• Fly Fishing Yellowstone gets medieval on invasive species with a great wrapup post: http://is.gd/dqp #
• Stream of Consciousness fishing reports at SF Chronicle? Different, but I like ‘em: http://is.gd/dRs #
• Lake Tahoe begins inspecting boats for invasives: http://is.gd/dTw #
• More boating inspections in CA - this time in Santa Clara county: http://is.gd/dTD #

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Has Switzerland just banned catch & release fishing, insisting that anglers humanely dispatch everything they catch?

From the Chattanoogan:

Catch and Release fishing will be banned in Switzerland from next year, it was revealed this week.

And anglers in the country will have to demonstrate their expertise by taking a course on humane methods of catching fish, under new legislation outlined by the Bundesrat - the Swiss Federal Parliament.

The new legislation states that fish caught should be killed immediately following their capture, with a sharp blow to the head from a blunt instrument. Under the new regulations, the use of livebait and barbed hooks is also prohibited except in certain situations.

The laws come into effect in 2009 but while the Swiss government does not mention Catch and Release specifically, it does say that "it is not permitted to go fishing with the ‘intention’ to release the fish."

Wow. What about tiny, juvenile fish? What about accidental bycatch of other species?

A little more digging takes us to the European Fishing Tackle Trade Association’s site, which covers this story in depth, concluding that:

EFTTA acting president, Pierangelo Zanetta, said: "EFTTA does not believe that forcing anglers to kill their catches is either good for nature or for recreational sport fishing - which makes a significant financial contribution to the EU economy.

“Making the killing of fish obligatory will simply reduce fish population and, at the same time, run the risk of having a negative impact on sport fishing.

"Anglers and the sport of angling invest time and money to improve water quality and create larger and healthier fish populations. We believe is it far better for the fish if the fisherman decides, according to the situation, whether to keep and eat the fish or to release it."

How about it, Undergrounders. Is that fish you just caught better off dead? And has Switzerland just written the epitaph of its sustainable sport fisheries?

More than one guide has passed along information that the Lower McCloud — the subject of flow control testing by PG&E — is a "muddy mess."

Any onsite reports from the Undergrounders?

Right now, projected McCloud River flows (at Ah Di Nah) should be 800 cfs.

They’ll hold through Saturday. Sunday they’ll be bumped to 1000 cfs (which could be wild), and will remain there through Tuesday (600 Wednesday), then back to "normal."

The McCloud might not be your best bet this weekend, and with the Upper Sac bumping up past 2000 cfs, that’s not looking so great either.

I’ll be in the Bay Area, but for the sake of those looking to catch some trout, any ideas from the Undergrounders?

See you in the big city, Tom Chandler.

• Almost halfway through Gierach’s Fools Paradise. Typically good. Full review coming soon. #
• Eat pizza, tie flies the goal of Guys, Flie & Pies. We like it: http://is.gd/dbY #
• Ted Williams asks why Sportsmen’s Alliance can’t keep its head out of its ass: http://is.gd/dcU #
• Reed Curry makes us shoot tea out our nose again. He’s funny: http://is.gd/djc #

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Due to the largesse of a wealthy, anonymous benefactor, the Trout Underground’s Crack Writing Staff (me) and the Stunning L&T Nancy will be looming up the truck and heading to San Francisco for this Friday’s CalTrout Fundraiser:

You could say that San Francisco in general — and high-end Galas in particular — aren’t exactly my natural habitat.

In fact, if natural selection were truly in operation, I’d quickly come to a horrible end in the jaws of a predator better evolved to survive fundraisers, small talk and silent auctions.

Perhaps something like a Cocktail Crocodile.

Fortunately, where I clean up poorly and lack social graces, the L&T shines brightly. Very brightly.

It says a lot about my powers of persuasion that I ended up with dignified, attractive, intelligent woman who moves through these situations like a trout moves through water, and if I stick close enough, I might just survive the evening, eventually returning to the safety of my own natural habitat.

Darwin’s Cocktail Party

Curtis Knight of CalTrout thought I’d do just fine, and allowed as to how I’d do great as long as I kept bidding on auction items, which prompted me to laugh in a bitter, cynical way, wondering how many $10 auction items CalTrout was planning to move.

He made a classic error; just because I married a hot babe and own some nice bamboo fly rods, it doesn’t mean I’ve got any money.

Should any Undergrounders plan to attend, be sure to look me up. (And yes, it’s for a good cause, so drag your butts out there — at the very least, we’ll provide multiple targets for predators, achieving some kind of safety in numbers.)

Simply search for a species who clearly didn’t evolve in the Four Seasons Hotel ecosystem — an environment where people wear neckties every day without knowing it’s wrong.

That’ll be me, likely wearing a sport coat without zingers and shoes without felt soles, scanning the room for predators.

See you at the Galapagos Island Cocktail Party CalTrout Fundraiser, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: caltrout,social darwinism,fish out of water

A food industry newsletter recently carried a story about Nestle, who — stung by the criticism leveled at them for their predatory water bottling practices — were mounting a public relations counter-offensive.

Apparently, that’s easier than fixing the problems that got them in hot water to begin with, but if you want to read an intelligent writer’s take on Nestle’s problems with the town of Fryeburg, Maine, then consider Elizabeth Royte’s soon-to-be-available book: Bottlemania

You can read an excerpt here. Frankly, it looks like fascinating stuff, and Royte is heavy hitter, with credits from Harper’s, National Geographic, Outside, The New York Times Magazine, the New York Times Book Review, and OnEarth.

See you in Maine, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: bottlemania,elizabeth royte,nestle waters,bottled water,fryeburg,multinational predator

It’s not as if we expected more. The administration’s last three Coumbia Basin salmon recovery plans have been found so wanting by a federal judge that he ordered the administration back to try again.

After all, these are the same Feds who wanted tried to escape a workable salmon recovery plan by suggesting the dams are part of the natural landscape, or that the law only required they have a plan — not necessarily one that would recover salmon.

With that kind of mindset driving the creation of some seriously flawed salmon recovery plans, yesterday’s announcement doesn’t exactly come as a surprise — nor the reaction to it. Read the rest »

This story’s been saddled by shifting facts, but the basics seem clear; a raft on the Upper Sac overturned, and while it continued its downstream trip, its seven passengers were “stranded” mid-river.

After passing train crew saw (and heard) the group, a Highway Patrol helicopter was called in to rescue them:

Seven rafters were stranded on a rock and awaiting rescue early Saturday evening after their vessel overturned on the Sacramento River near Castella.

Officers from the Shasta County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report from railroad personnel on a passing train who said they saw the rafters and heard them calling for help.

A California Highway Patrol helicopter pilot who took part in the search spotted an upside-down raft and then located the rafters several miles away on the rock in the river.

We’re a little confused (the Sac’s running high, but not that high), and information is a little thin (I called the Underground’s Whitewater Consultants at River Dancers, but they were out having fun on the river).

See you in on the river, Tom Chandler.

• Taking Forest Service to court over RAT user fees (Hooray): http://tinyurl.com/5sev7r #
• Wild Brook Trout continue downward spiral in the East: http://tinyurl.com/5heaao #
• Didymo (Rock Snot) threatens Gundpowder River: http://tinyurl.com/5axpzm #
• Review copy of Gierach’s "Fools Paradise" just arrived (unlike the last book, no spinning reel on the cover). Review coming soon. #
• World’s "smartest" goldfish plays basketball, limbos (no, we’re not making this up): http://is.gd/cTe #

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Apparently, it’s not enough that your buddy calls your cell phone so you can hear his Hardy reel screaming under the weight of a steelhead; now you’ll get the fresh scent of fish along with it:

Japanese carrier to test smell-o-vision phone kit

Would you like to come home to the rich smell of a beef
dinner roasting? Or be woken up with the whiff of freshly cut grass?
Both could soon be possible, provided the upcoming trial of a
odour-outputting mobile phone rig doesn’t get up Japanese consumers’
noses.

Imagine an all-day, underfed trip in a drift boat; instead of waiting for your taunting call to him, your cubicle-bound friend simply sends the smell of frying bacon over your cell phone.

Damn. Well played.

At the Underground, we frankly don’t like this idea much, but we’ll allow for the fact that I’m a crank, and not always receptive to new ideas.

[EXCITING DEEP THOUGHT UPDATE: Imagine the ability to include scents alongside my fishing reports (the clean fragrance of pine needles, the intoxication of a wildflowers… the eye-blurring wet Wonderdog scent, the frankly rank stench of wader interiors after a week of hot weather fishing… the three-week old slaw dog that rolled under the car seat… Never mind)]

How does this rank among the Undergrounders? Pro? Con? It stinks?

See you at the smell-o-vision, Tom Chandler.

• Big Bear Lake escapes Zebra Mussels infestation by mere inches: http://tinyurl.com/5l9e5q #
• Vacation taking falls to 30-year low: http://www.thepiton.com/2008/05/bonk.html #
• Daytripper running "Ask Gierach" contest: http://tinyurl.com/63awwt #
• Bottled water backlash (this means you, Nestle): http://tinyurl.com/6fg64y #

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We carry a heavy burden at the Underground; we believe in providing a Quality Fly Fishing Online Entertainment Experience, and when you’re not looking, we throw in a few fishing reports, photographs, informational articles, industry snark news and "what the hell are they doing" environmental posts.

Of course, we’re also the Fly Fishing Blogosphere’s Leader in Giving Stuff Away (which frankly isn’t saying much).

Today, we’ve got a twofer going — the winner gets to chose between an AEG Fish Bum 1: Mongolia DVD, or a copy of Patrick McManus’ Kerplunk (outdoor humor essays).

     
Win an AEG DVD or McManus’ latest humor book (Kerplunk)

"How can I win one of these incredibly valuable prizes" you ask?

Simple. Post a comment stating — in your own, incredibly lucid prose — whether you reel left or right (if you reel neither, then pick one and pretend).

We’ll award bonus points for those comments that hint at the deviancy of the other camp, and then chuck ‘em all and pick a winner based on a random number generated by atmospheric noise.

See — at the Underground, the giving never stops. Never.

See you at the random number generator, Tom Chandler.