Dead NC Stripers, or, Putting My Devil’s Advocate Hat On

  • January 24, 2011 12:52 pm

By now, I’m sure you’ve heard the story about the commercial fishing operations off the coast of North Carolina who have been, “slaughtering thousands of striped bass by tossing the smaller fish overboard, trying to keep larger stripers and remain under their 50 fish limit.”

I can’t be the only one who sees the irony here.

If you’re unaware, there has been an ongoing feud between commercial striper fishermen and recreational striper fisherman.  Each side claiming the other is the bad guy, ruining striped bass populations for all of us.

Being a recreational fisherman, I tend to side with the rec guys, but how would the world react if they saw all of the stripers who eventually die from the practice of catch & release (lactic acid build-up), and they got to see them floating belly-up,  all at once, like the photos we’re seeing from NC?

I’m guessing these hypothetical headlines wouldn’t show us rec guys under a favorable  light.

I know those schoolie stripers are fun on the 6 or 7-weight, but for the fish’s well-being, take the 8, 9, or 10-weight.

I’m not saying, I’m just sayin’

Will Montana Ban Felt Soles in 2012?

  • January 12, 2011 11:08 am
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The following was published at MidCurrent.com on January 11, 2011 A bill which aims to ban the use of felt soles has been drafted but not yet introduced in the Montana State Legislature.In a phone interview with MidCurrent, Dave Kumlien, who serves as Trout Unlimited’s Invasive Species Specialist, said that he believed that “there are…

Belated Fly Fishing Video Awards Recap

  • October 6, 2010 1:23 pm

I was in Denver last month for the International Fly Tackle Dealer show.  While there, I attended the fifth annual Drake Fly Fishing Video Awards.  This was the first video awards show I’ve gone to, and I’ve gotta say that it was a great time.   More than a great time, really, as I didn’t make it back to my hotel room until around 4 a.m. or so…

I’ve been working on a massive writing assignment for MidCurrent- the words shock and awe come to mind, I’ll let you know when it is published next week- and somehow the story below fell behind the wood pile.

The fifth annual Drake Fly Fishing Video Awards, once again held at Cervantes Masterpiece Ballroom in Denver, Colorado, took place after the first day of the International Fly Tackle Dealer show. This is an event that gives exposure to some of the most talented amateurs and professionals in fly fishing cinematography.

The evening’s festivities kicked off with a two hour pre-video awards party, sponsored by Scientific Anglers. Free pizza, and more importantly, free beer was served to a starving crowd of IFTD show-goers. Fresh pizzas brought out by the Cervantes staff were literally consumed in seconds. Bar staff opened icy, cold bottles of Big Sky Brewery’s Trout Slayer Ale and Moose Drool at an olympic pace to meet the demands of parched anglers. Meanwhile, people in the shoulder-to-shoulder crowd mingled and mangled until it was time to make their way over to The Other Side to watch the video awards.

The awards show kicked off with the premier of Felt Soul Media’s highly anticipated film, Eastern Rises. Frank Smethurst- one of the film’s central characters- was standing in front of the bar enjoying the film before being asked by a young man standing next to him, “How can you top this?” Smethurst said, “Lots of ways.” Then another person butted in, “Dude, you can’t top this!”

Once Eastern Rises ended, the crowd watched an array of short films.

When asked what they thought of the awards show, attendants answered with words like, “Awesome,” and “Amazing!” On awards host Tom Bie, one person noted, “This year, he has out done himself!” Another said that “I really like the personal interaction” with the crowd and with the film makers. Someone else mentioned that “the crowd was drawn to the fly fishing intensity” of the videos. Said another, “Best year by far!”

After each short was shown, Bie , who began planning this year’s video awards a year in advance, handed out awards for Best Video, Best Fishing, and Best Humor.

The award for Best Video went to Finback Films for their work, Low & Clear.

The award for Best Fishing went to Tapam, Produced by Daniel Göz and Jan Bach Kristensen.

Finally, the award for Best Humor went to RA Beattie of Beattie Outdoor Productions for When Guiding Goes Gangster.

Health Protection Agency to Fly Anglers: Watch Out for Bats

  • August 19, 2010 8:04 am

The following story was written for MidCurrent.com, and published on June 19, 2010.

The Health Protection Agency (HPA) has issued a warning to fly fishermen asking them not to handle any bats which they might accidentally hook while fly fishing. Daubenton’s bats, commonly seen skimming the water’s surface in search of insects, may carry European Bat Lyssavirus 2 (EBLV2), which can cause rabies in those bitten, scratched, or exposed to infected saliva.

“Although it is very rare for bats to pass this virus on to humans, fly fishermen should never handle these animals directly.” said Dr. Hilary Kirkbride, an epidemiologist at the HPA.

Kirkbride goes on to say that, “If a bat is accidentally hooked while fishing, the angler should try to land the bat on the riverbank, where it may free itself from the line. If handling the bat cannot be avoided, then appropriate thick protective gloves should be worn at all times.”

Orvis Announces 2010 Freshwater Fly Fishing Guide of the Year

  • August 19, 2010 7:59 am
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The Orvis Company has selected Capt. Joe Demalderis as the 2010 Freshwater Fly Fishing Guide of the Year. “Joe D,” as he is called by those close to him, has been fly fishing for more than 40 years and guiding for 20. He guides fly anglers on the Upper Delaware River system on the New…

Texted by Waters: USGS Offers “WaterAlert”

  • August 19, 2010 7:59 am
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The following story was written for MidCurrent.com and published on May 27, 2010 Now you can receive instant, customized updates about water conditions by subscribing to WaterAlert, a new service from the U.S. Geological Survey. WaterAlert allows you to receive daily or hourly updates via text message about current conditions in the rivers or lakes…

Is a Brook Trout a Trout? Absophuckinglutely

  • July 26, 2010 5:14 am

I love brook trout. Always have, always will.

I don’t know about you, but I get a bad taste in my mouth when I hear people say our eastern brook trout isn’t technically a trout.  You know the line I’m talking about as we’ve heard it spoken in conversation 100 times.

“You know, a brook trout isn’t technically a trout.  They’re a char.”

The first time I heard it, I took it as sort of a fun fact.  As my infatuation with brook trout grew, it began to irritate me.  Not quite fighting words, but on the same level as someone putting down your dog.  Don’t knock my dog, and don’t belittle my trout.

Even wikipeida was on the brook trout disparagement bandwagon.

Though commonly called a trout, the brook trout is actually a char

Last Summer, my grandma gave me a box of books that belonged to my grandfather.  They’re mostly old field guides, but one is called The Life Story of the Fish by Brian Curtis, published in 1961.  I’m not sure if Mr. Curtis is still with us or not, but the back of the book says he was formerly the Supervising Fisheries Biologist with the California State Division of Fish and Game.  First published in 1938, it brought unanimous acclaim from the nation’s critics for its clarity, its accuracy, and its sheer readability.

From the rear cover-

“Much more is known about the behavior of the fish than most of us realize.   In fact, a majority of the idle questions we have all asked ourselves at one time or another (Do fish sleep?  Can they distinguish color?  Can they hear?) have been answered by modern scientists.  Yet the answers to these and hundreds of other questions were buried in technical journals and consequently unavailable to most of us until Brian Curtis wrote this remarkable book, a comprehensive survey of practically everything worth knowing about fish.”

Being a student of the game, I dug right in and despite the book’s age, I got a lot out of it.  Which leads me back to brook trout.

“The classification of the trouts is a puzzle which I have no intention of inflicting on the reader, but a general idea of their interrelationships can be had without suffering.  The two best-known groups are the genus Salvelinus, to which belong the eastern brook trout and the Dolly Varden, and the genus Salmo, to which belong not only all the trouts of the rainbow and cutthroat series, but also the Atlantic Salmon and the brown trout.  The lake trout is isolated in the genus Cristivomer.

The distinction which anglers make between the Loch Leven and the brown trout has no support among scientists, who now look upon the former as merely a variation of the latter.  And the word “char,” current in England, is little used in the United States.  The English maintain, usually with a note of implied disparagement, that our eastern brook trout is not a trout at all but a char.  Webster’s International Dictionary tells us that a char is “any trout of the genus Salvelinus.”   According to this definition, “char” is a particular word describing one form of a group called by the more general word, “trout.”  A char is a trout although a trout is not always a char.  The brown is a trout but not a char; our eastern brook trout and our Dolly Varden are both chars and trouts.”

I hopped on the interwebs and went to Merriam-Webster, and sure enough, the definition still stands.

TAKE THAT, all you “did you know a brook trout is not a trout” spewers of misinformation!

So, the next time you’re talking about fly fishing for brook trout, and some know-it-all bastage chimes in on the brookie actually being a char and not a trout, do me a favor and speak up for the best trout of all, the brookie.

It’s Feast or Famine for Yellowstone Area Fly Fishing Guides

  • June 8, 2010 7:53 am

The following piece was originally written for MidCurrent.com, and published on May 20, 2010.

In the first of a three part series, Dan Boyce of Bozeman’s KBZK delves into the unpredictable outlook for businesses in the Yellowstone National Park region.

Last year, more than three million tourists made the trek to Yellowstone. But the economic impact of the record number of park visitors wasn’t felt by all of the area’s businesses. “In West Yellowstone those of us who live here call ourselves survivors, because we survive from one season to another,” said Bob Jacklin. Jacklin, who has owned Bob Jacklin’s Fly Shop in West Yellowstone for over 41 years depends on a steady flow of traveling anglers to keep his business afloat. In the article, Jacklin says that despite a record number of tourists last season, business was down around 25 percent.

“Executive Director of the West Yellowstone Chamber of Commerce, Marysue Costello, says it’s due to the type of visitors from 2009. They included not the wealthy flying in from around the world, but families driving from neighboring states, families looking for a value.”

Perhaps this is a clue as to why Montana’s Office of Tourism plans to spend upwards of $65,000 in a single issue of The New Yorker this summer, 18 percent of its summer magazine budget.

Jacklin went on to say that reservations for 2010 are way up. “Maybe they’ve(traveling anglers) recouped some of their losses from the stock market.”

Anglers Celebrate the Legacy of Rusty Gates

  • May 17, 2010 1:04 pm
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This news story was written for MidCurrent.com, and published on April 29, 2010. This past Sunday anglers from as far away as Montana gathered at Gates Au Sable Lodge in Grayling, Michigan to celebrate the life of Rusty Gates. Gates, who lost his battle with lung cancer in December at the age of 54, had…

It’s Business As Usual for Louisiana Fly Fishing Guides

  • May 17, 2010 12:57 pm

The following news story on the Gulf Coast Oil Spill was written for MidCurrent.com, and published on May 7, 2010.

Over a week after BP’s Deepwater Horizon rig exploded in the Gulf of Mexico, crude oil is still spewing into the sea. The massive oil slick which made landfall last week threatens to become the worst environmental catastrophe in US history.

Ground zero for the spill happens to be in America’s premier supply for shrimp, crawfish, and blue crabs. It’s also the place to go for fly fishermen who have their sights set on redfish. Bruce Smithhammer of High Country Flies in Jackson Hole, Wyoming is one of those traveling anglers, and made his first trip to fish for the redfish of coastal Louisiana a few weeks ago. Said Smithhammer, “To imagine what’s about to happen to the marsh that I was just recently exploring, all the wildlife I saw, all the livelihoods tied to the fishery…well, as others have already said, it’s beyond words, and I feel helpless.”

The marshes of the northern Gulf Coast are prime habitat for redfish, who feed along shell bars, grassy shorelines and on shallow flats. Pre-spill estimates are that Louisiana is losing up to a football field of marsh per day. One of the primary concerns of local fisherman and manager of Uptown Angler in New Orleans, Dayne Larsen, is the impact the oil will have on the marsh grass. The grass beds will soak it up and die. Once the root systems that are essentially holding the marsh in place fail, they’ll be carried off by the sea, never to return.

That kind of talk is pretty grim news to area guides whose livelihood depends on the fishery, but as we all saw in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, these people know how to pull together in times of crisis and move forward.

“We ain’t dead yet,” said Capt. Alec Griffin, of Louisiana Flywater. Griffin, who was featured in the fly fishing film Rise, said that there is still a lot of marsh to fish that hasn’t been affected by the oil spill making landfall. In fact, Griffin said that despite all of the negative press on the area since the spill made national headlines, fishing continues to be fantastic. The marshes on the Westbank of the Mississippi River in lower Plaquemines Parish are still fishing well. “We’ve got to remain confident, but not over-confident. No other attitude helps.”

Griffin seemed concerned that despite officials having a plan to stop the leak, they still haven’t made public any concrete plans to keep the oil out of the marsh. Said Griffin, “We’ve got a big problem, and a big potential problem. If in fact the oil starts getting into new areas, I’ll be out there with my skiff doing all I can to be part of the solution. In the meantime, we’re just trying to go about business as usual, and to let people know that the fishing is still good.”