If you’ve been busy organizing flies and not doomscrolling, you might’ve missed that fly fishing has been sneaking into the news in some pretty wild ways lately. First up, Colorado’s Lower Blue River is turning into a full-on river soap opera. FlyLab’s recent writeup on the new Colorado Parks and Wildlife survey spells it out: big landowners along the Lower Blue have been blaming “floating anglers” for a trout crash, but CPW’s own biologist points the finger mostly at pellet-fed fish programs crowding the river and spreading gill lice, not folks drifting it with a 5‑weight. Colorado Parks and Wildlife even said angler-caused mortality on that catch‑and‑release stretch is minor compared to natural causes. So while some private interests float a 10‑year permit system for boaters, the science is basically saying, “Hey, maybe stop feeding trout like feedlot cattle and then blaming the guys in drift boats.” Slide west to Oregon, where the Oregon Department of Fish & Wildlife just locked in the 2026–2027 regs. ODFW and Northwest Steelheaders both break down a new nine-dollar Ocean Endorsement if you want to chase marine species offshore (not salmon or steelhead). That fee is funding nearshore surveys, which is nerdy, sure, but it’s the kind of data that tells you where bait, rockfish, and predators are stacking—pretty handy if you like swinging big flies in the surf or probing jetty current seams. They also cleaned up kokanee rules: 10 a day, year-round in many zones, simple and clear. It’s not classic fly flicking for wild bows, but a lot of trout folks quietly love a glassy morning in a float tube with an intermediate line and a bright kokanee streamer. Meanwhile, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is quietly doing something every wading angler should care about: opening more water. A recent breakdown on Spreaker highlighted that national wildlife refuges in Idaho, Montana, and Washington are adding over 87,000 acres of new fishing access. It all lines up with state regs and, crucially, there’s no surprise federal “no lead tackle” twist in these stretches. For anyone who loves sneaky little refuge creeks with spooky cutthroat and browns, this is basically a map of new side missions for the next few seasons. And for the folks who like their fly fishing with a side of beer, stickers, and fish porn, the Fly Fishing Film Tour is already teasing its 2026 North American run. Flylords Magazine has been talking up the “Rooster Fly Project” film, and the F3T schedule shows this will be a big anniversary year for the tour. Expect packed theaters, loud hollers when someone sticks a giant tarpon on a 12‑weight, and at least one film that makes you want to sell your truck and move to some tiny trout town. Point is, while the broader news cycle is a mess, if you drill down to fly fishing, 2026 is shaping up like a good hatch: a little complicated, but if you pay attention, it could fish really well. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. Thi This content was created in partnership and with the help of Artificial Intelligence AI.
