5 reasons small stream trout are kickass

fighting the fight small-stream-rainbow-trout-fly-fishing
fighting the fight small-stream-rainbow-trout-fly-fishing
  1. They fight hard, especially on light gear. Think 2-3 wt fly rods, and ultralight spinning rods for the non-fly fishing inclined.
  2. They are wild, and more often than not they are native fish to the area that truly display the pure natural fight and beauty of the area like only they can. In this day and age, we don’t always have the opportunity to fish for and catch truly native fish.
  3. They are super aggressive and take dry flies with reckless abandon. Get it in the ballpark, and often times they’ll eat. Bushy terrestrials and attractor patterns are the name of the game.
  4. They live in awesome areas. There’s not much better than wet wading small streams in the summer.
  5. Fishing for them is simple. It doesn’t require complex rigging, fancy flies, extensive amounts of gear or anything. We love fishing for steelhead, the thrill of that big pull, but sometimes catching a sh*t ton of small stream trout can easily satisfy the cravings for fish catching that we all get from time-to-time.
Marmot polar bear substitute
Mr. Marmot, aka polar bear substitute.
Another reason that didn’t quite make the list is that if you’re fishing alpine streams, you might get the chance to see wildlife that’s a lot different that what we’re used to down in the valley’s and lowlands. Take the furry bag of fly tying materials pictured here. Look like a good polar bear substitute to anyone else?
Why do you like small stream trout?  Leave a comment and let us know.

CCA working to end destructive gillnetting practice in sturgeon sanctuary

CCA, or the Coastal Conservation Association is asking Washington and Oregon to end gillnetting on certain stretches of the Columbia river. Even thought the states have closed the area below Bonneville dam to sportfishing in from May-August, commercial gillnetting is still allowed during the sport fishing closure.

“It’s a little bit of a poke in the eye for the recreational community to voluntarily give up a very popular, productive fishery for conservation and find out they are still running gillnets through there specifically targeting those same sturgeon,’’ said Bryan Irwin, executive director of the Coastal Conservation Association in the Northwest. ”

Read more about this here or on CCA’s website.