It seems my clients actually expect me to produce something before they send me a sizable check, and in the interest of actually receiving one of those checks, I’m going to do a little work.
Sure, I just posted a sizable article about Westlands — a member of the Underground’s Axis of Evil — but there are happier, lighter things to consider.
The Fish Hack Blog
First, we’ve got the Fish Hack reliving his meeting with Jimmy Carter on the Rogue River — a hilarious story. Knowing the writer like I do, I believe every word of it.
Singlebarbed Lets Us Off the Hook
Then Singlebarbed writes a rambling article about fly fishing’s merchants of fear and loathing — the psuedo experts who complicate things beyond all reason in an attempt to puff their own egos. He attempts to set the record straight for novices and experienced fly fishers alike.
When you asked for a little assistance, the clerk started throwing dozens of little expensive fluff motes into a container, each at $2.00 or better.
You followed him well enough through the preamble; “…there will be some Pale Morning Duns in the morning, maybe fish some Stonefly Nymphs at midday, but it’s too early for the October Caddis..” But were thrown badly by his reference; “a small Black Gnat might pass for a Trico Spinner, and that creek is loaded with Little Yellow Stones, get some with the red egg sack..”
Your questions just got you deeper, because the only “Infrequens” you’ve encountered to date is a urinary problem.
Then, while I was out bluelining with Dave Roberts, Singlebarbed was brownlining a somewhat less pristine stream, pushing the envelopes of both good taste and heat stroke.
The Truth About Wildfires
With wildfires blanketing the West and causing some potentially sizable impacts on fishers, we look to Ralph Maughn’s Wildlife blog for a very, very interesting piece on wildfires by George Wuerthner — an expert on the subject.
Despite all the rhetoric about “historic” fire seasons, including several years where more than 7-8 million acres burned, the total acreage burned today is actually quite low by historic standards. As recently as the 1930s Dust Bowl drought years, more than 39 million acres burned annually in the US. And long term research going back thousands of years suggests that the past 50-70 years may be real anomalies in terms of acreage burned as well as fire severity. It may be that the limited fire activity between the 1930s and 1990s was more a reflection of moister climatic conditions than due to any effective fire suppression.
Indeed, most fires just go out on their own with or without fire suppression if the conditions for fire spread are not conducive. Nevertheless, we take credit for putting out the blazes that may as well have gone out without any intervention at all.
Interesting stuff.
Coming soon, I’ve got another guest report from the Underground’s Southern California Saltwater Correspondent (you’ll remember his recent series on his trip to Baja). This one’s about five days at Crowley Lake. Don’t miss it.
See you on the water, Tom Chandler.
[tags]fly fishing, fishing, singlebarbed, wildfire, fish hack[/tags]
{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
Yep, George has most of his facts in agreeable form. For the inland Northwest (from the Cascade Crest in OR/WA, to the Continental Divide in ID/MT down to the Salmon River (I think) recent research estimates that 6 million acres burned every year on average. Some bigger years were probably 30 million. Now a lot of that may have been in the lower elevations grasslands and foothills, but still, that’s lot’s more acres than our “record setting seasons” are. What will tend to happen over time (decades) is that as the larger fires create mosaics, fires that burn into them will burn in various levels of intensity depending on the amount and availability of fuel. Some will stop entirely. We are starting to see this occur in the larger wilderness areas like the Selway-Bitterroot where it is going on thirty years of what is now called wildland fire use. What does this have to do with Fish?? The Natives do better (sorry Tom, again, the brookies take it in the shorts). Anyway, looking forward to rain tomorrow or Saturday so things slow down and I can actually fish more than an hour every week or two.
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