In a stunning example of what happens when a fly fishing company actually reaches out to the blogosphere, we’re happy to tell the world that Orvis is once again funding Conservation Grants.
You have a conservation project? Want money for it? Orvis is giving the green stuff away:

Grants have generated as much as $100,000.00 for the […]

The first time I heard talk about raising the Shasta Dam, the number was six feet. Not that much, and frankly, I was puzzled why they’d go to the trouble.
A while later, I started hearing bigger numbers–up to 18.5 feet.
Westlands–the Fresno-based irrigation district that recently bought the Bollibokka Club on the McCloud–made it clear what they […]

That last fish you caught have an odd, dreamy expression on its face?
From the Nashville Tennessean.com site:
Despite what people have been told for years, unused and expired prescription drugs should not be disposed of in the toilet, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
“Medications that are flushed down the toilet or thrown straight into […]

From the new Mark Freeman Blog (It’s one of the Mail Tribune blogs, but the paper’s apparently too cheap to give the blog it’s own name) comes news of a glass bridge that allows you to look directly down into the Grand Canyon:
This is the new glass-bottom Skywalk unveiled today at the Grand Canyon, […]

A lot is being written about California’s salmon runs (some of it here). Given the multiple viewpoints, the range of stakeholders, and the number of possible solutions, it can get damned confusing.
What is the bigger picture?
I stumbled on a kickass article — an overview that covers most of the bases. Titled The State of the Salmon, it’s […]

Lately I’ve been looking hard at all the bamboo fly rods in my rod closet, trying to mentally define why I fish them and how I apply value to them–values that often differ markedly from the marketplace.
Then that crafty bunch over at MidCurrent went and excerpted a chapter from Casting a Spell by George Black, […]

Let’s face it. Mondays are weird. Just weird.
Making Monday weirder was last night’s insomnia, which is painting today with a truly surreal cast.
I’m on a deadline right now, so I’m tossing a few steaks into the Undergrounder’s cage, and running like hell for the zoo exit. Enjoy.
Want to See the Last Sweetwater Trout? Better Look […]

It’s never easy dealing with a multinational corporation.
If you took all the legal and media resources in my thinly populated county and piled them atop each other, they’d still look like an anthill among Nestle’s Himalayan resources.
After all, every time I research Nestle’s latest half-truths and misleading statements issued by their hordes of PR, legal […]

Ed at Flyfishin’ posted a very cool bit of trout art; he caught a brookie, then sent the picture to an artist for illustration.
The results are simply too cool (though you’ve gotta go to go to Ed’s site to see the big “before and after” shots).

I quote Ed:
A while back I spotlighted the amazing trout […]

The Upper Sacramento River’s flows (currently 1800 cfs) are taking on a decidedly “runoff” look (note the daily cycles due to warm days/cold nights), and while the nights are still cool, the days have been gorgeous.

Wayne Eng reconnoitered the river yesterday, and reports the Upper Sac definitely has a “roll” to it, suggesting fly fishers […]

First, Good News.
The Fall Chinook run on the Klamath has recovered nicely from last year’s disastrous levels.
This was likely due to a lot of factors, but the tight (and economically damaging) restrictions on commercial fishing couldn’t have hurt.
From the Ft. Bragg Advocate-News:
“What this means is that local recreational fishermen will have a full season, which […]

From New West Network’s  online magazine comes the news that Trout Unlimited is considering disengaging itself from stream access debates:
Trout Unlimited, one of the nation’s largest and most active conservation organizations, is considering pulling itself out of the debate over public access to America’s rivers and streams.
A proposed TU resolution states: “Involvement in stream access […]