Stay ConnectedPodcasting from The Olympic Peninsula rainforest in Washington, THIS is the OP Fishing Podcast where we discuss chasing steelhead with spey, spoons and everything in between. GET READY – it’s time to dive deep into tactics, fish science, conservation and all things salmonids!
KNOW better, FISH better – Part of the Barbless Podcast Network.
Hosted by fish biologist and steelhead junkie, John McMillan.
Copyright: © Barbless.co - All Rights Reserved
This week's episode is a special one. I interview Tom Rosenbauer, long-time fly angler who is the host of the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcasts, has been with the company over 30 years, and while there has been a fishing school instructor, copywriter, public relations director, merchandise manager, and was editor of The Orvis News for 10 years. In our wide ranging discussion, we dive into Tom's origins as an angler, his early interest in fish biology, how he came to work with Orvis, his favorite types of fly fishing, and his views on differences between small stream trout fishing on the East Coast and the big stream trout fishing in the West.
Normally I talk a lot about steelhead, but this week we mostly focus on trout fishing, which is how I cut my teeth learning how to fly fish as a young lad. Beyond having immense knowledge, Tom is a great person and frankly, one of the best trout anglers in the world. Tune in to learn something new and hear about Tom's path from self-taught fly angler to world-famous author and trout fishing expert.
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This week I interview Dr. Jack Williams, former Science Director for Trout Unlimited and a long-time scientist for United States Forest Service. Dr. Jack has been mentor, colleague and friend, and we have a wide ranging discussion on his beginnings as an angler, his roots as a fishery scientist (which wasn't with salmon!), and how he came to focus on salmonids. We also discuss his seminal paper "Salmon at the crossroads", which was published in 1991 and further stirred my desire to become an advocate for depleted stocks of salmon, steelhead, and trout.
Tune into this week's interview if you are interested in the history of salmon conservation in the Pacific Northwest and how Dr. Jack, and others, worked collaboratively to construct and implement the Northwest Forest Plan, which resulted in dramatic changes to how the USFS managed their forest lands. Plus, we chat a bit about the future of salmonids and what conservation efforts Jack thinks are imperative to ensuring their sustainability.
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In this episode host John McMillan is joined by Chris Wood, CEO of Trout Unlimited. They have a wide ranging discussion about Chris's background, including an amazing story about his introduction to salmon in Alaska, how he became interested in conservation, why Idaho and the Snake River dams are so important to Chris and TU, and the array of work that TU is doing to recover salmonids and rebuild their habitat across the United States.
We also dive into Chris's background with sports and discuss the value of team-work in conservation and ultimately, why issues like climate change and dam removal require a total team effort. For all of this, and more, tune into this week's awesome episode with Chris and John.
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This week I interview Ruth Sims, Seattle born-and-raised, who has been fishing since she could walk, but only started fly fishing about five years ago. During the work-week, she's an electrical engineer for an aerospace company, but during the weekends and off days, Ruth is seeking out new fly fishing adventures and looking for ways to apply her interest in math, physics and engineering to improve her casting and fishing. That level of commitment has allowed her to up her game very quickly, as she's now focusing her off time into becoming a casting instructor and enjoys teaching others how to fly fish.
In this episode, Ruth and I have a wide ranging discussion about all things fly fishing, including how she became interested in fly fishing (think fly tying and math), the risks of fishing solo as a female and why she enjoys spending water-time with her friends, some of her favorite fishing stories and moments, and how traveling to fish different locations has her rethinking her approach to angling in the coming year. Finally, I ask her about the challenges she has faced both as a woman and Native American, how that has shaped her, and why we both believe that fly fishing and conservation could greatly benefit from a more diverse group of anglers.
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Crossing North American this week from the West to the East to discuss Great Lakes steelhead with fishery biologist Brian Morrison. I've never studied or fished for Great Lakes steelhead, my only knowledge prior to meeting Brian was from scientific manuscripts. Since, he has opened up a whole new world to me.
In this episode, Brian and I go over the history of Great Lakes steelhead, including the first plants of rainbow trout and steelhead, the earliest fisheries, and how differently steelhead are managed throughout the region -- ranging from hatchery dominated rivers and fisheries to those consisting only of wild steelhead. We also discuss the remarkable diversity of steelhead that has developed over the past century, how Brian enjoys fishing for them, and the amazing amount of repeat spawning that occurs in some populations.
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Taking a step back from science this week to bring a bit of youth to the show. Some anglers prefer to fish alone, others with a partner. I['ve mostly been a solo person. Millennial angler Lee Geist is back along with his close friend, Carson Churchill -- a dynamic duo of hardcore anglers who are best fishing buddies that cover almost all of Western Washington in search of steelhead and salmon. These two young cats talk about their history of fishing together, including their first meeting and subsequent fishing trip, how they approach steelhead, and their favorite tactics for spring Chinook.
Lastly, we hit on the status of their summer steelhead fishing to date and reflect a bit on the OP winter steelhead season, the closures, and bounce ideas back and forth about what steps we are willing to take to keep rivers open for winter steelheading.
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Do you know how many sub-species of cutthroat trout there are? How about: How old is the species? Why are there so many sub-species of cutthroat? This episode Dr. Pat Trotter joins me, the world's preeminent expert on cutthroat trout. Pat has written two books on cutthroat, authored book chapters and numerous scientific publications. He is also a long-time angler and has spent a large part of his life roaming Western watersheds to better understand cutthroat trout.
Tune in to hear about how Pat became interested in science, why he loves cutthroat so much, how their evolutionary legacy has been shaped by geology and hydrology, and which sub-species are most at-risk. Even if you thought you knew cutthroat, this episode will teach you at least one or two new facts.
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This week John interviews film-maker Shane Anderson about his latest movie on a proposed flood-control "dam" project in the Chehalis River: A Watershed Moment. Shane discusses why this movie project was different than his previous work, what he has learned about the history of the Chehalis River, the Native Americans (including Chehalis and Quinault Tribes) that have lived in the basin for millennia, and the potential impacts the flood control project would have on winter steelhead and Chinook salmon.
Tune in for this, and more in-depth back-and-forth on how dam construction and dam removal can impact migratory fish and their population structure, whether there is a more ecologically friendly solution, and of course, Shane lets you know where you can watch his movie and if interested, provide comments on the project.
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This week Ian Tattam, a fishery scientist with Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, joins John to talk about summer steelhead in the John Day River, a tributary to the interior Columbia River basin. Ian is not only a scientist, but also a died-in-the-wool steelheader who was raised fishing for Chinook and steelhead by his father. In a wide ranging discussion, Ian details his upbringing as a youth in the PNW, what got him into steelhead and fishery science, his research on steelhead as a Graduate Student at Oregon State University, and finally, his recent research on how barging of hatchery steelhead smolts from the Snake River has contributed to really high stray rates into the John Day River.
Ian and John both attended Oregon State University and conducted some of their field work together, so they not only hit on the science, they also talk about their fun times together in the basin and how Ian came up with some cool sampling techniques. Tune into this episode if you love summer steelhead and want to understand the research Ian and others are doing to improve our knowledge about steelhead in the John Day River basin.
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The Metal God is back!. Yep, in this episode, John and Bill Herzog get together for another trip down memory lane. This time they talk about how they got indoctrinated into summer steelheading, their favorite lures and flies, why they are so tasty (hatchery ones at least), and why hatchery summer runs are a much better investment than winter runs.
They also discuss the poor returns to the Columbia and Snake the past few years, how summer steelhead fishing is different from winter steelheading, and lastly, Bill and John offer some tips for where to fish depending on how thick your wallet is. Tune in for all of this and much more, in addition to a few laughs.
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