The Underground’s Friday Afternoon Fly Fishing Follies

Sure, in the last couple days, the Underground launched its first poll, redefined fly fishing for smallmouth, and blew the lid off the privatization of the fly fishing bluegill industry.

Nobody would blame you for thinking the universe largely revolves on the Trout Underground, but in truth, other fly fishing news has occurred, other blogs have been blogged, and darnit, we’re going to cover them here.

It’s what we do. We’re the information people.

Welcome to the Friday Afternoon Follies.

First, a pair from Moldy Chum. One is a free online novel involving steelhead fishing (and no, I haven’t read it). But did I mention it was FREE? (I knew you’d like that.)

Then Moldy goes all bargain basement on us, offering some kind of 50% off deal on stonefly nymphs.

Sure, the Underground fishes nymphs about as often as Nestle does the right thing, but there it is — a deal.

Here, we’re all about the deal.

The Fish Hack Goes All Anniversary On Us

The Fish Hack — still one of the best writers in outdoor blogging (though he’s only a couple beers away from normalcy) — dredges up the fact that it’s the 75th anniversary of the catching of the world-record largemouth bass.

Yeah, we really don’t know what that has to do with fly fishing, but it’s a hell of a read. I smoked a cigarette when I was finished, and I don’t even smoke.

Teh Wind Knot Gets Energetic

Sure, the guy can’t get it together enough to spell “The” correctly, but he sure can smell a dead salmon when it’s printed in the Wall Street Journal’s Editorial page, which doesn’t always pass the sniff test to begin with.
A month ago, I noticed a rash of stories in the media trumpeting the environmentally friendly nature of the Klamath dams. The stories (which smelled of a significant behind-the-scenes public relations effort) suggested dam removal (as favored by most environmental groups) would actually hasten global warming.

It’s an angle that attempts to paint environmental groups on the wrong side of the dam removal issue — and dams as clean, environmentally friendly sources of energy.

It’s utter rubbish.

The Klamath dams are environmental disasters of the worst order, which is what Teh Wind Knot blog wrote when this ridiculous story got some ink in the Wall Street Journal.

In this instance, we’re only talking about 160 megawatts of energy annually.

Stacked against the significant environmental damage caused by these dams (and the economic damage caused to commercial and sport fisheries), the greenhouse gas issue doesn’t begin to compensate.

Don’t buy this garbage. It’s a cynical PR gambit attempt to sidetrack the conversation around dam removal. Get ‘em Wind Knot.

Rocky Mountain News Book Review

The Rocky Mountains News goes all literary on us and publishes a review of Jeff Hull’s latest book: Streams of Consciousness: Hip-Deep Dispatches From the River of Life.

Hulls’ last book - the widely lauded Pale Morning Done — made a big splash, so this essay effort was anticipated.

Pete Warzel (the reviewer) loves “Streams of Consciousness,” gracing it with high praise like:

He guides you on the usual suspect rivers, too (the Big Hole, the Battenkill, the Bitterroot and Slough Creek) and writes of them with a skill that puts him right in there with John Gierach and Tom McGuane at their best.

Here is Hull writing in the expected fly-fishing tradition, from an essay titled Brothers in Waiting: “The trout flicks away at the last second, but swirls beneath the fly, still looking up, its flanks lucid flashes of light in the spring water. Take it! I hear in my head. Take it, take it, take it!”

And then he’s breaking new ground, going into reflections that even the best don’t dare to brave in Rorschach Bluegill: “Oh what do you say about deciding to kill yourself that can possibly make any sense? . . . I had written the sad, sorry farewell notes and schemed carefully so that nobody who knew me would find my body.”

Hull brings you to the edge, addressing his temporary bout with depression and insanity, racial tension on a reservation in Montana and the slow death of his brother, and in doing so within the confines of a fishing story he helps you realize that life isn’t all sport but a serious struggle with yourself. It’s an effort to inject structure - through fishing or writing or drinking or loving - into a world that defies control.

You can visit (and hell, even buy) Hull’s book at Amazon:

Streams of Consciousness: Hip-Deep Dispatches from the River of Life

I’m a big fan of essay books, so — see you in the virtual checkout line, Tom Chandler.

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