Dear Santa, Greetings to you and Mrs. Claus from the gang at Chi Wulff. We’re tickled pink that you want to set up another exchange of gifts from the North Pole for some river and fly fishing time in Montana again this year. Who knows what the winter’s snow season will bring, though the forecasts […]
Montana River Access
The good guys (imagine big white horses, big white hats and handsome grins) continue to fight for river access back home even as the rest of the world seems to forget that Montana exists this time of year. Just for grins here are three updates (well, maybe two and a half) on river issues near […]
We warned you back on the 30th of October that this was coming down the pike. Several heavy hitters in the fly fishing news world – Midcurrent, The Drake (today in fact) and The Trout Underground to name a few – have joined a host of mainstream media outlets in reminding us that an issue […]
The issue of river and stream navigability, near and dear to the hearts of fly fishers in Montana and many other states (given its tie to how access is often defined), is about to be heard before the US Supreme Court (oral arguments 7 December). PPL Montana, part of the ginormous PPL energy cartel, has […]
Montana’s Stream Access Law, despite the kerfuffle earlier this year, remains the envy of much of the fly fishing west and the standard against which other state’s directives are measured. A bold statement? Perhaps. From the land of literary giants – Paonia, Colorado, home of the High Country News – comes a recent article on […]
Bozeman’s Daily Chronicle, Montana’s best ‘fiddling while Rome burns’ newspaper, had a nice piece up yesterday honoring Belgrade’s Stan Milesnick who will soon be receiving the Army’s Distinguished Service Cross for his rather astounding heroism at the Battle of the Bulge. From the article, which is well worth a read for the entire account…. According […]
Having more or less traversed the nation from very nearly its southern to northern borders recently, She Who Must Be Obeyed and I had the opportunity to witness first hand a couple of almost dumbfounding contrasts related to rivers. The easy contrast to grasp is the fact that the northern half of the Rockies and […]
Friend Sam Snyder living way up yonder in Alaska put up a post yesterday that caught the attention of many – you need to read this one. (We’ve posted the entire piece here without Sam’s permission this morning – it’s early yet in AK. The title link below takes you right to Sam’s blog – […]
Another sober reminder of why river access legislation matters so critically to fly fisher folk everywhere plopped into the inbox today. From the Utah Stream Access Coalition: The Utah Stream Access Coalition filed a second lawsuit today to restore public access to Utah’s rivers and streams. The suit, filed in state court in Summit County, […]
Two teasers to tempt you to read this month’s new issue of Bloodknot. A great Pebble ad above and a bad-boy list of the front men for various state’s anti-access movements below. Access issues tweak our spidey sense more than just about anything else these days…..
Access. Simply speaking the word ‘access’ in any Montana fly fishers’ pub these days will quell the conversation in a heartbeat. Folks are still a bit itchy about HB 309’s attempt to begin to claw back access to much of Montana’s storied waters. Unless you’ve been living under a log buried under a deep winter […]
Have a little ‘309 fatigue’? To be honest, we do too. That said, there are a couple of things you need to read today. And then we’d like to channel Forrest Gump for a few days – that’s all we’d like to say about 309 for a bit. First, a nifty editorial from yesterday’s Missoulian […]
On this ‘day after the vote’ to table HB 309, the now infamous ‘ditch bill’, a few thoughts and a suggestion. A hearty thanks and congrats to those who love and appreciate Montana’s waterways and her fly fishing legacy. Without a tremendous outpouring from every day folks from around the state and country (and a […]
Congrats to all who’ve been fighting this one. HB 309 has been tabled this afternoon. Just back in from being on the road all afternoon and evening – a few key thoughts / caveats and a suggestion to follow in the morning…… Well done.
When it comes to the fate of HB 309 these days, conjecture abounds. Fly fishers are uneasy. Ted Turner’s even being discussed again. HB 309 has been pronounced dead more than once while others foresee its emergence from committee this week after some back room wheeling and dealing, rewrites and amendments. (We’re still predicting the […]
