Category Archives: current events

Columbia Summer Steelhead closed indefinitely

columbia river gorge The steelhead opener on the lower Columbia River has been postponed indefinitely to avoid accidentally catching Chinook Salmon. This year the Chinook count held promise for the 3rd best return on record – then the bottom fell out.

Forecasts of returning salmon have dropped from the original estimate of 269,000 fish to 180,000 – and recent information suggests the lowered estimate may get lower still.

As of Wednesday, the count of returnees at Bonneville Dam was 74,228.

Shad season appears intact, as Salmon are rarely caught using traditional shad lures and flies.

The Urban Safari next door

Like a trout only smallerAlert to trends in fly fishing, fish, and tackle – we’re just going to have to point the bat at the left field fence, so’s you can flock to the cutting edge…

It’s the next great “Urban Safari” – pools teeming with voracious, predatory fish and only you know about them. It’s light tackle and gossamer tippets, but the best part is it’s next door.

Subprime mortgages and thousands of foreclosed homes means abandoned pools swarming with Mosquito larvae. To combat the potential for West Nile virus outbreaks state agencies are turning to the Mosquitofish to eliminate the threat.

Thousands of swimming pools in Florida and California are being planted to ensure the mosquito population is held in check until a new owner can assume maintenance.

Located along the delta where the Sacramento River meets the salt waters of the San Francisco Bay area, Contra Costa County’s warm climate makes for prime mosquito country. The area is also struggling with foreclosures. Default notices more than doubled to 4,718 in the first quarter from the previous year, according to the research firm, DataQuick Information Systems.

But like everything else about the housing crisis, the fish aren’t a perfect fix. They baffle some bankers and agents hired by lenders to look after the vacant homes, says Carlos Sanabria, the Contra Costa mosquito control district’s operations manager. “People think some trout-size thing is going to be swimming around in there clogging up the vents,” he says. “I explain it’s not something you are going to have for dinner.”

No better way to meet the new neighbors than slide over the fence in full angling regalia – a new twist on the old “casserole” introduction. We’re predicting a lot of short, 1 and 2 weight rods being sold, so you may want to get yours quickly.

See you in the deep end.

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He sure looks like the guy that crowded me last weekend

Toss the wine and crackers, empty the fly box and reach for the loincloth, we’re not nearly as smart as we make out – and while fly fishing (fishing with a feathered lure) has a written record that spans as far back as pre-biblical times, it may be older than that…

Consider the evidence recently surfacing from Borneo that angling may be older than the fossil record – then again, someone could make the case that the average IQ of anglers hasn’t grown much, despite what history thinks.

Orangutan fishing for Salmon

In short, you don’t need a fancy rod nor gear – you don’t require flies representing all possible phases of insect minutia, what’s needed is an opposable thumb – the rest is gravy.

He’s a little rough on the presentation, but he looks receptive to a pointer or two, banana’s may be bad luck, but at least I get to ask what he’s using…

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If fishing had an easy button I’d tape it down

It may beat freezing in cold water, I dunnoIf the kid is riveted to the game console rather than the out-of-doors, is the sacred traditions of the Woodsman being undermined by cheat codes?

I’m wondering aloud really, as every parent bemoans their kid’s console addiction while ensuring “little darling” has every game he or she desires. Dad is adamant that he’s going to take the kid “when he’s old enough” but by then will the game version have altered the reality?

What would the hard life of an angler be like, if he were always under pressure to prove his skills in lots of competitions? Activision believes that fishing shouldn’t be relaxing, and promises that their new game Rapala Fishing Frenzy will be action packed.

“Fishing Frenzy’s” are common, most occur the night before the trip when we can’t find our wading boots. In the field, the action is slow as molasses.

Rapala’s flavor won’t teach patience – nor will it chill or dampen them cherubic little fingers. Now that Dad figures he’s old enough – is his eagerness to go driven in part by the memory of digital mayhem, a toasty bedroom, and Mom delivering popcorn?

The idyllic scenes and the first class graphics should captivate the player. Revamped controls should mean that fishing does not become frustrating on any of the three platforms (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii).

If fishing weren’t frustrating we wouldn’t be wedded to the hobby, as the suffering makes the brief moments of victory all the sweeter. If Dumpling gets turned off by a balky joystick, what’s he liable to do with his first dozen backlashes?

A proper fishing game needs to capture the adrenaline-pumping intensity of sport fishing,” said Adrian Filippini from Fun Labs.

There’s plenty of adrenaline in fishing, but real intensity results from slipping on a rock into a frigid torrent, imbedding a fly into the posterior of someone’s poodle, or scrambling for purchase on a sheer slope wearing felt soles. It’s bad enough that the game sets unreal expectations – but they’ve removed the hint of the fun to come.

The game does teach teach important skills they’ll use on the fly fishing forums – that vast wasteland of misinformation and discontent. Thread jacking is an art form and takes considerable practice.

Mayamo: I kinda like fly fishing. Being out in the middle or a rather fast moving river trying not to slip and float away while constantly working at dropping the fly just where you want it and occasionally working a fish.

Sponge: Ah, but you have the choice of three outrageous sandwiches to quietly nibble on: Jumpin’ Jam, Extreme Egg, Totally Tubular Tuna, Badass BLT and Awesome Avocado…

Sponge: That’s five. I got carried away, so exciting is rollercoaster ride of Rapala Fishing Frenzy.

Adodric: I could go for a badass BLT right now.

Chris: Yeah, now I’m hungry. 

Mad Jack McMad: There was this fishing game for the Dreamcast, I had a demo of it from some magazine. Sega Bass Fishing, I think. It had the most crazy assed metal theme song ever.
When you hooked a fish it was as if you triggered some mad capcom boss rush. The screen would shake, and FISH ON!!!! would blast all over the screen, the music would go wild… I don’t know, maybe real fishing is actually that intense for the paragons of the sport.

Maybe it is lad. It’s clear you’ve mastered the prerequisite skills to be a “paragon” of the parking area …

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There’s safety in numbers

John Muir and Sierrasportsmen.org Politics makes strange bedfellows and with declining participation in out-of-doors activities you can expect change. The Sierra Club is appealing to the sporting fraternity with it’s launch of the Sierrasportsmen.org website, with content tailored to both hunters and fishermen.

Environmentalists, according to Sierra Club spokeswoman Kristina Johnson, are embracing sportsmen as allies in the common causes of combating mercury-contaminated water, saving salmon from global warming and protecting elk range from oil drilling.

It’s quite understandable as so many of our issues are intertwined. Pollution and Global Warming cross every boundary imaginable, and with the folks in power turning a deaf ear – it’s up to the little guys to band together.

I say “Welcome” – and am pleased to have someone remind me that the tippet I just discarded is a bio-hazard. I get to remind them that they just spooked my fish, so we’re even.

Likely they’ll warm to us “earthy” types quick enough, and if invited to a cocktail party I’ll be on double-good behavior.

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I’ll be doubly watchful for splinter cells equipped with Sage or Hardy

Somali style I’m studying “Boarding Strategies of the Somali Pirates,” a handwritten tomb outlining seventeen ways to abduct a small freighter armed with harsh language and an AK-47.

No, I’m not some nutcase – I’m rising to the occasion – the Federal government has just released anti-terrorist guidelines for small boaters, and that’s us…

“…the Bush administration wants to enlist the country’s 80 million recreational boaters to help protect the country against a nuclear or radiological bomb.”

I’m prepared to roar up to any fellow peacefully anchored in some lake and demand to see his identity papers. It’s immaterial that he’s actually fishing where I want to … I’m a patriot, and he’s out of luck.

According to an April 23 intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press, “The use of a small boat as a weapon is likely to remain al-Qaida’s weapon of choice in the maritime environment, given its ease in arming and deploying, low cost, and record of success.”

A float tube and a rusty 12 gauge should allow me to prowl my favorite water with impunity.  Any fellow with better tackle is suspicious, and if he catches more fish than me, he’s funded by a offshore terrorist cell. It’ll be a “shot across the bow” followed by Citizen’s Arrest and confiscation of anything chemical, longer than 8 feet, and made in England.

I’ll have to test for nerve agents back at the house, so he can forget about his sandwich and cooler, and as it’s a militia action, I can ignore the Geneva convention and drink his beer in front of him..

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Science to put the "gamey" in Fish and Game’s mail

The logistics sound really poor It’s a novel approach, the California Department of Fish and Game drove this year’s salmon smolts to San Pablo Bay bypassing their normal migration. It’s fitting, we take party boats and get seasick, it’s fair they get a little motion sickness compliments of stop and go traffic.

Research has shown that trucking hatchery salmon doubles or triples their odds of reaching the ocean by avoiding threats along the way, said Alice Low, an environmental scientist at the state Department of Fish and Game..

Some 8 million will have a microscopic tag imbedded in their nose. The tags are laser etched to determine where the fish was bred, and they’ll assist in determining how well hatchery fish survive and where they were eventually caught.

If and when salmon season is reopened they’ll ask anglers to remove the head and send it to a DFG laboratory for analysis.

I sure hope someone warns the guys in the mailroom…

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A little Red Dye #3 and we’re there

Flame them deep seated Bovine feelings One million dollars for the inventor of the next great Fake Meat? I figured they ought to award some posthumously to the inventor of SPAM, and while they’re at it – something like a Nobel Prize for Culinary Bait & Switch for the scientists at Mickey Dees…

Most are too young to think of SPAM as anything other than unwanted email – us old guys know better. Technically it was meat, according to Doctor Mom, but in reality Ma was hoping we’d disappear the can with no complaints.

In her favor was the fact we’d been abandoned at the wharf and couldn’t drive, so that meant Pop was in on it too… We cursed a blue streak and contemplated whether the bait shrimp would make for better flavor – in the end, it was on the hook with even the fish curling their nose.

Now PETA is tired of us violating the unalienable rights of Bovines, and is offering to award one million dollars to the first scientist able to grow meat from a test tube.

That’s just fine by me, but the inner cloister of PETA probably is assuming we’d use stem cells from something without feelings, like dandelions or politicians. Fat goddamn chance of that happening – as the faux meat has to contain lard so the medical profession has something to scold us about.

I figure Hormel will get in there first, claiming their test tube is older than everyone else’s hence they’ll command the higher price. It’ll be the resurgence of “born on” dating – like they tried with beer.

One thing is certain – when it spews from the extruder, it’ll make a sound that rhymes with “blort.”

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We didn’t make the top 10, but we’re still Number one

It loses it's luster over time The good news is angling trash didn’t make the Top 10, still 400 pounds of trash per mile is a bit less than pristine. With a mountain of plastic the size of Africa swirling gracefully off our West Coast – 2.3 million cigarette butts picked up in a day is a drop in the hat.

… the volume of trash collected tells only part of the story. It’s the items that are found that tells us about the behavior of people enjoying the beaches and coastlines of the world.

In part, I find this worrisome – as much of our love for the out of doors was imparted by our parents on similar excursions. Whether at the beach or in the woods, “policing your trash” was always part of your exit strategy.

Us kids would gleefully grab anything foreign, while Pop doused the campfire. It was all part of the “respect Mother Nature” mantra, driving home the lesson that we’re all stewards in some fashion.

Crapping on my woods – merely because you can – is inexcusable, and when your kid upends his happy meal out the car window, save the lecture, you may have been the role model.

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Norway contemplates ending salmon season

Norway California will have company shortly as Norwegian authorities contemplate ending the salmon season. Quotas and restrictions have already been instituted, now a complete ban of wild salmon fishing is on the table.

A multitude of possible culprits exist – global warming tops the list, with acid rain and farmed fish escapees also cited.

The association of landowners and the SGSL – Sea Salmon Fishers disagree with the research and legislation, both groups profit greatly from the salmon fishery – and have a vested interest in the outcome.

It’s a similar tale to what we’ve experienced, just on the other side of the planet.