Women on the Water

Trout Unlimited Adams Chapter connecting new fishers to our waterways

By Eric Cox | July 11, 2026

People are fleeing northward to avoid a warming lower Midwest, and the effects of this driven influx is having a profound impact on regional waterways. Cold water fisheries that are home to trout and salmon populations are facing unprecedented disruption as a once pristine watershed suffers the jolt of widespread housing and commercial growth.

Working to counter the disturbance and restore the natural character of area rivers and streams is Trout Unlimited’s Adams Chapter, whose leaders and volunteers are refocusing their efforts on cold water conservation.

Sixty-two-year-old Liz Petrella, the Adams Chapter’s three-term president who describes herself as a “fly fishing, cigar-smoking hot mess,” says that, for a time, the Adams Chapter had lost its way down the meandering stream of conservation. The emphasis, she said, had shifted to fly fishing, rather than enhancing and protecting the region’s cold water streams and rivers.

Of course, just about everyone involved with Trout Unlimited, a Michigan-based national organization, is to some degree a fly fishing enthusiast. Yet, the organization was originally formed as a bulwark against cold water habitat depletion—not as a champion of the sport. As an outsider looking in, Petrella said she saw a male-dominated organization that had lost its way.

“My number one mission was to flip the dialogue and get the emphasis back on conservation,” Petrella says about her rise to leadership. “We wanted to change [our mission] back to what it was originally: cold water conservation. And in the last five years, it has really changed. I use gentle reminders and not-so gentle reminders, saying ‘Let’s not forget what our core mission is.’”

That mission was established in Grayling back in 1959, when a group of fly fishermen resolved to organize and begin protecting the fragile trout and salmon habitats that have helped make northern Michigan such a storied fishery. Disgruntled by the state’s practice of stocking hatchery fish in local waterways, the Trout Unlimited crew vowed to improve the state’s river system to ensure wild and native trout populations were allowed to thrive.

The chapter’s efforts to preserve and restore trout habitat range from riparian corridor rehabilitation and bank erosion prevention to public education about the watershed and grant making to organizations that want to carry out the work.

WOW!

Like a large river’s smaller tributary, the Adams Chapter has been flowing since its 1996 formation, focusing on the Boardman, Manistee, Pine, Pere Marquette, Rapid, and Au Sable Rivers. With over 400 members, the group has grown, particularly of late, as the chapter’s four-year-old Women on the Water (WOW) program draws in more people.

“There’s a stigma to [fly fishing] for women and there doesn’t need to be,” Petrella, who is also vice chairperson of Trout Unlimited Michigan, says. “We’re trying to break that.”

As its first woman president, Petrella has not only redirected the Adams Chapter’s energies back to its original core mission, she’s also expanded programming, with WOW as a centerpiece. And it’s just what it sounds like: Fly Fishing 101, with women learning about trout and fly fishing on the water. Over 400 women have completed the program, and a waiting list for this year’s classes is already growing.

To get in, participants must first be a Trout Unlimited Adams Chapter member. According to Petrella, that requirement alone has resulted in an 8-9 percent increase in overall chapter membership, plus real diversification. The program cost is $35 for about 90 minutes of instruction by qualified guides, followed by a few hours on the water.

Students, who are supplied with a quality fly rod and reel and other equipment, learn about everything from river ecology and prime trout habitat to fly fishing basics and fly choices.

Petrella said while she’s on board with women teaching women, she definitely wants the most qualified guides regardless of gender. “I’m cultivating a group of guides that can actually teach,” she tells Northern Express. “I pick the best guides and I don’t care if they’re men or women.”

She said the program’s popularity skews through all socio-economic strata, drawing a range of women from high-powered elected officials, to widowed retirees, to teenagers just wanting to try something new and learn for themselves.

“These women gather after their classes and share their thoughts, exchanging phone numbers, talking about their experiences, and taking pictures with their course completion certificates,” Petrella explains. “They’re looking forward to those future classes! They’re learning about the power of a river, and what a unique experience it is to land a trout in a swift current. They have a guide there to help them do that, so at least they had the experience correctly and learned the right way.

“This is so fun because these post-course events take place under shade trees with six or seven bottles of wine, cigars, and cheese boards,” Petrella says proudly. “It’s so fun watching these ladies networking and comparing notes about the program.”

To say the program is popular is an understatement. According to Petrella, Women on the Water has blossomed into one of the Adams Chapter’s most successful endeavors. “The more people who appreciate what our cold waters have to offer, the more advocates we’ll have for their conservation,” she concludes.

Growing the Adams Chapter, and hence the number of people who appreciate the fishery, is Petrella’s and Trout Unlimited’s ultimate goal.

“We want to get support and educate our membership on the need for cold water conservation,” she explains. “We have grown and strengthened our partnerships so we can continue to address the needs of our watershed. We’re very fortunate to have the quality of partners that we do. We’re always happy to have continuity in our efforts, and we’re excited to see people wanting to help each other.”

To learn more, visit adamstu.org.

A Bite of History

There are currently 19 Trout Unlimited chapters in Michigan representing over 7,000 members who are dedicated to preserving and restoring the state’s cold water habitats.

Those chapters sprang from the original flagship charter initiated in 1959 on the banks of the Au Sable river at Grayling. At that time, fly fishermen George Mason, president of General Motors, and George Griffith, a longtime Grayling resident, joined forces over concerns about overfishing, pollution, and the state’s stocking of hatchery fish in streams and rivers.

Convinced that Michigan’s trout streams could harbor far superior fish if left to their own devices, the anglers formed a new organization: Trout Unlimited, dedicated to caring for and recovering wild and native trout and salmon.

“In short order,” the organization’s website says, “the fledgling organization persuaded the state to curtailing trout stocking and begin managing for wild trout and healthy rivers. Inspired by that success, anglers in Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, and Pennsylvania quickly founded their own TU chapters, and the organization soon doubled in size.”

Today, Trout Unlimited’s stewardship continues to grow alongside the organization itself, with nearly 400 chapters spread across 36 to 48 state councils nationwide.

Photo by Chris Doyal, courtesy of Trout Unlimited