Category Archives: current events

The saga of the Columbian Bounty Killers

Clint does Trash Fish I’ve always assumed it’s professional disdain – why the Fish and Game is reluctant to use anglers for eradication or thinning fish populations.

The only venture I know of; “Fistful of Pikeminnow”, and “For A Few Pikeminnow More”, suggest that the bounty program on Columbia River Pikeminnow netted 158,000 fish for 2008, with anglers pocketing nearly $1,000,000 during the fracas.

Nice lump of change for many – with nearly $500,000 dollars paid to the top 20 fishermen. That’s $25,000 each for countless days afield and a swell suntan.

It’s plain that the agencies are reluctant to go whole hog – as the jobs created by bounty-killer “infrastructure” projects would be neatly offset by the number of anglers abandoning work in favor of professional fishing – otherwise we’d see thousands of such programs nationwide.

Since 1990, more than three million northern pikeminnow have been removed through the sport reward program. As a result of these efforts, predation on juvenile salmonids is estimated to have been cut by 38 percent.

Whether you believe the numbers or not, that’s a healthy return on investment – considering the multi-million dollar fish ladders and bank restorations that achieve single digit returns.

During the same period we’ve increased our appetite for cooked salmon nearly 12% – suggesting that while we possess a certain altruistic lean, we are listening to the doctors lecture us on heart health.

Where Elvis and the Buzzbait will reign supreme

Lake_Tahoe Steeped in controversy yet the theory is simple; if garlic and lemon makes it palatable then it escapes the invasive label. If it’s too small to barbeque it’s destined to be fought tooth and nail.

The exception being Rock Snot, which despite urging from the President’s Council on Physical Fitness, we avoid salad like the plague so there’s little mystery in why we’re determined to eradicate it.

The Jewel of the Sierra Nevada, Lake Tahoe, may soon dwarf anything on the B.A.S.S. circuit – what with it being the second deepest lake in the US, proximity to the glitz and glamour of Reno, and filled with defenseless fat Mackinaw, Rainbow, and Brown trout just waiting to serve as forage for the Largemouth Bass…

That new world record from Japan is on unsteady ground in light of this high elevation jewel and its gradually warming water – two degrees in the last seventy years, and projected to warm further in the next decade.

Likely introduced by anglers in the Tahoe Keys neighborhood of South Lake Tahoe in the early 1990s, bass and bluegill appear to be spreading throughout the lake slowly but steadily.

The fish have overrun the Keys and have been found in more than half of the marinas and lagoons sampled around the lake.

The current residents were all introduced by Man, with eradication of the native Lahontan Cutthroat following shortly thereafter, making the Largemouth and Bluegill introduction a “double negative” – halting efforts to restore the native fishery.

A cold water Largemouth is fine table fare – and other than the Elvis impersonator in the V-8 equipped “party barge” next to you, little will change other than the quarry.

A powerpoint presentation suggests that the shallow marinas offer warmer water – and further development near the lake shore assists the warming process, with portions of the lake warming as much as three more degrees, allowing for a longer growth season and approaching temperatures Largemouth find attractive.

If current warming trends persist – about 2070 we’ll be hosting some spectacular fishing.

Apparently Metrosexual is a niche market too

Bauer Logo Eddie Bauer filing for bankruptcy is just a small footnote today, but in my youth it was one of the better players in the fly fishing tackle mixture.

It was rare to have a dedicated fly shop back in the 1970’s – and Eddie Bauer, Aberchrombie & Fitch, and a couple of small sporting goods stores were all we had in the day.

In addition to fishing tackle, Eddie Bauer had the greatest single assortment of Sierra Cups known to Mankind; gleaming stainless steel contraptions that reeked of roughing it – far beyond the beaten path.

With the tiny backpacking and fly fishing markets well in hand, both vendors opted for the Metrosexual-Banana Republic-Mall Bait niche, and while enjoying brief resurgence, it appears they’ve bit off more debt than an economic downturn can service.

The proposed buyer, CCMP, is a middle-market private equity firm that once served as a buyout arm of JPMorgan Chase. The firm aims at deals up to $3 billion, and it boasts of its operational expertise in turning around companies. Last year, it hired Greg Brenneman, who helped fix Burger King and Continental Airlines, as its chairman.

Will the Real Wild please raise a pectoral

But only the trained professional can tell you thatThe only possible reaction is to sag back in your chair dumbfounded. The “Pure Salmon Campaign” is a coalition of salmon farmers that have banded together to accuse the world’s largest salmon farmer, Marine Harvest, of being an uncaring eco-brute…

Most of the really newsworthy sea-lice infestations, mass escapees, and the seven employee deaths, have been the Marine Harvest farms, giving the industry a bad name.

The “Pure Salmon” label caught my eye – and assumed it was a coalition of Ministers from nations with natural real wild salmon populations who were concerned of the impacts of salmon farming operations on their dwindling native stocks.

It wasn’t.

While fish farming is a reality long past any debate, it appears a Harvard Law degree will be necessary to read the grocer’s label.

“Pure” has already been compromised, but will an “Alaskan Salmon” or “Copper River” Salmon, be a fish grown born raised farmed in that state or watershed, or will they leave us a descriptor that differentiates between pellet fed and …

“Following an unknown biological urge, two salmon meet in freshwater, fall in love, painstakingly dig a small nest – filling it with eggs and milt. They’re immediately upside down on the mortgage, filling their remaining days avoiding big hammy felted feet – then die wasted with their progeny inheriting an enormous tax burden causing them to flee to international waters.”

I was thinking “Organic” might be reserved somehow – as “Wild” could describe repeat escapees that are thrown into solitary confinement. Organic has already been tainted and while the various groups decide which chemicals and antibiotics can be shoveled into organic pens – it’s quite certain that most of our former labels will no longer describe what we would call Mother Nature’s brand of wild.

Rather than be incensed, it brings into question what rigors “the real wild” must maintain to distinguish itself from the farmed variant. Both oceans and freshwater serve a steady cocktail of PCB’s, Estrogen, various birth control hormones, stimulants, depressants, and whatever isotopes survive wastewater cleansing – and with that much preamble are they still really fish?

Raised in a pen doesn’t leave many tell tale signs – and as you peruse the fishmarket where “wild” is $25 per pound, and farmed is half that, the unscrupulous is likely to mix the two to maximize profits.

I’m scratching my head just as vigorously as you are. One thing is certain, smack the video remote out of your kid’s hands, as his skills in reading and comprehension will need considerable sharpening to match wits with Madison Ave…

Just read the back of a Hershey with Almonds, when you get to the part that says, “(Milk Chocolate contains ….” – you’ve been savaged.

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Plows or Pavement, the fish don’t like either

Studying the diversity of New Zealand’s freshwater fisheries for the last 30 years suggests even the exotic locales are struggling mightily.

Overall, at a national scale, the health of fish communities declined between 1970 and 2007, especially over the last decade (2000 to 2007). The biggest decreases in the health of fish communities were in rivers in mostly pastoral (farming) or urban areas.

Farming could very well be the weapon that quashes our meager resistance to land exploitation and pollutants. Everyone understands eating  – and naturally wants to keep doing so, which puts the battle of clean water versus plentful lettuce on a unique plane – against a foe we’ve only begun to understand.

The resource-rich, food poor countries like China, Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern countries are buying agrarian land in more temperate longitudes to ensure their foods supplies.

You pump their gas, and they pump your water …

Lacking water and arable land – but rich in dollars and oil, makes for a heady mixture that ensures salmonids will see no respite anytime soon – despite their out-of-the-way home…

A report in May, co-authored by international agencies estimated that nearly 2.5 million hectares (6.2 million acres) of farmland in five sub-Saharan African countries has been bought or leased since 2004: an investment of $919.98 million.

A Little Stinking toxic can dump, 100 feet from the water Africa and South America comprise the bulk of existing sales, but we’re just entering this new paradigm and have little idea how virulent the trend will become.

Cities are toxic, but we’ll continue to mitigate the obvious pollutants as we’ve been indoctrinated to their ills for the last 30 years. What city people don’t realize is that farms can be just as toxic – and have less controls or monitoring than industrial chimneys and sewage treatment plants.

Which are the Usual Suspects…

Wading through farm chemicals offered me a unique perspective of the issue, and while I still eat lettuce – there are times when I wonder which resource is the most precious.

Plows and pavement both terraform the environment into something other than native, rendering the stream less diverse than it once was, only the fellow behind the plow isn’t percieved as some sinister corporation fielding a bevy of legal firms to whitewash transgressions.

Welcome to the 800 pound gorilla in our future.

The biggest Rapala ever?

Every guy loves armaments – it’s just some have bigger ambitions than others…

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I know better, were I to find a discarded pineapple hand grenade, bazooka, or discarded Sherman tank – It’d be denied a place of prominence in my living room – so I’d leave it alone, but only after attempting to “dry fire” the thing six or seven times.

Yanking a live air to air missile off the bottom is a feat in and of itself, but strapping it to your boat for a week is just … stupid. You know the Missus wouldn’t consider a six foot finned chrome pipe – as it clashes horribly with Mediterranean end tables and a Turkish throw rug.

… and the garage is a pipe dream; if you’re collecting large discarded explosives – there’s no room in your garage – it’s filled with your comic book collection.

Interest in fishing on the rise, but so is the demand for Tartar Sauce

The new mayonaisse The only thing we can agree on is no one is speaking with certainty. In simplistic terms the entire financial debacle was the “deleveraging” of the financial systems mix of  assets and liabilities from nearly 30-1, to the government recommended model of 10-1.

Economists suggest that until the consumer does likewise, paying off about 30% of their existing liabilities, things won’t be improving anytime soon.

“America is redefining what is normal,” says Edward Callaway, CEO of Callaway Gardens, a popular golf-and-swimming resort near Columbus, Ga. “What’s normal is a lot more frugal, a lot less extravagant than it used to be.”

Given that preamble, fishing tackle sales are reported to be robust, state park campgrounds are replacing exotic venues, and folks are staying closer to home – as gas prices continue to increase.

Many people may skip expensive trips and go fishing instead, says Michael Brooks, CEO of Ardent, a Macon, Mo.-based company that makes fishing gear. Sales at his privately held firm are up 200% in the past year, he says. “The recession is making people think twice about where they’re spending their recreational dollars,” he says.

Recreation dollars or subsistence dollars is the real question, as even MSNBC’s favorite stock market “talking head,” Jim Cramer is touting “the garden effect,” buying stocks in seed companies and the folks that makes Roundup.

This “new frugal” smacks of putting free chow on the table versus a true surge in Outdoors appreciation, and us fly fishermen aren’t likely to be the “new normal” – as we’re still wandering around releasing food and complaining about other folks stepping on our insects.

We’ll never be normal, I’m proud to say.

The high end merchants are a likely barometer for our rod industry – as all those new rod sales are most likely Uglysticks, and not the fancy stuff.

Neiman Marcus, whose sales declined 25% in the first quarter of 2009,  Tiffany’s (after laying off 10% of their workforce), lost 22% of same store sales, and Aberchrombie & Fitch reported a 24% decline..

With known layoffs at Winston, Orvis and Gudebrod, Bass Pro, and others, with us practitioners reluctant to drive further away, the economics are still pretty bleak – but may be building toward a less crowded vacation – for those that are still able.

The Brethren aren’t faring too well. My notes from the eBay study of 2007, suggest the number of used Hardy reels for sale are up a staggering 50% – and prices are up in the face of this glut, not down. Folks are struggling to make mortgage payments and The Precious is sold reluctantly – for prices nearing unrealistic.

Ditto for most of the major reel makers and fine rods – fly fishing items offered are up double digits across the board. Orvis eBay rods are showing in greater numbers, up 31% – and a lot of that is Orvis bamboo, suggesting anglers are selling the high end items – and fishing the yeoman graphite offering.

Not too pleasant, but don’t start counting your discounts anytime soon, with a fiat currency, the fourth horseman, Inflation – is rounding the final turn – and the thousand dollar fly rod will be here for awhile.

Proper execution of a double Spey could save a life

For valor, and a good backing knot A fly fisherman as “first responder” means a better than average chance of survival, especially if he’s armed with a two-hander …

Don Elder was practicing his spey casting in Oregon’s Big Sandy and landed a child and two adults – rescued from the frigid water by gripping his Spey line.

Makes you wonder why we can’t lose the “money shot” cover of a couple of angling periodicals to give props to someone that’s earned plenty. Sure beats the Red Headed Wookie doing a cavity search on a soon-to-be-dead steelhead.

Despite the heroics involved, I’m sure all that Mr. Elder was thinking at the time was, ” … I knew I should have retied that backing knot.”

Pretty remarkable tale.

She knew the fish would die – and they hung her for it…

Gorton's doing hard time It’s one of the more painful lessons a fisherman learns in his career; if the Fishing Gods smile  and you’re successful beyond your wildest dreams, never call your pals and insist “let’s go again tomorrow, we’ll get limits in minutes…”

… or at least find out what the statute of limitations are beforehand, as it’s now a crime?

A Danish TV reporter has been convicted of animal cruelty for killing 12 aquarium fish with shampoo for a consumer affairs show.

Firstly, it never .. ever .. works out that way. The God’s smile only once or twice per lifetime, and even though you caught and released hundreds – whilst cackling gleefully – your buddies will face a lifeless creek despite your protestations otherwise…

… and secondly, the call makes the crime premeditated, and the next decade will have you leaving the bar of soap where it falls, despite your exertions in the exercise yard.

You were fine until you discovered the mortality rate of caught and released fish was around 8% – now you’re liable in the all encompassing court of political correctness.

I hear that old Fisherman whose likeness graces Gorton’s frozen fish dinners – is doing life.

Birds and Bees do it, but nobody raw-dogs Old Faithful

Let Darwin mete out punishmentI suppose Grandma viewing the deed via web cam requires management intervention, but I’m not sure corrective action is required, as Old Faithful is likely to get some – when least expected.

“Raw-dogging” a geyser probably had them fellows in hysterics, as it’s the highest form of Russian Roulette with the Precious. I figure it would’ve made YouTube anyways – probably spawned another Internet sensation or two – but if the fellow hadn’t consulted his watch, or Old Faithful forgot daylight savings, that would have been funnier.

Fishermen are a bit more discreet, but just barely. We’ve peed on almost every sacred monument and artifact out there – and if it wasn’t in it, it was near whatever fed it – which counts double.

Being experts in fluid dynamics and swathed in impenetrable layers of Goretex or Neoprene means every step is calculated; which houses are visible, road traffic patterns, joggers and dog walkers, boaters and hikers, each threat is logged, noted, and categorized.

There’s a shiftiness in eye movement that betrays the deed. Intently scanning water gives way to clipped syllables and furtive glances at available rocks, Old Growth, impenetrable blackberry thickets, and the calculated measurement of mid-riffle to bank – and whether he can get back before opposition slides into his spot.

Impromptu just doesn’t fit the mold. The average bladder is 1 liter capacity and gives the signal when half full. Naturally it’s overridden by whether the fish are biting, a hint of fish activity, or human competition.

Banned from Yellowstone for two years is harsh, an overcooked dog and six months of skin grafts, priceless.

I’m with Darwin.

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