The famous “fly eating bush” – nemesis of the western fly fishermen, appears to have a long and illustrious future should global warming descend on us in all its projected fury … When exposed to increased carbon dioxide, precipitation, nitrogen and temperature, all expected results of climate change, yellow star thistle in some cases grew [...]

I remember the elevated tempers and harsh language when they contemplated NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement. Senators would pound fist on podium insisting it wasn’t fair to us and how the abolished tariffs and transparent borders would benefit our neighbors much more than ourselves. Now, I find myself in a similar precarious position, how [...]

The National Fish Habitat Board just released a summary of the risks for watershed and habitat degradation for the entire US. Overall, 27 percent of the miles of stream in the lower 48 states are at high or very high risk of current habitat degradation and 44 percent are at low or very low risk.  [...]

As aquaculture is still in relative infancy the scientific community is just coming to grips with issues posed by the commercial aspects of so many fish in such a dense cluster. While most of the focus has been local environmental issues and effects to native fish, as the industry matures and we eat whatever wild fish [...]

In a little “tea-party” muscle flexing, scientists from Sarah Palin’s home state reveal that the American Bald Eagle, symbol of American might and pride, is an invasive species… Let the name of Moses be stricken from every book and tablet, stricken from all pylons and obelisks, stricken from every monument of Egypt. Let the name [...]

It’s likely to trigger a most difficult chicken and egg debate, considering us fly fishermen can save a trout stream or save a forest, but we can’t do both … Recent salmon studies suggest “you are what shades your banks” – and if the surrounding forest isn’t healthy, neither is your fish population. More insidious [...]

I missed the third digit of the snowpack measurement yet instinctively I knew it really didn’t matter. Three digits means a repeat of last year’s watery excesses, and while I resolved myself to keep working on the dry flies like I’d planned, they were unlikely to see much action. There’ll be plenty of opportunities for [...]

I’ll confess to a morbid fascination with the larger invasive species issue, I spend far too much time reading about all the horrors headed our way. With national parks mulling all manner of restrictions, before banning humans outright, it’s indicative of a war against an enemy that can’t be beaten. Just insert “seed” for diatom, [...]

The lack of commentary on our previous article suggests fishermen are a stoic and heartless lot, unwilling even in the face of  insolvency to spend less of the government’s cash to balance budgets, bomb Libya, or any other semi-humanitarian act … So we’ll pose the question again, this time with science insisting that were we [...]

I remember reading a Flyfisherman magazine back in the Eighties that attributed the exceptional size and growth rate of the trout in some Pennsylvania creek to an upstream cheese factory, whose rich effluents imbued the entire waterway with curds and whey. Sure, it was white and unsightly, probably adding a little foam to the fast water, [...]