ANGLING DIVISION
A private membership for
fly fishing intelligence
Fish your season. Contribute your observations. Receive the River Ledger at its close, a regional record of how the Great Lakes watershed actually behaved, with your river in context.
Trace the Season With Us
ANGLING DIVISION is a fly fishing intelligence membership. We publish River Ledger, an end-of-season, interpretive, crowd sourced report for anglers who want to understand how rivers, fish, insects, and environmental conditions interacted across the Great Lakes watershed over the course of the full season, defined using USGS hydrologic boundaries (HUC Region 04). We combine hyper-local, self-reported observations with regional ecological analysis to give anglers a seasonal view no single river can provide. The result is an end-of-the-season ledger that reveals how rivers, fish, insects, and conditions interacted across the watershed over time, showing patterns no state agency tracks and no individual angler could perceive alone. Members use this perspective to understand not just what happened on their home water, but why the season unfolded the way it did, and how their experience fits within the larger system.
From Your Days on the Water to Regional Insight
Contribute observations throughout the season and receive the River Ledger at its close, a synthesis of patterns no single angler or agency can see alone.
Anglers develop an intimate understanding of their waters, how rivers move, how fish respond, and how conditions shift over days and months.
ANGLING DIVISION expands that view, transforming individual observations into a regional perspective of the Great Lakes watershed. Patterns emerge only when many days on the water are interpreted together, carefully and in context of other anglers and rivers.
Log your experiences as you fish. Combined with other members' observations and regional analysis, your contributions become part of River Ledger, delivered at the end of the season, showing how rivers, fish, insects, and conditions interacted across the watershed.
How We Read the Watershed
The Great Lakes watershed functions as a single interconnected system.
Water temperature moves across basins in discernible patterns. Insect populations respond to upstream conditions and regional weather. Events such as prolonged rainfall, drought, or smoke from distant fires leave traces that appear unevenly across fisheries.
ANGLING DIVISION works at that scale. Individual angler observations are combined with broader environmental and agency-collected data to describe how a season behaved across the region.
Timing aligns in some places and diverges in others. Certain shifts repeat across multiple rivers under similar conditions. These patterns only appear because we pay attention to data as it accumulates over the season, turning many days on the water into regional insight.
Observation Becomes Insight
Throughout the season, participating anglers log their time on the water, noting species encountered, timing, broad location within the Great Lakes watershed, and conditions as they were experienced.
These entries are treated as lived observations. We are not collecting tips or proof points, we are capturing observational data.
Interpretation is deliberate. Early-season signals are allowed to sit. The data gains meaning only as variation becomes visible across time, rivers, and conditions. The focus is on what the season reveals as a whole, not what seems immediately useful.
The River Ledger
Each season concludes with a printed copy of the ANGLING DIVISION River Ledger.
The Ledger reflects only the rivers and reaches actually fished by contributing members and only within the Great Lakes watershed. This geographic focus makes the data meaningful for the rivers you fish.
What it shows
Compare your season to other rivers in the watershed. A Chagrin River angler in Ohio, for example, can see how their experience compares to the Au Sable in Michigan, if Au Sable anglers contributed that year.
Discover nearby rivers within the watershed you may not have considered.
Understand seasonal patterns and regional variation through aggregated member observations.
How to read it
Read straight through: a seasonal chronicle of your rivers.
Read carefully: a regional record of how that year behaved.
Over multiple years, successive volumes form a longitudinal archive, not for predictions, but as documentation of variation across changing conditions.
There is nothing else like it. This is a deep, contextualized record of the rivers you love, available exclusively to members.
Ways to Take Part
Log your trips and start contributing to the Angling Division record. (Explorers do not receive the end-of-season Ledger)
Participate fully and receive the seasonal ledger to see the patterns that emerge.
Gain full access, receive the ledger, and claim the exclusive Angling Division cap (shipping early March).
Note: Membership provides access for individual, non-commercial use only, and does not grant data licensing rights. If you require an institutional or commercial license, please contact us. By selecting an individual, non-commercial use plan, you certify that your use of Angling Division materials will comply with the declared user type and permitted use.
Great Lakes Watershed in Focus
ANGLING DIVISION currently operates exclusively within the Great Lakes watershed. The River Ledger does not include other river systems or regions at this time. Future seasons may allow non-regional anglers to access completed ledgers as observers, but participation and data contribution remain region-specific.
This boundary is deliberate. It ensures the work stays coherent, comparable, and grounded in a shared hydrological system, giving members meaningful insight into their rivers in context.
For Anglers Who Think in Seasons
Our River Ledger complements your personal judgment and hard-earned familiarity with a home river.
It provides a larger frame for attention, showing your experience in relation to the broader movement of water, temperature, insects, and seasonal patterns across the watershed.
For anglers who think in seasons rather than days, this dossier gives a context where that attention can live. It is delivered at the end of the season, rewarding the temporal patience all anglers value, and framing the next season with new insight.
Inside the Ledger
The end-of-season River Ledger blends members’ observations with regional ecological and geological insights, making rivers and their patterns feel tangible and alive.
As a comprehensive analytical report, the Ledger captures seasonal observations and regional insights, helping you prepare for next season while understanding the story of your river’s place in the broader Great Lakes ecology.
Inside this full-color, 8.5”x11” softcover monograph, you’ll find seasonal catch summaries, member milestones, and trends in species movement and river health. Interpretive commentary connects each river to its post-glacial landscape, while maps, charts, and visuals reveal patterns across the watershed. The result is a tangible, collectible record that deepens understanding, sparks reflection, and keeps you connected to your favorite waterways.
ANGLING DIVISION does not publish precise locations, access instructions, or spot-level guidance. Observations are synthesized at a scale that reveals regional and seasonal patterns without exposing individual stretches or member-specific waters.
The Ledger is 100% member-supported and ad-free. There’s enough noise in the world, and we won’t contribute to it. The Ledger is a printed publication, and we respect the page.
Exclusively for Data-Contributing Members
How Membership Works
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Angling Divisions is a paid, seasonal membership. Membership grants the right to participate in logging catches and observations during the active season and to receive the printed end-of-season ledger summarizing the archive.
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Members submit self-reported catch and observation data. Submissions are used to produce curated, closed outputs, primarily the seasonal printed ledger. Raw data is not operated as a public database and is not guaranteed to be shared with third parties or agencies.
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Angling Division is a private observational club. It is not a nonprofit organization, a conservation group, or a regulatory body. Membership does not confer authority, certification, or representational status, and does not license the data for institutional use.
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Membership is intentionally structured to preserve the continuity and archival integrity of Angling Division practice, while welcoming members at any point during the season.
Membership Payment Terms:
Annual Fee, payable in January.
Annual Structure: Membership is based on the river season and the production of the end-of-season ledger or artifact.
Late Enrollment: Members joining mid-season are welcome to submit catch logs at any time. Please contact us before adding retroactive submissions.
Ledger / Artifact Distribution: All paid members, regardless of the number of submissions, receive the full end-of-season ledger or artifact. The value of membership is derived from participation in the seasonal archival cycle, not from the quantity of entries submitted.
Tax Status Disclaimer: Angling Division membership fees support the operation, production, and fulfillment of AD materials are not tax deductible as charitable contributions.
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Physical Artifacts: Produced for all paid members
Shipping: Not included in the membership fee; billed at cost to ensure safe delivery
Options: Domestic and international shipping are available; fees are communicated at checkout
This approach ensures that artifacts arrive securely and in archival condition, while keeping membership fees focused on participation and production
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Membership is valid for a single season unless otherwise stated. Benefits, including the printed Ledger, are produced and delivered after the close of the season.
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Administrative updates, deadlines, or minor procedural changes will be posted to members by the email address associated with the membership.
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Angling Division reserves the right to suspend or revoke membership in cases of misuse, misrepresentation, or conduct that undermines the integrity of the club or its records.
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What This Is: A curated, seasonal record of angler-observed catches and river conditions across the Great Lakes watershed. Members’ submissions contribute to a living archival ledger capturing ecological trends, seasonal patterns, and localized observations. The ledger is the primary public-facing artifact.
What This Is Not: Angling Division is not a public data repository. Raw datasets, underlying observations, or metadata are restricted and not shared externally unless explicitly authorized. This program is not a substitute for state or federal fisheries monitoring, and participation does not confer any regulatory authority.
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While the Angling Division is designed primarily as a member-driven regional archive, future collaborations with research institutions, conservation agencies, or universities may be pursued on a case-by-case basis, under terms set entirely by the program. Any sharing of aggregated data or findings will respect member privacy and the curated nature of the dataset, ensuring that Angling Division remains a controlled, intentional resource for both ecological inquiry and angler participation.
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Membership is for individual, personal, non-commercial use only.
It does not grant rights for:
institutional or agency use
guide or outfitting businesses
commercial, client-facing, or revenue-generating activities
operational decision-making or management use
Organizations and professionals must arrange appropriate licensing or engagements separately. Apply for access.
About the Director
RYAN DEWEY
Ryan Dewey has spent his life on and beside the water, observing rivers, lakes, and streams while combining practical angling with rigorous landscape study. A cognitive scientist by training, he has studied human attention in natural landscapes and served three times as a visiting scholar in cognitive science at Case Western Reserve University.
His work focuses on landscape perception in the Great Lakes, studying how people observe and interpret the physical processes that shape freshwater systems. He examines glacial history, sediment transport, and river morphology, combining field observation, ecological research, data analysis, and careful documentation to understand both the landscape itself and how it is perceived.
In 2022, the archive of his regional glacial landscape practice FIELD OFFICE was acquired by the Center for Art + Environment at the Nevada Museum of Art. ANGLING DIVISION flows directly from this body of research. Through FIELD OFFICE, Ryan applies his expertise to monitor rivers, track species movement, and interpret seasonal ecological patterns, making him uniquely positioned to lead ANGLING DIVISION and translate specialized observation into lasting regional insight.
Become a Seasonal Steward
Every cast counts. Help document the rivers you love while gaining insights no one else provides.
ANGLING DIVISION is a private membership club for anglers who contribute seasonal observations through the practice of fly fishing. Members log catches, strikes, and conditions to create a curated, end-of-season record reflecting patterns of species movement, river health, and seasonal change across their favorite reaches in the Great Lakes watershed.
ANGLING DIVISION does not advocate policy, manage waterways, or operate as a conservation organization. Its purpose is purely observational. Participation supports a long-term inquiry into how rivers reflect both ecological processes and the post-glacial landscapes that shape them.
Membership provides access for individual, non-commercial use. It does not grant licensing rights or substitute for consulting or institutional engagement.
Angling Division is © 2025 Angling Division. All rights reserved. No content may be reproduced, redistributed, or repurposed without prior written permission from Angling Division.
ANGLING DIVISION is a research initiative by Ryan Dewey, developed through FIELD OFFICE.