Native Westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout swim in the Flathead River near Glacier National Park, Montana.
Photo by Jonny Armstrong/USGS, via npr.org
Editor’s Note: “First Casts” is a regular feature that highlights great fly-fishing content from around the Web—from how-to articles, to photo essays, to interesting reads.
- The relationship between climate change and trout has been much in the news lately. In “Death by Polar Bear” on Forbes.com, founder of Conservation Hawks Todd Tanner argues that sportsmen have seen first-hand some of the signs of changing climate and need to be more engaged in issues that affect waters and woods. And NPR has run back-to-back reports on the future of Montana’s trout, in the face of these changes. Listen to or read “As Climate Warms American West, Iconic Trout In Jeopardy” and “A Rancher And A Conservationist Forge An Unlikely Alliance.”
- We have posted many times about the incredible work done by Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, which uses fly-fishing to help veterans overcome physical, mental, and emotional hardships. Recently, the organization’s founder, Ed Nicholson, was awarded a $25,000 “Purpose Prize” by Encore.org. The prize awards money to individuals in their “encore careers” creating new ways to solve tough social problems. Click here to read about Nicholson’s achievement.
- The Big R Fly Shop—with stores in Montana, Washington, and Idaho—has released the latest issue of their online magazine, which offers stories about skating flies for steelhead, fishing the Kootenai, and using two-handed rods on the Missouri, among others.
- We’ve been following Frank Moore’s story, in which a World War II veteran and lifelong angler travels back to France to fish the waters he saw as a soldier, and The Clymb offers a wonderful feature article—which makes great use of the digital medium—on Moore’s journey. This is one of the better online fly-fishing stories we’ve ever seen, so check it out.
- Most of us have argued with our conventional-tackle buddies about which method is more productive, but a competition in Sweden aims to answer the question for real. In “Fly vs Jerk,” teams have three days to fish anywhere in Sweden. Their mission is to catch as many big pike as possible. Check out the trailer for the first episode.