Thanksgiving 2011

I had the opportunity to be among the homeless,poor and as Simon and Garfunkel called them, "ragged people" today. Doing that makes me appreciate all that much more what Llemonte does on a daily basis. Some call this segment of our society freeloaders. I just saw them as people who wanted a hot meal and a dry place to eat it on Thanksgiving. I learned a few of their stories as I chatted with them today and who knows maybe that could have been me. A bad break here or there in the past and it might have been me getting a free Thanksgiving dinner. What I took away from today is something that some already knows and that is these people are of value and should never be cast aside because it is inconvenient to deal with them. I know that there is no other place I had rather have been today.
Realistically my serving the homeless one day a year is not a big deal. The folks that do this every day are heroes in my book and I think they are wonderful are are true servants.
Happy Holidays Everyone

Don't Hurt Your Arms Boys

So here I go on another rant about the fishing superstars that currently plague our northwest rivers. If you don't want to read it then log in over on Facebook and count all the "friends" you have, most of whom you never met.
A truly great fisherman never has to trumpet his own success or posts a bunch of pictures on the internet fishing forums to show what a fishing stud he is. Sorry boys but I am not impressed in the least! Yeah you can catch a bunch of salmon by back bouncing eggs or pulling plugs from a boat but so can thousands of other guys. You have no original ideas and have pretty much ripped off your fishing techniques from someone else.
The truly great anglers does not seek attention or notoriety and in most cases shy away from that egotistical childishness. I have a close friend who is that way and I will not even mention his name because he would not want me to. He is the best at what he does and that is steelhead fly fishing with a spey rod. He is almost without peer when it comes to casting a two-handed rod. He revolutionized spey casting with his innovative ideas but do hear him pound his chest and talk about how great he is? Never, even though he easily could.
In conventional gear steelhead and salmon angling there was none better than the late Rich Pierzynski was the best there was. Did you see him with his face plastered all over Salmon, Trout and Steelheader magazine? Not at all! He didn't need to. He was the best and did not feel the need to constantly pat himself on the back like these "adolescents" today.
Not even all the younger guys are arrogant jerks. I know one young fly fishing guide that is paying his dues and has become very successful at what he does. He doesn't shit in his own back yard by taking pictures of his success on recognizable rivers. My hat is off to him and he is not the only young fishing guide that is that way.
So I guess what it is I am trying to say is simply this. Most anglers are put off by braggarts like we see on the world wide web. They usually do nothing as far as conservation goes and are arrogant assholes.

Egg Whores...The Final Chapter

Who Gets the Eggs?


There is really not much I can add to the thread linked above from Ifish.net. It offers an insight into the greed, pettiness and over all stupidity that often comes with the use of salmon eggs. Read it and come to your own conclusion.

I used roe for bait at one time and I know how the lure of an easy catch made me feel. I would love to see the use of salmon eggs for bait restricted especially in streams with wild salmon and steelhead populations.
You have to admit it though. These bait guys are an entertaining lot aren't they? When I catch a hatchery winter steelhead and gut it on the stream bank to (legally?) toss the offal back into the water for stream nutrients the eggs go back in the river too!

Desperately Seeking.....Water?

So here we sit with only two weeks and two days before Thanksgiving. At this time of year we should be seeing storm after storm rolling in from the Pacific like a bowling ball rolling down the lane but not this year. I am wading the coastal rivers with impunity these days because there has been little rain.
You see we Pacific North westerners are a jaded bunch. We know that the rains are coming but still we complain, for some strange reason, when they don't come when expected. Then we bitch like the whiners we are when it rains too much.
Lack of water has put a serious crimp in salmon fishing this season. Low, summer-like flows have caused the Chinook salmon to be trapped in a series of deeper holes on their way upstream to their home spawning gravel and all the while their flesh literally deteriorates from their skeletons.
I don't fish for salmon much anymore because the un-washed  bait chucking masses who call themselves fishermen cramp my style. I've gone on about this crowd many times on this blog so I will spare you the explanation of why I detest this group.
I do like to get out and stretch my "spey" legs so to speak and get some casting in for preparation of the upcoming winter steelhead season. Yeah yeah I'm a fly fishing snob so just deal with it.
Anyway it would be nice to have some moving water with which to swing my fly and there isn't much moving water to be had down in Tillamook county.
This is supposed to be a "La Nina" winter meaning it is supposed to be very wet. Well last year was that type of year and we had rain until May. Wonderful!!!

La Nina huh? What damn meteorologist came up with naming colder than normal ocean current after some poor little Hispanic baby girl? I think "It's going to be another shitty winter" current would be more appropriate name don't you? 
Ah well such is life in the Pacific Northwest. We complain about the weather but no one does any thing about it right?