We're "Fixing" Trout Streams All Wrong, With Chris Jordan

The Orvis Fly-Fishing Podcast

James Hathaway

Bass, Fishing, Bonefish, Wilderness, Flyfishing, Trout, How To, Steelhead, Bluegill, Fly, Orvis, Sports, Salmon, Panfish, Education, Rosenbauer

4.8 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 6 November 2023

⏱️ 94 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

My guest this week is Chris Jordan [41:13], a scientist with NOAA who specializes in habitat restoration. His view is that, in our arrogance, we've gotten habitat restoration projects all wrong most of the time. We think we can engineer river systems to conform with what we think they should be, but rivers are dynamic and mostly unpredictable and that, whenever possible, we need to look at watershed solutions—helping rivers do the job with a lighter hand but a larger scope. Follow this link to learn more: https://www.restoringriverscapes.org

In the Fly Box this week we have a wide variety of interesting questions, including:

Should I bother fishing carp flats when the water temperature is in the 50s and air temperature is in the 30s?
Will brown trout live in warm water rivers some of the time? Is it worth it to fish the mouths of cold-water tributaries for brown trout?
You always say that trout prefer to be in water that is two-to four-feet deep to feed. Yet I have caught my largest trout in pools that are 10-to 15-feet deep. I'm confused.
How does George Daniel attach his light nymphing leader to his fly line?
I fish small streams with a 10-foot, 4-weight Recon rod. I worry about spooking trout when my rod casts a shadow over the pool I'm fishing. Should I go with a shorter rod?
Some great suggestions from a listener about fishing with kids, and why we should make it more about building relationships and not always about catching fish.
I consistently foul-hook trout when fishing multiple flies. Am I striking too soon or too late, or striking too hard?
If most people fish barbless flies, why don't manufacturers make more barbless hooks?
Do states only stock trout in specific locations due to allocated quantities, or are there environmental factors in play?
Can I use a 6-weight Bank Shot line on my 11-foot, 4-weight Euro rod to try two-handed casting?
I have a friend who ties all my flies. What should I get him as a thank-you gift?
If I hook but lose a big lake-run rainbow, would it be possible to go back later in the day to try for it?
I have a small brook trout stream on my property. Should I put some trees in the river to help the fish?
A listener suggests that although smallmouth bass don't need much habitat help from us, they grow slowly so handling them with care is important if you want a trophy smallmouth fishery.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, welcome to the Orvis Fly Fishing Podcast. This is your host Tom Rosebauer, and my
0:16.1	guest this week is Chris Jordan. Chris is a scientist with Noah and Chris's specialty is is freshwater
0:26.7	freshwater ecosystems basically rivers and creeks and what we can do to improve these habitats, particularly for Selmonids.
0:36.6	Now, Chris is of the opinion that a lot of the things we do to quote improve trout streams are misguided in that we
0:47.8	we are really arrogant when we try to engineer a solution to a habitat problem in that in most cases it's best to let
0:57.4	nature take its course, give nature a little bit of a leg up and get things started but then let the river heal itself and you
1:08.9	know the other the other point is that that rivers are dynamic and they're always going to change and a lot of times when we work with
1:17.4	Habitat improvements, we get the idea that this thing should last forever for you know 20 years or 30 years and that's
1:26.1	probably not the right thing to do because rivers are dynamic and they're going to move
1:31.3	stuff around.
1:32.8	So I think you'll find Chris's take on what we should be doing and what we shouldn't be doing
1:39.9	in improving our rivers, a big eye-opener.
1:44.3	I know I did.
1:46.9	And before we do the flybox, a couple announcements.
1:51.0	One is that, you know, I love interacting with with people on the
1:55.4	podcast. It's really fun to to read your questions and try to answer them and have a
2:00.9	dialogue with you, but it's a lot more interesting when I meet
2:06.0	you in person and I am going to be doing some things in the near future and beyond where we can actually get together and talk face to face.
2:17.8	The first thing is I'm going to be in Orvis New York on November 9th from about 4 to 6 p.m. going to be doing a
2:28.0	presentation on taking your trout fishing to the next level and And then the following weekend, November 11th and 12th,
2:35.0	I'm going to be at the International Fly Tying Symposium
2:38.0	in Somerset, New Jersey.
	...

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