Links

Here we have compiled web links which are near and dear to the heart of the roughfish.com community. Many of our members enjoy using these informative and useful websites. We have strict rules governing linking, because we're not a commercial entity. If your website meets the highest standards of quality, you can be linked here. All of these websites have been reviewed to ensure they meet our standards.
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85 links are available

The ABWF is a non-profit organization dedicated to inspiring people to protect and preserve Wilderness by developing their understanding and appreciation for the values and character of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness.

The mission of the American Fisheries Society is to improve the conservation and sustainability of fishery resources and aquatic ecosystems by advancing fisheries and aquatic science and promoting the development of fisheries professionals.

American Packrafting Association was founded in October of 2012 by a group of avid packrafters from across the United States interested in safety, education, conservation, and ensuring that packrafting has a place on America’s public lands.

American Rivers protects wild rivers, restores damaged rivers, and conserves clean water for people and nature. Since 1973, American Rivers has protected and restored more than 150,000 miles of rivers through advocacy efforts, on-the-ground projects, and an annual America’s Most Endangered Rivers® campaign.

American Whitewater is the primary advocate for the preservation and protection of whitewater rivers throughout the United States. They are instrumental and effective in protecting the public's right to stream access.

Bowfin Angler's Group (BAG)

Once the web's premiere Bowfin angling site, this site is now defunct.

This site provides information and links about California's freshwater and anadromous fish, current aquatic management issues, and research that is being done to improve the conservation of native fish species.

CAG Objectives: A) To gain acceptance of the carp as an exciting and challenging sport-fish. B) To become better carp anglers, assist others and encourage them to join us. C) To treat the carp with respect, promote the release of trophy-size carp and encourage others to do the same. D) Most of all: go fishing, share with others, and have fun.

A comprehensive monograph from the Great Lakes Fisheries Commission describing both extinct and extant species and hybrid swarms of ciscoes (genus Coregonus) in the Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon.

CKEditor is the html formatting tool used on this website.  It's a text editor embedded inside web pages. It's a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor, which means that the text being edited on it looks as similar as possible to the results users have when publishing it. It brings to the web common editing features found on desktop editing applications like Microsoft Word and OpenOffice.  Use this link to learn how to use CKEditor better.

Colorado River Connected is coordinating body for organizations committed to protecting the headwaters of the Colorado River system for the benefit of the 35 million people and thousands of species and natural communities that rely on it. We provide a collective voice for the preservation of the headwaters of the Colorado watershed.

Conservation Fisheries is a tax exempt, non-profit, 501(c)3 organization dedicated to the preservation of aquatic biodiversity. Incorporated in 1992, and based in Knoxville, Tennessee, Conservation Fisheries propagates the region's rarest fishes.  Our goal is restoring fish populations that have been eliminated because of pollution or habitat destruction.

The excellent blog of Adam Eibling, multispecies angler, photographer, and blogger from Ohio. "Originating on the shores of Lake Erie in Huron, Ohio, CoolWaterFish chronicles my adventures as a multi species angler. My philosophy is, "I consider pursuing any fish in it's native environment with hook & line to be sporting, therefore, any fish can be a sport fish". I hope you agree."

 

DeepFin is a research coordination network of systematic ichthyologists and biologists with expertise in the analysis of fish biodiversity, seeking to integrate knowledge of morphology, paleontology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Our ultimate goal is to establish the phylogenetic tree of all fishes, to decipher their evolutionary relationships, and build a phylogentic classification.

Excellent and dedicated all-round angler, Deftik hails from Northern Pennsylvania but travels extensively. His blog recounts his passionate pursuit of a variety of fish species from sharks to minnows.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network champions the rights of our communities to a Delaware River and tributary streams that are free-flowing, clean and healthy.

The mission of the Desert Fishes Council (DFC) is to preserve the biological integrity of desert aquatic ecosystems and their associated life forms, to hold symposia to report related research and management endeavors, and to effect rapid dissemination of information concerning activities of the Council and its members.

Fighting invasive species ... one bite at a time. A website devoted to promoting the gastronomic exploitation of invasive species. Headed up by conservation biologist, author, and researcher Joe Roman.

Provided by the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State College, this is a "Virtual Aquarium", providing information and images related to all of the fish species found in Virginia Waters. Key characteristics, aquatic habitats, distribution in Virginia, and food and reproductive habits for each species are provided.

A fantastic field guide to common species of fish in the Willamette, and by extension the Columbia, river basin. Includes detailed photos of different age-classes for common fish, along with key field characters. From the Chinook Salmon to the Peamouth, this well-presented guide is a wonderful tool for investigating the fish fauna of the great northwest.

Fin & Pin was founded by Paris; an avid fisherman that resides in the California Bay Area—frequenting the California Delta, Lake Berryessa, and Lake Herman. Like many anglers, he was always looking for ways to display his passion for fishing. And so one day as he casted into the horizon, Paris took his experience in advertising strategy and concocted the idea of designing fishing themed lapel pins. With the help of family, friends, and fellow fishermen—Fin & Pin has grown into a "for anglers, by anglers" business.

This web site includes the entire text of George C. Becker's landmark text "Fishes of Wisconsin". This wonderful book contains an incredible wealth of information yet is clearly written and accessible to a wide range of readers.

FishBase is a global information system with all you ever wanted to know about fishes. FishBase is a relational database with information to cater to different professionals such as research scientists, fisheries managers, zoologists and many more.

A nice article by Craig Ivanyi about the native fishes of the Sonoran Desert, provided by the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum. The mission of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum is to inspire people to live in harmony with the natural world by fostering love, appreciation, and understanding of the Sonoran Desert.

Complete fish books and/or distributional atlases have been published for almost every state within the southeast. Although Georgia is ranked among the top five U.S. states in richness of freshwater fishes, this is the first attempt that we are aware of to document distributional data for the freshwater fish fauna of Georgia. We hope the information provided here will be a resource for government, educational, and public use and facilitate conservation and research efforts for Georgia fishes.

NCFishes is dedicated to photographing as many North Carolina fish species as we can get our hands on. We are currently getting setup, aggregating photos, and creating content. So please bear with us as we pull everything together.

This is a free online version of the [very expensive] detailed and comprehensive work by Dr. David Etnier and Wayne Starnes. You can read it by chapter or download the whole darn thing in PDF format (score). This is a really, really good reference work, with excellent information about all of the species covered as well as fish in general.

The primary mission of the Fishes of Texas Project is to compile and make available to researchers, resource managers and other interested individuals, a comprehensive and high quality museum specimen-based database of occurrences of freshwater fishes covering the entire state of Texas. We also hope to enlist the help of others to build and improve the provided content via incorporation of their comments, corrections and additional documentation in the form of specimens, field notes and images.
A secondary objective is to promote support of natural history museums as valuable providers of high quality information about increasingly threatened biodiversity, and to improve the ability of scientists, natural resource managers and the public to recognize, understand and conserve that biodiversity.

From the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, an online guide to saltwater fishes of the Carribean and surrounding regions. A really fantatic resource for fish ID in that area. Also available in book form or as a mobile app for Apple or Android!

A free, online version of the wonderful book about North Atlantic fishes. A good technical reference for people in the northeast region.

This site is designed to help anglers, aquarium hobbyists, scientific researchers, and anyone with a passion for fish to learn about the species near them and to visually explore their ranges. Dedicated to spreading knowledge and respect for all fish species.

Digital online version of the wonderful book "Freshwater Fishes of South Carolina", co-authored by Quattro, former roughfish.com species contest winner.

We are a 501(c)(3) non-profit incorporated in 2001 to support the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument – where the wild and scenic Missouri River flows through nearly half-a-million acres of central Montana prairies and badlands. We protect and preserve the Upper Missouri River Breaks National Monument by educating the public, advocating for responsible access and environmentally responsible uses, and supporting groups and agencies that protect and restore the Monument.

Friends of the Yampa's mission is to protect and enhance the environmental and recreational integrity of the Yampa River and its tributaries, through stewardship, advocacy, education and partnerships.

Gar Anglers Sporting Society (GASS)

Once the premiere gar fishing site one the web, sadly this site is no longer active. Consider this link a memorial to a good thing long gone.

South Dakota is home to more than 100 fish species. Included in this guide are tips for identification, distribution maps, and brief life histories of many of these. Also included is a comprehensive listing of all known species in the state.

This website contains a bifurcated key to the native fishes of Florida, plus an extensive online database of fish information related to Florida species from both freshwater and saltwater.

This website, from the Florida Museum of Natural history, provides excellent photos, descriptions, and phylogeny of the  North American catfishes, including bullheads, cave catfishes, and madtoms.

Website devoted to Native Aquatic Species Conservation in Arizona. From the Arizona Department of Fish and Game.

Now available as a PDF download, this 2002 revision of the 1979 original is the authoritative work on the freshwater fishes of California. An incredibly exhaustive masterwork, this book is valuable for anyone interested in California's native fish species.

A comprehensive illustrated online field guide to the freshwater fishes of New York State, prepared and hosted by Cornell University. Includes detailed descriptions of each species as well as illustrations and range maps for New York State.

The ICSS is a dedicated sturgeon research facility on the campus of Vancouver Island University. This research center is dedicated to bringing together sturgeon research activities at the regional, national and international levels.The ICSS is a place where institutions, government, First Nations, industry and non-governmental organizations can consolidate their activities and learn from each other, to help understand and aid the sturgeon populations of this country and the world.

Knuthart is the website of one of North America's premiere taxidermists.  Joshua Knuth has decades of experience in creating perfect, museum-quality mounts and replicas of all species of fish and reptiles, and is the official taxidermist of roughfish.com.

The June sucker was federally listed as an endangered species with critical habitat in April 1986. Factors contributing to its endangered status include impacts to its natural habitat, water development, and predation or competition with nonnative fish. The June sucker was listed as endangered due to its localized distribution, failure to recruit new adult fish to the population, and because of threats to its continued survival. In an effort to ensure against the threat of extinction the June Sucker Recovery Implementation Program was established.

An excellent PDF Guide to the Fishes of kentucky, from the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources.  This is a fairly brief and compact work, but includes most of the interesting species. Well worth a read.

Living Rivers/Colorado Riverkeeper empowers a movement to instill a new ethic of achieving ecological restoration, balanced with meeting human needs. We work to RESTORE inundated river canyons, wetlands and the delta, REPEAL antiquated laws which represent the river's death sentence, REDUCE water and energy use and their impacts on the river, and RECRUIT constituents to aid in reviving the Colorado.

PDF format. A historical perspective of the lower Colorado River. From the USGS. A wonderful publication that describes the social, geological, and biological history of this great American River and its fishes.

This is an amazingly well-built and populated site focusing on the species found in and around Baja California. Includes many detailed, scientific photographs for each species, plus anecdotal life history and habitat descriptions. When it comes to the fishes of Baja, John Snow knows everything.

Micro-fishing is the pursuit of small commonly overlooked fish that are usually less than six inches in length. This type of fishing requires innovative and unusual angling tactics as many species rarely exceed two inches as adults. Understanding methods of micro-fishing opens the angler up to a wide variety of new species of fish often overlooked with conventional tackle. micro-fishing can also include, but is not limited to, traditional game fish.

The MN Bowfin Club (MBC) was founded by Chuck Fields in 1999 as a way to encourage live release of this "rough fish" in MN. Most anglers were catching bowfin and killing them, and Chuck wanted to help start to change this mentality.

A point-based system that shows exactly where in Minnesota each species of fish lives. Instead of showing you a list of species found at a location, this tool shows you all the places where a particular species has been found.

This map-based system allows you to search the MPCA database for fish and invertebrate collection data. It's an easy way to locate fish species in Minnesota, especially in small streams that aren't covered by DNR sampling.

The clean flowing waters of Montana belong to the people and are held in trust by the State for a pollution-free healthful environment guaranteed by our Montana Constitution. Montana River Action’s mission is to protect and restore rivers, streams and other water bodies.

We envision a future where from the rugged mountains to the vast prairies Montana’s wild places are protected, connected, and restored because the citizens of our state value wilderness as essential to our heritage and way of life.

Wonderful website produced by designer and artist extraordinaire Gunnar, offering redhorse identification cheat-sheets, blogs, and roughfish-themed prints. 

The Multistate Aquatic Resources Information System (MARIS) is a cooperative effort between state and federal agencies to share fisheries information collected as part of ongoing sampling programs. MARIS data is owned and provided by participating state natural resource management agencies, while technical support and hosting are currently provided by the US Geological Survey.

The North American Native Fishes Association, Inc. (NANFA) is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt corporation dedicated to the appreciation, study and conservation of the continent's native fishes.

An organization founded in Maine whose aim is to "Protect, preserve and restore native fish populations through stewardship of the fish and their habitats."

Marsh & Associates, LLC is dedicated to efforts that promote conservation, recovery, and public education in behalf of the community of imperiled native fishes of the desert southwest.  This legacy of conservation was pioneered at Arizona State University beginning in the 1960′s by the late W. L. Minckley, the preeminent authority on this diverse group of indigenous fishes.  A long-time colleague of Professor Minckley, Dr. Paul C. Marsh continues these efforts with Dr. Thomas E. Dowling, ASU Professor of Conservation Genetics, in collaboration with state and federal resource agencies, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector.

A non-traditional fishing website with forum, articles, and links. Our Mission is to find techniques to catch many different species then to find how to consitently catch trophies of each of those species.

On The Colorado delivers the latest news and views on how we live, work and play with the Colorado River, and to expand interest in, and enthusiasm for, this spectacular part of our world heritage, and to inform the evolving dialogue concerning our future relationship with what is now such a vital artery nourishing the social and economic well being for much of southwest North America.

The Native Fish Investigations Program is part of the Conservation and Recovery Program within Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. We work statewide to provide science support to fish managers and the public. The Native Fish Investigations Program conducts monitoring and applied research consistent with the Oregon Native Fish Conservation Policy in order to provide scientific support to natural resources managers within ODFW and partner agencies.

The very high-quality blog of Dan Swofford, Information Technology Specialist for Ozark National Scenic Riverways, a unit of the National Park Service. He roams the Ozarks collecting, photographing, identifying, and writing about all the wildlife and flora of the Ozark region. Highly recommended, although fish information is rather thin the information he provides about access to natural areas of the Ozarks is invaluable all by itself.

The Pallid Sturgeon Recovery Program is a cooperative program between government and private entities coordinating the protection and recovery of the Pallid Sturgeon, Scaphirhynchus albus.

The mission of PLWA is to maintain, restore, and perpetuate public access to the boundaries of all Montana public land and waters.

The Robust Redhorse Conservation Committee is a voluntary stakeholder partnership charged with the overall responsibility for directing the recovery of the robust redhorse (Moxostoma robustum). The robust redhorse is a large, long-lived member of the redhorse sucker family. Adults can reach 30 inches in length and weigh up to 17 pounds.

A classic cookbook by the Wisconsin DNR's former "Fish Control" specialist, Vern Hacker. This surprisingly thorough pamphlet contains over thirty excellent fish recipes, as well as great advice for catching and eating a variety of traditionally underutilized fishes.

The SJRIP was established to recover the Colorado pikeminnow and the razorback sucker while allowing water development and management activities to continue in the San Juan River Basin. Our web site contains information regarding the activities of the SJRIP.

Save The Colorado’s mission is to protect and restore the Colorado River and its tributaries from the source to the sea. Save The Colorado focuses on fighting irresponsible water projects, supporting alternatives to proposed dams and diversions, fighting and adapting to climate change, supporting river and fish species restoration, and removing deadbeat dams. Save The Colorado has thousands of supporters throughout the Southwest U.S. from Denver to Los Angeles and beyond.

The Southeastern Fishes Council (SFC) is a nonprofit scientific organization dedicated to the study and conservation of freshwater and coastal fishes of the southeastern United States.

Published in 1928 by Dr. Robert E. Coker of the University of South Carolina, this seminal work examines in detail the species of fish found above and below the recently installed dam at Keokuk, Iowa. Dr. Coker describes in detail the changes in abundance and distribution of many species of interest, including the skipjack herring, blue sucker, and all our varieties of catfish and sturgeon. As a historical document, it's an interesting read, moreso because of some of the glaring errors that were made.

The Fisheries Blog was started in 2011 by a group of scientists who are professional fisheries scientists by day and communicators of scientific information by night. On The Fisheries Blog, we write popular articles and other short fisheries-related stories that are often inspired by the interesting topics that we hear about during the day.

Wildlife Should Only be Killed for a Legitimate Purpose: Individuals may legally kill certain wild animals under strict guidelines for food and fur, self-defense, and property protection. Laws prohibit the casual killing of wildlife merely for antlers, horns or feathers or the wanton waste of game meat.

The North American Sturgeon and Paddlefish Society (NASPS) was founded in 2012 at the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society in St. Paul, MN and is the North American affiliate of the World Sturgeon Conservation Society (WSCS). Seeking to address current declines in sturgeon and paddlefish populations across North America, NASPS is dedicated to promoting the conservation and restoration of these species by developing and advancing research pertaining to their biology, management, and utilization. Distributing scientific, cultural, and historical information related to sturgeon and paddlefish in North America and encouraging the inclusion of sturgeon and paddlefish fisheries science in college and continuing education curricula is critical to achieving these objectives. As such, NASPS recognizes the importance of engaging NASPS members, local, national, and international government organizations, educational institutions, nongovernmental organizations, and the general public through publications, professional meetings, and community events.

From Living Rivers, a document detailing how (and why) we can and should drain Lake Powell and Lake Mead, and remove the Glen Canyon Dam on the Colorado River. Glen Canyon Dam delende est.

PISCES is software and data describing the best-known ranges for California's native fish. The data are compiled from multiple sources and experts and is stored and exported as rangemaps and summary maps. As of September 2012, it includes data on about half of the state's 129 native fish taxa.

We help create federal policy and funding solutions by uniting our partners and amplifying the voices of American sportsmen and women in service of Theodore Roosevelt’s conservation legacy. In 1912, Roosevelt said, “There can be no greater issue than that of conservation in this country.” While in the political arena, he succeeded in making conservation a top-tier national issue. T.R. had the foresight to address these issues still so significant to sportsmen today, understanding that if we want to safeguard critical habitat, productive hunting grounds, and favorite fishing holes for future generations, we must plan carefully today.

Very useful photographic keys to some of the more difficult to identify fishes of Tennessee - also useful for other regions.

Wisconsin Sea Grant is a statewide program of basic and applied research, education, and outreach and technology transfer dedicated to the stewardship and sustainable use of the nation's Great Lakes and ocean resources.

Partners of the Upper Colorado River Endangered Fish Recovery Program are recovering four species of endangered fish in the Colorado River and its tributaries in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming while water use and development continues to meet human needs in compliance with interstate compacts and applicable federal and state laws.

A central repository for accurate and spatially referenced biogeographic accounts of nonindigenous aquatic species. The program provides scientific reports, online/realtime queries, spatial data sets, regional contact lists, and general information. The data is made available for use by biologists, interagency groups, and the general public. The geographical coverage is the United States.

Waterkeeper Alliance strengthens and grows a global network of grassroots leaders protecting everyone’s right to clean water. Waterkeeper Alliance holds polluters accountable. We’re the largest and fastest growing nonprofit solely focused on clean water. We preserve and protect water by connecting local Waterkeeper Organizations and Affiliates worldwide. Our goal is drinkable, fishable, swimmable water everywhere.

An excellent website for identifying fishes of the midwest.  Includes many photos, comparisons, and identification keys.  Allows for easy comparison between similar species, and clearly illustrates the field marks used to distinguish the different species. 

The vision for this society is to see stocks thriving once again in important sturgeon waters in the basins of Caspian, Azov, Black, North and Baltic seas, rivers in Siberia and China as well as in North American waters. The Society through its activities enhances the understanding of species protection world-wide and across borders in regions with different cultural and political backgrounds (using the highly endangered sturgeons as case examples) in order to foster the sustainable use of natural resources that are traded globally.