Fly Fishing News Roundup: Tailwater Troubles, Rule Changes, and Expanded Access cover art

Fly Fishing News Roundup: Tailwater Troubles, Rule Changes, and Expanded Access

Fly Fishing News Roundup: Tailwater Troubles, Rule Changes, and Expanded Access

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 If you’ve been busy at the vise all winter and haven’t looked up from your bobbin in a while, the fly fishing news ticker has actually been pretty spicy lately.

Let’s start in Colorado, where the Lower Blue River is the kind of place every tailwater junkie dreams about: big trout, clear flows, and just enough drama to keep the forums buzzing. Flylab reports that Colorado Parks and Wildlife just dropped a multi‑year survey on that stretch below Green Mountain, and it’s throwing a serious flag on pellet‑fed trout programs used by private landowners along the river. According to CPW biologist Jon Ewert, all that artificial chow is cramming too many fish into too little water, spreading gill lice, and ultimately killing off the very trout everyone’s fighting over. Meanwhile, some landowners are pointing at floating fly anglers as the problem and pushing a 10‑year permit system for boats. CPW’s own data says angler‑caused mortality there is minor compared to natural causes, which makes this feel a lot less like “save the fish” and a lot more like “control the access.” Classic Western river story: public water, private banks, and a whole lot of politics in between.

Swing over to Tennessee, where the trout crowd just got a quiet but meaningful shake‑up. Fox 17 in Nashville reports that the Tennessee Fish and Wildlife Commission approved the 2026–27 regulations, and a couple of little rule tweaks are going to matter if you like light rods and skinny water. On Big Soddy Creek in Hamilton County, the delayed harvest season for trout is now starting November 1, giving fly anglers more prime cool‑water time throwing small nymphs and soft hackles at unpressured stockers before the bait brigade shows up. They also scrapped delayed harvest on the Piney River in Rhea County and adjusted closures on the Catoosa Wildlife Management Area. None of this will trend on social media, but if you’re a local with a 3‑weight and a box of pheasant tails, your fall and winter plans just changed.

Out in the Northwest, the federal side actually did something most of us can get behind. A recent rundown on Spreaker about the 2026 fishing regulations notes that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is opening up more sport‑fishing access on national wildlife refuges across Idaho, Montana, and Washington—over 87,000 new acres of fishable water. The kicker is that these spots are being aligned with state rules and they’re not layering on a bunch of extra restrictions, so for walk‑and‑wade fly anglers this is basically found money: more side channels, backwaters, and little sneak‑in creeks to explore without another stamp, fee, or weird special reg to memorize. In a year when it seems like everything costs extra, this is one of the rare “more access, same hassle” wins.

And if you’re the type who likes your fly fishing with a side of popcorn and inspiration, Flylords says the 2026 Fly Fishing Film Tour is rolling with a project called the Rooster Fly Project, following the chase for roosterfish on the fly and the conservation push to protect those fisheries. It’s not exactly your local brookie stream, but it’s the same story we’re all living: how far we’ll go to hunt fish with feathers and thread, and what it takes to keep those fish around long enough for the next generation of anglers to get obsessed.

Alright, that’s enough news for one session. Thanks for tuning in, and come back next week for more. This has been a Quiet Please production and, for me, check out Quiet Please dot A I.

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