This week’s lineup covers the range. Sea-Run Fly & Tackle’s beaded purple nymph is built for low-light, overcast days when high-contrast color is doing the work your visibility can’t. AvidMax walks through the GFC Fly, a spare midge-style pattern that excels in the clear, pressured water of stillwaters and tailraces. Root River Rod Co shares their go-to Driftless streamer—a pine squirrel jig that bounces the rocky bottom without hanging up, built for the tight, technical spring creeks of the upper Midwest. And FisherFun ties the Red Tag Pheasant Tail Nymph, a jig-hook variation that pairs a classic silhouette with an attractor hotspot, at home in fast water.

Cloudy Day Killer
Hook: Tiemco 2488 or equivalent curved scud hook, sizes 12-14
Bead: 1/8-inch copper tungsten
Thread: Black 8/0 Uni-Thread
Tail: Purple marabou
Body: Arizona Simi Seal (purple and red blend)
Rib: Fine copper wire

GFC Fly
Hook: Tiemco 2488, sizes 12-18
Bead: Gold tungsten or brass
Thread: Black 8/0 Uni-Thread
Gills: White poly yarn or Antron
Body: Black thread
Rib: Small gold Ultra Wire
Thorax: Peacock herl

Nameless for the Driftless
Hook: Firehole 516, size 12
Bead: 3.5mm slotted tungsten, gold
Thread: 140-denier olive
Tail/Overbody: Pine squirrel strip, olive
Body: UV Olive Ice Dub
Flash: Pearl Krystal Flash
Legs: Small round rubber legs, olive

Red Tag Pheasant Tail Nymph
Hook: Jig hook, sizes 12-16
Bead: Slotted tungsten (silver or copper)
Thread: Red 8/0 or 12/0
Tail: Red fluoro wool or Glo-Brite floss
Body: Natural pheasant tail fibers
Rib: Fine copper wire
Thorax: Peacock herl

The post Tying Tuesday: No Name Required appeared first on MidCurrent.

This week’s Tying Tuesday is a water-column master class: four patterns that collectively cover every feeding lane from the surface film to open water, giving you a complete toolkit as hatches begin to fire and predatory fish start pushing into the shallows.

We start at the top with the Dyret, a buoyant Norwegian attractor tied with yearling deer hair that rides high in fast water and draws aggressive strikes when the fish are looking up. Just below the surface, René Harrop’s CDC Spent Midge handles the demanding end of the spectrum—a delicate, minimalist pattern tied on midge hooks that nails selective trout during technical spinner and spent-midge falls on tailwaters and spring creeks. Bridging the gap between surface and mid-column is the Bow Tie Raccoon, an emerger built around raccoon underfur dubbing and a distinctive poly yarn wing that mimics a struggling insect halfway through its escape from the shuck. And for tyers ready to go big, the Andino Trout Deceiver brings a classic saltwater silhouette to freshwater—hollow-tied bucktail, grizzly saddle hackles, and layered Laser Dub create a predatory profile that moves serious water and turns heads on large trout and bass alike.

Dyret
Hook: Ahrex FW500 Dry Fly Hook, sizes 10-14
Thread: Semperfli Nano Silk 12/0, brown
Tail/Wing: Yearling deer hair, natural
Body: Hare’s ear or squirrel dubbing, natural brown
Hackle: Brown rooster cape

Harrop’s CDC Spent Midge
Hook: Tiemco 101 or 2487, sizes 18-24
Thread: Uni-Thread 12/0 or 8/0, olive or black
Tail/Shuck: Zelon, amber or olive
Body: Stripped peacock quill or fine thread
Wing: Natural dun CDC feathers (2)
Thorax: Fine dry fly dubbing, to match body

Bow Tie Raccoon
Hook: Scud or emerger hook (e.g., Daiichi 1130), sizes 16-20
Thread: Black 8/0 or 70 denier
Trailing Shuck: Amber Zelon or Antron yarn
Body: Raccoon underfur dubbing
Wing: White polypropylene yarn
Thorax: Peacock herl

Andino Trout Deceiver
Hook: Ahrex PR320, size 1/0
Thread: Veevus 140 Power Thread, olive
Tail: Select bucktail, white
Flash: Flashabou, pearl
Hackle: Grizzly saddle hackle, natural
Body/Head: Senyo’s Laser Dub, cream and olive
Accent: Peacock herl
Eyes: 6mm Living Eyes, ice
Finish: Loon UV Clear Finish

The post Tying Tuesday: Surface, Film, and Open Water appeared first on MidCurrent.

A settlement has produced an amended Environmental Resources Permit for a proposed rock mine in Florida’s Everglades Agricultural Area, clarifying the project’s approved scope and requiring new permits for any expansion—but the project survives, and Army Corps review is still pending.

A February settlement among the Tropical Audubon Society, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), and mine operator Phillips & Jordan has produced an amended Environmental Resources Permit for a proposed rock mine in the Everglades Agricultural Area, establishing that DEP approval covers only 1,337 acres of excavation within a 2,242-acre first-phase footprint—and does not greenlight the full 8,632-acre site. For fishing guides and conservation groups who have fought for more than a year to protect one of the country’s premier saltwater fisheries, it is a partial victory.

The settlement resolves a challenge Tropical Audubon filed against the DEP’s May 29, 2025 Notice of Intent for the Southland Water Resource Project—the name Phillips & Jordan gave to what opponents call a limestone rock mine dressed up as a restoration reservoir. Phillips & Jordan, which had intervened in the challenge, is also a party to the settlement. Any mining beyond the 1,337-acre first phase will require new permit applications and full environmental review. It does not kill the project.

What’s at Stake

The Everglades’ flats and backcountry are among the most sought-after fly fishing destinations in the country—prime water for tarpon, snook, and redfish. How much of that fishery survives the next few decades hinges on a single construction project: the Everglades Agricultural Area Reservoir (EAA Reservoir), a nearly $4 billion, 10,500-acre impoundment being built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers south of Lake Okeechobee. When complete, it will store and clean polluted lake water before sending it south through the Everglades to Florida Bay. The Army Corps describes it as likely one of the largest above-ground reservoirs in the nation.

That reservoir is what the mine threatens.

The proposed mine site sits on land owned by U.S. Sugar Corporation and a Florida Crystals subsidiary. Captains for Clean Water says it would be roughly 1,000 feet from the reservoir. Phillips & Jordan, a national infrastructure contractor, filed an unsolicited application to mine limestone there on July 1, 2024—the day Florida enacted statutes allowing unsolicited restoration proposals. The company says the excavated pits would eventually hold up to 40 billion gallons of water, contributing to Everglades restoration after a 34-year mining operation—its county application specifies blasting in 13 phases from 2025 through 2059. Capt. Chris Wittman, co-founder of Captains for Clean Water, argues that framing obscures what the project really is: a limestone extraction operation the organization estimates is worth more than $800 million.

Will Buehn, the organization’s director of education and awareness, warned that blasting next to the EAA Reservoir could compromise its structural integrity, triggering polluted discharges that kill seagrasses and cause large-scale fish die-offs in the estuaries.

How Guides Got Involved

Captains for Clean Water has led the opposition. Wittman and Capt. Daniel Andrews co-founded the organization in February 2016; Andrews later left his charter business to serve as executive director. Both built their careers as southwest Florida fishing guides. The group had already spent years pushing Everglades restoration and fighting discharge-fueled algal blooms before the Southland application landed.

Wittman testified at the Palm Beach County Commission’s May 22, 2025 hearing, where commissioners unanimously approved zoning for the full 8,632-acre project. He was one of dozens of guides, scientists, and concerned citizens who filled the hearing hall. Commissioners cut the standard three-minute public comment period to two minutes per speaker—including for legal and scientific experts who are typically given more time. Video from that hearing has since drawn more than 6 million views on Captains for Clean Water’s YouTube channel.

After the county vote, the project still needed state permitting. On May 29, the DEP issued a Notice of Intent to grant an Environmental Resources Permit—the action Tropical Audubon would later challenge. The Everglades Law Center filed that legal challenge in August 2025 on behalf of Tropical Audubon and two of its members—José Francisco Barros and Brian Rapoza, the organization’s president and vice president—who bird the EAA and testified to the mine’s potential harm to the area’s wildlife. A two-week hearing before Administrative Law Judge Francine Ffolkes was scheduled for late February 2026. The settlement came five days before it was set to begin.

What the Settlement Actually Does

The deal adds specificity to the DEP’s permit: it clarifies that approval covers only the general location of 13 planned excavation cells, mandates water quality monitoring if water moves to or from the site, and requires a new permit for any design changes. The Everglades Law Center said the changes are meant to assure greater public scrutiny on future phases.

The settlement stops there. It does not limit the project’s total footprint or prevent Phillips & Jordan from eventually seeking permits for all 8,000-plus acres as a water resource project. Any such expansion requires new permit applications and full environmental review.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers review remains open. In a July 2025 letter to Florida Rep. Brian Mast, the Corps raised concerns about seepage risks and potential effects on the EAA Reservoir’s water management operations. The Corps has no authority to halt the permitting process.

Under an agreement Florida and the Army Corps struck in July 2025, the EAA Reservoir is targeted for completion in 2029—five years ahead of the prior deadline. What remains of the Everglades when it opens will depend in part on what happens next with Phillips & Jordan’s permit.

The post Florida Guides Win a Round Against an Everglades Rock Mine appeared first on MidCurrent.

A landmark Colorado acquisition, a conservation follow-through in Georgia, and a sweeping federal access directive add up to a strong spring for angler access on public land. Image courtesy of Colorado Parks and Wildlife.

In the span of a few months, fly anglers secured the promise of access to miles of previously private water, saw a multi-year mining fight around a storied Georgia swamp conclude with public access on the table, and watched a new federal directive reframe how Interior Department lands are managed for hunting and fishing. The wins arrived through different channels, but their combined direction is the same: more water, more miles, more opportunity.

Colorado’s Tolland Ranch Becomes a State Wildlife Area

The centerpiece is Colorado. On March 6, Governor Jared Polis, Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and The Conservation Fund announced the conservation of Tolland Ranch—3,314 acres in Gilpin and Boulder counties, tucked against the Roosevelt National Forest and the James Peak Wilderness about an hour from Denver. The Conservation Fund acquired the property from the Toll family and conveyed it to CPW, which will manage it as a new State Wildlife Area.

For fly anglers, the immediate prize is access to 3.5 miles of South Boulder Creek, previously locked behind private ownership. The creek holds brook, brown, and rainbow trout. The ranch also includes 16 ponds and borders more than 14 miles of national forest and county open space, stitching together a migration corridor for elk, deer, and moose, with blue grouse, waterfowl, snowshoe hare, and red fox among the documented residents.

Four generations of the Toll family had owned and stewarded the property since 1893—more than 130 years of private stewardship that kept the land intact. A conservation easement established in 2015 had already protected it from development; this acquisition takes the next step, transferring it into permanent public hands. CPW is developing a management plan and plans to evaluate opening the area to limited hunting and fishing in fall 2026, after necessary accessibility updates and regulations are made. Visitors will need an SWA pass, hunting license, or fishing license to access the property.

The deal was funded in part through Colorado’s $12.47 Habitat Stamp, the annual fee hunters and anglers pay when applying for licenses. That program—the Colorado Wildlife Habitat Program—has now secured more than 300,000 acres in conservation easements and nearly 35,000 acres in fee title for Coloradans. Great Outdoors Colorado, which directs a portion of state lottery proceeds to conservation, also contributed to the purchase.

“Protecting Tolland Ranch is a once-in-a-generation conservation achievement for Colorado,” said Justin Spring, vice president and Colorado state director at The Conservation Fund. “With Colorado Parks and Wildlife managing the property, this win protects vital wildlife habitat, creates new public access for fishing and hunting and preserves access for Nordic skiing.”

CPW Northeast Region Manager Shannon Schaller called it an honor to steward habitat of this quality. Eldora Mountain Resort’s existing Nordic ski lease on the northern portion of the property will continue under CPW management, and Boulder County’s Kinglet Trail, a mountain bike trail, remains open on its current terms.

Georgia Moves to Lock Down Okefenokee Gains

In Georgia, a yearslong fight over mining on the southeastern fringes of the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge reached a new stage in March when the state announced it would acquire roughly 4,000 acres on Trail Ridge from The Conservation Fund for $7 million, converting the parcel into a Wildlife Management Area with public hunting and fishing access.

The backstory matters. In June 2025, The Conservation Fund purchased approximately 8,000 acres from Twin Pines Minerals—the Alabama company that had sought to mine titanium and zirconium on Trail Ridge—for just under $60 million, permanently ending the mining threat. Trail Ridge forms the eastern boundary of North America’s largest blackwater swamp, and scientists had warned that mining there would disrupt the Okefenokee’s hydrology and fuel wildfire risk across the surrounding landscape.

Georgia’s acquisition is the next phase: the state is buying a portion of that now-protected land from TCF, supported by a $7 million grant from the Georgia Outdoor Stewardship Program, to establish permanent public recreational access. The new WMA has not yet been named and is not expected to open to the public until 2027, according to Georgia DNR Deputy Commissioner Trevor Santos. When it does, it will be managed for wildlife habitat, hunting, and fishing. The property harbors gopher tortoises, eastern indigo snakes, and Florida sandhill cranes, among other species.

The Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge itself—402,000 acres of wilderness water, cypress, and blackwater channels—is under consideration for UNESCO World Heritage Site designation, which would place it alongside landmarks like the Grand Canyon and the Galápagos Islands.

Federal Lands Shift to “Open Unless Closed”

On January 13, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced Secretarial Order 3447, establishing a department-wide policy that Interior-managed lands are presumed open to lawful, regulated hunting and fishing unless a specific, documented exception applies. The order covers Bureau of Land Management lands, National Wildlife Refuges, Bureau of Reclamation properties, and select National Park Service units where hunting is already authorized. Permanent statutory closures—Yellowstone, Yosemite—remain unaffected.

The shift is primarily procedural: the burden of justification now falls on agencies to explain closures rather than on anglers to seek permission. In the near term, most anglers fishing BLM or refuge water will see little immediate change, since much of that land was already open. The longer-term implication is that agency-level reviews, required within 60 and 150 days of the order, must identify remaining restrictions and either justify them or eliminate them.

The Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership—a coalition of hunting and fishing conservation organizations—welcomed the order, calling it a reinforcement of hunters’ and anglers’ roles in conservation funding and management. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Director Brian Nesvik said his goal is to have all refuges and hatcheries open to hunting and fishing within two years, except where legal mandates, public safety, or sensitive species or habitat conflicts require otherwise.

The post Colorado’s Tolland Ranch and Georgia’s Okefenokee Land Deal Expand Fly Fishing Access in 2026 appeared first on MidCurrent.

This week’s Tying Tuesday leans all the way into the surface, bringing you four patterns that cover the dry fly spectrum from classic to quirky: a soft-fur caddis built around a coyote mask, a foam hopper that’s as fun to tie as it is to fish, a CDC soft hackle emerger designed specifically for the March Brown hatch, and a Catskill-style dry dressed with one of the more unusual wing materials you’ll find at the vise — canvasback duck.

Whether you’re stocking up for early-season swings or getting a jump on summer terrestrials, this week’s lineup has something worth tying. Pull up a stool, warm up the bobbin, and get those dry fly boxes ready.

Coyote Caddis
Hook: Size 14, extra-long barbless dry fly hook
Thread: Tan, 70 denier
Body: Tan synthetic dubbing
Wing: Coyote mask fur (rabbit or fox as substitute)
Flash: Natural Crystal Flash, 4 strands
Hackle: Cream or light tan, undersized (approx. size 16)

GFA Hopper
Hook: Risen 9231, size 12
Thread: Veevus 10/0, yellow
Underbody: UV2 Diamond Bright dubbing, orange (or Starburst dubbing)
Body: 2mm Eva fly foam, yellow
Wing: All-purpose deer hair (elk hair works as well)
Legs: Centipede legs or round rubber legs, speckled tan medium
Hot Spot: 2mm fly foam, orange
Resin: Solarez Bone Dry UV resin

March Brown CDC Soft Hackle
Hook: Ahrex Legacy Wet Fly LE880, size 12
Bead: Hareline countersunk tungsten, copper, 3/32″ (2.3mm)
Thread: Danville’s Fly Masters Waxed (or Semperfli Nano Silk)
Tail/Abdomen: Hareline ringneck pheasant tail, natural
Rib: Uni Medium Soft Wire, copper
Thorax: Fulling Mill Eco Warrior Dub, Pepperbox
CDC Loop: Fulling Mill CDC, tan
Collar: Hareline Hungarian partridge skin
UV Resin: Solarez Bone Dry

Canvasback Dry Fly
Hook: Core 1190, size 14 (dry/light nymph hook)
Thread: TheFlySmith 12/0 traditional, primrose
Wings: Canvasback duck flank feather
Tail: Sideling Hill cape, barred rusty dun
Hackle: Sideling Hill cape
Rib: TheFlySmith 0.075mm wire
Head Cement: Backcast Fly Co.

The post Tying Tuesday: On the Surface appeared first on MidCurrent.

Wyoming’s effort to codify corner crossing into state statute is dead. Montana’s parallel push won’t reach the legislature until 2027 at the earliest. Together, the two states show how far the West remains from resolving a question that directly determines where anglers and hunters can legally go.

Corner crossing refers to stepping from one parcel of public land to another at the single point where two public parcels meet diagonally—without physically touching the private land that fills the other two corners of that intersection. The practice is the only way to reach millions of acres of federal and state ground in the West, where a 19th-century railroad land-grant system left public and private land interlocked in a checkerboard pattern. Landowners have argued that crossing at a shared corner constitutes trespass through their airspace; public land advocates counter that no private ground is touched and no damage is done. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit sided with the advocates, and when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a landowner’s appeal in October 2025, the ruling became settled law in Wyoming, Colorado, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico—but left Montana and other states outside the 10th Circuit in legal limbo.

Wyoming’s House Bill 19, which would have written the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ corner-crossing ruling into state statute and unlocked some 2.4 million corner-locked acres for public access, passed the House 47-15 in February before collapsing on the Senate floor in a 27-4 vote earlier this month. The bill’s collapse came not from outright opposition to corner crossing—the 10th Circuit settled that question in Wyoming and five other states—but from a cascade of competing amendments that made the legislation unworkable. Disputes over whether state trust lands should be included, how an unmarked corner should be legally defined, and who bears responsibility for knowing a crossing point is valid turned an 85-word bill into a procedural tangle. Sen. Bill Landen, who had shepherded the measure through committee, acknowledged what the vote meant. “If this bill goes quietly to rest this evening,” he said, “I wish whoever well who’s going to take this up in the future, because it’s not going away.”

The practical upshot for Wyoming anglers and hunters is unchanged but clarified: corner crossing remains legal under federal case law, but without a state statute to back it up, law enforcement still lacks a simple answer when a complaint comes in. The 10th Circuit decision was a win. A statute would have been clarity. Wyoming doesn’t have it.

Montana never had either. Because the state sits in the 9th Circuit rather than the 10th, the federal ruling doesn’t apply there at all, and corner crossing remains officially unlawful under state guidance from Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. As MidCurrent reported last month, roughly 871,000 acres of Montana public land are corner-locked—parcels that can only be reached at the point where two checkerboard sections of public ground meet, surrounded on all sides by private holdings. Montana’s legislature meets in regular session only in odd-numbered years, so any bill must wait for the 2027 session.

That hasn’t stopped Sen. Ellie Boldman of Missoula and Rep. Josh Seckinger of Bozeman—co-chairs of the Montana Legislative Sportsmen’s Caucus—from laying the groundwork. In mid-February the two announced their intent to pursue legislation—targeting the 2027 session or a potential interim committee action—arguing in a Bozeman Daily Chronicle op-ed that the bill would “do one simple thing. It clarifies in Montana law that corner crossing—when no private land is touched and no property is damaged—is lawful.” Seckinger, a fly fishing guide, has framed the stakes in terms his clients understand directly: access determines opportunity, he wrote, opportunity determines participation, and participation funds conservation. A Montana Free Press/Eagleton poll released March 5 found public opinion firmly on their side—roughly 60 percent of Montanans favor legalization, with support holding across party lines: 65 percent of independents, 63 percent of Democrats, and 53 percent of Republicans. A similar bill failed in the Montana House in 2013 after drawing busloads of blaze-orange-clad sportsmen to the Capitol.

Wyoming’s Senate vote is instructive for what Montana faces in 2027. Wyoming had the 10th Circuit ruling on its side, bipartisan support, and a bill that most lawmakers agreed simply reflected existing law—and still couldn’t survive the amendment process. Montana has strong public support and a guide-turned-legislator primed to carry the bill, but no favorable federal precedent and at least nine months before the legislature even convenes. Both efforts circle the same fault line: a checkerboard land ownership pattern dating to 19th-century railroad grants that, absent legislative clarity, leaves the question of who can reach which public land to county attorneys, wardens, and individual risk tolerance.

For the 2026 season, the situations differ but the practical guidance is similar. In Wyoming, corner crossing is legal—the 10th Circuit said so—but without a statute, some county attorneys and wardens still treat it as contested ground. In Montana it remains officially unlawful under FWP guidance, with no prosecution having reached trial in recent memory. In both states, anglers and hunters who choose to cross at checkerboard corners do so at their own risk.

The post Wyoming’s Corner-Crossing Bill Dies in Senate as Montana Eyes 2027 appeared first on MidCurrent.

Image by goodluz

Nine months after a single brown trout photograph triggered one of northwest Montana’s most urgent fisheries investigations, Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks says eDNA testing found no trace of the nonnative fish—but the agency isn’t standing down. As guides and anglers return to the Flathead River drainage this spring, FWP is still asking everyone on the water to kill any brown trout caught and bring the fish to the Region 1 office in Kalispell.

The Detection That Started It All

In early June 2025, a local guide reported that a client had landed a brown trout on the Flathead River between Pressentine and Teakettle fishing access sites near Evergreen. The guide photographed the fish, confirmed the kill, but did not keep the carcass—eliminating any chance for biologists to examine the fish’s otolith and trace its origin. FWP confirmed the detection via press release on July 14, 2025, and the investigation was on.

The Flathead River drainage above SKQ Dam—the Séliš Ksanka Ql’ispé Dam at the outlet of Flathead Lake—has been carefully guarded as a stronghold for native westslope cutthroat trout and federally threatened bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus). Brown trout below the dam are common; above it, the impoundment has functioned as an impassable barrier to natural upstream migration for decades. The only plausible explanation for a brown trout above the dam, said FWP Fisheries Management Biologist Kenny Breidinger, was human intervention.

Jim Vashro, former fisheries manager for FWP Region 1, noted that brown trout have already established themselves in the Thompson River and the Kootenai River downstream of Kootenai Falls through illegal introductions. “At this point, any detection of brown trout in the Flathead River has got to be some sort of bucket biology,” he said.

What eDNA Found—and Didn’t Find

To gauge the scope of the intrusion, FWP collected water samples from 13 sites between Old Steel Bridge and Teakettle Bridge, processing them for trace genetic material from brown trout. The samples, analyzed at an outside laboratory, came back negative across the board.

The odds of an eDNA hit scale with population size: a self-sustaining breeding population would almost certainly leave a signal. Thirteen consecutive misses offer meaningful reassurance.

“We’re hopeful that there’s not a brown trout population in the river,” Breidinger told the Daily Inter Lake in February 2026. He also acknowledged uncertainty about the original report itself. The guide’s photograph was angled toward the bottom of a boat with no visible landmarks, and Breidinger said he was never able to fully confirm the fish was caught where reported. “We never were able to confirm this was a legitimate report,” he said.

That ambiguity cuts both ways. If the report was accurate, the fish may have been an isolated individual rather than the leading edge of an established population. If it wasn’t caught in the Flathead drainage at all, the threat level drops further. Either way, FWP is not declaring the case closed.

Why the Threat Still Matters

Brown trout pose layered problems for native salmonids. They outcompete westslope cutthroat trout and bull trout for food and holding water and prey actively on juvenile fish. Breidinger also noted that because brown trout often spawn in fall just after bull trout in many of the same tributaries, they have been known to disturb native redds.

The drainage has survived a brush with this before. More than 25 years ago, brown trout escaped from the Creston National Fish Hatchery into Mill Creek, a Flathead tributary. FWP mounted a suppression effort that, over several years, appeared to eliminate the fish before a breeding population could take hold. Subsequent eDNA tests in Mill Creek found no brown trout. The agency’s response to the 2025 detection drew directly on that playbook.

“If there were a reproducing population of brown trout, I think we would know about it,” Breidinger said in July 2025. “We are pretty confident that this was a result of an illegal introduction and not from some unknown population.”

Moving live fish between Montana waterbodies is illegal. Violations can result in fines, imprisonment, and forfeiture of fishing and hunting licenses.

What Anglers Should Do

FWP’s standing directive for the Flathead drainage remains in effect: any brown trout caught in the Flathead River or its tributaries must be killed immediately. Anglers should retain the fish and contact the FWP Region 1 office in Kalispell at 406-752-5501, providing the date and exact location of the catch.

Brown trout are identifiable by their golden brown to yellow-brown coloration, dark spots often ringed by pale halos, and occasional red or orange spots.

“Protecting our native trout populations is a priority,” said FWP Regional Fisheries Manager Mike Hensler. “Brown trout pose a threat to native species in the Flathead drainage, and we need the public’s help to manage this invasive species.”

The post MFWP Asks Flathead Anglers to Stay Vigilant for Illegal Brown Trout appeared first on MidCurrent.

A $695 value, only 75 tickets will be sold. Proceeds help fund wild native fish conservation efforts.

“With roughly 30 fly rods to choose from, my Epic 476 Packlight is the first rod I reach for when heading into the backcountry. And backcountry fishing for wild native brook trout is my favorite thing to do.” — Bob Mallard, executive director, NFC

Special thanks to Epic Fly Rods and co-sponsor MidCurrent for their ongoing support of NFC and wild native fish. Please support these best-in-class fly-fishing industry companies as they have supported us and the resources we all enjoy.

Purchase raffle tickets here

The post Win an Epic 476 Packlight Fly Rod and Support Native Fish appeared first on MidCurrent.

Scientists from Europe, Mongolia, China, Japan, Russia, and the United States met March 2–4 at the University of Nevada, Reno’s Tahoe Institute for Global Sustainability to tackle an urgent question: how to keep the world’s largest trout from disappearing. The three-day workshop at UNR’s Lake Tahoe campus focused on five species of giant trout in the genera Hucho and Parahucho, collectively known as taimen, freshwater apex predators that can exceed 66 pounds and live more than 30 years.

All five species face accelerating pressure from dam construction, climate change, and illegal or unsustainable harvest. Their shared vulnerability—long-lived, slow-growing, dependent on connected river systems—makes them especially difficult to recover once populations decline.

Who Was in the Room

The workshop drew university researchers alongside scientists from the Wild Salmon Center and the Prince William Sound Science Center. A representative from the Summit Lake Paiute Tribe provided context on recovery efforts for Nevada’s own giant trout, the Lahontan cutthroat trout.

“We know very little about what it takes to protect these fish, so a lot of our work this week has been focused on filling in some of those knowledge gaps and focusing on ways to conserve them,” said Matthew Sloat, science director at the Wild Salmon Center, in a university statement.

Conservation Roadmap

Participants began drafting a collaborative paper synthesizing current research across all five taimen species and identifying gaps that have stalled conservation action. They also compiled and exchanged population data to support forthcoming revisions to International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List assessments—updated classifications that carry weight in national protection decisions.

Olaf Jensen, a professor at the University of Wisconsin’s Center for Limnology, offered a note of qualified optimism. In rivers where water flow remains unimpeded, he said, fish can still find thermal refuge through long-distance movement. “If we keep habitats intact and barrier free, fish are able to adapt in a way that allows them to handle some climate change,” Jensen said.

The Lahontan Cutthroat Parallel

The Lake Tahoe setting sharpened the workshop’s relevance for North American anglers. Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarkii henshawi)—North America’s largest inland trout, capable of reaching 40 to 60 pounds—once thrived in Lake Tahoe before vanishing from the lake in the 1930s. Today, the species occupies roughly 2% of its historic lake habitat and less than 10% of its historic river and stream habitat in self-sustaining wild populations, according to UNR. Dams, water diversions, introduced species, and historical overharvest drove the collapse—the same constellation of threats now bearing down on taimen across Eurasia.

The Summit Lake Paiute Tribe continues to play a central role in Lahontan cutthroat recovery, maintaining one of the species’ last self-sustaining lacustrine populations at Summit Lake in northern Nevada.

Two Decades of Fieldwork

UNR faculty have worked in Mongolia’s central steppe since 2004, partnering with local communities on river conservation and training early-career scientists. That fieldwork has produced peer-reviewed research on taimen population genetics, growth rates, and new tools for assessing river health.

“Dr. Hogan and I spent 21 years in Mongolia to help conserve the taimen,” said Sudeep Chandra, a foundation professor in UNR’s Department of Biology and faculty member at the Tahoe Institute. Chandra and Zeb Hogan, a UNR research professor, are organizing a catch-and-release fly fishing research expedition to Mongolia this September through the Tahoe Institute and Sweetwater Travel Company.

MidCurrent has covered taimen conservation and fly fishing for the species extensively. Anglers interested in Hokkaido’s Sakhalin taimen can find more in our recent video feature on Japanese fly fishing.

The post Lake Tahoe Workshop Unites Global Scientists to Protect the World’s Largest Trout appeared first on MidCurrent.

The Army Corps’ 2026 Nationwide Permits include the first-ever standalone permit for removing barriers to fish migration—but a parallel EPA proposal could limit states’ ability to protect water quality. Image by Roy Gilbert courtesy of USFWS

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ 2026 Nationwide Permits took effect on March 15, bringing with them a new tool for reconnecting fragmented rivers and streams. The Corps reissued 56 existing permits and added one new one: NWP 60, the first standalone Nationwide Permit dedicated to improving passage for fish and other aquatic organisms.

The permit authorizes discharges of dredged or fill material for work that restores or enhances the ability of fish to move through aquatic ecosystems. Eligible activities include boulder and cobble placement, large wood installations, nature-like and conventional fishway construction, fish screens, fish lifts, fish bypass channels around existing in-stream structures, and the replacement of existing structures—such as culverts—that block aquatic passage. The Corps deliberately broadened the final language from the June 2025 proposal, swapping “culverts” for “structures” to cover a wider range of fish passage designs.

Why It Matters

The scale of the problem is staggering. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service estimates that millions of barriers nationwide fragment rivers and block fish migration. The agency’s National Fish Passage Program has removed or bypassed 3,500 barriers over 25 years, reopening access to 64,000 miles of upstream habitat. But the permitting process itself has been an obstacle: many fish passage projects previously required individual Corps permits, a slower and more expensive path than the streamlined Nationwide Permit process. NWP 60 is designed to shift those projects into the faster lane.

The permit carries a one-acre cap on the loss of waters of the United States, with a pre-construction notification required for projects exceeding lower impact thresholds. It does not authorize dam removal, and it does not authorize the construction of new culverts at crossings where none currently exist—projects that would need authorization under a different NWP or an individual permit. Fish passage work that may affect species listed under the Endangered Species Act still triggers ESA review, meaning projects in waters with threatened or endangered salmonids, sturgeon, or other listed species will continue to require coordination with USFWS or NOAA Fisheries.

Broader NWP Changes

Beyond NWP 60, the 2026 package reissues 56 of the 57 existing permits with limited changes. The Corps dropped NWP 56, which covered finfish mariculture, and incorporated “nature-based solutions” language across several permits, including NWP 13 (Bank Stabilization), NWP 27 (Aquatic Ecosystem Restoration), and NWP 54 (Living Shorelines). NWP 27, widely used for stream restoration work, also received streamlined reporting requirements that replace the previous pre-construction notification process in many cases—a change that should reduce costs and timelines for voluntary restoration projects.

The 2026 permits run through March 15, 2031.

Section 401: A Counterweight

The new fish passage permit arrived alongside a separate regulatory move that cuts the other direction. On January 13, the EPA proposed revisions to its Clean Water Act Section 401 water quality certification rules—the mechanism by which states impose conditions on federally permitted projects, including conditions designed to protect fisheries and aquatic habitat.

The proposed rule would narrow the scope of state certification review from the Biden-era “activity as a whole” standard to a discharge-only framework, limiting certifications to point-source discharges into waters of the United States. In practice, this would restrict states’ ability to use the certification process to address nonpoint-source pollution, impacts to state waters that fall outside federal jurisdiction, and broader watershed concerns. The proposal largely reinstates the framework from the Trump administration’s 2020 rule, which the Biden administration replaced in 2023.

The comment period closed on February 17, and the EPA has indicated it intends to finalize the rule in spring 2026.

For fly fishers, the tension is plain. NWP 60 gives fish passage advocates a faster permitting track for barrier removal and fishway construction—work that directly benefits trout, salmon, steelhead, and other migratory species. The Section 401 proposal, if finalized, would strip states of one of their primary tools for conditioning federal permits to protect the water quality those same fish depend on.

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