The River Remembers Robert Redford: The Fly Fisherman & Conservationist
- Sep 20, 2025
- 3 min read
Robert Redford passed away on September 16, 2025, and while the headlines call him an actor, director, or icon, for many in the fly fishing world he was something more. He was a fisherman, a conservationist, and a storyteller who gave rivers a voice and showed the world how water can shape a life.
A Life Shaped by Wild Water
Redford’s love for nature began in childhood. After recovering from polio, a trip to Yosemite National Park left a deep imprint on him. That sense of wonder never faded. He later built his home in Sundance, Utah, where he bought land not to develop it but to preserve it. For decades he fought to keep those landscapes intact, riding horses, walking streams, and defending the places that shaped him.
A Conservationist at Heart
Redford never treated conservation as a side passion. It was at the center of his life. In the mid 1970s, he helped defeat a proposed coal fired power plant in southern Utah. He lobbied for stronger environmental laws, including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act.
He also raised his voice when rivers and trout streams were threatened by development. In 2005, together with his son James, he founded The Redford Center, a nonprofit dedicated to environmental storytelling. That work continues today, supporting films and campaigns that inspire people to protect wild lands and clean water.
A River Runs Through It
For the fly fishing community, one of Redford’s greatest contribution was bringing Norman Maclean’s A River Runs Through It to the screen. The novella was published in 1976, but Maclean resisted Hollywood for years. Redford spent nearly a decade persuading him, promising to treat the story with respect. Maclean eventually agreed, trusting Redford’s vision.
Redford directed the film with a devotion to detail. He even stepped in as the narrator, after deciding that no one else could give the words the reverence they deserved. The result was a film that not only told the story of two brothers in Montana but also captured the spirit of fly fishing itself.
The light on the water, the rhythm of a cast, the current pulling against your legs—Redford filmed it all as if the river was a character. When the movie was released in 1992, it sparked a boom in fly fishing. People across the country picked up a fly rod for the first time. More importantly, it made audiences think about the health of rivers and the lives that depend on them.
Stories That Stick
Those who fished and fought for rivers alongside Redford often tell stories that reveal who he was. He once stood at a Utah pulpit to denounce a development project that threatened a trout stream. He used his fame to amplify voices that might otherwise have gone unheard.
On the set of A River Runs Through It, he insisted actors learn to cast properly, not just for appearances, but out of respect for the craft. Through The Redford Center, he championed the idea that stories can change the world, not by shaming people into action, but by connecting them to beauty and hope.
A Lasting Influence
Redford’s legacy in the fly fishing community is everywhere. Rivers that might have been lost remain places where people still cast, wade, and find peace. The film he made introduced thousands to fly fishing and gave countless more a renewed sense of responsibility to protect the waters they fish. Organizations he supported carry on his work, and new generations of anglers continue to echo his message: if you love a river, you must fight for it.
The Final Word
Perhaps the best way to remember Robert Redford is through the words he chose to voice himself in A River Runs Through It. Quoting Norman Maclean, he said, “Eventually, all things merge into one, and a river runs through it.” His life proved those words true. He merged art, activism, and angling into one current that continues to flow through the fly fishing world today.
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