Kudos to the good folks at West Mountain Drifters for dropping another coloring contest art piece (the gorgeous Coastal Cutthroat) for kids (and color inside the lines adult types too); download it here and submit by Jan 2 to be eligible for the impressive prize package (details at the link).
They’ve added a moose to their Conservation Education / Teach Kids Art section as well; download it here and submit by Jan 19 to be eligible for that prize package (details at the Moose link).
Attaboy.
A nice quick read from the good folks at Swift Fly Fishing on chasing big-assed pike on the fly. Bucket list material if there ever was…
Image via the linked post.
As is seemingly increasingly common in this day and age, we’re rarely told the full story when many controversial topics are discussed. Case in point – a friend sent in this recent story detailing a bear interaction back in 2009 in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem that led (unfortunately for the bear and fortunately for the sportsman involved) to a bear death instead of a human death. Details of the event from eleven years ago had apparently been undisclosed up until recently.
The story link is provided without further commentary, except to say this is yet again a powerful example of why we carry bear spray and an appropriate side arm in Ursus arctos horribilis territory, particularly in the mid to late fall.
Image via the linked article.
In one of the more intellectually honest pieces you’ll read this year about steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula, Dylan Tomine lays the hammer down on OP/Washington state steelhead managers in particular, and a host of others – including some fishers.
Read the full piece at the link above if you have any semblance of interest in fishing the OP some day (and as a fly fisher, you probably damn well should); here’s just a teaser (emphasis mine)…
…In reaction to the dismal coast-wide run predictions, the WDFW presented four management options for the upcoming season, including: 1) Early Closure, which would effectively allow fishing on the early-timed wild run, which is the most critically depressed component of the run. 2) Quillayute Only, which would push all fishing effort to a single watershed based on the high return forecast for the Sol Duc. 3) Gear Restrictions, which would limit bait and fishing from a boat in “select waters.” 4) Coast-wide Closure of all winter steelhead fishing on the Washington coast.
Should fisheries managers need to close rivers or restrict angling methods to protect the last few fish and prevent extinction, I think most anglers can get behind that. Support it even. Nobody wants to be the one who shoots the last buffalo. I will mourn for the loss of my personal time on the water, for the local guides’ ability to earn their livings, and even more so, if the tribes curtail their fisheries in kind, the loss of cultural practices and thousands of years of heritage.
But closures, restrictions and new regulations should not be confused with “managing” wild steelhead populations. These are short-term Band-Aids, the proverbial rearranging of deck chairs on a rapidly sinking ship, tuning up the fiddle as flames engulf Rome—choose your own cliché—in the face of something much bigger…
Like many who are deeply entrenched in the OP steelhead world, he’s (overwhelmingly correctly it would appear from the data that’s available) willing to throw almost all of his rhetoric at hatcheries, while tip-toeing around the other huge elephant in the room – tribal harvest.
DT is right; the current approach isn’t working, hasn’t worked in years, and by return results qualifies as a dismal failure. By all means, shutter the hatcheries; but unless you’re willing to take on the Boldt Decision and finish habitat restoration on the OP, it simply isn’t going to solve the problems at hand.
Today over on the Older Bolder Life I’ve posted a nifty recipe for our Roasted Turkey Stock, the critical base in Bib’s Roasted Turkey Bone Gumbo (hell yes I made a batch this past week).
This isn’t the sexiest recipe, but it’s vital to many (if not most) of the soups, gumbos, chilis, and other great stuff you’ll be cooking this winter, and a shocking number of people have been pestering me about making great stock at home of late.
Cheers.
One of my mentors was adamant that when you caught someone doing something really good, you simply had to stop what you’re doing, take a moment, and commend them for their effort, attitude, and results (and whatever else might come to mind). That’s in part why I post an “Attaboy” now and again…
A friend living in exile in California (he’s been sent out to oversee the logistics of a roughly 45,000 employee company moving from the Golden State to economically greener pastures in Texas) suggested Cal Trout’s Protect the Best program was due an attaboy for the their focus on some of the (at least historically) wonderful waters in California.
Attaboy.
Via the TU blog –
When collaboration works well, it has a tendency to grow into new opportunities. It happened this summer during a call between Chris Wood, CEO and president of Trout Unlimited, and K. C. Walsh, executive chair of Simms Fishing Products.
They had been discussing how to stand united against Pebble Mine in Alaska. As things wrapped up Walsh told Wood he wanted to explore more opportunities for the organizations to work together.
“It was great to hear K.C. wanted to see if there was more we could do together,” Wood said. “I told him I had some ideas but that I wanted to talk to some of our folks and get more options.”
As it turned out, one of the items high on Trout Unlimited’s wish list was right in Simms’ backyard near Bozeman, Mont.
The result of that simple conversation led to the announcement today that Simms and Trout Unlimited are launching a multi-year partnership on the Gallatin River as part of TU’s Home Rivers Initiative…
Read more here, and they dropped a video about the project on Monday –
And here’s the donation page for the project.
Image via the linked TU post.
Musings from Jess at Jess McGlothlin Media