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May 24, 2013
 When it comes to access, this is the only type of closure we like to see.Both arms of Congress have passed the Freedom To Fish Act. Pending Pres. Obama’s signature, the legislation brings a temporary close to a ridiculous movement by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to impose stringent access restrictions on fishing below dams along the Cumberland River in Tennessee and Kentucky.The bill, which passed May 21, received bipartisan support (seriously) and was introduced in the Senate by Tennessee’s Lamar Alexander and in the House by Kentucky’s Ed Whitfield.
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April 28, 2013
by April 18, 2013
by There are times when politicians agree. It usually takes something so obviously positive that it cannot be denied. Such is the case with Maryland's angler access legislation which was signed into law by Governor Martin O'Malley on April 9.
The bill requires that state and local transportation departments to provide "reasonable and cost-effective" access to lakes, rivers and streams in all future roadway construction projects -- including repairs to existing points of potential access.
[ Read Full Post ]April 12, 2013
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In 1862, 14,000 acres of state-owned land was chartered to establish Michigan State University as the nation's pioneer land grant college and served as a model for the Morrill Act.
The Morrill Act allotted each eligible state 30,000 acres of Federal land for the establishment of universities that focused on agriculture and natural resource sciences.
MSU has since become home to one of the top fisheries and wildlife management programs in the nation, churning out some of the country's top biologists and resource managers.
And, until now, it was illegal to fish on campus.
[ Read Full Post ]March 26, 2013
by Over the past few months, we’ve followed the controversy surrounding the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers intent to close down tailwater areas on the Cumberland River to fishing access.
To recap, the Corps seems to have suddenly determined that allowing anglers to access these areas poses an imminent threat to their lives and has hatched a plan to block those areas off it claims is mandated by a 1996 policy on public safety. The facts, of course, don’t support the Corps and its own website bears that out.
The corps’ site claims that 881 deaths have occurred on Corps property since 1970 with 14 of those being drownings in tailwater areas – less than two percent of all fatalities.
[ Read Full Post ]December 4, 2012
by Ah, you've got to love the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
From the group that brought you the Chicago sanitary canal and a steady flow of invasive species into America, comes the next great hit to anglers everywhere: Bans on fishing in tailwaters below some of the most popular dams in the nation, citing "safety concerns."
A recent report on Nooga.com outlined the issue. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has hatched a plan to close access to tailwater areas below all dams on the Cumberland River -- a series of areas that are extremely popular with fisherman targeting a variety of species.
[ Read Full Post ]June 8, 2012
by If you’re a hunter you’ve probably been asked this question: How can you love an animal and then kill it?
There are lots of ways to answer that, but one of the best is that sportsmen’s investment in the resources we hunt and fish—through license sales and taxes on sporting equipment—funds habitat work and wildlife management. But there’s another way to answer: sportsmen have the most intimate relationships with the places and the species we hunt and fish, and will advocate for them more intensely than any other group.
[ Read Full Post ]June 5, 2012
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Maybe you recall last week’s post about a controversial access issue in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Today, we will look at the other side of the story on the Salmon Trout River.
To recap, the river flows into Lake Superior and harbors one of the last remaining runs of coaster brook trout. Coasters are brook trout that are reared in rivers and streams but live the majority of their lives in Lake Superior. In those deep, cold waters they grow to substantial proportions – far larger than brookies that live out their lives inland. In the fall, when they reach sexual maturity, coasters return to the rivers and streams from which they came to spawn. Coasters are the only migratory salmonid native to Lake Superior.
[ Read Full Post ]June 4, 2012
by Unless your state is like Montana, Idaho or just a few others, strolling onto a top trout stream is no easy task. You have to rely on state access sites, which often times are few and far between. Think combat fishing situations where elbows get thrown alongside spinners and flies.
But some states are trying to buck this trend, and Utah is one of them. Back in 2010, the Utah Stream Access Coalition fought the Utah Legislature which took away stream access rights that had been granted by a court earlier. Unfortunately, the Utah Stream Access Coalition was unable to kill the attempt to eliminate the public from public waters.
[ Read Full Post ]May 30, 2012
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Editor’s Note: This post is a revision of the original blog entry, which we published last Thursday and then took off-line in order to improve the reporting. Mainly, we wanted to get the perspective of the Huron Mountain Club, and to verify a number of details such as the size of the club, its membership, and the claim that it has hired off-duty law enforcement officers to patrol the Salmon Trout River.
This is an access story that has it all: a disputed law, a river with a sacred variety of trout and an exclusive club that is attempting to privatize a road, a river, and even the law to defend what they say is their own property. Here’s what’s at stake.
Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is what trout fishing was meant to be. It's a vast expanse of conifer nastiness laced with rivers, creeks and streams. Within you will find some of the finest, purest native brook trout fishing in the country. You won't find a ton of big fish but there are some. But I've never really had much to complain about when it's quite possible to hook 100 colorful, native brook trout in a day. Size be damned.
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Hunters and anglers across the nation consistently list one challenge as their primary obstacle to spending more time in the field: Access.
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