Emerging

Captain Benny Blanco A.K.A "The Voice of Florida Bay" is a full time fishing guide and a champion of Everglades restoration. He works closely with the organization Captains for Clean Water and in this conversation he gives us an update on Floridas fight for clean water. Check out Benny on Instagram @captbennyblanco and learn more about Captains for Clean Water here.

We recorded an episode with the Captains crew last season! If you are interested in a more in depth look at the organization, check out the episode here. 

Riversmith makes the River Quiver, the coolest vehicle rod holder on the market. Mike O is a CU Boulder alum and a past officer of the 5 Rivers club at CU. He is now the head of sales at Riversmith and is helping the Boulder based company reach new heights.

We hope you enjoy this quick episode with Mike and be sure to check out Riversmith at https://riversmith.com

Joe Gugino is the conservation and community partnerships manager at Costa sunglasses, and a darn good one! Without him, the 5 Rivers program, Kick Plastic, the Untangled collection and all the other awesome projects Costa funds would not be possible. Here is the first Protect Purpose Report by Costa, which will tell you all about the incredible work they do.

I hope you enjoy my conversation with Joe! Stay tuned for more IFTD conversations coming soon.

In this miniseries of Emerging, we will be publishing a series of short episodes from our recent trip to Salt Lake City for IFTD (International Fly Tackle Dealer). IFTD is a trade show put on by the American Fly Fishing Trade Association and it brings together the best in the fly fishing industry. We sat with a few different industry experts and are excited to share the conversations with you! For the first episode, we've got Libby Glaser, coordinator of the TU Costa 5 Rivers program. 

We hope you enjoy this miniseries, stay tuned for more episodes coming soon! 

In this second part of our series on the Lower Snake River, we are talking with Asa Menlove and Shiva Rajbhandari of the Youth Salmon Protectors. Asa started the organization and Shiva is behind the wheel as the group is thriving. The Youth Salmon Protectors are a coalition of young people in the PNW and beyond dedicated to saving wild Columbia River salmon and steelhead. We talked about why the Lower Snake River dams need to be removed, what this issue stands for in a larger sense and how other young people can succeed with their own conservation goals. The best way to get in touch with them is through their Instagram. For more information, check out their website through the Idaho Conservation League. 

We hope you enjoy the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss, or people you want to hear from, shoot us an email at [email protected].  

This is an exciting episode because it is the first of a two part series about the Lower Snake River and the four dams preventing wild salmon and steelhead from living in their natural habitat. The Snake River is currently seeing its worst return of salmon and steelhead in over 200 years and the time to take action is now. Removal of the four dams on the Lower Snake is the only option left and Eric Crawford of TU explains it perfectly in this episode. We talked about why the dams need to be removed, how this will be done and how you can help. Here is the TU landing page to learn more about the issue and take action to help these wild salmon and steelhead populations. 

We hope you enjoy the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss, or people you want to hear from, shoot us an email at [email protected]. Stay tuned for part two with the Youth Salmon Protectors coming soon! 

On this episode of Emerging, Libby and I talked to Hannah Leonard of Sporting Lead Free. Sporting Lead-Free is a non-political, educational initiative working to reduce inadvertent lead consumption by wildlife and people through the voluntary choice of lead-free ammunition and tackle. Hannah is the outreach coordinator for this awesome organization and she has some incredible stories and passion for this issue. Be sure to check out the episode to learn more! 

Here are the links we mentioned in the show... 

Sporting Lead Free overview video 

Resources page to find lead free alternatives 

We hope you enjoy the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss, or people you want to hear from, shoot us an email at [email protected] 

If you are hoping to increase youth engagement in your local TU chapter or want to get more beginners into your club, this episode is definitely for you! On this episode of Emerging, Libby and I talked to Andrew Reichardt from the National Capital Chapter of Trout Unlimited. This is one of the oldest TU chapters and has some incredible history. One of the coolest aspects of this history is their recent initiative to increase youth engagement in Trout Unlimited. They have a great film called TUrnaround coming out soon so keep your eyes out for that. Here is a link to NCC-TU's website. 

The fisheries discussed in this episode are the traditional lands of the Piscataway, Pamunkey, Nentego (Nanichoke), Mattaponi, Chickahominy, Monacan, and Powhatan people. Click here to learn more.

We hope you enjoy the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss, or people you want to hear from, shoot us an email at [email protected] 

For this episode of Emerging, Libby and I chatted with Jess Westbrook and Kaitlin Barnhart of The Mayfly Project. The Mayfly Project is a 501(c)(3) national organization that uses fly fishing as a catalyst to mentor and support children in foster care. We discussed what they do and how you can help! Check out the links below to get connected with them. 

The Mayfly Project website

Project locations

Dr. Wallace Nichols

We hope you enjoy the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss, or people you want to hear from, shoot us an email at [email protected]

On this episode of Emerging we sat down with Nick Halle the Volunteer Operations Coordinator for Trout Unlimited. He lives up in Missoula Montana so we discussed the recent crisis on the Madison River, his work with TU, fishing out West and much more. 

As discussed in the show, here is the link to an article Nick wrote about the Madison River crisis. Also, this link will connect you with your local TU chapter. 

We hope you enjoyed the show! If you have any questions, topics we should discuss or people you want to hear from shoot us an email at [email protected]