass. But you can’t do that. You eight massive hydroelectric dams were have to learn to work with other people built spanning Oregon and Washington. you don’t agree with. There are going The high concrete walls were smack in to be setbacks. You have to learn this is the path of sea-run fish trying to get to going to be a long campaign.” their spawning gravel in Idaho—four Myers started working with local dams on the Columbia River and four on landowners to develop restoration the lower Snake. Lower Granite, the last, projects. Some were simple—replac- was completed in 1975. That year only ing a culvert under a bridge. Later the 17,786 steelhead were counted climbing projects became more ambitious—re- the fish ladder. To put this number in working the natural flow regimen across perspective, although we can never know a 6,000-acre ranch. exactly how many native steelhead once “We never claimed to have all the spawned in Idaho, historic estimates answers,” Jerry said. And he understood point to more than 1 million—maybe that in rural Idaho, people depend considerably more. on making a living off the land. He recognized that many families had been on the land for three or four or five Beer with the generations. They may have harbored hidebound ideas about grazing or water Ranchers rights, but Jerry learned to find the middle ground and get the coopera- When I first met Jerry Myers in 1984, tive work done. The locals appreciated he was angry. He and Terry had come bringing back salmon to a stream where back from guiding in Alaska and had the fish had been absent for 100 years. purchased a river-rafting operation “Turning the first few ranchers into on the Salmon River. They expected fish conservationists,” Myers said, “was to guide steelhead anglers. But the huge.” Other ranchers, their neighbors, steelhead were vanishing. The dams saw that restoring the land did not mean were wiping out the smolts heading putting people off the land. “They were downstream and Indian nets were still operating and operating profitably, shortstopping the big fish trying to get and have been able to develop a healthy home. Who was to blame? What could watershed. That’s pretty powerful.” be done? Was there any future? “If you want to put Humpty Dumpty There was. back together again, you have to have Idaho steelhead runs went through a water—without water you have nothing,” rollercoaster of ups and downs during Mike Edmonson told me around the the 1990s and 2000s—the ups caused campfire. And not only in late sum- largely by nature’s good water years, mer when low flows are most obvious, court-ordered improvements to spills but also in late winter when a spawn- to sweep more smolts past the dams, ing tributary is iced-over and warmer and more-fertile ocean conditions groundwater percolating up through producing increased survival. the gravel is essential to keep fertilized

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eggs alive. Edmonson is an avid steel- he was engaged in what he calls “combat header. Professionally, he is program biology.” Practically every week he was in manager of the Governor’s Office of Portland at endless meetings and con- Species Conservation in Boise. Under ferences to talk about the beleaguered an agreement between the Bonneville runs of salmon and steelhead. He was Power Administration and the State of an advocate for wild fish in Idaho. Now, Idaho, BPA is providing $65 million he says, there is no advocate. Regard over 10 years for habitat work. He is in for the value of the resource—aesthetic, charge of investing this money effectively. cultural, economic—has fallen far from Edmonson points to the Lemhi the days when Governor Cecil Andrus, River as one of his favorite success an avid angler and hunter, traditionally stories. For years landowners along the saluted Idaho’s cherished anadromous Lemhi constructed one diversion dam legacy in his annual state-of-the-state after another. The flow—and juvenile addresses. These days, Bowler believes, steelhead nurseries—disappeared. To get most members of the Idaho legislature the water to the fish, biologists had to consider the fish a political liability. convince multiple landowners to coop- Improving discreet sections or pieces erate. In government-averse Idaho, this of habitat, Bowler told me, “is not mea- wasn’t going to get done by regulation. surable in how we are going to recover Edmonson says one of his happiest days these fish.” He says the out-of-basin was drinking beer with the ranchers effects—meaning the killing gauntlet of while looking out at 300 redds where dams the juvenile fish must navigate to not a single fish had spawned in years. reach the Pacific—are the real effects. It’s still, I thought, the same dam story. “We have the perfect scientific control in the Middle Fork of the Salmon,” he said, referring to the pristine and remote wilderness river. “If spawning and nursery habitat were the issue, then the stocks returning to the Middle Fork would be doing very well. They are not. The rationale doesn’t add up.” He says the cost of the Bonneville habitat dollars is silence—the official silence of the State of Idaho about the dams The Same and their clear role in the destruction of Idaho’s wild runs. To get the money Dam Story the state had to agree not to enter into any lawsuits over the lower Snake dams. “Habitat work is good,” Bert Bowler Employees of the Idaho Department said, “but that alone is not going to of Fish and Game know to keep their recover the fish—it’s just not going to mouths shut. Straight talk by Idaho biolo- get us there.” gists about the plainly obvious is gone. Bowler is a retired fisheries biolo- I asked Bowler what has changed gist. He graduated from the University during the last 30 years. He thought of Idaho in 1972 and spent 30 years a moment. working for the Idaho Department of “Not much,” he said. “The Feds are Fish and Game. For 10 of those years entrenched in the status quo. They reject

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The out-of-basin effects—meaning the killing gauntlet of dams the juvenile fish must navigate to reach the Pacific—are the real effects. It’s still, I thought, the same dam story.

Wilderness isn’t a scary place—it’s home. It’s comfortable. Get to know it. Get to know a steelhead.

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the science because it doesn’t fit their paradigm.” The “Feds” Bowler refers to is the troika of agencies controlling water flowing down the Snake and Columbia rivers to the Pacific: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U. S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the Bonneville Power Administration. Bonneville is the big dog. And Bonneville, explains Bowler, “runs roughshod over the states.” Notable among the science that the mammoth ED SOZINHO marketing agency for power produced by the dams doesn’t like is called SAR— smolt-to-adult return rates. I turned to the independent Fish Passage Center in Portland for answers. The center is the official chronicler of fish swimming up the Columbia River. Their numbers are the gold standard, or perhaps I should say silver standard. I wondered about the changing fortunes of steelhead migrating in and out of Idaho. I looked at the numbers. Since 1994, each year an average of 148,029 adult steelhead have passed Lower Granite dam, their last major hurdle on their journey to spawning tributaries in Idaho: the spectacular pine-forested Clearwater River and the deep, remote canyons of the vast reaches of the Salmon River. But only 33,732 were wild. Even that depressing number is inflated because the Nez Perce tribal fishery program finagled a special waiver on the broad requirement that all hatcheries in the Columbia basin fin-clip hatchery smolts. A sad indictment of our stewardship: more than 1 million wild steelhead surging

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as far as 800 miles inland to Idaho for many thousands of years—a spectral 30,000 today. Dam counts of returning adults are easy to use as a measure of how Idaho steelhead are doing, Dr. Margaret Filardo of the Fish Passage Center told me, but year-to-year changes “can be misleading because they can reflect large artificial production programs while masking smaller wild portions of the populations.” A more accurate measure, she said, are the smolt-to- adult rates—those pesky SAR numbers that Bert Bowler told me the Feds wish would go away. In 1983, the year before my first cast into the Salmon, development began on a tiny electronic tag to implant in and track fish without ever having to capture or handle them. In 1987 the passive integrated transponder (PIT) tag was ready. It was a brilliant, eye-opening addition to anadromous fisheries research. A decade of widespread PIT-tagging and tracking of salmon and steelhead smolts moving down the Snake- Columbia hydro-system tells a story the End of the Wild overlords of that system don’t want to hear: a wild steelhead smolt leaving its For the better part of a century the prevailing philosophy among natal gravel in the Snake River water- government fisheries managers on the West Coast was that it was shed had a 1.6 percent chance of making a simple numbers game: raise and release increasing numbers of it back from the ocean as a spawning hatchery steelhead and salmon smolts, and increasing numbers adult, as revealed by studies from 1997 of grown-up salmon and steelhead will, on command, swim back through 2010. By comparison, during from the ocean. roughly the same period, 2002 to 2010, This has been an article of faith among federal, state and tribal a smolt leaving the Deschutes River agencies with responsibilities for propping up runs in the Snake in Oregon had a 7.3 percent chance and Columbia rivers. But their collective management is not doing of coming home; in the nearby John the few remaining wild salmon and steelhead any favors. And Day, a 5.8 percent chance. Imagine the federal courts have repeatedly rejected their plans to rescue runs dramatic jump in survival of 1 million of salmon and steelhead listed under the Endangered Species Act Idaho-hatched wild smolts running as inadequate. down the river—or several million. “They view wild salmonids as a constraint on hatcheries and Think how many more needed spawn- harvest,” Bill Bakke told me. For 50 years the Oregonian has been ers would come back from salt water a principled and tireless citizen advocate for native anadromous to lay eggs in the Rocky Mountains. A fish in the Pacific Northwest. “They get most of their funding from fifth-grader can do the math. federal taxpayer and ratepayer dollars to construct, operate and The difference? The dams. harvest hatchery fish.” The juvenile Deschutes fish swim- Follow the money, Bakke says: there is none in wild salmon and ming out to sea are forced through two steelhead. The perversity is that the plight of wild salmonids is used dams blocking their way. The spring- to secure more public funding—but much of this funding is being time migrants dropping down into the used to replace the wild ones with artificial production.

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fish homing to Idaho—is probably at the most extreme risk. The heart of the problem, he explains, is that management was never designed to protect the biological diversity of salmonids and sustain wild populations. Rather, it is based on an industrial model to produce a product for constituents, maximiz- ing production with the support of public funding. Mass hatchery releases on the Columbia River cannot rebuild wild runs—nearly every knowledge- able scientist agrees. But growing scientific evidence raises the alarm that hatcheries are, in fact, inflicting debilitating damage. For the last 15 years, Dr. Michael S. Blouin of the Department of Integrative Biology at Oregon State University has been studying steelhead in the Hood River, a tributary to the lower Columbia. He has found that hatchery steelhead spawning with wild steelhead produce offspring that are less fit—they are physiologically changed. And the effect is immediate. “When two hatchery parents spawn in the wild,” he told me, “the fish that pops out of the gravel and The perversity is that the plight of wild salmonids is used to goes to sea has only a 40 percent secure more public funding—but much of this funding is being chance of survival compared with used to replace the wild ones with artificial production. offspring from two wild parents in the same stream.” Blouin says that “The historical pattern of salmonid management begins his research has made clear that early-generational hatchery with the concept that they were inexhaustible and then steelhead are genetically altered. “The concern is that this replaceable,” Bakke said. “We are now in replacement mode lack of fitness is dragging down wild populations,” he said. and headed rapidly toward more and more extinctions.” He “To what extent, we don’t know.” says that the B-run steelhead—the prize race of large, upriver Let’s see. Hatchery steelhead lack the fitness of wild steelhead. They are genetically compromised. Yet we are “supplementing” diminishing wild populations with coddled substitutes that are passing their inferior genes to the precious wild fish. What would be the observation of, say, a breeder of prime racehorses? Extrapolate this potentially corrosive long-term effect on an original population of wild steelhead over successive generations—again, ask the fifth-grader with her calcula- tor—and it explains much about why the very hatchery fish meant to “mitigate” the tragic loss of some 16 million salmon and steelhead historically spawning in this huge, crippled watershed may be driving the scant wild remnants extinct.

PHOTOS BY JIM YUSKAVITVH BY PHOTOS –TRP

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mouth of the John Day and tasting the fishing. You were in a homemade baby Columbia face three giant dams. Young Get to Know pack inside my wool coat. We were Idaho steelhead moving out confront standing in the river and you were as a staggering eight dams—four blocking a Steelhead happy as could be. I was fishing away! the lower Snake River, stacked one after “I think there’s hope,” said Terry. another. The dams beat up the fish; the We rounded the bend and there was “We all need to slow down a bit—get effects multiply. The dams no longer Sam Myers with his rod arched and a out more. Spend time with the kids. make economic sense. They probably fish on. The last time I had seen Sam Spend time outside with your friends never did. There was much fakery in he was two. I jumped out of the raft and family. Need a little less. This is the projected benefits. Now we know and waited with the net. perfect. We’ve been in the same clothes better. Or do we? “I want my kids to have the experi- all week. Wilderness isn’t a scary There is a puzzling irony, it occurs ence I had,” Sam said. “Getting to place—it’s home. It’s comfortable. Get to me, in today’s cranky crop of Idaho grow up out here on the river was a to know it. Get to know a steelhead.” politicians, who appear ever eager to big part of my life and a big part of I walked upstream and waded in, flail and rail against the big, bad Federal what shaped who I am. With my dad feeling the tug of the cold current Government, but steadfastly stand by as an outfitter it was easy—rowing all on my legs and the slippery boulders the obsolete pyramids astride their summer. Now that we live in Boise under my feet. I stripped line off my once-teeming river—monuments to it’s not so easy but I’m going to make reel, heard the swish of the long line, human arrogance that are driving the a big effort at least once a year with watched it sail over the pool toward last of Idaho’s wild, wondrous sea-run the kids. Our three-year-old already the opposite bank, and mended with treasure to extinction. loves it. She asks when is the next time a quick lift. I looked up. My eyes fol- There is a solution. It will be the we’re going. The 10-month-old is a lowed an eagle making its way upriver largest jobs-creating project of its kind. little wild animal just waiting to be on silent wings. It will return the river to the river. It released out here.” I remember this river. will give the fish a chance. Mr. Speaker, Sam’s mother gave him a hug: “You Mr. President: tear down these walls. don’t remember the first time you were

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requires a large, intact system to play out. To better understand this, he is looking at the spatial distribution of rainbow trout and steelhead—how the two sort out in relation to stream flow and water temperature. The vast landscape of the John Day serves the needs for the full life cycle of both rainbow trout and steelhead: spawning, rearing, staging prior to spawning. “All are important,” Dunham said. “If we focus on restoring spawning habitat, my question is: what about the rest of the cycle?” Dr. Ryan Bellmore is an aquatic ecolo- Leave it to Beaver gist with the U. S. Geological Survey. He told me that his past and present research In the spring of 1812, a hired gun from He calls the natural structure that is aimed at taking a broader look at the Culpeper, Va. took ill and fell behind beavers add “speed bumps.” They restore food webs of the headwater stream of the beaver-trapping expedition he had complexity to the river channel. “When the Columbia River basin. joined in Missouri. John Day hiked over you add structural diversity—logs, brush, “What we are finding is that these food the Blue Mountains in Oregon Territory, rocks—you create hydraulic diversity,” webs are very complex,” Dr. Bellmore downstream along the banks of the Jordan told me. “Whatever the stream said. “In floodplains landscapes, our Columbia River, and into Northwest is carrying it drops. This sorting of research illustrates that different habitat mythology when a band of Indians sediment makes complex habitat such as types—such as main channels versus side robbed him of everything and left him spawning areas and depth and thermal channels—can have very different food naked. Today, the river named after refugia.” webs. Fishes in these habitats are eating him—and the waterborne rodents with Temperature is going to become very different things.” the silky fur that drew him here—are increasingly important as climate Dr. Bellmore explains that all the playing a significant role in efforts to change turns the Northwest landscape wetted habitats found across floodplains restore salmon and steelhead. warmer and drier, according to Dr. Jason have important food webs—not only the While critics of Bonneville Power’s Dunham, Supervisory Aquatic Biologist main channel of the river but also the newfound religion of habitat restoration paint Beaver dams are especially valuable in low-gradient, low-elevation streams the efforts as a colossally that historically were tremendously productive, but that have been altered expensive card trick to drastically and simplified by two centuries of man’s meddling. divert attention from the one big fix that could quickly do the with the U. S. Geological Survey’s Forest complex array of side channels, alcoves most good—removing the smolt-killing and Rangeland Ecosystem Center in and beaver ponds. Steelhead use them dams strangling the Snake River—the Corvallis, Ore. In warmer water, he all. The species is what he calls a food habitat work is drawing unprecedented explains, juvenile steelhead have lower web “generalist.” He says that complex scrutiny from scientists who specialize fat content. landscape “mosaics” such as that found in how streams function. And one of “That delays maturation,” Dunham in floodplains host complex food webs their findings is that beavers in tributar- said. “In colder water, the fish store fat that promote biodiversity. These mosaics ies to the John Day River are having a and are more likely to mature and spawn stabilize ecosystems and provide long- profoundly good effect. at a younger age. The females are less term resilience to fish populations such Dr. Chris Jordan is a mathematical likely to head out to sea.” as steelhead. In areas where this habitat ecologist with the National Marine Dunham has spent several years complexity has been lost, food webs are Fisheries Service. He says beaver dams studying the relationship between likely to be much simpler. The less- are especially valuable in low-gradient, steelhead and rainbow trout in the John complex ecosystems may be less resilient low-elevation streams that historically Day. “What we’re finding is what we have to disturbances such as flooding or the were tremendously productive, but that suspected—they’re one,” he said. “The on-going spread of invasive species. have been altered drastically and simpli- viability of one affects the viability of Good thing beaver-felt top hats are fied by two centuries of man’s meddling. the other.” He says this kind of diversity no longer en vogue.

49 TROUT FALL 2015

A Time of Reckoning for

Montana’s Smith River BY HAL HERRING BRIAN GROSSENBACHER

It’s mid-morning on the first of June at Camp Baker, and the Smith River is running high. The parking lot is full, mostly with big trucks and raft trailers with plates from all over Montana and the West and a couple from as far away as Arkansas. A bleary-eyed young man in shorts is chugging coffee and still laughing about something that happened late last night in camp. Excitement is running as high as the river. Fly rod cases are everywhere, fly boxes stashed in sling packs, cases of beer going into coolers, clothes into dry bags, groceries and portable grills and tents. The hard-driving shuttle workers from White Sulphur Springs and other towns are here, getting ready to drive cars and trucks the long gravel roads through the spectacular high country and downstream to the takeout at Eden Bridge. For the rest of the crowd, including a little band of ecstatic dogs romping in the shallows, this is launch day, day one of the most popular and famed float adventure in a state that has an embarrassment of riches when it comes to floating and fishing. The launch site at Camp Baker is at the confluence of the Smith River and a mightier torrent called Sheep Creek, which provides about 45 percent of the spawning habitat on the river, and without which there isn’t really enough river to float. As the rafters put in, the current from Sheep Creek pushes them downriver on a five-day, 59-mile trip through deep pictograph-rich canyons and soaring yellow limestone towers, dream-like wildflower meadows for camping and wandering, limpid pools for swimming and some of the best fishing in Montana. Since 1993, when growing numbers of floaters began having too great an impact on the Smith River (which has almost no public access points for the most scenic 59 miles of its course), the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks established the Smith as the state’s first permit- only river. In a state where people’s devotion to their rivers and streams produced one of America’s most liberal stream access laws, one might think that such a rule limiting access would cause rebellion. But there was no revolt. The Smith

TROUT FALL 2015 PHOTOS BY STEVEN BRUTGER STEVEN BY PHOTOS 52 JEFF ERICKSON

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is just different. Montanans love it too profitable and booming underground much to allow themselves or anybody else mining operation. According to to love it to death. The permit system Tintina’s exploration geologist Jerry works, and demand has soared, with Zeig, the area may hold the potential 8,096 applications in 2015 for the 1,175 for much more. At full build-out, the permits awarded. Twenty-four percent mining operation could sprawl over of those successful applicants come from much of the 7,500 acres of leased private out of state. With about 40 people a day ground, expand onto adjoining public launched from Camp Baker during the land, and employ up to 200 people for peak floating season from mid-May to 11 to 20 years or more. Zeig, who grew mid-July, the river and its narrow valley up on a ranch on the Smith River and create an estimated $4.5 million annual is from White Sulphur Springs, about economic engine and an iconic Montana a half hour away from the mine site, experience shared and celebrated by says that all this will be a tremendous everybody from the Governor down to economic boost to his hometown, and the lowliest trout bum. that it can be accomplished using the We live in a time when human most modern of mining techniques population and associated demands for and without harming Sheep Creek or resources mean that few places, no matter the Smith River, in any way. how isolated, no matter how unique, are Montanans tend to be a conservative ever simply left alone. Just as the Smith bunch. Overall, Montana is a natural River float-trip experience has become resource-dependent state of ranchers so coveted, a Canadian-based company and farmers, drillers and loggers, with called Tintina Resources is proposing to some coal and other mining thrown in.

The Smith is just different. Montanans love it too much to allow themselves or anybody else to love it to death.

build an extensive copper mine within a But Montana is also a place where most of mile of Sheep Creek, 17 miles upstream those hard-working people are also fish- from Camp Baker. Geologists have long ermen and hunters and outdoors nuts, suspected that this part of the Little Belt and the history of mining in their state Mountains held a viable supply of copper, is, to put it mildly, an ongoing disaster. and apparently, it does. Where many Seven of the 16 Superfund sites in people see a windswept high country of Montana are related to mining. In the Doug fir and sagebrush, with the sinuous city of Butte, the Berkeley Pit, a former and willow-thicketed course of Sheep copper mine, yawns a mile long, a Creek and its wetlands and tributaries half-mile wide, and almost 1,800 feet

BRIAN GROSSENBACHER etched into a wide valley, others see a deep, creating one of the world’s largest

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sources of contamination by lead, zinc, cadmium, arsenic and copper; cleanup of the once-massively polluted Clark Fork River below Butte has cost millions of dollars and will never be complete. Tailings from a complex of abandoned mines flooded into the iconic Blackfoot River in 1975, wiping out much of the aquatic life in the headwaters and sending a plume of heavy metals far downstream. Cleanup is ongoing. In 1997, the bankrupt Canadian company Pegasus Gold, Inc., left behind two of the state’s darkest taxpayer abysses. At Pegasus’ Beal Mountain Mine in the Clark Fork headwaters, what Montana TU has called “a monumental pollution problem” from abandoned tailings ponds threatens Westslope cutthroat trout and other aquatic life, and will cost as much as $40 million to address Sheep Creek, a tributary of the Smith River effectively. JOSH DUPLECHIAN Attempts to abate the pollution from cost $65 million so far, with no end in taxpayers millions of clean-up dollars the enormous open pits of Pegasus’ sight. Across the central and western while leaching poisons into groundwa- Zortman-Landusky gold mine in the parts of the state, abandoned gold and ter, destroying private property values Little Rockies of eastern Montana have other mining operations like these cost downstream and turning what were once Where many people see a windswept high country of Doug fir and others see a profitable and booming underground mining operation.

TheTROUT proposed site FALL of the Black 2015 Butte Mine outside of White Sulfur Springs, MT 56

native trout streams into lifeless and this project goes forward. Tintina is a toxic ditches. Montanans are sick of it. new company that has never even run They passed a ballot initiative in 1998 a mine, and the Australian company to ban cyanide heap leach gold mining, Sandfire Resources just bought over a the only US state to do so. third of it. What we have is a multina- When the Sheep Creek Project (the tional mining company with a board name has been since been changed to of directors that is thousands of miles the Black Butte Project) was proposed away. Sound familiar? What is weird, in 2012, there was immediate concern really, is that Tintina is doing almost about locating a new copper mining exactly what every mining company in operation in the headwaters of the Smith Montana history has done, and saying River. As more information about the the whole time that they are not like any ownership of the project began to be other mining company.” known, that concern became opposition. Farling says that Montana TU con- “Jerry Zeig and Nancy Schlepp ducted a test in the Montana legislature, (Tintina’s spokeswoman, from the specifically with Tintina and the Black nearby tiny town of Ringling, Mont.) are Butte Project in mind. “We supported good people,” said Bruce Farling, execu- a bill that would allow the Montana tive director of Montana TU. “They Department of Environmental Quality are locals, and they are well-trusted in to deny a permit to a mine if it could the county. They say that this mining be shown that the mine would create project will not be like any other that has a perpetual pollution source after the JEFF ERICKSON ever been done before. They say there mine closed. It seemed like a reasonable will be no impact to Sheep Creek or the bill, and we expected that, if Tintina Smith River. But the truth is, Jerry and actually did plan to have such a low Nancy will have nothing to do with how impact at Black Butte, they would support it—why wouldn’t they?” But no one from Tintina spoke in favor of the sagebrush… bill. It died after a party line vote, with Republicans opposing it, and attacks by the Montana Mining Association, whose executive director, Tammy Johnson, is

also a lobbyist for Tintina. GLENN OAKLEY The direct concerns of Montana TU and others who love the Smith River and its tributaries are the same ones that come with any large-scale mining operation. The Black Butte Project, at least as Tintina Resources is proposing it now, is an underground mine (rather than an open pit), that will require the near-constant and massive pumping of groundwater to keep the operation dry and running. Such pumping could lower groundwater levels in the area, drying JEFF ERICKSON out wetlands and changing the hydrology of the area in a way that may affect the amount of water in Sheep Creek itself. The water pumped out of the mining shaft contains high levels of arsenic, and the sulfide ores that produce the copper, are, when exposed to air, the source of the acid-mine drainage that has

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damaged and poisoned water resources Trout Unlimited pointed out during across Montana and the nation. the attempts at cleaning up the Beal “We have yet to see the details of Mountain Mine, the Canadian company what Tintina is proposing,” said Bruce Pegasus Gold, Inc. had local advocates Farling. “And we haven’t been sending from Anaconda, Mont., who assured petitions to the Governor, or saying everyone that the project would be an ‘no mine, no way.’ But we are going to economic boom, and that they would run this project through the knothole, never support a project that might harm because of where it is, and because of their home state or their neighbors. STEVE BRUTGER STEVE the history that is written so clearly A couple of short days’ float down- across this state regarding these kinds stream from Camp Baker, the river of mining operations.” He adds: “A boils and twists against a wall of gray lot of people have said that we have the and yellow stone. Forty feet above the regulations in place now to make these water, a series of red ochre handprints operations safer, and that the Montana shows clearly on the stone. There is no DEQ (Department of Environmental ledge there. There seems to be no way Quality) won’t permit anything that to climb there. The prints are a mys- could damage the river. But there have tery, in a place replete with mysteries. been repeated failures of that agency In an eddy, trout are rising to a hatch to regulate very similar mines in other of caddis, the insects jigging wildly in places. Some of the same regulators that front of an ancient fir tree, undercut, JEFF ERICKSON permitted the Pegasus’ mines are look- roots exposed and leaning river-bound. ing at this one. We have a clear record Beyond the fir, a reach of the greenest of repeated failures in regulating the meadow, flat, the dancing and resting It is not known yet what marks we’ll leave here, or for what we will be best remembered.

mining industry, and in addressing the place of millennia of human beings, pollution and other impacts.” and beyond that, a steep path leads up

BRIAN GROSSENBACHER The Black Butte Project holds other through the cliffs to the famed Indian unknowns, as well. Tintina Resources Cave, where images of bison, horses, is targeting what is called the Johnny spear-carrying men in headdresses, Lee Deposit of copper ore, and hopes turtles and wolves crowd the walls, also that another deposit, called the wild, strange celebrations of life and Lowry, will turn out to be economi- place. The images come from a time cally viable as well. Jerry Zeig has said when people were few, and this deeply that the potential for exploration of as incised river corridor was a kind of yet-undiscovered deposits could extend sheltered world with the stark prai- the life of the mine up to 20 years or ries—the hunting country, the place of more. Such exploration, if successful, raids and horses, yawning to the four could also extend the operation onto directions beyond the Little Belts. In a

STEVE BRUTGER STEVE the nearby public lands where Tintina modern world gone over to crowd and has also acquired the rights to mine. As roar, the same canyon, the same river copper prices rise and fall over the life there running, has become one of the of the project, and the mine changes most popular float trips in the West, hands among a variety of multinational laughter and song still echoing in the owners who will never see the Little stones, the sunrise splash of feeding Belt Mountains, the stage may well be fish. It is not known yet what marks set for a repeat of some of Montana’s we’ll leave here, or for what we will be ugliest mining hangovers. As Montana best remembered.

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Take It to the River Client Events Events at Fishing at Fishing Lodges LodgesMake Great Make Memories—and Great Memories—and Good Business Sense Good

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By Chris Santella he phrases “client event” or “corporate outing” conjure up several scenarios—a shotgun golf tourney at a private or decent daily-fee course with door prizes in the clubhouse afterwards; or, perhaps, a bustling hospitality suite at a Red Sox or 49ers game where it’s easier to watch the contest on closed circuit TV than on the field of play below. Paul Frey, senior vice president and industry manager of the Waste & Recycling Industry Specialty Group at Wells Fargo (NYSE:WFC) has seen his share of such outings over the years. “I’ve worked in the banking industry since the late 1970s, Tand I’ve had the opportunity to attend and host all kinds of events: from private museum openings, theater performances, to sporting events and ski trips. Back in the 1980s, everyone wanted to go out to California and play Pebble Beach and Spyglass. They are great courses, but the number of guests at the typical golf outing makes building relationships with all of them challenging, if not impossible. After one or two top-notch golf events, many CEOs enjoy experiencing something different.” In this age of “perfect markets” that the Internet has spawned, many companies increasingly compete on price and delivery time. There’s little human touch. But in some fields of endeavor, it is relationships—real, human relationships—that still win and retain clients. The kind of relationships that can be forged over eight one-on-one hours in a drift boat. “It was in 1996 or ’97, and I was looking for something different for a client outing,” Frey continued. “I wanted to cultivate the kind of experience where our bankers could really get to know the invited clients and prospects, and the clients and prospects would also have a chance to spend time with each other, as well as to get to know the bank. Another executive at the bank had been to Henry’s Fork Lodge in Idaho, and he suggested that I try an event there. I put a small group together—10 clients and prospects and three or four bankers. Even though some of the CEO attendees had never held a rod of any kind in their hands, they had a blast. My relationships with them jumped up the scale significantly. I had the opportunity to better understand the strategies that were driving their companies’ businesses, because we could talk about more in-depth subjects. There was a certain camaraderie that the lodge environment provides—the time on the river, being on the lodge deck with wine and appetizers in the evening. We’re all close together, and there’s a tremendous ability to network. I’ve never had interactions like this in any other setting.” The objective is straightforward: A hosting entity wants to get out in front of prospects—like putting a fly on the water in front of a trout. They want the prospect to be interested—to rise to the fly. And they want to convert the prospect into a client—that is, get them all the way to the boat, overcoming various obstacles on the way (competitive firms/weeds, existing relationships/light tippet, etc.). Mike Dreisbach, who owns and operates Savage River Lodge in western Maryland with his wife Jan, hosts more than 20 corporate outings each year. Many will com- bine a few different outdoor activities with fly fishing–rafting, geocaching, biking, Business Sense hiking and snowshoeing. The common denominator is that all of these activities

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get people out in nature. “I have clients pointing out that the outings actually places like golf or ski resorts, so fishing say again and again, ‘We’ve gotten so can be more economical than some lodges have to meet that higher level of much done because we’re outdoors.’ I’m traditional corporate events. “Prospects expectations. At the beginning of each convinced that the main reason to have hear from current clients how Wells season, we bring in a trainer from Four a retreat or outing at a fishing lodge is Fargo takes care of its customers. Our Seasons to train our staff on customer the fresh air.” time at Henry’s Fork often yields more service. This gives our people a high A year after his first visit to Henry’s business with existing clients and has level of professionalism that puts us in Fork Lodge, Frey booked the whole turned prospects into new customers.” good stead with our clients.” lodge, inviting 20 clients and prospects Frey has now held more than 20 Little touches like prepping staff and 10 bankers and senior bank execu- events at Henry’s Fork Lodge. Other to memorize the names of guests and tives to visit Idaho in August. He felt the regular visitors include Arco, Mass having licenses ready when they arrive event went well, and the sense that he Mutual, Sentry Insurance, Foss can make a memorable impression. So was onto a winner was confirmed when Maritime, the Stanford Alumni can going the extra distance. “One of he had a call from one of the CEOs who Association, the California Academy our guests mentioned at dinner that had been in attendance. “This fellow of Sciences and TU. The lodge hosts he wanted to hear elk bugle,” recalled was from Chicago, and had never fly board meetings, sales force incentive Bianca Gruetter, from Thomas Weisel fished before,” Frey said, recalling the trips and executive group training or Venture Partners, which has taken trip. “He absolutely enjoyed himself—the team-building gatherings as well. groups to Henry’s Fork six times. “The first class service, fine food and wine There are a handful of considerations following morning, one of the lodge and attention to detail at the lodge, and for planning a successful fly-fishing out- staff took a group on an elk bugle hike his time on the river. When he called ing. It begins with your invite list. Frey at sunrise.” in December, he said ‘I don’t know if feels that it’s important to have a mix of It goes without saying that any lodge you’re going to do this event again next clients and prospects, and to make sure you consider should offer good fishing. year, or if I’ll be invited. But if you are that attendees are at comparable level (As much as we say catching fish doesn’t doing it and I am invited, can you tell in their organizations—the higher the matter all that much in our enjoyment me when it will happen, so my family better. “CEOs like to network and share of an outing, it certainly can elevate vacation doesn’t conflict with the trip?” ideas with other CEOs,” he reasons. “At one’s mood to have a productive day!) Anyone who’s fished the sacred waters these events, clients get to know each Equally important is a venue that offers of the Henry’s Fork and has experi- other, and as a result, many are doing a variety of fishing experiences, and enced the rustic elegance of Henry’s business together.” Timing is also a guides that understand the needs of Fork Lodge understands the appeal of consideration. You’ll want to make sure different anglers. Ideally, there will be an outing to such a place… especially that the event is not in conflict with key spots where you can put beginners on if someone else is footing the not- business timeframes that impact private some fish and more technical waters inconsequential bill. (An all-inclusive or public companies. You’ll also want to where the experienced angler can be three-night trip to Henrys Fork Lodge issue invitations far in advance, to avoid challenged. with two days of guided fishing for 20 conflicts with family vacations and other Fly-fishing outings not only can attendees costs in the mid-five figures; popular seasons for corporate events. convert prospects into clients. It can guests are expected to cover the cost of It’s also important to select a lodge bring new anglers to the sport. “I have their travel to Idaho Falls.) Can such that can comfortably accommodate both seen a number of executives turn into

“I– Paul have Frey, senior seen vice president a and number industry manager, Waste of & Recycling executives Industry Specialty Group,turn Wells Fargointo

expenditures – especially in a business the number of attendees in your outing fans of the sport after the outing,” Frey climate that’s increasingly sensitive to and the level of service that C-level guests added. “Before they leave, they go down the scent of boondoggles–be justified? are accustomed to. “Guest expectations to one of the fly shops in Island Park Does the trip merely generate the treacle for a fishing lodge used to be a bit lower and they’ll drop $4,000 or $5,000 intangible of good feelings or does than for those at a luxury hotel,” said on a whole fly-fishing outfit and all of business get written? Nelson Ishiyama, the owner of Henry’s the gear.” Paul Frey would say both. Fork Lodge. “But corporate guests are For the long-term well-being of our “Every year, the event yields sig- accustomed to the highest quality when rivers, fostering new recruits is certainly nificant business activity,” he shared, they travel for business or on vacation to something worth investing in.

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62 TIM ROMANO

fans of the sport after the outing.”

For more information on TU-friendly lodges that can handle your corporate event, contact Walt Gasson, [email protected]. 63 TROUT FALL 2015

WORDS BY KIRK DEETER PHOTOGRAPHS BY TIM ROMANO

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The first fish I ever caught on a fly was a brown trout, in the Baldwin River in Michigan, when I was 18 years old. In truth, the reason I was fly fishing there in the first place was to impress a girl I was dating. Having a fair amount of common sense (even at that age) I wanted to earn the favor of her father, whom, she had explained, was a die-hard fly fisherman. So I drove from Ann Arbor, in a borrowed car, to their family cabin (wondering to myself why in the hell any family would have a cottage on a river?) and I surrendered to their litmus test. You see, I was a gear-chucker then, having grown up on the Wisconsin shoreline of Lake Michigan. Not very long after “how’d’ya’do?” I got sent downstream to fend for myself in a smelly pair of rubber Red Ball chest waders, with a box of tattered wet flies, and a Fenwick 5-weight with a Pflueger Medalist reel. Miraculously, I managed to hook a 14-inch brown on

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a Mickey Finn, and was immediately (doubly, you might say) smitten. I eventually got the girl, with her dad’s blessing. We’ve now been married 26 years. The first brown trout planted in the United States were released in that Baldwin River, almost exactly 100 years before I hooked my first. In fact, I can now walk from the family cottage to the railroad trestle from which those browns were dumped from milk cans into the Baldwin’s tannic waters in 1884. Admittedly, having researched this some, there is dispute as to whether brown trout (native to Europe) were actually first introduced in New York or Michigan, and being a pragmatist, I have a hard time imagining that nobody would have thought to drop at least a few fish in New York streams after the fry and eggs had made the arduous transatlantic journey from the Motherland. But Michigan makes the most aggres- sive claim these days, and, per- The interesting haps more thing is that that importantly, same darn fish that’s how my wife’s dad has now led me to and grandpa parts of the world always told I never imagined the story. So I would see. that’s what I’m sticking with. Besides, a Michigan genesis for American brown trout makes my own story better. Because the interesting thing is that that same darn fish has now led me to parts of the world I never imagined I would see. Yes, of course, the fly-fishing bug spread to include myriad species… anything that would eat a fly, in fact. I got so enamored with fly fishing and writing about it, that I became an editor-at-large for Field & Stream magazine. (I consistently reminded my father-in-law until his passing a few years ago that I would

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have been a doctor or a lawyer had he not put this “fly-fishing thing” in my head. We both were/are okay with that.) The stories poured like water through a falling riffle. Redfish in the Louisiana marsh. Steelhead in the Great Lakes and Pacific Northwest. Bonefish on the Bahamian flats. Heck… tar- No other fish, pon in Florida, anywhere, feels Costa Rica, quite like a brown and elsewhere trout does at the (and let me end of a fly line. tell you, one jumped tarpon can change your life). Even whacky stuff like Arapaimas in the jungle of Guyana; golden dorado in Bolivia… hot salmon and teaching natives to fly fish in the wilds of Alaska… almost more than I can remember at this point. Yet despite all of that, it’s the brown trout—a species that has led me to the tip of Tierra del Feugo in South America, to above the Arctic Circle in Russia, to Iceland, to the haunting waters of New Zealand’s South Island, to so many other places in the American West, the Driftless Area streams in my native Wisconsin and beyond (often with photographer Tim Romano)—that still flips my switch more than anything else that swims. I daydream about brown trout. When I’m fishing dry flies on a river in Colorado, or Montana, for example, and I see the subtle slurp of a trout inhaling a pattern I just cast… subliminally or not, I’m always hoping that it’s a brown pulling on my line. I usually know right away. That distinctive head shake. That grinding thrash… nose to the bottom of the stream. The dogged determination. No other fish, anywhere, feels quite like a brown trout does at the end of a fly line.

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I go back to Michigan now and then, to see the Hexagenia mayflies fall, or to throw mouse flies in the pitch blackness. That’s mostly just to hear the biggest brown trout eat, and feel that unique tug. It shakes my soul. Now, in fairness, brown trout are not “native” species in America. I love and respect the natives, and I put their survival as a top priority, even where my beloved browns threaten the ability for native trout to persist. But I won’t discount “wild” aspect of brown trout. How can you not respect a trout species that’s been able to adapt and persevere in so many places, like the brown trout has? The brown is the “Über-trout.” An “invasive” species? Are you kidding? Browns are immigrants. Just like most of the humans who now make up the fabric of American culture. It’s only fitting that an American angler duly embraces the brown trout as a kindred spirit. In 1959, Trout Unlimited was formed by a group of anglers in Michigan who sought to preserve the quality of trout fishing for wild fish. Make no mistake. They were talking about brown trout. And now, as you consider the world’s “classic” fly-fish- It’s only ing destina- fitting that an tions—from the American angler United States, to Argentina duly embraces and Chile, to the brown trout New Zealand as a kindred and beyond— spirit. the reality is that brown trout aren’t “from” any of those places. And yet it is the brown trout that supports the culture of fly fishing more than any other trout species in the world. Indeed, the sun never sets on the empire of the brown trout. Long may it reign.

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Kirk Deeter and Tim Romano are partnering on a book project, simply titled, Brown Trout, to be released in the next 18 months. TROUT FALL 2015 74

ActionlineNews from the Field

Vermont Young environmental activists fight for healthy streams 76

Pennsylvania Atlas Dam reconnection project 77

Illinois Chicago TU conducts second year of macroinvertebrate studies 78

Tennessee Lynn Camp Prong update 2015 79

Tip and Tools Free family memberships, running successful chapter events, engaging members in our mission… and more 80

Stream Champion Jackie Jordan 82

Grassroots Spotlight On-the-ground chapter success stories

Young Environmental Activists Fight for Healthy Streams VERMONT

wo Middlebury, Vt., 11-year-olds Classroom and the importance of regula- students in learning through TIC at his played hooky on Friday, Feb. 6, tions to reduce run-off and pollution flow- school. T2015. Well, not exactly. ing into the state’s rivers and streams. The two young pupils started their Mary Hogan School sixth-grader Alex Trout in the Classroom is a national day on the floor of the impressive, cav- Shashok and fifth-grader Clare Molineaux program that involves students and their ernous House chamber, where they were did skip class that day, but it wasn’t to teacher raising trout—in Vermont, that announced as guests, asked to stand and ski, hang out with friends, or play video means brook trout—from eggs received greeted by a rousing ovation from the 150 games. Rather, they traveled with their in early-January to fingerlings that the lawmakers. moms to Montpelier, Vermont’s charming students release in a local stream in May. After the House conducted its morning capital city. There they met their town’s Along the way, students learn a great deal business, legislators adjourned to com- representatives, Betty A. Nuovo and Amy about water chemistry, trout life cycle, mittee meetings, and Alex and Clare were Sheldon. The purpose of the trip: testify- habitat, diet and freshwater ecosystems. guided to Room 47, where the Committee ing before the Committee on Fish, Wildlife, The Mary Hogan program is led in a most on Fish, Wildlife and Water Resources was and Water Resources of Vermont’s House exemplary way by STEM teacher Steve to meet. Here, Rep. Sheldon introduced her of Representatives about Trout in the Flint, who in 2013-2014 engaged 230 young constituents, who were then invited to address the 11-member committee. Speaking extemporaneously, Clare went first. She briefly described the TIC program that she participated in as a fourth- grader and explained how she learned “…what a particular balance it is for them [the eastern brook trout she and her class- mates raised] to be able to survive.” She also made the point that, “Rivers need to stay clean for that to be possible.” Alex followed by reading from a state- ment he had prepared. “My name is Alex

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Shashok. I am 11 years old and I live in East Middlebury near the Middlebury River. I believe that clean water is really the epitome of life for most, if not all, living things. We require clean water for drinking purposes, recreation and, for some, to breathe. It needs to be clean or else we’ll all get sick.” Several of the legislators, who seemed “touched and pleased” by the testimony they heard, had questions for the students or offered comments. Representative Kathryn Webb encour- aged them “to pursue this as a lifelong Atlas Dam process.” She added, “We’ll continue this work. We can’t wait for you to join us and Reconnection Project work on it too.” PENNSYLVANIA Although Clare hadn’t known either trees should be cleared from the upstream of her legislators before this outing, she face of the dam. Second, a length of 10 found them both very friendly and would Atlas Cement Co. built a dam located in the feet beyond the toe of the dam should now not hesitate to talk to them if she Borough of Northampton in Northampton be clear to be able to spot seeps or boils. had a concern about a matter appropri- County, Pa. The dam backed up the Third, cracks and/or deterioration should ate for the Legislature. She also thinks Hokendauqua Creek, a coldwater fishery, be repaired to reduce seepage through the that as a result of her TIC experience, for over 4,000 feet. The dam, originally dam. Finally, the Horwith family, as owners she’s likely “to be more careful in pro- built around 1898, was over 600 feet of the property on which the dam sat, must tecting the environment for trout and long and ranged in height from eight feet maintain the dam. other species.” to its highest point of 15 feet above the The Horwith family offered the dam and stream bed. The impoundment was used about 20 acres of land to the Borough of by the Atlas Cement Company for a wet Northampton and Northampton County. process of making cement. The plant was Both governmental units wanted nothing closed for business in the late 1980s. to do with the property due to ongo- The site was used by numerous teaching liability and maintenance concerns. ers for environmental studies including At this time, Mauser approached the an eighth-grade science teacher named Horwith family about removing the dam. Gerald Newhardt, who inspired TU mem- The family agreed that the Hokendauqua ber John Mauser. Newhardt developed a Chapter of TU could explore the removal plan for a trail and outdoor classroom in of the dam. On March 18, 2005 Mauser the early 1970s and proposed that the and other members of TU met with repre- Northampton Area School District acquire sentatives of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat the property for educational purposes. The Commission, DEP, U.S. Army Corps of NASD decided to not acquire the property. Engineers and the Northampton County Mauser became a teacher and for about Conservation District. All parties agreed 20 years had students tour the site, clear the dam should be removed. the dam of debris, and clear several trails. The process was started. The PFBC In 2000, the Pennsylvania Department put the TU chapter in touch with the of Environmental Protection notified the URS Corporation now part of AECOM. Horwith family, owners of the site, that Mauser and representatives of URS put they were responsible for maintaining the together a grant proposal that was submit- dam. The DEP stated that four conditions ted to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric had to be met. First, all brush, shrubs and Administration on Jan. 11, 2006. The origi-

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nal grant requested $70,302 for planning, ing during removal and $385,900 in decon- improvements are planned for this section engineering and permitting. The removal struction costs. A Pennsylvania DEP Growing of the stream. Sometime this year, Mauser costs were estimated at $128,900. NOAA Grant was developed by Weihbrecht in the expects to catch his first wild brown trout approved the grant and engineering plans amount of $420,900. The TU chapter did from this stretch of the Hokendauqua were developed and reviewed with the per- not hold 501(c)3 statues, so Mauser , who is Creek. The chapter will also look into plac- mitting agencies. Core samples were taken also project manager for the Martins-Jacoby ing our Trout in the Classroom fish in this and analyzed for over 2000 feet of stream Watershed Association, applied for the area of the stream. bed. As years went by and each set of Growing Greener grant under the name of Pictures and more information requirements for each agency was met, the the MJWA. The funding was awarded in 2014. about the project can be found on the engineering fees, core sampling, permitting On Sept. 11, 2014, River Logic Solutions Hokendauqua Chapter’s website at ___hok- costs and other non-construction expenses made the initial breach of the dam. A 240- ______endauqua.tu.org had reached over $169,000. William foot wedge was taken out of the dam Weihbrechtt, Senior Stream Restoration and tapered down to 125 feet at stream Specialist for URS, and Mauser met with all bed level. RLS used an excavator with a the previous listed agencies and American 100-foot boom to remove sediment and Rivers to discuss strategies for overcoming uncover the original stream bed which was the new hurdle of the week. At one point it covered by 10 feet of sediment at the dam was suggested the dam removal involve the face. On Oct. 21, 2014, RLS had completed trucking of all sediment to a nearby quarry sediment removal, seeded the new stream which would incur an estimated several bank and seeded the manmade wetland. hundred thousand dollars in tipping fees Kristi Fach, Director of Ecological and trucking costs. The tipping and trans- Restoration for the Wildlands Conservancy, portation fees made the project too costly. Weihbrecht, Mauser, Tyler Niemond, PA Weihbrecht noted that only 240 feet of dam F&BC, Ben Larsen and several TU members was to be removed. He strongly proposed met along the banks of the Hokendauqua creating a new wetland below the remaining Creek on March 24, 2015 to review the 360 feet of dam. Over the years of flooding, project. The date is important because the braided stream area below the dam had the process started on March 18, 2005 a been scoured and sediment starved. After little over 10 years ago. The feeling of all Chicago TU Conducts months of discussion the CORPS approved parties was a sense of accomplishment and Second Year of the wetland creation. Weihbrecht developed excitement about the future of the project. new cost estimates of $35,000 for engineer- Krista Fach oversaw the planting of Macroinvertebrate trees and shrubs as well as seeding of bare earth areas on May 2, 2015. Volunteers Studies from area TU chapters, the conservancy ILLINOIS and Watershed Coalition of the Lehigh Valley’s Watershed Stewards class will plant the stream banks with native plants. More The Oak Brook Chapter of TU returns to the Coldwater River and tributaries on Saturday, June 13, 2015 to conduct its second year of macroinvertebrate surveys. The Coldwater River is a 19.4-mile- long stream located in western Michigan and is part of the Grand River drainage basin. The Chicago TU chapter conducted its first set of spring and fall surveys in conjunction with the Coldwater River Watershed Council in May and October of 2015, and will be returning to the same sites annually going forward in the spring and fall. Marv Strauch represents OBTU as a member of the CRWC board. “This is a great opportunity to pitch in on a valuable data collection program,” says Strauch, “which will enable the Coldwater River Watershed Council to monitor the effects of their stream improvement projects, mitigation of agricultural run-off,

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and in general, to better understand the invertebrate populations of the Coldwater River system.” Lynn Camp Prong Update 2015 The objective of the study is to develop and document a historical profile The fisheries staff, with assistance from local volunteers, TU members, Great of the macroinvertebrate population of Smoky Mountains National Park interns and a group of outdoor writers, rang- the Coldwater River and its tributaries to ing in age from seven to 82, conducted population monitoring surveys on the better understand the cause and effects lower three miles of Lynn Camp Prong June 22, 24 and 25. Electrofishing sur- of human and animal waste pollution due veys on Lynn Camp and a tributary (Marks Creek) indicate brook trout popu- to specific incidents as well as over time. lations are at (15 kg/ha) or exceeding (>34 kg/ha) pre-treatment biomass of Macroinvertebrates are sensitive to dif- rainbow trout at all five sites. The data indicate there are now between 1,392- ferent chemical and physical conditions. 5,616 brook trout per mile of stream on Lynn Camp Prong. The upper end of If there is a change in the water quality, the biomass range (>35 kg/ha) would be considered exceptional in terms of perhaps because of a pollutant entering trout abundance for any GRSM stream. Both 2014 and 2015 produced excel- the water, or a change in flow downstream lent year classes of young-of-year brook trout, which means there will be good of a man-made alteration, then the macro- numbers of adults in the next two to three years. In fact, YOY fish comprised invertebrate community may also change. 53% of the total brook trout catch across all sites. Of the adults collected in Therefore, the richness of a macroinverte- all sites, 23% were greater than seven inches with good numbers of fish >eight brate community composition in a water inches. Catch rates of anglers have been reported in the 20-40 fish per hour body can be used to provide an estimate range with the highest catch rates being reported farther from the trailhead. of water body health. Lynn Camp Prong Brook Trout Recovery

Target Biomass (14-34 kg/ha)

What’s a Marcroinvertebrate? Rainbow Trout The term macroinvertebrate describes those animals that have no backbone and can be seen with the naked eye. These animals generally include Biomass of pre-treatment rainbow trout and post-treatment brook trout after restora- aquatic insects, crustaceans, mollusks, tion of 8.5 miles of Lynn Camp Prong, GRSM using the fish piscicide antimycin. The arachnids (joint-legged spider-like pre-treatment biomass of rainbow trout was used as a recovery target for the newly insects) and annelids (segmented established brook trout population. Each site number represents 100m increments worms and leeches). Some aquatic from the barrier falls. macro invertebrates can be quite large, such as freshwater crayfish. However, most are very small and can only be collected with a fine mesh seine or net. These animals live in the water for all The Actionline section of TROUT provides or part of their lives, so their survival a perfect forum for exchanging information and is related to the water quality and are sharing successes. Send us a short item—150 significant within the food chain as to 300 words—describing your project or larger animals such as fish and birds event, why it was significant and, if possible, rely on them as a food source. Popular how it might benefit other chapters. Send and familiar macro invertebrates sam- Actionline submissions, plus photos (digital pled as part of the October 2014 images are preferred), to Samantha Carmichael survey included various mayflies, cad- at [email protected],______1777 North Kent Street, dis, scuds, stone flies, hellgrammites, #100, Arlington, VA., 22209, (703) 284-9422. aquatic worms and crayfish.

7979 TROUT FALL 20122015

By Jeff Yates [Director of Volunteer Operations ]

Bringing the Whole Family Into the Fold – Adding Kids and Spouses to Your Chapter Rosters

rout Unlimited members often members of a household to the roster is a Getting your members to add their fam- share their passion for conser- great way to engage the entire family. ily members information is easy: vation and fishing with their By signing up and adding the names · For existing members with a family mem- spouses, partners and children. T and information for the family members bership, they should go to: www.tu.org/ Our recently launched Family Membership living in their household, your members will ______familyaddition campaign is off to a great start. The pro- receive TU’s full membership benefits for gram is open to existing members at any their family members, including a unique · For existing members with a different type level, including current family members, membership ID, online access and personal of membership, they should go to: www.___ and allows our members to get their entire communications from local chapters, state tu.org/familymembership family linked into TU! councils and TU nationally. One copy of · For people who are not yet members, Whether signing up their spouse or TROUT magazine is sent to the entire family, send them to www.tu.org/intro to sign up partner to receive local chapter emails, or an environmentally-friendly solution, and a at half-price, then encourage them to sign adding their children so they will receive complimentary copy of the Stream Explorers up their family members as well. invites to TU Camps and other youth- magazine will be mailed to the youth in each focused communications, adding all the household.

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calendar All web conference trainings are held at 8 p.m. EST. Register online at www.tu.org/tacklebox Oct. 7: Training: Annual Financial Report and IRS Filing Requirements Oct. 15: Deadline: Embrace-A-Stream – Contact your regional representative Nov. 4: Training: How to Leverage Partnerships to Grow Your impact Nov. 15: Deadline: Annual Financial Reports due Event-In-A-Box: Step-by-Step Guides to Running Nov. 15: Deadline: Embrace-A-Stream – Draft Successful Chapter Events proposals due Nov. 17: Training: Fundraising – Using the Taking on a new event, or growing existing events to draw larger Vendor Discount Program crowds, raise more money and build broader awareness of TU can often seem daunting. Dec. 3: Training: Succession Planning & Developing New Leaders A new set of “Event-in-a-Box” resources are now available online at www.tu.org/event-in-a-box to help guide you through some of Dec. 9: Training: Sending Effective Emails to the best practices of running outward-facing, fun, engaging chapter Your Members events. Whether you’re looking to run a fly fishing or tying class, plan Dec. 15: Deadline: Embrace-A-Stream – Final a river cleanup or host a film tour screening, these new resources proposals due will give step-by-step guidance, planning documents and materials, Jan. 13: Training: Strategic Planning – Building a resources and more. Roadmap for Growth These new tools also offer some case studies of past successes from Jan. 20: Training: Grassroots Advocacy – Making your fellow volunteers in other chapters, as well as pitfalls to avoid Your Presence Known in Local Politics and ways to expand the reach of your existing event. Feb. 9: Training: New Chapter Leader Orientation For questions or to support growing your chapter’s events and Feb. 15: Deadline: IRS From 990 filing due activities please contact Kyle Smith, Membership Engagement Feb. 16: Training: New Council Leader Orientation Manager at [email protected]______or 541-729-5830.

Wet Waders & Dirty Hands – Engaging Members in Our Mission It should come as no surprise, but TU members like to make a difference locally and help protect and restore their local rivers and streams. Recent surveys have shown that more than 30% of our members want to volunteer for local projects—and it’s even higher for the younger crowd of 18-35 year-olds. For chapters looking to engage their members, increase activities and grow their impact locally, offering opportunities for members to get their waders wet and their hands dirty is the best first step to take. · Host an annual fall river cleanup: With the leaves off the trees, now is an easy time to walk the banks and stream channels and find the trash that has accumulated on a local river all spring and summer. · Conduct a stream water quality monitoring workshop: TU has a range of Angler Science tools to help your chapter plan a volunteer day checking up on the health of a local river and members love doing hands- on science to help their favorite stream. View a range of guides and plans at www.tu.org/anglerscience. · Plant a tree day: A river planting project can be fast, simple, easy to plan and execute. Finding sites along local streams where there’s a need, getting local agency approval, then calling out your members to pitch in is all it takes. Find native plant nurseries near you to buy the plants at www.plantnative.org. Above all else, be sure to view volunteer days as opportunities to build relationships and have fun! Set the work schedule for 3-4 hours at the most (9 a.m. to noon is ideal) then feed all of your volunteers and invite them to go fishing after the work is done.

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with an awareness of your place in the wider world.” Back on land, Jackie’s first order of business became reviving her largely inactive TU Chapter. This involved redirecting an emphasis on membership Jackie Jordan meetings to a more diverse offering of President, Southwestern events and activities that would engage Vermont Chapter members and the broader community. Her plan worked. After populating the chapter's calendar with a gear swap, conservation symposium, film show- ings, volunteer events and tree plant- ings, Jordan also increased the chapter’s Trout in the Classroom involvement. Membership grew quickly. “Jackie represents a breath of fresh air needed by the Southwestern Vermont ost anglers seek out a Chapter,” says Jeff Yates, Director of local TU Chapter meet- Volunteer Operations at TU. “She ing to learn about the epitomizes a leader who convenes diverse Mbest local fishing spot. interests with a shared passion for mak- After that, it isn’t long ing a difference in their before they become local community. Favorite Fly: passionate advocates People really want to The foam ant; they make for conserving the be a part of what she me laugh. cold water habitats that Stream is doing.” Favorite Place to Fish: beckon them through- Champion Jackie’s work has Cape Cod and Martha’s out the year. also gained national Vineyard. I love Jackie Jordan is an recognition which led New England salt. exception to that rule. to an appointment to “After Vermont felt the effects of TU’s Women’s Initiative Workgroup Most Memorable Fish: A 40” striped bass caught Hurricane Irene, I sought out ways to where she now serves as secretary. In off a beach on Martha’s become involved in conserving stream just two years, the team has grown the Vineyard, under the habitats compromised by the storm,” says organization’s female membership moonlight. It was amazing- Jordan. “I wanted to restore the land- to 10,000, an exciting development it had me into my backing scape; plant some trees.” for the organization and the sport. three times! By the end of her first meeting, “From the beginning, I wanted to give Jackie joined the Southwestern Vermont back but wasn’t sure how it would take Chapter board and currently serves as its shape,” says Jordan. “After that first president. And she eventually took up meeting, it became very clear—I want fishing when her employer, the Vermont- people to know that they can really based Orvis, held a two-day fly-fishing make a difference in benefiting our local course. stream habitats regardless of whether or “I quickly fell in love with it,” adds not they fish. After that, for me, it was Jordan. “I love the form and the cast and ‘all in.’” the way the act of fly fishing provides you

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TROUT FALL 2015 84

Art of Angling [ By Dave Whitlock]

Classic Feathered Trout Streamers

THE STREAMER FLY IS A LONG-BODIED most perfectly-tied feather streamers. are illustrated here and one look will design that imitates small forage fish Her streamers stand alone for their convince even the most critical eye that that are prey for trout, char and land- design perfection, material proportions his work is pure classical excellence! locked salmon. These streamers were and colorations, as well as their classic I was pleasantly surprised to learn, developed to catch larger trout that effectiveness and lasting popularity. during my streamer history search, that feed on quantities of minnows, trout I’ve included some of her streamers in Theodore Gordon had also created early parr and other small fish as the trout the illustration. Carrie’s “Grey Ghost” streamers, although not initially for mature and require more food intake is said to be the best known streamer trout. His designs were to lure in pike, in order to continue growing. fly throughout the fly-fishing world. bass and perch. However, his Bumble- There is evidence that streamer A close second for creating especially Puppy streamer was eventually proven lures were used by non-fly-fishers high-quality and beautiful streamers was to be an excellent brown and brook in ancient Macedonia and by early Lew Oatman (1902-1959). Lew’s Brook trout fly, especially in low-visibility Alaskan Eskimos, but the design is Trout, Male Dace and Silver Darter waters and at night. It continues to first known in North appear on the “favorite America from the very late fly” lists of many writers, 1800s. It is recorded in Two Most Popular Feathers even today. our fly-fishing literature For Forming Streamer Bodies: Water Movements, Feather-bodied stream- Ideal Shape and Color Patterns that around 1890-1901, ers for trout are usually

Herbert L. Welch, of Neck Hackle—wider barbule pattern constructed on long-shank, Mooselookmeguntic, Saddle Hackle—more flexible and thinner Cock Neck Hackle Limerick- or Sproat-bend Maine, tied some of the hooks, in sizes #10 to 1/0. first true streamer flies Stems The hook point is located to imitate forage fish that at about 2/3 the length of occur in the northeastern the body. Tandem hooks waters of the U.S. His in the mid-body and at the flies—Welch Rarebit, very tail are sometimes tied Black Ghost, Jane Craig, Barbs into streamers that are to Green Spot and Welch Cock Saddle Hackle Webs be trolled or used to hook Montreal—were appar- fish that tend to strike at ently all very effective Parts of Feather Body Streamers a steamer’s tail. The body in the early 1900s and feathers, originally called remain as classic, popular Back (topping) wings, are usually best streamers today. Body (wing) Eye (cheek) constructed from cock Welch was one of the necks or saddle hackles first American fly fishers that are thin-stemmed and to realize that the diets Tail have a moderate-to-wide- of larger trout, char and Tip width web to give the fly Rib Hook’s Head land- locks contained sig- Butt Belly Throat the ideal fish shape and nificant amounts of small Hook Body Sreamer’s (Minnow) Head or movement in the water. For Average Hook Location 2/3 Shoulder 1/4 Length of Streamer fishes. Another streamer Streamer’s Length the streamers with darker tier from Maine, Carrie Streamer Hooks—Limerick or Sproat Bends backs, peacock or ostrich Stevens (1882-1970), gets Hook Length 3x to 8x Long herl are most ideal and the my vote for fashioning the flexibility of these feathers

85 TROUT FALL 2015

compliments the desired body movement challenge of illustrating these little works To further your feather-streamer knowl- of these flies. of art with my paints and pencils as much edge and tying methods I recommend: Around 1975, Dave Inks and Doug as sculpting them at my tying desk. Streamer Fly Tying and Fishing by Joseph D. Swisher introduced the New Zealand In my lifetime, I’ve watched streamers Bates Jr. Stackpole Books, 1966 ‘Matuka’ method for creating the body become even more effective as weights of the streamer. I’ve always felt that this such as split shot, lead wire, metal beads, The Founding Flies by Mike Valla. Stackpole method is incredibly effective for streamer dumbbell eyes and tungsten cones have Books, 2013. shape and water performance; plus, this become legal and accepted by fly fishers. Guide to Aquatic Trout Food by Dave Whitlock. technique helps prevent the tangling back Sinking tip and full-sinking lines can Lyons Press, 2007. of the feathers around the hook when further enhance the ability to reach swifter it’s cast. To imitate the coloration and and deeper trout waters. Unlike most 1. Welch Rarebit—Originated by Herbert L markings of natural foods, badger, cree, aquatic invertebrate imitations that should Welch, this fly is often credited as the first furnace, chinchilla and grizzly hackles be fished with very precise water action, streamer for trout and landlock salmon. 1902 are unsurpassed. When carefully dyed or streamers are effective when worked up, 2. Black Ghost—Originated by ‘Herbie’ Welch, overlaid with other hackle colors, remark- down or across-stream as long as one is it is still one of the most well-known streamers. ably beautiful minnow body imitations imitating the action of minnows that are 3. Bumble Puppy—Originated by Theodore Gordon around 1880. First tied as a pike fly, it are possible. Marabou feathers, ostrich fleeing, feeding or swimming. Quick eventually evolved into a very popular brown and peacock herls can be used to simulate directional changes, erratic pauses and and brook trout night fly. the lower belly and further enhance twitches often trigger a trout’s predatory 4. Don’s Delight—By Carrie Stevens. realism and swimming movement. The instincts to attack the streamer. Joe Brooks, 5. Grey Ghost—Originated by Carrie Stevens, it may be the best known streamer across the hackle stem admirably depicts the lateral a devoted trout-streamer expert, often said trout and salmon world. line that all small fishes have along their that streamers worked best in current when 6. Ebden’s Fancy—A Carrie Stevens original, sides from head to tail. Because predators presented so the trout could see a side view, it is a classic example of blending several hackle markings and colors to achieve an are particularly triggered to attack prey and in still waters when swam directly by overall natural color pattern. when eye contact is made, most streamers a trout’s nose. I often hear streamer fly 7. Male Dace—By Lew Oatman. are adorned with a pair of vivid eyes on fishers remark that working streamers 8. Brook Trout—By Lew Oatman. their heads. The gorgeous, spotted neck in flowing and still waters is much more 9. Silver Darter—By Lew Oatman. feathers of the jungle cock are classic interesting than drifting insect imitations. 10. Nine Three (tied tandem)—Originated by feathers for eyes, but being endangered, I, myself, love them both. Dr. Hubert Sanborn to imitate smelt. this once-wild gamebird is now pen-raised A good assortment of productive 11. Supervisor Imperial (tied tandem)— and the feathers are expensive. A number feather-bodied streamers should match By Warden Supervisor Joseph S. Stickney in of realistic jungle cock imitations, paints the sizes of minnows that trout feed on, Saco, Maine to imitate finger smelt 12. Matuka—The Matuka is one of the many and plastic eyes have become available and have the color, shape and action of the uniquely formed flies from New Zealand. are widely accepted by today’s streamer naturals, and be impressionistic rather 13. Matuka Silver Spruce—By Dave Whitlock. tiers and fishers. than an exact imitation. Try to add 14. Olive “Green Machine” Matuka—By Most small fish that trout feed on, such some black, white and fluorescent color Doug Swisher. An outstanding searching, as shiners, dace, chubs, shad, smelt and patterns to your fly box for when water attractor streamer. trout parr, display light reflective side visibility is limited by murkiness or low 15. Little Brown Trout—By Dave Whitlock: Match-the-Minnow series. scales, especially when they are actively light conditions. 16. Shad Alewife—By Dave Whitlock: Match- feeding or injured. Highly reflective Classic feather-bodied streamers still the-Minnow series. metallic and pearlescent Mylar strands, have an important place in one’s fly box. 17. Yellow Perch—By Dave Whitlock: Match- such as Flashabou and Crystal Flash, As with most flies, streamer designs are the-Minnow series. incorporated into the streamer fly com- continually evolving as our knowledge, 18. Silver Minnow “The Incredible”—By Al Giradot. A perennial classic feather-bodied pletes the illusion of the live minnow. materials and methods are expanding. streamer. These graceful, long, slender flies, with In a future issue I will focus on the other 19. Pink Lady—By Carrie Stevens. A most their intricate coloring and neatly pro- streamer designs such as bucktail, deer beautiful classic streamer to complete these illustrations as it was Carrie’s last streamer portioned feather bodies captivate both hair, marabou and jig streamers. she tied, finished with a gold- thread head ring trout and the fly fisher’s eyes. I love the on December 4, 1953.

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CLASSIFIEDS

OUTFITTERS & GUIDES BAMBOO RODS Buy Sell Consign World class fishing from your back yard! Stunning www.coldwatercollectibles.com (616) 554-6239 riverfront estate, with 4100 sf home, located on the Animas EAST River between Durango Colorado and Purgatory Resort. Golden Trout Lanyards Quality Fly Fishing Lanyards Contact Linda Crowther 970-749-2088 or Sara Staber Exclusive Fly Fishing Club in western N.C. Enjoy Visit us at www.goldentroutlanyards.com over a mile of private trophy trout stream all to yourself! 970-759-5033 Keller Williams Realty. $2,749,500. www.hollerfarm.com ART www.DurangoColorado.com

SOUTHWEST Trout Art: originals, prints, tiles by published Colorado A river runs through it! Spectacular 21.59 acre view lot artist Nora Bushong Larimer www.rockrungallery.com along Lake Fork Creek, with views of the eastern mountains. IRONHORSE OUTFITTERS. We guide in Arkansas and Buena Vista, CO 719-966-5185 Several choice building sites to choose from on this large New Mexico. Wade or float. Great rates! “Art With Attitude” parcel. Includes water rights. Enjoy your very own fly fish- Joepaul Meyers 254-979-5512 www.ironhorseforge.net EDUCATION ing paradise. Located in Elk Haven, just outside of McCall, Idaho. Please contact [email protected] MIDWEST HARRISON MIDDLETON UNIVERSITY Great Cell: 208-634-6544 Fax: 208-634-3719 Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Join the U.P. Books, Great Ideas, Great Conversations www.hmu.edu Fly Angler in the remote, wild and scenic western U.P. FOR RENT FOR SALE https://upflyangler.com EAST ALASKA FLIES & GEAR Squam Lake, New Hampshire. Crystal clear gla- Just a Fishin’ & Relaxin. Nothing else like this 4.51 AC cial lake, house sleeps 16, dock, raft, linens, many extras Orvis Adirondack Bamboo rod with two tips. Never 1,600 square ft log with 3 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms. included. Please call Susan or email, 860-567-4894, fished $1,500 (406)587-0277 Love the stone fireplace, 2 garages and woodworking shop. [email protected]. Free Online Fishing Magazine. Articles on fishing This beauty delivers glorious views, bubbling brook and destinations throughout the country written by TU life world-class fishing for trout and salmon within minutes WEST in Cooper Landing, AK. www.kenaihomes.com Please call members. www.fishingmagazineus.com INVESTMENT PROPERTY ON ISLAND PARK Glenda Feeken at 907-252-2743 RESERVOIR. Totally furnished. Now renting for $825 a Buy and selling flyrods and reels Bamboo and graphite night. Call now for more information. Teresa Mortensen rods lots of fly reels 410-296-1746; CCP 8307 Alston Rd EAST 208-520-9588 or email [email protected] Towson, MD 21204 North Georgia, true trout stream properties, starting at $75k, 2 ac to 100 + ! Existing homes also available! Call Gene 706-455-5640 www.cabinsonthestream.com www.flyfishblueridge.com Advertise in TROUT Classifieds Fishing cottage with RV on site. One acre butting Reach more than 150,000 anglers for just $2.25/ up to state forest next to Blackberry River in Canaan, word ($2.05/word for members). Send text of ad and Conn. A tributary of Housatonic- full of aquatic life. Email payment to: [email protected] or call 908-534-8919 $79,900 TROUT Classifieds 1777 North Kent Street, Suite 100 WEST Arlington, Virginia 22209 STEELHEAD TROUT FISHING on Idaho’s Salmon Ads may be faxed to (703)284-9400 or e-mailed to River out the front door of this 4,000 sq.ft. solar home [email protected]. FOR SALE on 13.42 acres 37 miles downstream of Salmon, Classifieds must be prepaid. Count phone number, ID. Visit www.offgrididahorealestate.com or call Hank Miller fax number, ZIP code, street number, abbreviations and @ 406-777-6925. email or website address as one word each. Fall Deadline August 1 ISLAND PARK PROPERTY OVERLOOKING HENRY’S To request a media kit for display advertising, call LAKE. Totally furnished. $465.000. For more information, (703)284-9422 call Teresa Mortensen 208-520-9588 or email _____ttfiddler@ gmail.com

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TROUT FALL 2015 88

______89 TROUT FALL 2015

Shannon’s Fly and Tackle Shop Califon, NJ

Become a TU Business Member: www.tu.org/business TIM FLAGLER, TIGHTLINE PRODUCTIONS TIM FLAGLER,

Support Trout Unlimited’s Business Members

McLellan's Fly Shop Mendocino Redwood Company Cutthroat Anglers Fayetteville, AR 72703 LLC Jim Buckler (479) 251-7037 Calpella, CA 95418-0390 Silverthorne, CO 80498 Trout Unlimited Business [email protected] (831) 479-9414 (970) 262-2878 www.mcflyshop.com www.hrcllc.com [email protected] members are TU ambassadors www.fishcolorado.com White River Trout Lodge Miner Family Winery in protecting, restoring, Dave Miner Drifter Fly Fishing reconnecting and sustaining Jo Anna Smith Oakville, CA 94562-0367 Michael Kopp Cotter, AR 72626 (800) 366-9463 Denver, CO 80220 North America's coldwater (870) 430-5229 [email protected] (303) 884-0130 fisheries. To become a TU [email protected] www.minerwines.com [email protected] www.drifterflyfishing.com Business member contact www.whiteriverlodge.com Mountain Hardware and Sports Bran Nylund Duranglers Flies & Supplies Walt Gasson at (307) 630-7398 CALIFORNIA Truckee, CA 96160 John Flick and Tom Knopick or [email protected]. (530) 587-4844 Durango, CO 81301 American River Resort [email protected]______(970) 385-4081 BUSINESS Tom Van Noord www.mountainhardwareandsports. [email protected] ______Outfitters Guides Lodges Coloma, CA 95613 __com www. duranglers.com (530) 622-6700 www.americanriverresort.com North Coast Solar Dvorak Fishing and Rafting Brian Hines Expeditions Bix Restaurant and Supper Club Santa Rosa, CA 95407 Bill Dvorak ALASKA Copper River Lodge Rainbow King Lodge Douglas Biederbeck (707) 575-3999 Nathrop, CO 81236 Pat Vermillion Iliamna, AK 99606 Adventure Denali/Fish Denali San Francisco, CA 94133 [email protected] (719) 539-6851 Iliamna, AK 99606 800-458-6539 Kirk Martakis 415-433-6300 www.ncsr.com (800) 824-3795 (406) 222-0624 [email protected] Cantwell, AK 99729-0127 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] www.rainbowking.com Pacific Watershed Associates, (907) 768-2620 ______www.bixrestaurant.com www.dvorakexpeditions.com [email protected] www.copperriverlodge.com Royal Coachman Lodge Inc. Bowman Bluewater Guides & Danny Hagans Fishpond, Inc. www.fishdenali.com Crooked Creek Retreat Pat Vermillion Outfitters Arcata, CA, 95518 Ben Kurtz Dorothy Baker Dillingham, AK 99576 Airventures Alaska, Inc. Conway Bowman (707) 839-5130 Denver, CO 80223-1346 Kasilof, AK 99610 406-222-0624 Casey Long Cardiff By The Sea, CA 92007-1819 [email protected]______(303) 534-3474 (907) 260-9014 [email protected] Wasilla, AK 99687 (619) 822-MAKO www.pacificwatershed.com ______benkurtz@fishpondusa (907) 631-3377 [email protected] www.royalcoachmanlodge.com [email protected] Rise Up River Trips www.fishpondusa.com [email protected] www.crookedcreekretreat.com Tikchik Narrows Lodge www.bowmanbluewater.com Monica Stark Freestone Aquatics, Inc. www.airventuresalaska.com Crystal Creek Lodge Bud Hodson Buff, Inc. Placerville, CA 95667 Clint Packo Dan Michels Anchorage, AK 99522 Alaska Alpine Adventures Santa Rosa, California 95403 (530) 957-9148 Littleton, CO 80127 King Salmon, AK; 99613 (907) 243-8450 Dan Oberlatz (707) 583-8991 [email protected] (303) 807-7805 (907) 357-3153 [email protected]______Anchorage, AK 99518 [email protected] riseuprivertrips.com [email protected] (907) 301-9997 www.crystalcreeklodge.com www.tikchiklodge.com www.buffusa.com Roadwire www.freestoneaquatics.com [email protected] [email protected] Wilderness Place Lodge California Fly Shop Dave Edmondson Freestone Outfitters, LLC www.alaskaalpineadventures.com Denali Fly Fishing Guides Jason Rockvam/Cory Wendt San Carlos, CA 94070 Santa Fe Springs, CA 92866 Clint Packo Rick McMahan Anchorage, AK 99519 Alaskan Angling Adventures (855) 289-3597 (951) 965-6390 Littleton, CO 80127 Cantwell, AK 99729 (877) 753-3474 LLC. [email protected] [email protected]______(720) 448-5621 (907) 768-1127 [email protected]______Mike Adams www.californiaflyshop.com www.roadwire.com [email protected] Cooper Landing, AK 99572 [email protected] www.wildernessplacelodge.com Cedar House Sport Hotel Rodney Strong Vineyards www.flyfishfreestone.com (907) 595-3336 www.denalifishing.com Women’s Flyfishing Jeff and Patty Baird Kim Sayre Front Range Anglers [email protected] EPIC Angling & Adventure, Cecilia “Pudge” Kleinkauf Truckee, CA 96161 Healdsburg, CA 95448-9523 Steve McLaughlin www.AlaskanAnglingAdventures.com LLC Anchorage, AK 99524 (866) 582-5655 (907) 274-7113 (800) 678-4763 Boulder, CO 80302 Alaska Fly Fishing Goods Rus Schwausch [email protected] www.rodneystrong.com [email protected]______(303) 494-1375 Bradley Elfers Alaska Peninsula, AK www.cedarhousesporthotel.com [email protected] (512) 656-2736 www.womensflyfishing.net The Trout Spot Juneau, AK 99801 Elm Company www.frontrangeanglers.com (907) 586-1550 [email protected] Richard Desrosiers Jr. Brett Wiley Arnold, CA 95223 [email protected] www.epicanglingadventure.com ARIZONA The High Lonesome Ranch Los Angeles, CA 90031 (209) 795-4540 www.alaskaflyfishinggoods.com Expedition Broker Cole Wealth Management (323) 221-9202 (800) 822-7129 Scott Stewart/Scott Bystol Greg Schlachter Alaska River Adventures Martin T. Cole [email protected] [email protected] DeBeque, CO 81630 Haines, AK 99827 George Heim Scottsdale, AZ 85260 www.elmcompany.com www.thetroutspot.com (970) 283-9420 (907) 766-3977 Cooper Landing, AK 99572 (480) 275-6354 [email protected] (877) 406.1320 (888) 836-9027 (480) 205-7435 Florio Restaurant COLORADO www.thehighlonesomeranch.com [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]______Douglas Biederbeck www.alaskariveradventures.com www.expeditionbroker.com www.colewealth.com 1915 Fillmore Street Angler’s Covey Mirr Ranch Group Kenneth Mirr Alaska Sportsman’s Bear Trail Grizzly Skins of Alaska Imus Wilkinson Investment San Francisco, CA 94115 David Leinweber Colorado Springs, CO 80904 Denver, CO 80209 Lodge Rochelle Harrison and (415) 775-4300 Management (800) 753-4746 (303) 623-4545 Nanci Morris Lyon Phil Shoemaker Eb Wilkinson [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] King Salmon, AK 99613 King Salmon, AK 99613 www.floriosf.com Tucson, AZ 85718 www.anglerscovey.com www.MirrRanchGroup.com Lodge: (907) 246-2327 (907) 376-2234 (520) 777-1911 His and Her Fly Fishing North Fork Ranch Cell: (907) 469-0622 [email protected] [email protected]______Frank Shelby Boulder Boat Works, Inc. Dean and Karen May [email protected] www.grizzlyskinsofalaska.com www.imuswilkinson.com Costa Mesa, CA 92627 Steven R. Ehredt Shawnee, CO 80475 www.fishasl.com/naknek/ Keen Eye Anglers (949) 548-9449 Longmont, CO 80501 Lees Ferry Anglers (303) 838-9873 Kyle Kolodziejski (877) 508-9449 (303) 678-0055 Alaska’s Bearclaw Lodge Terry and Wendy Gunn (800) 843-7895 Cooper Landing, AK 99572 [email protected] [email protected] Rob Fuentes Marble Canyon, AZ 86036 [email protected] (541) 851-1143 www.hisherflyfishing.com www.boulderboatworks.com Dillingham, AK 99576 (800) 962-9755 www.northforkranch.com (907) 843-1605 [email protected] [email protected]______Jeff Glaspy Photography Colorado River Outfitters [email protected] www.keeneyeanglers.com www.leesferry.com Mr. Jeff Glaspy Paul Killino and Jim Brunjak Odell Brewing Company Karla Baise www.bearclawlodge.com Naknek River Camp Gerber, CA 96035-0547 Bond, CO 80423 Orvis Retail Store Ft. Collins, CO 80524 Jim Johnson (530) 332-0352 (970) 653-3474 Alaska’s Legend Lodge Fishing Manager (970) 498-9070 King Salmon, AK 99613 [email protected] [email protected] Jack Johnson [email protected] (907) 439-2895 Scottsdale, AZ 85254 www.jeffglaspy.com www.coloradoriveroutfitters.net Bemidji, MN 56601 www.odellbrewing.com [email protected] (480) 905-1400 (281) 586-3313 www.orvis.com Joseph Family Vineyards Conejos River Anglers [email protected] www.naknekrivercamp.com Hillsborough, CA 94010-6607 Pat Blankenship OneFish Engineering, LLC Suzanne Huhta www.legendlodge.com Noseeum Lodge Peace Surplus, Inc. (707) 473-0665 Antonito, CO 81120 Fort Collins, CO 80521 John Holman Flagstaff, AZ 86001 [email protected] (719) 376-5660 Brightwater Alaska, Inc (970) 237-0739 King Salmon, AK 99613 (888) 779-4521 www.josephfamilyvineyards.com [email protected] Chuck Ash [email protected] (907) 232-0729 ______www.conejosriveranglers.com Anchorage, AK 99516 [email protected] Matt Heron Fly Fishing www.onefishengineering.com (907) 344-1340 (800) 791-1529 www.peacesurplus.com Matt Heron Crystal Fly Shop [email protected] [email protected] Olympic Valley, CA 96146 David Johnson Palace Hotel www.brightwateralaska.com www.noseeumlodge.com (518) 225-6587 Carbondale, CO 81623 Fred Klein ARKANSAS Salida, CO 81201 Painter Creek Lodge [email protected]______(970) 963-5741 Classic Casting Adventures (719) 207-4175 Jon Kent Dally’s Ozark Fly Fisher www.mattheronflyfishing.com [email protected] Tad Kisaka [email protected] Pilot Point, AK 99649 Steve Dally www.crystalflyshop.com Sitka, AK 99835 www.SalidaPalaceHotel.com (907) 248-1303 Cotter, AR 72626 (907) 738-2737 (870) 435-6166 [email protected] [email protected] www.paintercreeklodge.com [email protected]______www.flyfishsitka.com www.theozarkflyfisher.com

91 TROUT FALL 2015

Support Trout Unlimited’s Business Members

Rainbow Falls Mountain Trout Willowfly Anglers IDAHO MAINE Overwatch Outpost Big Hole Lodge Richard Johnson Three Rivers Resort North 40 Fly Shop Appalachian Mountain Club Charles Ricko Craig Fellin Woodland Park, CO 80866 Almont, CO 81210 Charlemont, MA, 01339 Wise River, MT 59762 Calvin Fuller Maine Wilderness Lodges (719) 687-8690 (888) 761-3474 (413) 339-8800 (406) 832-3252 Ponderay, ID 83852 Shannon Leroy [email protected] [email protected]. [email protected][email protected] ______(208) 255-5757 Greenville, ME 04441 www.rainbowfallsmt.com www.willowflyanglers.com www.facebook.com/ www.bigholelodge.com [email protected]______(207) 695-3085 ______OverwatchOutpost Rancho Del Rio www.north40.com [email protected] Bighorn Angler Postfly Jeff Gibson CONNECTICUT Far and Away Adventures www.outdoors.org Steve Galletta Bond, CO 80425 Brian Runnals Fort Smith, MT 59035 J. Stockard Fly Fishing Middle Fork – Salmon River Bowlin Camps Lodge (970) 653-4431 Boston, MA 02210 (406) 666-2233 Kent, CT 06757 Sun Valley, ID 83353 Tom Scala [email protected]______(888) 310-3357 [email protected] (877) 359-8946 (208) 726-8888 Patten, ME 04765 www.ranchodelrio.com [email protected]______www.bighornangler.com [email protected] [email protected] ______(207) 267-0884 www.postflybox.com Reeder Creek Ranch www.jsflyfishing.com www.far-away.com [email protected] GOLD LEVEL Vedavoo Paul Bruchez Mill River Fly Rods Fincognito, Inc. www.bowlincamps.com Blackfoot River Kremmling , CO, 80459 Scott Hunter ii Bill Lanzoni Doug Faude Chandler Lake Camps (970) 531-2008 Lancaster, MA 01523 Outfitters, Inc. Wallingford, CT 06492 Sagle, ID 83860 Jason Bouchard [email protected] (307) 399-0780 John Herzer and Terri Raugland (203) 815-2414 office (208) 610-3320 Ashland, ME 04732 www.reedercreek.com [email protected] Missoula, MT 59808 (203) 506-6600 mobile [email protected] ______(207) 290-1424 www.vedavoo.com (406) 542-7411 Rep Your Water [email protected]______www.fincognito.com [email protected] [email protected] Garrison Doctor www.millriverflyrods.net Henry’s Fork Lodge www.chandlerlakecamps.com www.blackfootriver.com Lafayette, CO 80026 MICHIGAN Island Park, ID 83429 Eldredge Bros Fly Shop & (720) 883-4645 Bozeman Reel FLORIDA (208) 558-7953 Guide Service Country Anglers Dan Rice [email protected] [email protected] Jack Ford A Fishing Guide Jim Bernstein (406) 548-2858 www.repyourwater.com www.henrysforklodge.com Saginaw, MI 48609 Steve Friedman Cape Neddick York, ME 03902 Bozeman, MT Riffle and Rise Outfitters (989) 280-3238 Islamorada, FL 33036 The Lodge at Palisades Creek (877) 427-9345 [email protected] John Bocchino [email protected] (305) 393-3474 [email protected] ______www.bozemanreel.com (970) 641-4828 www.countryanglers.com [email protected]______Justin Hays www.eldredgeflyshop.com Gunnison, CO 81230 Budget Host Parkway Motel www.afishingguide.com Irwin, ID 83428 Great Northern Vacations Wolfe Outfitters Vanessa Haines [email protected] Capt. Ben Wolfe Costa (866) 393-1613 Livingston, MT 59047 www.riffleandrise.com Beulah, MI 49617 Marguerite Meyer [email protected] David Surprenant (406) 222-3840 Rio Outfitters (231) 883-4265 Daytona Beach, FL 32117 www.tlapc.com Greenville, ME 04441 [email protected]______Brent Cranfill (877) 442-4294 (386) 274-4000 Middle Fork River Expeditions (207) 745-5330 www.budgethostparkway.com South Fork, CO 81154 www.wolfeoutfitters.com (800) 447-3700 [email protected] (719) 588-7273 [email protected] The Complete Fly Fisher www.costadelmar.com greatnorthernvacations.com [email protected] James Ellsworth David Decker www.riooutfitters.com Dream Sporting Trips Stanley, ID 83278 L.L.Bean Inc. Wise River, MT 59762 Tristram Allen (800) 801-5146 Chris McCormick MINNESOTA (406) 832-3175 Ripple Creek Lodge Sarasota, FL, 34232 [email protected]______Freeport, ME 04033-0002 Lewiston Area Trout Guides [email protected] Dan and Kerri Schwartz (941) 677-2264 www.idahorivers.com (207) 865-4761 Mark Reisetter www.completeflyfisher.com Meeker, CO 81641 [email protected] www.llbean.com Lewiston, MN 55952 (970) 878-4725 Quadrant Consulting CrossCurrents Fly Shop www.dreamsportingtrips.com Steve Sweet (507) 523-2557 [email protected] Red River Camps [email protected] www.ripplecreeklodge.com Boise, ID 83705 Jen Brophy-Price Chris Strainer (208) 342-0091 Portage, ME 04768 www.minnesotatrout.com Craig, MT 59648 Mr. Scott Shuman GEORGIA [email protected] (207) 554-0420 Namebini (406) 235-3433 Eaton, CO 80615-8255 GOLD LEVEL www.quadrant.cc [email protected] Carl Haensel [email protected] (406) 656-7500 ii Atlanta Fly Fishing School Tight Line Media www.redrivercamps.com Duluth, MN 55804 www.crosscurrents.com [email protected] Mack Martin (218) 525-2381 www.hallandhall.com Kris Millgate DL Smith Fly Rod and Guiding Cumming, GA 30040 Idaho Falls, ID 83405-0242 MARYLAND [email protected] Dustin Smith Scott Fly Rods (770) 889-5638 (208) 709-0309 www.namebini.com Livingston, MT 59047-4712 Montrose, CO 81401-6302 [email protected][email protected] Ecotone, Inc. (406) 570-3446 (970) 249-3180 www.atlantaflyfishingschool.com www.tightlinemedia.com Jim Morris MONTANA MT Guide 15906 (Patrick Straub [email protected] Escape to Blue Ridge LLC, Jarrettsville, MD 21084-0005 Outfitter #7878) (410) 420-2600 A Lazy H Outfitters www.scottflyrod.com Blue Ridge, GA GOLD LEVEL [email protected] [email protected] Joseph Haas Steamboat Flyfisher Pamela Miracle ii WorldCast Anglers www.dlsmithflyfishing.weebly.com www.ecotoneinc.com Choteau, MT 59422 Alpharetta, GA 30023 Mike Dawkins John Spillane (800) 893-1155 Fishtales Outiftting LLC (866) 618-2521 Victor, ID 83455 Savage River Lodge Steamboat Springs, CO [email protected] Michael Stack (706) 413-5321 (800) 654-0676 Mike Dreisbach ______(970) 879-6552 www.alazyhpacktrips.com Sheridan, MT 59749 [email protected] [email protected][email protected] Frostburg, MD 21532 www.worldcastanglers.com (406) 842-5742 www.steamboatflyfisher.com www.EscapetoBlueRidge.com (301) 689-3200 Absaroka Beartooth [email protected] [email protected]______Outfitters, Inc. Steel City Anglers Fly Fish Blue Ridge fishtalesoutfitting.com www.savageriverlodge.com Ben Wurster Gene Rutkowski ILLINOIS Cameron S. Mayo Big Timber, MT 59011 Flyvines Pueblo, CO 81003 Cherry Log, GA 30522 Dun Magazine/Fly Squared Waterwisp Flies Erin Kane (719) 778-3059 (706) 455-5640 Jim Greene (406) 579-3866 Media [email protected]______429 S 1st Street [email protected] [email protected]______Chevy Chase, MD 20815 Jen Ripple www.aboadventures.com Missoula, MT 59801 www.steelcityanglers.com www.flyfishblueridge.com Buffalo Grove, IL 60089 (800) 462-2935 (406) 671-7462 [email protected] Tenkara USA River Through Atlanta Guide (734) 846-3708 Angler’s Roost [email protected]______www.waterwisp.com John Cawley Daniel W. Galhardo Service [email protected] www.flyvines.com Hamilton, MT 59840 Boulder, CO 80305 Chris Scalley www.dunthemagazine.com (406) 363-1268 Gallatin River Lodge (888) 483-6527 Roswell, GA 30075 MASSACHUSETTS Innate Fly Fishing Company LLC [email protected] Steve Gamble [email protected] (770) 650-8630 ______Benjamin Glick Deerfield Fly Shop www.anglersroost-montana.com/ Bozeman, MT 59718 www.tenkarausa.com [email protected] Libertyville, IL 60048 Mike Didonna (888) 387-0148 Angler's West Flyfishing Telluride Outside www.riverthroughatlanta.com (847) 337-7580 South Deerfield, MA, 01373 [email protected] Outfitters John Duncan Southern Highroads Outfitters [email protected]______(413) 397-3665 www.grlodge.com Telluride, CO 81435 David Hulsey www.innateflyfishing.com [email protected]______Matson Rogers Emigrant, MT 59027 Glacier Anglers (970) 728-3895 Blairsville, GA, 30512 www.deerfieldflyshop.com Darwon Stoneman [email protected] (706) 781-1414 (406) 333-4401 IOWA Fly Fish the Deerfield Guide ______West Glacier, MT 59936 www.tellurideoutside.com [email protected][email protected] Coldwater Guide Service Service www.montanaflyfishers.com (406) 888-5454 Trout’s Fly Fishing www.southernhighroadsoutfitters.com Chris Jackson [email protected] Rod Woten Beartooth Capital Tucker Ladd GOLD LEVEL Stuart, IA 50250 Shelburne Falls, MA 01370 www.glacieranglers.net Denver, CO 80218 (413) 325-1677 Lauren Cummings ii Unicoi Outfitters (515) 491-5712 Healing Waters Lodge (303) 733-1434 [email protected] Bozeman, MT 59715-4695 John Cross [email protected] (406) 551-4073 Greg and Janet Lilly [email protected]______Helen, GA 30545 www.coldwaterguideservice.com www.flyfishthedeerfield.com Twin Bridges, MT 59754 www.troutsflyfishing.com [email protected] (706) 878-3083 High Hook Oregon Wines www.beartoothcap.com (406) 684-5960 Upslope Brewing [email protected] LOUISIANA T. Mark Seymour [email protected] Henry Wood www.unicoioutfitters.com Leverett, MA 01054 Beartooth Flyfishing www.hwlodge.com Gator Tail Lodge Dan and Nancy Delekta Boulder, CO 80301 413-218-0638 Journey Rent-A-Car (303) 396-1898 Brent Cenac [email protected] Cameron, MT 59720 Houma, LA 70361 (406) 682-7525 Taylor Hartzheim [email protected] www.fishhookvineyards.com Bozeman, MT 59718 www.upslopebrewing.com (985) 858-5950 [email protected] [email protected] www.beartoothflyfishing.com (406) 551-2277 [email protected] www.journeyrentacar.com

TROUT FALL 2015 92

GOLD LEVEL Sportsman and Ski Haus NEW JERSEY The Smoke Joint OutdoorMetrics Gleim Environmental Group Joe Rudolph Brooklyn, NY 11217 - 29 66 Steve Vickner Stephanie Rider ii Linehan Outfitting GBW Insurance Kalispell, Montana 59901 (718) 797-1011 Columbus, OH 43219 Carlisle, PA 17013 Company Glenn Tippy (406) 755-6484 [email protected] (614) 551-1916 (717) 258-4630 Tim Linehan Flanders, NJ 07836 [email protected] www.bcrestaurantgroup.com [email protected] [email protected]______Troy, MT 59935 (800) 548-2329 www.sportsmanskihaus.com www.outdoormetrics.com www.jwgleim.com (800) 596-0034 [email protected] Tailwater Lodge [email protected] Sportsman and Ski Haus www.gbwinsurance.com/ Chris Tucciarone Tall Man Outfitters Gogal Publishing Company www.fishmontana.com Chris Edelen Altmar, NY 13302 Graham Stokes Michael Gogal Ramsey Outdoor Kalispell, MT 59901 (315) 298-3434 Gambier, OH, 43022 Warrington, PA 18976-2114 Long Outfitting Marty Brennan (406) 755-6484 [email protected]______(740) 501-3180 (215) 491-4223 Matthew A. Long Succasunna, NJ 07876 [email protected] www.tailwaterlodge.com [email protected] [email protected] Livingston, MT 59047 (973) 584-7798 ______(406) 222-6775 www.sportsmanskihaus.com www.tallmanoutfitters.com www.gogalpublishing.com [email protected] Zero Limit Adventures [email protected] Stillwater Anglers Fly Shop www.ramseyoutdoor.com Michael D. De Rosa Tight Lines Jewelry Innovative Reel Technologies, Ltd. www.longoutfitting.com Renee Schatzley Gall Brian J. Lengel and Outfitters GOLD LEVEL Webster, NY 14580 Madison Valley Ranch, LLC Chris Fleck (585) 766-2421 Toledo, OH 43606 Pine Grove, PA 17965 Elizabeth Warren & Dan Larson Columbus, MT 59109 ii Shannon’s Fly and [email protected] (419) 290-5573 (570) 915-1500 Ennis, MT 59729 (855) 785-5987 Tackle Shop www.zerolimitadventures (419) 535-8888 [email protected] (800) 891-6158 [email protected] Jim Holland [email protected] www.irtreels.com www.tightlinesjewelry.com [email protected]______www.stillwateranglersmt.com Califon, NJ 07830 NORTH CAROLINA www.madisonvalleyranch.com (908) 832-5736 Time Timer, LLC Jim’s Sports Center The Stonefly Inn and Outfitters [email protected] Biltmore Estate Missoula River Lodge David Rogers Terry Malloy www.shannonsflytackle.com Dale Klug Joe Cummings Cincinnati, OH 45243 Clearfield, PA 16830 Dan “Rooster” Leavens Asheville, NC 28803 Missoula, MT, 59808 Tightline Productions (877) 771-8463 (814)765-3582 Twin Bridges, MT 59754 (828) 225-1583 (877) 327-7878 Tim and Joan Flagler [email protected] [email protected] (406) 684-5648 [email protected] [email protected] Califon, NJ 07830 www.timetimer.com www.jimssports.com [email protected] www.biltmore.com www.montanaflyfishingguide.com www.thestoneflyinn.com (908) 832-6677 Nemacolin Woodlands [email protected] Clearwater Memories Missouri River Ranch, Inc. Sunrise Pack Station OREGON Resort & Spa www.tightlinevideo.com Alan Folger Mike Steiner Chip Anderson Shane McClaflin BlackStrap Industries, Inc. Hendersonville, NC 28739-9644 Ohiopyle, PA, 15470 Craig, MT 59648 Belgrade, MT 59714 Abe Shehadeh [email protected]______(724) 329-6771 (406) 235-4116 (406) 388-2236 Bend, OR 97702 NEW MEXICO www.clearwatermemories.com [email protected] [email protected] ______adventures@sunrisepacksta- (541) 213-2500 www.nemacolin.com www.missouririverranch.com ____tion.com Brazos River Ranch Due South Outfitters [email protected] Patrick Sessoms Montana Angler Fly Fishing www.sunrisepackstation.com Bo Prieskorn www.bsbrand.com Wild for Salmon Las Vegas, NM 87701 Boone, NC 28607 Steve Kurian Brian McGeehan Sweetwater Fly Shop H&H Outfitters (505) 453-1212 (828) 355-9109 Bloomsburg, PA 17815 Bozeman, MT 59718 Dan Gigone Alex Hudjohn [email protected] [email protected] (570) 387-0550 (406) 522-9854 business Livingston, MT 59047 Forest Grove, OR 97116 www.nmoutfitter.com www.duesouthoutfitters.com [email protected] (406) 570-0453 cell (406) 222-9393 [email protected] www.wildforsalmon.com [email protected] [email protected] Dos Amigos Anglers Flymen Fishing Company www.hhoutfitter.com www.montanaangler.com www.sweetwaterflyshop.com Wayne Thurber Martin Bawden Taos, NM 87571 Brevard, NC 28712 The Hook Fly Shop Montana Fishing Outfitters TENNESSEE Sweetwater Travel Company (575) 758-4545 (704) 846-2634 Sunriver, OR 97707 [email protected] [email protected]______(888) 230- HOOK A.D. Maddox Studios, LLC Pat Straub and Garrett Munson Dan, Jeff & Pat Vermillion www.dosamigosanglers.net www. flymenfishingcompany.com (541) 593-2358 Nashville, TN 37219-2394 Helena, MT 59601 Livingston, MT 59047 [email protected] (307) 699-3912 (406) 431-5089 (888) 347-4286 Land of Enchantment Hunter Banks Company www.cascadeguides.com [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Guides Frank Smith www.admaddox.com LaunchPack www.montanafishingoutfitters.com www.sweetwatertravel.com Noah Parker Asheville, NC 28801 Velarde, NM 87582 (828) 252-3005 Erik Johnson River’s Way Therapeutic Fishing Montana River Lodge Triple-M-Outfitters (505) 629-5688 [email protected]______Bend, OR 97703 Center Ray Baier Mark Faroni [email protected]______www.hunterbanks.com [email protected] Bryan Ulrich Missoula, MT 59872 Dixon, MT 59831 www.loeflyfishing.com www.launchpack.co Bluff City, TN 37618 (406) 207-0673 (406) 246-3249 Jesse Brown’s Outdoors Press Pros (423) 538-0405 [email protected] The Reel Life Bill Bartee [email protected] Bend, OR, 97701 [email protected].______www.montanariverlodge.com www.triplemoutfitters.com Nick Streit Charlotte, NC 28210 www.riversway.org Santa Fe, NM 87501 (704) 556-0020 (541) 389- 7767 Montana Troutfitters Trout On The Fly (866) 804-7335 [email protected] [email protected] South Holston River Lodge Nate Stevane [email protected] www.jessebrowns.com www.presspros.com Jon Hooper Outfitter #8533 Justin King www.thereellife.com The Rogue Angler Bristol, TN 37620 Butte, MT 59701 Lillard Fly Fishing Expeditions Bozeman, MT 59715 Mark Koenig (423) 878-3457 (406) 580-7370 Will Lillard (406) 587-4707 GOLD LEVEL Eugene, OR 97402 [email protected] [email protected] Pisgah Forest, NC 28768 [email protected] ii Taos Fly Shop (800) 949-5163 www.southholstonriverlodge.com www.troutfitters.com www.montanatroutonthefly.com (828) 577-8204 Nick Streit [email protected] [email protected] Montana Trout Stalkers Wild Trout Outfitters Taos, NM 87571 www.lillardflyfishing.com www.therogueangler.com TEXAS J.D. Bingman (575) 751-1312 Joe Dilschneider Royal Treatment Fly Fishing Outfitter #614 [email protected] Nantahala River Lodge Action Angler Ennis, MT 59729 Joel La Follette Big Sky, MT www.taosflyshop.com Mickey and Annette Youmans Chris Jackson (406) 581-5150 West Linn, OR 97068 (406) 995-2975 Topton, NC 28781 New Braunfels, TX 78132 [email protected] (503) 850-4397 (830) 708-3474 [email protected] (912) 596-4360 www.montanatrout.com NEW YORK [email protected] www.wildtroutoutfitters.com (800) 470-4718 [email protected] PRO Outfitters Amberjack Outfitters Inc. [email protected] www.royaltreatmentflyfishing.com www.actionangler.net Katie Boedecker www.nantahalariverlodge.net NEVADA Jerome Tufte Soul River Runs Deep Maven Fly Helena, MT 59624 New York, NY 10013 Chad Brown Lise Lozelle (406) 442-5489 Nevada Cattlemen’s Association (800) 902-3474 OHIO Portland, OR 97217 Austin, TX 78704 [email protected] [email protected] (503) 954-7625 (800) 369-0038 www.prooutfitters.com Stephanie Licht Alert Stamping &Mfg. Company Elko, NV 89803 www.amberjack.com [email protected] [email protected] Prudential Montana Real Estate Bedford Heights, OH 44146 www.soulriverrunsddep.com www.mavenfly.com (775) 738-9214 Dette Trout Flies (440) 232-5020 Bryan C. 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93 TROUT FALL 2015

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TROUT FALL 2015 94

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95 TROUT SPRING 2015

ED ZERN

What Generated Your Trout Inspiration? BY PAUL BRUUN

will be forever grateful to angling author/humorist Ed Zern continued authoring witty books and achieved I Ed Zern. a plum position—Field & Stream fishing editor—after A. J. I was hooked the moment I spied his To Hell With Fishing McClane retired. Exit Laughing, his humor column was on our new neighbor, Frank Rathmell’s bookshelf. The already a paramount F&S back-page fixture and prototype Rathmells moved to South Florida from Upper Darby, for all future slicks’ wit-laced final pages. Exit Eating, my early Pa., during the early 1950s. newspaper food column, was a title suggested by Jackson My 4th grade enthusiasm for the mysterious world friend, Kathy Buchner, and evolved from our mutual of trout and fly fishing was ignited by zany situations and admiration of Zern’s antics in print. predictable truths radiantly depicted in H. T. Webster’s Eventually I met and fished with Ed when our Wyoming fishing cartoons collected from the old New York Herald guide gang hosted his group of angling pals. A delightfully Tribune. Genius editors at Appleton-Century-Crofts sur- creative personality, Zern first supported his outdoor rounded Webster’s superb artwork with Zern’s witty text and habits by toiling at J. Walter Thompson, the giant New published To Hell…. in 1945. Coincidentally,identally, the YorkYor advertising agency. It was volume was just a year younger funfun to identify Zern’s self-scrawled than myself, although 1953 was bookboo and article illustrations as my first glimpse of this life- similarsim caricatures migrated into altering masterpiece. printpri advertisements for Nash Already infected by the rod Automobiles,Au one of his main ‘n reel fishing bug, drawings of accounts.acc long bamboo rods with reels Years later while driving Ed fitted “upside down” and details andan fellow writer cohort Gene about double-taper lines, Fan- Hill,H to the airport, I asked if he Wing Royal Coachmen, Silver mightm sign my treasured To Hell Doctors, Bi-Visibles, tapered WithW Fishing. leaders and lyrical Beaverkill and “You bet,” Ed announced, Willowemoc trout meccas led to snatchingsn the book and pro- more enchantment. claiming:c “For Paul Bruun— My very own copy of the Zern/ withoutw whom this book would Webster magnum opus was a haveh been possible—With warm prayed-for Christmas gift (despitee regards,r Ed Zern 9/15/76.” a distinctly bad word in the title!) A second To Hell With Fishing from dad, fresh from a Doubledayy copyc without its original Book Store. $2.95 is stampedd cartoon-adornedc dust cover, inside. rests right beside the Zern- I can still quote Zern’s textxt branded volume. Neat printing verbatim and have borrowedd inside reads: “To Paul: This Webster’s recurring cartoon themeses isis the original book you enjoyed (Life’s Darkest Moment; How To Torture Your Wife/ as a boy on Sunset Island (Miami Beach, Fla.). Re-read Husband; The Thrill That Comes Once In A Lifetime) it—with happy memories, Frank Rathmell.” as ledes and titles for 50 years of outdoor writing and Thanks Ed, H.T. and Frank, for initiating my trout brightening 37 seasons of float trip guiding. and fly-fishing love affair.

TROUT SPRING 2007 96

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