The River Runs Straight Through It

ByDevin Meister

Trout Unlimited Mad River chapter volunteers work to prevent bank erosion on Mad River, photo by Tom Allen

50 years ago, “A River Runs Through It” by author Norman Maclean was published. A semi-auto biographical take on his life in Montana, it brought trout fishing as a near religious experience to new audiences.

In 1992, Robert Redford put the book on the big screen. With Brad Pitt in focus and the Rocky Mountains as a backdrop, it struck the imaginations of thousands that would never pick up an issue of Field and Stream and had never heard of Orvis, and changed trout fishing in the American West forever.
In Ohio, the Mad River has become the premier cold-water fishery in Ohio. But it has taken some work. For years, point source discharges were a major factor in water quality. From inadequate public and private sewage treatment facilities, past livestock farms south to industrial plants in Springfield, the Mad received a steady deluge of everything no one else wanted. 
Today, the challenges are different. 
Read the complete column here:

How Ohio’s Mad River became the state’s premier trout stream

How you can help

Check out the Trout Unlimited Mad River Chapter website for details about these upcoming events.

Mad River Water Quality Monitoring 
9 a.m. – West Liberty Park

  • August 22, 2026
  • October 10, 2026

International Fly Fishing Film Festival (IF4) (fundraiser)

Nocterra Brewing in Powell, Ohio 

Time: 5:30 p.m. October 16, 2026

Mad River Cleanup 
9 a.m. October 17, 2026

Meet at the US36 bridge over Mad River. Teams will disperse to pickup litter at assigned sites from the north side of West Liberty Park in Logan County to Mad River Gorge Park in Clark County, west of Springfield.

Trout Unlimited Mad River

https://tumadriver.org/

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