I was reading Fly Rod and Reel last night and noticed a letter to the editor regarding colleges and great fly-fishing. I am wondering what schools were picked to be the top 10. The letter gave away that MSU was number one. I would imagine that Penn State would be on the list. Having attended Oregon State for grad school I would put it on the list. I would think some school from NY would make the list. Maybe UC-Boulder, Idaho State. I currently work for a university outside of Austin, not a bad location although I am getting used to bass and carp instead of trout and stealhead. So, who made the list?
PS-If the Chancellor from UM-Western is a member on this board I will be more than willing to send you my resume!
I have caught striped bass, bluefish, flounder, largemouths, smallmouths, crappie, four diffent species of sunfish, pike, pickeral, rainbows, browns, brooktrout, and perch on the flyrod within a 10-15 minute ride from campus.
Who has time for stress when there are fish to catch.
Nick
I have a friend who is doing a semester on the south island of New Zealand this winter (New Zealand Summer). He actually asked me if he should bring his fly rod! Such comedy.
I attended the Universtity of New Hampshire in Durham which was pretty much surrounded with good brookie water and decent rainbow fishing in some of the lakes.
I have a son who attended Montana State University in Bozeman, MT and now lives in Bozeman and I can say I find every excuse I can to take him whatever he needs as long as my fly rods are in the truck!! So many choices to fish around there!
I’m at Cornell (Ithaca, NY) right now, studying Natural Resources.
There are spring runs of rainbow trout from many of the finger lakes. There are also fall runs of brown trout, landlocked salmon, and the occasional lake trout. The lake fishing for lake trout (and the others) can be great as well, trout, landlocks, bass, gar, pike, etc. And I mean BIG fish… Sometimes the tributaries can get crowded, which is why I like the fall run which generally gets less people. I am within a 10 minute walk to fishing on Fall Creek.
There are other streams close by to campus that have pretty good trout fishing (not lake run).
It is also a couple hours to Salmon River fishing for big browns, kings, and steelies.
It is about an hour and a half to the West Branch of the Delaware, along with the Main Stem. Another 10 minutes from those waters will get you to the East Branch and Beaverkill.
Can’t get much more central than that! Fishing right on the doorstep, as well as fishing that is a little bit of a drive down the road.
[This message has been edited by Spud (edited 10 November 2005).]
Here are a few lesser-knowns with good trout water: Univ. of Ark - Mountain Home, MO State U, Evangel U, Drury (all in Springfield, MO), College of the Ozarks (Branson, MO), Adams State College (Alamosa, CO), Ft. Lewis College (Durango, CO).
FYI, you don’t pay to attend College of the Ozarks. You work for the school and tuition is free. The school fronts Lake Taneycomo and you are within a 2 hour drive of all the great trout, smallmouth, and bass waters of the AR and MO Ozarks.
Forget about all those schools - University of Nevada, Reno has it hands down. I just moved back from northern Colorado and Colorado state doesn’t even hold a candle. At UNR you are within walking distance from class of the Truckee, where the fishing is world-class for rainbows and browns, and you might not see another angler all day in the winter, and check out some other destinations withn 6 hours, most within 3 or 4:
-Pyramind lake, lahontan cutthroats to 20+ lbs, 45 minutes away
-Little Truckee river 35 minutes away, browns to 8 lbs. great little tailwater
-East walker - great hopper fishing in the summer
-High sierra lakes including a solid chance for a trout grand slam (golden, brookie, brown rainbow)
-East Carson river
-Owens River
-Crowley lake
-Endless small Sierra streams
-Davis lake
-Frenchman lake
-Fall river
-McCloud river
-Hat Creek
-Pit River
-Upper Sac
-Lower sac for trout
-Salmon fishing on the lower sac, american, Rogue.
-incredible steelhead fishing on the Trinity, Klamath, American, Yuba and Feather in California and the Rogue, Chetco, Illionis, and Applegate rivers in Oregon
-Trout fishing on the Williamson, Klamath Lake, Wood, Klamath rivers in Orgeon
-Striped bass and shad on the American, Striped bass in the Delta
-innumerable opportunities for warmwater fishing in California, southern Orgeon and Nevada
-Ling cod, rockfish, albacore, surf perch on the coast
For diversity and quality of locations there simply isn’t a better place to go in the US. And the weather is great! Never goes below zero, less than 8 inches of rain a year, over 300 days a year of sunshine. Who wants to shovel 4 or 5 feet of snow in the winter in Montana?
I was very surprised to find that the University of Wisconsin (Madison) didn’t make the list.
A fine school (no, I’m not an alumn), 15 or so minutes away from one of TU’s 100 Best, an hour away from a whole boat load of classic spring creeks. A gazillion lakes with smallmouth and panfish and the Wisconsin River with hardfighting smallies and wipers.
Plus, about an hour and a half to Milwaukee for the salmon and steelhead runs out of Lake Michigan.
I’m not saying UW is the best - or even top 10 - but it deserved at least an honorable mention.
The University of Maine-Farmington made the FFR list, and its 15 miles from us. The Sandy River (aptly named in town but not so-appropriately named upstream where it is boulder clogged and ate one of our canoes) flows from the area of the Rangeley Lakes, known for salmon, huge brook trout, and scenery, as well as a heritage of names like Carrie Stevens and Fly Rod Crosby. Its also an outstanding little college with a small home town that has stayed that way, has reasonable tuition, and is most known for education classes. All the Maine schools are close to good water, and Unity College specializes in the outdoors.
I’d also plug Northwestern Michigan in Traverse City, in the top of the mitt and close to a lot of great water. Even the drive from Michigan State to good water wasn’t bad , though Mich Tech and Lake Superior Sate always held my interest.