In addition to the blog, Trouts and Stouts is a small fly fishing club composed on alumni from Reed College, in Portland, OR. When possible, we gather to fish, camp, or share a stout. 

Trouts and Stouts is a new club, but we are deeply interested in Tradition. As fly anglers, we understand that we stand at the end of a long line of fisherman whose footsteps we follow, and to whom we a owe a great debt. We therefore favor traditional methods, tactics, and equipment. We are not luddites. We are glad to wear breathable waders, and we are thankful we don' t have to dry silk lines in the afternoon before we can keep fishing. We are simply skeptical of what is regarded as progress in fly fishing.

Izaac Walton once said; "Rivers and the inhabitants of the watery elements are made for wise men to contemplate and for fools to pass by without consideration." The members of Trouts and Stouts are drawn to and, dedicated for that matter, to fly angling as a contemplative act. We feel that there is more to ‘consideration’ then the acquisition and application of the “high technical” innovations in all aspects of fishing. In fact, approaching fly angling as a means for catching the largest number, biggest, or most exotic fish through the application of technical innovation and with intended exertion, is not only excessive but also misses the point. By all means the most modern attitudes will still ‘get the job done’, but we feel that such utilitarianism does an injustice to the implicit healing lessons alive beneath every watery surface that we are so blessed to explore.

Maybe it is when we slow down to the speed of the river, that the river reminds us what ‘purpose’ can mean. At the confluence where water, clean air, good friends and trout meet there is clarity of thought, which is not muddled by the noise of a busy life. We at Trouts and Stouts return to the temple of nature in this fraternity of fishing for the purpose of learning through this most quiet art

Four T&Sers gathered for our largest gathering of the year for three days of glorious fishing on the Tuolumne river. We were a bit early, and the water was cold, but we made the acquaintance of many brownies, a few small brookies, and even some rainbows.

With many California waters bloated with freezing snowmelt, we took an exploratory trip up Highway 4 to the town of Arnold nestled in the Western Sierras. In Arnold, we discovered that the nearby Beaver Creek was blown out, and decided to try our hand at fishing Lake Alpine. Which was beautiful, but due to high winds was better suited to our power bait chucking brethren. Driving to another reservoir we stumbled upon the North Fork of the Stanislaus river, which was running at an appropriate level, but proved to cold for trout. The next day turning down the mountains we tried our hands at Moccasin Creek (at the intersection of 120 and 49), and finally ended up at the Lower Stanislaus where our explorations were rewarded with eager wild rainbows who eagerly sipped our dry flies at sunset. While the fishing was not an unqualified success, we are now quite prepared for summer fishing up in that region once the flows get under control.

After a long May without a T&S trip, we decided to try out another Monterey County coastal stream. The Little Sur was absolutely gorgeous. This fishery was badly damaged in the 2008 fire season, but seems to be on the rebound. Tiny wild rainbows would come up to any dryfly, but a wisely chosen dry fly or wet fly could bring up fish ranging from 6-10 inches. Hopefully this is a good sign of things to come. 

Blown-out rivers elsewhere in the state inspired us to go south and exchange the big rivers for a coastal mountain stream. This hike and fish creek consists of a series of small pools divided by short waterfalls, and is packed with wild coastal rainbows. This fish were small, but plentiful, the day was pretty and the mountains were beautiful.

We spent a rainy, but beautiful day at the Yuba river. This big river was full of big wild rainbows literally leaping out of the water during the day-long March Brown hatch. These wily trout were not easily fooled, but they struck at dry flies and swung wet flies.

Two new T&Sers along with a couple of veterans set out for this Trouts and Stouts favorite for a relaxing day of fishing, teaching and learning. Flows were low, but tough wild trout were found in some of the deeper, slower pools. Our society grew by two, as the newbies quickly caught on to the intricacies of casting and wading. One of them even caught his first trout on a fly on this highly technical river.

Two T&Sers made a last minute and unexpected trip to the Mokelumne River outside of Lodi, CA. Perhaps due to the situation of a trout hatchery on the River, the fishing was fast paced with more than 50 trout, from between 6-11 inches, landed and countless others hooked or striking. Fishing was good on traditional wet flies as well as midge emerges and dries.

For our first, and only, trip this February two T&Sers explored the Calaveras River below the New Hogan Reservoir. "Winter Conditions" still prevailed, and the catch rate was low, but there were some beautiful wild rainbows willing to take our nymphs and wet flies.

January was a banner month for the T&S gang, and the Carmel River was the third trip we took this month. The Carmel is open for Steelhead fishing from November to March, but only on Wednesdays and Weekends when the flows are above 80 cfs. We were told that the catch rate was 0.1/hour, but we went armed with optimism and a love for the outdoors, knowing that if we caught nothing but a cold it would be a good day. It was lovely and we got to fish a nice long stretch of river with the result of exactly one beautiful fish. Looks like the catch rate predictions were spot on.

The California contingent of T&S spent a lovely Saturday at our unofficial "home waters" on the Stanislaus river. Fishing was good with lots of hookups and some nice colorful rainbows. Trout were sipping emergers periodically throughout the day, but as often is the case in the winter could be more reliably taken with small (#20-22) midge nymphs and some weight.

The location of the inaugural Trouts and Stouts fishing trip was chosen for us by our friends who decided to get married in Austin Texas. Having been gathered into one place by circumstance, we set out for the Guadalupe river, which is apparently one of the southernmost trout fisheries in the United States. We arrived to discover that we were not the only ones who had decided to celebrate the new year in waders. The river was quite full, and there seemed to be many more anglers than fish. 

Dedicated as we are to having a good time and enjoying each other's company, we spent a lovely day in the beautiful Texas hill country, and some of our less experienced members received some excellent casting instruction. Ironically, the trip involved no sighting of either trouts or stouts.