By: Sean Dahlquist Today’s post was graciously provided by Sean Dahlquist. Sean lives on the Olympic Peninsula, where he loves fishing for steelhead and trout, and of course, tying flies. Not only is Sean a fine tier, but he is also a historian on the topic. Check out Sean’s Instagram @sean_dahlquist page for more great patterns and examples. …
Washington State Suction Dredge Mining Reform Updates
Update from Dean Finnerty, Northwest Director on Outreach from Summer, 2018: Thank you to dozens of supporters for your interest and willingness to engage and help protect fish life, water quality and make meaningful changes to rules and regulations for motorized suction dredge prospecting in Washington’s rivers and streams. If you want to be part of this team, the best way to do so is to …
Act Now to Help Protect the Methow Headwaters
We need your support to help urge the BLM to protect the Methow Headwaters and the habitat it provides for rainbow trout, cutthroat trout, bull trout, mountain whitefish, Chinook salmon, and steelhead. A mineral withdrawal would make the 340,000 acres of U.S. Forest Service land in the Upper Methow Valley off-limits to large-scale mining for the next 20 years. Trout Unlimited …
Can a Wild Coho Salmon Population Recover Following Closure of a Hatchery Program
Today’s post is the conclusion of our two part guest series on the recovery of Coho in Oregon’s Salmon River. (Click here for last weeks post) Lately we have shared several studies on Pink and Coho salmon, which provide important lessons for salmonid recovery efforts across a range of species and watersheds. Perhaps the most important lesson is that decisions …
Guest Post: Dry Line Dedication
Wild Steelheaders United is firmly committed to supporting all angling methods, so long as those methods minimize impacts on fish during all phases of angling activity. Perhaps the least impactful method of steelhead angling is the dry line, where success is measured in fish per season rather than fish per day. Todd Hirano is a dry line steelheader based in …
Science Friday: Restoring the River Salmon: The Coho Return
Today we are re-publishing an excellent article by Dan Bottom on the remarkable against all odds recovery of Salmon River Coho. This article was originally written for and published by the Reflections program at the Sitka Center for Art and Ecology near Otis on Oregon’s Salmon River. This article was submitted by Dan Bottom, a current Howard L. McKee …
The Elwha Files: My oh my, what have we found
By John McMillan Should we invest in dam removal? It’s a question that many communities, businesses and policy-makers are facing these days — partly because of aging infrastructure and financial liabilities, and partly because of legal obligations to protect water quality and recover declining salmon and steelhead populations. To that, I say: let the fish tell us what works. One …
Science Friday: The latest from the longest running steelhead monitoring project in British Columbia
Thank goodness it’s Friday. Fall is in the air and it’s time to get on the river! But first, let’s give our steelhead IQs another booster shot with a new Science Friday post. This week we have a guest writer and scientist, Colin Bailey, a PhD student studying fisheries science at Simon Fraser University under Jonathan Moore (Moore …
The Last Steelhead
Longtime angling author, steelhead aficionado, TROUT Magazine contributor and musician Chris Santella has created a novel way to publicize the plight of wild steelhead. Santella’s new rock opera, The Last Steelhead, looks at the factors contributing to the decline of wild steelhead runs and “the attitudes surrounding our behaviors and policies that seem to be standing in the …
Businesses We Love: Caddis Fly Angling Shop
The Caddis Fly Shop located in Eugene, Oregon has been the focal point of fly fishing in the Upper Willamette Valley for the past 43 years. The shop’s competent and professional staff have been serving western Oregon fly fisherman with all their tackle, fly tying, expert advice, hosted events, conservation issues and guided fishing needs for steelhead, trout, salmon and …