Every once in a while I stumble across an interesting new blog.
This one still has that new blog smell; it only features a few posts.
Still, Richard Lee Merritt’s blog offers an interesting mix. He loves old books (I love books too), plays chess (I played in a few tournaments in my day, and yes ladies, [...]

How the Academy overlooked this gem is beyond me, but if you haven’t yet voted in Moldy Chum’s Slab Of the Year Contest (why the hell isn’t it “Slab ‘o the Year?), you still have time.
And you’ll get to see this bit of the filmmaker’s art taken to its sophisticated, Ingmar Bergman-esque extreme.
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As for the [...]

Here at the Trout Underground we’re buried under deadlines, imposed on us by the unreasonable expectations of our creditors, who actually expect us to pay them for the heating oil, electricity and booze we’ve purchased.
The nerve.
So instead of anything approaching a thoughtful, carefully reasoned post about my fly fishing life (and there won’t be any [...]

Here’s something fly fishing desperately needs: an all new way to denigrate the other fly fishers on the river.
We bring you news that the American Dialect society has chosen its 2006 Word of the Year. (Unbelievably, it’s got nothing to do with the Trout Underground.)
It’s Plutoed.
In its 17th annual words of the year vote, the [...]

The access battle has been raging in Montana for years, particularly along the Ruby River. Landowners try to keep anglers out. And anglers try equally hard to get in.

A new law designed to clarify stream access has been introduced, and New West (an online magazine worth reading) lays out the latest stream access legislation [...]

This morning I’ve already written two largely depressing conservation stories and a post based on the AEG’s press release.
What’s left? Any good news that I won’t have to work too hard for? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Orvis?
Through our Round Up for Charity drive and matching gift campaigns for the Cheetah Conservation Fund, the Trees for Trout [...]

Because the Trout Underground has always wanted to quote a press release from a major press release site, we bring you news of the Angling Exploration Group’s upcoming fly fishing film tour - a nationwide tour visiting over thirty cities: 
The Angling Exploration Group, a media production company specializing in adventure fly fishing entertainment, recently announced an [...]

It’s not as if selling yourself to a major multinational corporation is necessarily all bad, but why do it so cheaply?
In what will probably turn out to be bad news for fisheries and anglers:
In a reversal of an earlier decision, the third district court of appeals ruled Tuesday that the McCloud Community Services District did not [...]

Via Moldy Chum comes this story about privatization of once-public fishing waters on Ohio.

The owner of the private Spring Ridge Club thought he’d be able to do in Ohio what he’s being sued for doing In Pennsylvania, where he’s locked in litigation with the state over his attempt to limit access on the Little Juniata, [...]

I’m under the multiple deadline gun, trapped behind a desk instead of out on the river as God so clearly intended.
Instead of fishing, my poor, overworked mind is reduced to compiling “top” lists in an attempt to stave off insanity.
Clearly, it’s failed.
So I give you a new “Top Seven” list. And in [...]

The collective outrage of the Undergrounders over the lowering of a Carp on New Year’s Eve (instead of a crystal ball) was palpable. (Well, actually, no one really cared).
But that’s all changed with this news:
Those sadists in North Carolina Lower a Possum.
“Dropping the Carp” has already entered the lexicon, and dare we say, “Lowering [...]

Our Finnish friend at Opax-flyfishing pointed us towards this interesting article on Sexyloops about the true costs of graphite fly rods.
Steve Parton is a well-known English custom builder (and iconoclast) who dives into the numbers behind graphite fly rods.
What’s interesting is his take on the domestic (in this case the UK) vs Chinese-made rods:
In the [...]