Monday Morning Follies on the Trout Underground
By Tom Chandler on Jan 29, 2007 in News, Underground Entertainment
It’s Monday, so it’s time for fly fishing’s fun blog to wrap up the weekend’s weirdness in newspaper and put it out by the curb for all to see.
FIRST
These Monday Morning Follies lead off with a good cause: Salmon restoration.
Grist magazine - via Moldy Chum - explains the story behind the “drifters on dry land” poster produced by David James Duncan and others (proving once again that writers are possibly the finest people the earth has ever known).
From the Grist story:
The image appears on a poster distributed by Save Our Wild Salmon, a collaboration of conservationists, fisherfolk, and others interested in the removal of four dams on the Lower Snake River in Washington state.
Someday we may yet see the removal of those dams (or even the four currently strangling the Klamath River), but will it happen in time to save endangered salmon runs?
THEN
An outfit called “Nomad Adventures” is offering a fly fishing journal with waterproof pages and a zippered case.
I admit to seeing the picture and laughing in a bitter and cynical fashion due to the neat, block printing in the sample journal.
My handwritten journals read like the “before” pictures for penmanship courses, but I suppose that kind of transference doesn’t help anyone, and might actually impede the flow of commerce.
I’m sorry I brought it up. Really.
THEN
Along comes an article from the Worcester paper about the Rajeff brothers and their involvement in the “Fly Fishing Masters” contests of recent years.
It was a run-of-mill article, until I hit the following money quote by Tim Rajeff:
Fly fishing’s “purists”— described by Rajeff as those who prefer the traditional ways and images of the sport — are competitive fly fishing’s biggest detractors.
“Most purists despise the element of competition. Yet, when they’re by themselves, they measure every fish,” Rajeff offered.
Brilliant! And wholly specious.
It was certainly nice of Tim to speak to the practices and motivations of others, but then, I like it when people try to prove a point by falsifying the behaviors of their supposed opponents.
Some of us despise organized fly fishing competitions for all sorts of resource reasons, and because trout - simply put - aren’t nearly as tough as bass.
Having competed in organized fishing competitions in another life, I’d suggest it’s the last thing we want for reasons not related to my guesstimating the size of the fish I release without lifting them out of the water.
FINALLY
There’s more to come from the Underground, though what you won’t see are reports of me fishing on rainy, cloudy day.
The forecast is for clear, sunny skies all week. No rain. No snow. No clouds. And no precipitation adding to our meager snowpack.
See you in Rite-Aid’s sunscreen department, Tom Chandler
Technorati Tags: fly fishing, trout underground, moldy chum, rajeff, midcurrent
Richard | Jan 29, 2007 | Reply
Great blog!
hawgdaddy | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
Fishing competitions…ick. Bass fishing competitions are partially what drove me from that sport to fly fishing. I guess I owe tournaments a debt of gratitude for pushing me that way. With all due respect to Mr. Rajeff, measuring a fish you catch is a far cry from organized tournament fishing. I really hope that tournament fly fishing doesn’t catch on on a wide scale. It’d make me sad.
If bass fishing was still mostly guys in flat bottom aluminum boats casting hand carved topwater plugs in amongst the lilly pads, I think that sport would be a lot better off. Let’s save fly fishing from the same fate. Take care,
hawgdaddy
Jim Webb | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
I’m sorry. I’m kinda slow. I don’t get Rajeff’s point. So what if flyfishermen (women/people, whatever) measure the length of their fish? That means we really want flyfishing contests? Sorry, it doesn’t follow. I’ve noticed though, that the sport seems to attract strange, some would even say emotionally disturbed, people. Not that there are any on this site, mind you. The emotional disturbance seems to stem from the fact that we forget that fishing, of any kind, is a spiritual endeavor, one which has attracted man for all of recorded history. Now, before I get philosophical, let me say that my best time on the water is any time I’m reminded of catching bluegill in the shallows with my first fly rod with my buddy in the spring in Kentucky. The earth was alive, and a good place to be.
Tom Chandler | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
One thing overlooked by Rajeff is the affect on fisheries.
An average-sized lake can swallow a couple tournaments pretty easily, but throw forty anglers on the Upper Sac over a busy weekend - all of them in a competitive frame of mind - and watch the sparks fly between the recreational and competitive anglers.
Or imagine the same on Putah Creek.
Proponents keep holding up competitive bass fishing as a model. Why is that desireable to anyone but manufacturers and those who make a living?
hawgdaddy | Jan 30, 2007 | Reply
Even bass lakes are having trouble dealing with all the tournaments. My home lake of Guntersville is pounded mercilessly every week from March through November by thousands of tournament anglers. Some areas once rich in bass are now drastically depleted. Just imagine what would happen to a small or even large trout stream under this kind of pressure. I guess if you’re a proponent of dumping tons of hatchery fish into a once wild river then maybe this wouldn’t bother you too bad.
hawgdaddy
clay | Feb 1, 2007 | Reply
Bass can easily recover from a temultuous fight with an angler, Trout on the other hand cannot. A bass does not have to fight a current when released and has time to fight the lactose build up in its muscles. Tournaments on a trout stream will destroy banks, bedding areas and trout habitat (as well as trout). Hatchery fish are like illegal aliens living in your house and eating your food, I read that somewhere.
Tom Chandler | Feb 1, 2007 | Reply
Bass were seemingly built for catch and release. Trout are the crystal equivalent; pretty, but hugely fragile.