Minnesota Hardcore Angling – not the Garrison Keillor stuff, neither

JeanPaulLipton To say I’m jealous is an understatement, he’s got twice the amount of oddball fish available – most with “roman” noses, lips mounted downward, and tubercules, all likely spurned by the angling “blue bloods.”

Recently added to my blogroll, “A Roughfisherman’s Journal” features the Northeastern version of Brownlining; foam fringed tamarack bogs filled with voracious fish that would send a Spey caster screaming for his Mommy.

The downward spiral of the major fly fishing magazines continues unabated, driving the odd, different, and “off the beaten path” fishing into the Blogosphere.  I’m a sucker for rough fish content – and it’s nice to see some other brave soul fishing the unpopular water, and liking it.

From the look of things Jean Paul’s outfishing the rest of us handily. For the honor of my state I’ll attempt my traditional pathetic retort – “Yea, but we got more communicable diseases in our water…”

Wander over and acquaint yourself to Brownlining, Minnesota style, he’s a bit close to the vest revealing the secret flies, but we can shame him into it.

Brownlining, we welcome aquatic hitchikers, zebra mussels, and rock snot – it’s what’s stalking us from the streambed that scares us …

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11 Tons should be around 100,000 fish

Sigorney Weaver won't be there to help, you're on your ownEagle Lake rainbows ravenously feeding in Davis Lake may be akin to a scene from  Aliens  – and may warrant the same solution, a nuke from orbit.

…it’s the only way to be sure.

Today, Lake Davis will be the recipient of 11 tons of Eagle Lake Rainbow Trout – most will be addled by the long drive and fishing is likely to be brisk and fruitful. 3000 of the fish will be trophy sized, up to 13 lbs, and will be released simultaneously with the normal stock.

For those of you outside California, Lake Davis has been “nuked” twice to kill the Northern Pike – now that the poison has cleared the watershed, the Department of Fish and Game will begin restocking it as a trout fishery.

The trophy fish will be released in Honker Cove, which may have to be renamed to Rorke’s Drift – as the battle will be one sided until they’re escorted out of range.

Planting will continue through Saturday, with the inaugural opening scheduled for 10:30AM, Saturday morning. There’ll be a number of fishing seminars and events scheduled in coordination with the re-christening of the fishery.

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A "false positive" may shorten the outing considerable

False positives are a bad thing The California Department of Fish and Game is taking the offensive on the Quagga and Zebra Mussel issue. Inspections continue for boat owners in the Southern end of the state, and next week they’re planning on stopping all boat owners heading up the I-5 corridor.

Interstate 5 is the North-South highway that bisects California and extends from Mexico to Oregon.

All trailered boats will be required to stop at the Cottonwood Inspection Facility in Tehama county, where boat owners will be quizzed on usage and their craft will endure a mandatory Zebra/Quagga inspection.

Both May 22nd and 23rd from 2 – 8 PM, DFG will have both biologists and trained inspection dogs to facilitate the process.

Upon entrance to the scales, DFG Game Wardens will ask vessel owners a series of questions about their watercraft. Vessels found to be clean will be released and allowed back onto the Interstate; boaters with suspect vessels will be inspected onsite by trained biologists and specially trained detection dogs. “Dirty” vessels – those that have not been cleaned, drained and dried – will also be inspected and could be quarantined.

It’s illegal to transport either mussel, allowing the DFG to detain any boat so afflicted.

To be on the safe side, I’d make sure the salami and cheese sandwiches were stored in the vehicle cab – no sense getting a “false positive” when our four legged friends “lock up” on your cooler…

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We could fix a hole or two in the budget, easy

Fish and Game budget peril Either we elected the President as governor, or elected the guy that shot the President as governor, I lose track .. California’s thinks on a grand scale whenever porpoises are in trouble, or tofu is being discriminated against, it’s the price we pay for being trend conscious. Then again we tend to be quite pedestrian on “normal” issues..

I look at what other states are doing and wish we were them, not often – but often enough to wonder whether they’d trade us some intelligence for ..say.. Hollywood, or Paris Hilton, or maybe just a couple extra days of sunshine.

Maine might go for the sunshine, and I’d trade straight up for “checking out fishing tackle from the local library.”  California only lends handguns or fruit smoothies – fishing tackle might both invigorate our ailing public library system and earn a kid a suntan.

Minnesota’s Department of Natural Resources, “wants me to fish” – at least  that’s what the postcard they’re mailing claims. It may be enough to wave in the Boss’s face and demand a holiday to fulfill my obligation to the State … If he blinks follow up with any of a dozen choice epithets, and remind them they’re just the kind of fellow the Department of Homeland Security ensures will get a cavity search should they ever fly anywhere.

California likes the national stage, if they really wanted to stimulate anglers why not make a new state holiday? Present a valid fishing license to your boss, and you’re entitled to skip Monday.

License sales would skyrocket, and we could all get a taste. You could pass your license to co-workers, for a nominal fee, and they could march into the Boss’s office with equal patriotic fervor.

I’m not picking on anyone, but we may have to coach our Vegan’s to say, “Fish – Fowl” with a straight face ..

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Pistols or Swords, Sweetpea?

Singlebarbed reader and resident correspondent on Ostentatious Luxury and Land Ownership, A.Wannabe.Travelwriter thumbed his nose at me today – citing irrefutable scientific evidence that I hadn’t caught nearly all the species the Little Stinking offers…

It’s the bottom one we’re considering eating

For them as are new, I call Cache Creek the “Little Stinking” – mainly because sometimes it is – and does. I dismissed his unprovoked attack premise, assuming it was an attempt at increasing the value of his ancestral estates – or the Winnebago he lives in – but science is science, and I may have overlooked the “good eats.”

Sacramento pikeminnow, Ptychocheilus grandis, native, resident, common
Pikeminnows are politically correct squawfish. Big ones are fish eaters, despite the lack of teeth in their jaws; they have sharp teeth in their throats instead. Pikeminnows are still common in free-flowing streams throughout the watershed. Much abused by anglers, they are in fact both good sport when hooked and good food when properly prepared.

Names like Roach, Hitch, Crappie, and Hardhead aren’t going to evoke much culinary interest even if we omit the off-the-scale Mercury levels, but the Indians set store by these fish – perhaps they’re tastier than we think.

At this late stage all I’m risking is a couple thousand dead brain cells and two days off work.. I’m thinking I’ll try a fillet if he does …

He’s making nice inviting me on the 17 mile Cache Creek walk – but it may be an eco-terrorist trap; three full days in the company of “ologists” and ecology buffs may be more than my patience can handle.

The scientists would be fun to listen to – and likely could answer many of the questions I have, but if Mrs. Winterbotham does the “..oOo, lookit..” one more time – I’d have to point out the diseased bloodsucking leech boring into her ankle, and how amputation was her only hope.

I’m waiting for you guys to double-dog dare me …

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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.

Alosa Sapidissima, where art thou?

I need only the rumor that someone’s smelled one to pack the truck, it’s a byproduct of months of tying drab earth-tone flies that resemble insects, suddenly the artist busts loose and your tying bench is a riot of forgotten fluorescence, shiny tinsels, bead chain, and chrome hooks.

 Watt Avenue access of the American RiverThe Shad are at the mouth of the American – I have to drive by daily, cursing all the guys that called in sick and were miraculously cured when they donned their waders. Too many bait and spin fishermen to make a fly angler anything other than unpopular – but the fish will move up river as soon as they’re able.

Fish were caught at the Howe Avenue access Saturday, but the river flows are quite low, which may impede their march upstream to Folsom Dam.

I tried the Watt Avenue access for a couple hours yesterday with little success. Using an 8 weight shooting head (type IV) I caught enough streambed to lighten my fly box by a couple dozen – so you’ll want to use lighter gear or slower sinking heads.

Mustad no longer makes the 3908C (silver) hook and I had a hell of a time finding the venerable Eagle Claw 1197N (Nickel) hook. Only Cabela’s still stocks them in quantity, ($7.79 per 100, good price) none of the fly shops I searched has silver hooks outside of the standard Mustad 3407/34007 saltwater styles. I’m not quite sure what everyone else is using as a replacement.

Shad darts and Red and Green Tomato's

The “traditional” shad darts are shown in the foreground above, simple floss bodies, streamlined profile, and bead chain eyes to add weight and flip the hook over.  Shad have paper thin jaws and there’s better purchase on the upper lip than the lower. The balance are what I’m using this season, I call them red and green “Tomato’s.”

Next month the run will be in full swing, and likely I’ll be in the thick of things, as shad fishing is a “drinking Man’s” thoughtful sport – warm temperatures, balmy weather, half nekkid rafters and “silver bullets” that don’t ask for quarter – and don’t give any.

Keep an eye on your backcast – the urban setting always means some interested onlooker is behind you unannounced. Fish barbless, they’re easier to extract from a screaming jogger.

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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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Yes it borders on sacrilege, but is it Xtreme?

The Royal Coachman is the poster child for fly fishing, it adorns more highball glasses and drink coasters than any other fly in history. It’s an ancient and noble creation that spawns a popular variant every decade or so…

The last major upgrade was performed by Lee Wulff, converting the venerable duck quill flavor into a brawling fast water creation – the Royal Wulff. It’s a great fly – floats well despite calf tail wings and floss, and repopulated fly boxes for most of the 80’s.

It’s time we update the “old gal” – what with all the stunning synthetics we’ve added in the last 20 years, you’d think the “Royal Something-Or-Other” would have some opalescent synthetic, rubber bug’s arse, or wiggle legs that renews this timeless pattern for the next millennia.

“Political Correctness” has colored the last couple of decades – so the “Coachmen” may no longer be appropriate. “Equine Engineer” may be a bit much, but something is needed to jazz the fly up a bit as well as smooth over the cultural divide..

Something old and something new, the Pierced Plantagenet

With pierced nostrils all the rage – I’m thinking a couple barbels uniquely defines the decade, and as us boorish colonials remain fascinated by royalty, I dub thee “Pierced Plantagenet.”

I’m open to a better idea, otherwise I’ll see you at the coronation.

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