About Us

In 1959 sixteen dedicated anglers gathered on the banks of Michigan’s Au Sable River. United by a love of fishing and a desire to help wild trout survive, they launched Trout Unlimited with successful campaigns championing catch-and-release fishing and the use of barbless hooks. Today, TU has over 300,000 members and supporters working
out of over 380 chapters and 36 state councils nationwide.

The Mountain Bridge Chapter is the original South Carolina chapter of Trout Unlimited founded and headquartered in Greenville in 1974. It was founded by Bob Martin, Jerry Alexander, Larry Vickery and others with the initial effort to facilitate the transfer of private property of Jones Gap to the State of South Carolina - now Jones Gap State Park. A few years later, MBTU members helped start the Saluda River Chapter in Columbia and later the Chattooga River Chapter in Clemson. These three chapters, along with at-large members in the lower and coastal regions of the state, make up the South Carolina Trout Unlimited State Council and comprise over 1,700 members.

In spite of the Covid-19 pandemic the membership of the MBTU Chapter has grown from 620 members in February, 2020 to 720 members as of May, 2021. Our members primarily come from Upstate South Carolina’s greater Greenville-Spartanburg area and extends over to the Fort Mill-Rock Hill area.

Our members cover all adult ages, are both male and female, and come from all walks of life, socio-economic status and interests. We all share the same passion to preserve, protect, and restore cold water fisheries and to spend time together fly fishing for trout in the cold rivers and streams of South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and beyond.

We meet monthly featuring a speaker with specific expertise and experience in various areas of our interests in trout and trout fishing, conservation, and community service. Additionally, we have chapter outings at popular regional fishing streams along with other scheduled social and conservation activities.

Shortly after the February 17, 2020 monthly meeting, all TU and MBTU sponsored meetings and events were suspended due to the pandemic. However, the MBTU Chapter was able to hold three ZOOM virtual meetings featuring guest speakers during the 15 month restricted time. This enabled us to stay connected to one another during this very trying period.

With the relaxation of the pandemic restrictions, the next in-person monthly meeting is scheduled for June 21st at 6:30PM at the Mauldin Cultural Center. We are looking forward to resuming our monthly meetings and other events and activities. We hope to see you at the June meeting.