Trout Fishing Resources | Twin Cities Trout Unlimited

Our Partners and Fly Fishing Resources

The Twin Cities Area has an amazing ecosystem of organizations and businesses dedicated to helping you enjoy and conserve our aquatic resources. Check out our list of resources and get insight directly from us on each one.

If your business or organization would like to be included on this list, please contact us at info@twincitiestu.org.

Organizations

Fly Fishers International, Lew Jewett Chapter
Hot Take: The fly-casting pros. This is where TCTU fly casting instructors get trained.

Minnesota DNR
Hot Take: Great website with interactive trout maps. But you can also phone their regional offices if you need some specific advice.

Wisconsin DNR
Hot Take: Ditto Minnesota DNR comments.

Minnesota Trout Unlimited
Hot Take: Find links to other TU Chapters in Minnesota. Check out their publication—terrific articles appearing three times a year.

Laughing Trout Fly Tying
Hot Take: Best in the West, even if they don’t have a web site. Meet at 6:30 pm every Wednesday at the American Legion Post #118 to tie flies and swap stories.

St. Paul Fly Tiers
Hot Take: Best in the East, and they even have a web site

Kiap-TU-Wish Chapter of TU
Hot Take: Our sister TU Chapter across the St. Croix in Wisconsin. We brazenly stole from their resources page to create this one.

Gitche Gumee Chapter of TU
Hot Take: The experts on the native brookies of the North Shore and the migratory fish coming in from Lake Superior. They also have the best chapter name.

Conservation Groups

Fishers & Farmers Partnership
Hot Take: Terrific example of how different groups can get together and make a difference

North Cannon River Watershed Management Organization
Hot Take: Soil and Water Conservation organizations are key partners in protecting watersheds. NCRW is doing great work on Trout Brook in Dakota County.

Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance
Hot Take: Working in streams like Hay Creek to prevent runoff that pollutes this iconic lake, the birthplace of Waterskiing and Laura Ingalls Wilder.

Fly Shops, Guides and Outfitters

Bob Mitchell’s Fly Shop
Hot Take: The owner of this fly shop moved to the Twin Cities from Bozeman, MT. Take that, Big Sky State!

The Fly Angler
Hot Take: A great place for rod-building supplies

Mend Provisions
Hot Take: John Gierach, famous author, is an occasional visitor

Cabela’s
Hot Take: Their store-brand gear is great value for money.

Lund’s Fly Shop
Hot Take: A well-stocked fly shop on the banks of the Kinnickinnic. And they sell nightcrawlers, too!

Orvis
Hot Take: A long-time supporter of TU, their zip-up waders have changed the lives of many a senior fly angler.

The Driftless Fly Fishing Company
Hot Take: Based in Preston, Minnesota’s self-proclaimed trout capital. Look one way and you’ll see the Root River. Look the other and you’ll see Trout City Brewing.

Root River Rod Company
Hot Take: For a unique experience, hire a guided driftboat trip down the Root River.

Maps, Weather and Stream Conditions

TroutRoutes
Hot Take: Find streams, easements, parking spots and more on this app. Works without a cell signal—critical for our zero-bar coulees.

National Weather Service
Hot Take: Their daily precipitation map helps you figure out which streams got blown out during last night’s storm, and which are still fishable.

USGS Kinnickinnic River Monitoring Station
Stream flow data, and a real-time video of a Secchi disk that shows water clarity. Good proxy for other nearby streams.

Artists

Bob White Studios
Hot Take: Bob’s works appear regularly in Trout, TU’s national publication. Bob’s painting “Color and Light” graces the TCTU Home page.

Stephen Hamrick Fine Art
Hot Take: Steve is the only five-time winner of the Minnesota trout stamp contest, and one of only two artists to have won all five DNR stamp contests.