California’s Bay Delta Conservation Plan includes an ambitious scheme to build massive twin tunnels through the California Delta. The idea is to transport—or steal, depending on your viewpoint—water from the Sacramento River to Central Valley farmers and thirsty cities in SoCal. Estimates for the plan range from $15 billion to over $60 billion. Until now, included…
Arizona is all about the carp in the latest Find Your Water vid from Redington. Here, ambassador KC Badger lives far from trout country, so he chases “trash fish” across urban Phoenix. Get ready to start tying dog food flies.
In 1992 Idaho’s Bucktail and Blackbird creeks looked like bad acid trips, running shades of neon blue and green. Neighboring Panther Creek had formed a lethal “chemical dam” and all three streams were devoid of salmon, trout, and insects. Regional biologist Chris Mebane says, “It was about as lifeless as you can get outside of…
In the latest installment of Find Your Water, Redington taps Jackson, Wyoming, for springtime couloir skiing and cutthroat trout fishing—introducing the emerging sport of flyfishski to the non-Siberian masses.
Last fall the Big Hole River, in southwestern Montana, experienced an outbreak of Saprolignia fungus that put a big dent in its brown trout population. The naturally occurring fungus that usually attacks weaker, older and otherwise unhealthy fish, this time struck primarily larger, spawning fish.
Two more deadbeat dams are slated for demolition, beginning this summer. Fielder and Wimer dams on Evans Creek, a key spawning tributary in the Rogue River basin, have inhibited fish passage for over 100 years. Sitting derelict the last four decades, breeching both dams will open 70 miles of steelhead and salmon spawning grounds. Federally…
America’s National Park System includes more than 400 areas covering approximately 84 million acres. Hundreds of millions of visitors enjoy these protected lands annually, and within their borders development ends, species like buffalo roam, and native trout live free and prosper. National parks are awesome that way and they are not limited to the U.S. NP…
Golden dorado are streamer junkies feared by skittish baitfish everywhere. In the Salta Region of northern Argentina, they are also threatened by overharvest, habitat degradation, and poorly understood ecological factors. A new study led by a team from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst Department of Environmental Conservation, aims to address those concerns in order to preserve the species…
Good news arrived last night when Utah Stream Access Coalition (USAC) announced it won its longstanding Weber River case. Judge Keith Kelly of Utah’s 3rd District Court confirmed that the Weber is navigable where it crosses over the landowner defendant’s properties, which means that the resource BELONGS TO ALL OF US. “In the 26-page decision, the…
In the first episode of Find Your Water, follow along with Redington employees as they stomp through the rainforest “test facility” located in their backyard—the Washington Coast. Steelhead season (and swinging in the rain) is something we’re sick for, and this vid makes it easy to see why.
A new study by stream ecosystem scientists concludes that the average cost to produce a juvenile coho salmon through habitat restoration in British Columbia is about the same as producing a hatchery salmon. But when the variables turn to “value,” stream enhancement has a healthier outlook. “With costs being equal, the study concludes that wild…
The town of St. Helena, CA is seeking an additional $800,000 to remove the Upper York Creek Dam, which has been blocking steelhead migration for more than a hundred years. In 2000, NOAA determined that the dam violated the Endangered Species Act and earlier in 1993 a court ordered the dam be removed. In 2010…
In 1974, Montana killed the hatchery machine and curbed trout stocking. Thanks to trailblazing efforts of steadfast biologists like Richard Vincent, wild fish, on rivers like the Madison, have since flourished. In the Montana Story: 40 Years of Success, filmmaker Shane Anderson details how going wild works and raises the question: Why not? Stay tuned…
Pebble Limited Partnership (PLP) has played another card from its ever-thinning deck. It has retained the services of Clintonian Secretary of Defense William Cohen (who worked with Bill from 1997-2001) and his company the Cohen Group, which, “assists multinational clients from all sectors to pursue business opportunities and overcome problems in quickly changing markets around…
Meet Keys’ captain, Derek Rust, in the latest flats-fishing edit from Dan Decibel. Says the filmmaker, “Every time we fish, we always have an awesome time on his boat. We look for bonefish, permit and tarpon when the weather allows. Whether we catch fish or not, you can always bet on some crap talking during…
A measure designed to allow New Mexico landowners to restrict angler access cleared the House by a slim 32-31 margin last week, sending Senate Bill 226 to Gov. Susana Martinez’s desk for consideration. “In the final minutes before the New Mexico legislative session adjourned, in an all-too-familiar fashion, stream access there was stripped from the…
Facing glassy conditions, Key West-based angler Nathaniel Linville—guided by Capt. John O’Hearn of Big Pine Key—caught and released four permit to win last week’s March Merkin tournament. Linville, who was also victorious at the Del Brown tourney back in July, landed one permit on day one followed by three the second day for a total…
More than thirty years after hosting its first fishermen, Kiritimati is hotter than ever. I heard them before I saw them. When giant trevally are chasing bait in shallow water, the frantic reaction produces a distinct spraying sound, like the inside of your vehicle as you pass through the power-rinse of a car wash. The…
Redington’s new video series “Find Your Water” goes city limits to deep woods, proving that good fishing can be found anywhere. Now go get some.
In another “screw you” to congress, the Obama administration recently approved a massive expansion of two marine sanctuaries off the California Coast. In the works for over a decade—and with overwhelming local support—the Gulf of the Farallones and Cordell Bank national marine sanctuaries will more than double to become an area nearly the size of…
Unlike New York’s Wall Street, Washington’s Skagit River is unpaved, graft free, and doesn’t have a namesake movie starring ’80s-era Michael Douglas. It does, however, have a steelhead population that’s doing better than it was following ESA listings that led to closures more than 5 years ago. Now, grassroots groups like Occupy Skagit are calling…
Uncooperative forecasts, shit light, and rising rivers? Leave it to the Man in Black and a single brown to save the shoot.
All waters inside Great Smoky Mountains National Park boundaries, for the first time in more than 80 years, are open to brookie fishing. The announcement by park officials follows last week’s reopening of 8 miles of Lynn Camp Prong—a section that was sidelined due to a seven-year native brook trout restoration project. “The opening of…
Alaska’s Chuitna River watershed—bookended between Cook Inlet and Anchorage—is rich with salmon. It’s also a potential cash conveyor belt for developers who plan to tap its coal-laden underbelly and build export terminals to feed overseas demand. (Namely, to China.) The short film Chuitna chronicles the journey of conservation-minded anglers fighting to put pristine wilderness and anadromous…
This short film by photographer Scott Nelson highlights the highs and lows of Deschutes River waters. Before the dams went in, the Deschutes flowed a fairly consistent 700 to 800 cubic feet per second (cfs) year-round, said Brett Hodgson, district biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in Bend. There would be occasional increases…
There’s gold in them thar waters. And Idaho miners and politicians aim to suck it. Last week an Idaho House committee advanced a bill to permit suction dredging in some of the most pristine rivers in the west. The Middle Fork of the Salmon, Clearwater, and Lochsa rivers are among the waters with protected salmon, steelhead, and…
Barracuda, not known as a wildly popular dish on local dinner menus, have seen a fivefold increase in commercial catch rates in Florida Keys waters. Which begs the question, why the sudden spike in demand? Harvest is unregulated and, according to area guides, the hit is taking a toll on this once prolific gamefish. In response, members…