An 83-year-old Colorado fisherman has resurrected his 12-year fight for public freedom to wade in the state’s rivers, seeking arrest and risking conflicts with landowners by returning to a contested bend in the Arkansas River.

Roger Hill hiked across federally managed public land to enter the river, donned his straw hat, and cast his dry-fly line along that privately owned stretch last weekend without incident. This week, he urged other anglers statewide to replicate his civil disobedience and assert a public right to fish and float on navigable rivers  — a freedom established in other western states.

Roger Hill, right, fishes in the Arkansas River near Cotopaxi along with Don Holmstrom co-chair go backcountry, hunters, and anglers on Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024. (Photo courtesy of Cody Perry)

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