January 2007

The Flyfishmagazine blog posted this tidbit about the Atlanta fly fishing festival, which features none other than the Underground’s Vice President of Slaw Dog Consumption - Ian Rutter.

The list of attending experts and guides includes Lefty Kreh( all around fly fishing legend), Theo Copeland (of Appalachian Angler), Kevin Howell (of Davidson River Outfitters) and Ian and Charity Rutter (of R&R Fly Fishing Guide Service) just to name a few.

It’s interesting (and hardly surprising) that Ian & Charity would get near-top billing for the show.

Ian’s literally written the book on fly fishing in the Smokies (and Southeast Tennessee), and their guide service is growing so quickly you’d better start dialing now if you want to fish with them next spring.

Still, we’re concerned.

How long before Ian & Charity are spotted at New York’s trendiest celebrity haunts?

How long until their phone is answered by a headset-wearing, nasally voiced “personal assistant” who promises you that Ian’s people will get back to you when hell freezes over?

The Underground’s watching. And sending our congratulations to the Rutters, who are clearly headed for fly fishing’s “A” list (whatever that is).

Say “Hi” to Paris Hilton for us.

[tags]fly fishing, atlanta fly fishing festival, guide, ian rutter[/tags]

I love skiing (the cross-country kind - not the stuff practiced by gravity slaves).

And I always thought it was good for me. Until now…

[tags]xc-skiing, cross country skiing, biathalon[/tags]

The Underground has failed you, my faithful readers. I missed this Important Carp-Related New Year’s news:

PRAIRIE DU CHIEN, Wis. —  Some state residents will be celebrating the new year in a very Midwestern way — by watching a 20-pound female carp being lowered from a 110-foot crane.

I can think of a lot of things I’d like to see lowered from a crane, and “carp” isn’t necessarily at the top of the list, but the Underground doesn’t discrminate when it comes to reporting fish-releated festivities (we report, you snigger): Droppin’ of the Carp Rings in Midwest New Year

[tags]carp, new year[/tags]

Let’s be clear: rating the World’s Top 10 Hikes without considering the fly fishing opportunities is simply wrong.

Perverse even.

Still, we know the Best Hikes blog had its heart in the right place when they rated the World’s Top 10 hikes.

Given that last year saw me in the backcountry more often than most years - and next year will likely find me out there even more - I’m keeping a close eye on the Best Hikes blog.

[tags]best hikes, hiking, backcountry[/tags]

It’s a strange, strange Friday my friends, and while the Internet is not exactly the place you’d normally go to wallow in normalcy, it’s especially odd today.

Without further ado…

Proof that Global Warming Isn’t All Bad

Finally - the headline destined to prove kbarton’s theory that the Underground’s gone mainstream. This image from the Treehugger site (via Wicked Outdoorsy) casts plantary heating in a whole new light:

NEXT

Posts From the Edge hooks us up with a picture (and a product) that will make pretty much any guy hunch over. I may have already run a picture of this, but found myself pained enough to do it again.

NEXT

Proving once again that catch & release fly fishers *may* not be the most pointless outdoorsmen on the planet, the canoe network ran this story about people who scour California’s Coastal Redwood ranges looking for the planet’s tallest trees.

On second thought, that’s far less pointless than fly fishing.

NEXT

The GetOutdoors blog discovers farm-raised fish aren’t quite on a par with wild fish. It’s not that the information is so shocking. It’s how they bring it to life:

Wild Fish 1: Dood, you guys all look the same, I can’t f**king tell you apart.

Farmed Fish 1: Yeh, we all basically come from the same stock, so we’re all the same genetic makeup, plus, we are all the same size too since we’re raised together.

Wild Fish 2: Yeh, we were looking at you guys and it seemed like a bad episode of Sweet Valley High.

Farmed Fish 2: I know what you mean, dood, I have 500,000 brothers.

Brilliant.

NEXT

That’s it for now. The weather yesterday was as arctic as I’ve seen up here; I took Wally the Wonderdog for a walk in stinging winds, and in fact got blown off a raised boardwalk.

Fishing this weekend? Perhaps. Lots to do, and the work-impelled walls are definitely closing in.

See you someplace weird, Tom Chandler.

[tags]panties, farmed fish, treehugger[/tags]

The Trout Underground is happy to announce that it’s now a member of the 9Rules Network - a community of top, kickass blogs.

Sure, I’m not much of a joiner, but I didn’t get to sit at the “Cool Table” in high school (cross country team and chess club) so I figure this is my chance.

Soon, I’ll be hanging with famous celebrities and being photographed with Paris Hilton as she crawls in and out of limousines sans underwear.

The other fly fishing blogs will turn green with envy, pestering me with pleading e-mails attempting to curry favor.

I, of course, will act contemptuous, ignoring their “D” list pleas. Life will be a whirlwind of depravity and high-volume blog traffic.

Think I’m overstating the benefits? HA! Here’s Proof:

Me Before 9Rules:

Me After 9Rules:

Let the Groupies begin to gather. See you on the A List, Tom Chandler.

[tags]9rules, blog, paris hilton, metropolis[/tags]

From the ever-enterprising (and always journalistically rigorous) Metro.co.uk Web site comes this cautionary tale:

Twenty-three people were trapped in a cave for nearly twelve hours on New Year’s Day, when a twenty-five-stone woman got stuck in a small cave known as the ‘Tunnel of Love’.

She was eventually freed in a complicated manouvre involving a pulley and some liquid paraffin lubricant.

“Sure” you say, “I don’t spend much time in caves.”

Maybe not. But if it can happen in a cave, it can happen on a small stream too.

For The Big Picture: Vast woman traps 23 in tiny cave | Metro.co.uk

[tags]cave, obese[/tags]

Via Moldy Chum comes the kind of fish photo that we’d really like to see on a few magazine covers. Click the image above to see a whole series of these seriously odd, seriously entertaining pics.

[tags]fish, photography[/tags]

The problem is becoming clearer. The weather is always perfect for the cosmic BWO hatch early in the day, but once the decision to go fishing is made, things start circling the bowl.

A weather-based conspiracy? Clearly.

Standing in the rain isn’t the most entertaining thing on the planet.

A couple days ago a perfectly cloudy day turned horribly sunny.

Today, a light drizzle became a pouring rain, and though Chris, CFC Raine (Air Force Cadet Jack Raine) and I desperately wanted to catch a trout on a dry to kick off 2007, it didn’t happen.

In fact, we didn’t see a single BWO. Not one. Zilch.

The Power of Panic

At 1:30, desperation set in. Instead of breaking down and sobbing at the river’s margin, I rigged a small, wire-bodied PT nymph below a tiny indicator.

The river was starting to pick up color (and the wading was tougher than last time) but damnit - I’ve been reading Ed Engle’s excellent Fishing Small Flies- a brilliant book jammed with useful information.

It’s inspired me to pray for a good hatch of tiny bugs, and I basically wanted to catch a trout on a small fly regardless of the cost to my dignity.

Without additional weight, the wire nymph never gets more than a couple feet under the surface, but it was an effective tactic two years ago when few bugs were on the water and the trout weren’t rising.

It wasn’t a very effective tactic today.

In fact, you might say it was wholly ineffective.

Adding a single small split shot failed to improve things.

Damn.

That’s the first (and I’m hoping the last) skunking of 2007.

Two years ago January found us enjoying the best dry fly fishing of the year. Last year the river was mostly blown.

This year the bugs have taken a vacation.

Chris Raine suggested it was time to get some rods built and words written, but there are still plenty of wildly hopeless ideas bouncing around my head. Midges way downriver? BWOs way upriver?

There are fish rising somewhere. I’m absolutely sure of it.

See you at the National Weather Service Complaint Desk, Tom Chandler.

[tags]fly fishing, upper sac, upper sacramento river, bwo, trout[/tags]

Those Rennaissance men at Moldy Chum - ever vigilant for works of expressive fly fishing-related art - have brought us this Michaelangelo-esque sculpture.

Drawn to high art like moths to flame, we can only stare, slack-jawed in artistic reverie.

The best news? You can own your very own piece of what will undoubtedly become one of fly fishing’s most collectible sculptures.

If it’s one thing the Underground’s all about, it’s art - and the betterment of humanity.

[tags]fly fishing, sculpture, woman, butt[/tags]

In this chilling tale of intestinal distress, the UK’s Metro Web site recounts the story of a turtle in a sea life center who was fed Brussels Sprouts as a Christmas treat.

The story turns ugly when the turtle - apparently experiencing the same kind of side effects that you and I do when we eat Brussels Sprouts - farted and set off an overflow sensor in his tank. From the story:

Its bubbles in the water tank were sent up a tube to the surface, where they popped and splashed water on to a sensor.

Marine biologist Sarah Leaney rushed to the 500,000 litre tank in Weymouth, Dorset, assuming it was overflowing.

We’re not entirely discounting an Al Qaeda connection, but it’s possible that trout have evolved the intelligence to ignore Brussels Sprouts, explaining why I never see fish rising to them and few nymphers carry Brussels Sprouts patterns.

Once again, the Underground gets to the vital news - and gets there first.

[tags]brussels sprouts, turtles, fart[/tags]