Fishing Conservation photo
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I’m looking forward to the upcoming Fly Fishing Film Tour, which always lifts me out of the winter doldrums with great films about anglers and the places they visit. One film in particular, however, is bound to generate a lot of important conversation because it centers on the topic of climate change. I think it’s about time we anglers had more serious dialogue on this issue. Lose the politics, focus on the science, and see what we come up with.

This film, Co2ld Waters, includes Fly Talk’s own Tim Romano, as well as Steve Hemkens from Orvis, Yvon Chouinard from Patagonia, Craig Matthews of Blue Ribbon Flies, and Todd Tanner from Conservation Hawks.

I’ll let them do most of the talking, but the bottom line is that we are seeing climate-related issues that can really damage fishing.

Trout need cold water. Some rivers are getting warmer. Many of us are seeing more closures on fisheries due to high water temps than we can remember. The list goes on… wildfires, erratic and severe storm patterns, loss of habitat, and so forth.

Of course, any time you bring up this topic, it’s like dropping the puck at a hockey game. And I’m sure there are plenty of folks buried in the snow in New York who are in no mood to talk about climate change (then again, with it being 60 degrees and raining now, maybe they are). The thing is, whether or not you want to be engaged in this discussion, if you are a serious angler, especially one who cares about fly fishing in cold water, well… you already are.