‘These guys are the real deal’

Montana's Centennial Valley, home of the first-ever TU Blogger Tour

The first-ever TU Blogger Tour based in Centennial Valley, Mont., at the beautiful Elk Lake Resort is officially over, and judging from the posts of the four bloggers who attended, we’re declaring the endeavor a success.

And that success isn’t just from a fishing perspective (although who could argue with a slew of 20-inch rainbows, native west slope cutthroats, native grayling and native whitefish?), but from a perception perspective.

For some time now, TU’s membership base has been somewhat stagnant–we’re not growing like we think we should, and we’re out to address this issue. For me, this tour gave me some valuable perspective into the minds of my fellow trout anglers and their perceptions of TU. One blogger, in particular, had certain notions of Trout Unlimited that were likely created over time and based on experiential data that might or might not have been accurate. But that’s not important. As I’m fond of saying, “perception is reality.”

So, in this blogger’s mind, TU was a little stodgy. It leaned to the left. Its decisions were based on politics, not the needs of fish or habitat (or anglers). It was an organization that did good things, but it was losing relevance.

I’m happy to say that the blogger, Jeff “Owl” Jones now has a new perception (and a new reality) of TU, and for that, I’m glad. But I’m also aware of the challenge that lies ahead of us–if Owl Jones had this perception of TU, I would guess many thousands of others do, too.

Thankfully, Owl is reaching out to the world through his blog and letting them know that the folks who work behind the scenes at Trout Unlimited “are the real deal.” Spread the word. TU is doing great things for the right reasons. You should be a part of it.

You can learn more about the tour by following the following blogs for the next couple of weeks:

OwlJones.com

Up the Poudre

Mike’s Gone Fishing … Again

The Tailout