While those other bloggers are satisfied simply posting useful information, witty writing and pretty photographs, the Underground does more for its readers.

The last two days have found me working hard, stacking next year’s trout water (in the form of snow) in neat piles alongside the driveway, keeping it away from filthy things like dirt and grease until it finds it way into a trout stream near you.

I know.

At the Underground, the giving never stops.

It's Snowing in Mt. Shasta

Today's experimental snow picture...

And those nice, neat piles? They’re growing rapidly. Yesterday the Underground/Man Cave World Headquarters — located above the alpine town of Mt. Shasta — got ten inches of snow; last night was another 3″, and today’s it’s going gangbusters, and a foot is likely.

In fact, I’ll be out there again with Mr. Snowblower as soon as this is posted.

(In a reminder that I need new friends, Raine accused me of not putting fuel stabilizer in the gas tank of the Honda snowblower after it took three pulls to get it started.)

With lesser amounts of snow predicted to fall through the weekend, it’s clear the high-pressure system keeping California snow-free is gone. Whether we reach our “normal” snowpack after one of the slowest starts to winter in recorded history remains to be seen.

At least we’ll have some water to throw at next year’s trout, and while I’m probably happier when I don’t face an hour or two of snowblowing duty per day, I will say this about the snow: It’s About Goddamned Freakin’ Time

The Media Thing

If you haven’t stumbled across the Underground’s Catch Magazine discussion — where one of the ezines announced a $12 annual subscription fee, and readers and content creators reacted — then stop by.

I’m amazed by the depth of the comments, which are covering a lot of ground, both philosophically and practically.

The world is changing, and while pundits are fond of throwing around terms like “disruptive technologies” and all, it’s far from an abstract concept if you’re a writer or photographer or other person whose professional life has been upended.

And given the pace of the change (ebooks now represent more than 20% of the book market, tablet PC sales are going through the roof, everything “streams”, etc.), things aren’t slowing down. In fact, the change is probably only beginning.

Where It All Relates To Fly Fishing

Maybe all this change explains my recent small stream fly fishing kick. Extremely high-modulus marketing jargon, prohibitively expensive foreign lodges, and two-handed fly rods are not needed to catch 8″ backcountry trout, which, it turns out, are largely immune to the latest trends.

On small streams, the tips printed in the musty books I read as a kid still work, the fish are still impossibly gorgeous, and the primal “me catch fish” jolt to the brain still fires, which is precisely why someone facing dramatic change in his professional and family lives would tend to find it all pretty comforting.

See you caretaking next year’s trout water, Tom Chandler

Posted in fly fishing media, Small Stream, Underground Entertainment and tagged .