News

First Atlantic Salmon Season in Seven Years Sputters Out of Gate

September 28, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

Alert Reader Sully (the Underground’s Montana Correspondent and Minister of Funny Walks) sent me this link to the New York Times, which details the hoopla surrounding the first Atlantic Salmon season in Maine since recreational fishing was banned seven years ago.

(He also suggested the character in the picture had watched my instructional casting video, a low blow given the big loop, excessive backcast, and broken wrist).

In the article, we discover it’s taken two weeks to land the first Atlantic Salmon of the monthlong season, suggesting that questions along the lines of “how’s the fishing” probably won’t be answered with much more than a grunt.

Still, it’s nice to see some small amount of progress involving the wild Atlantic Salmon, a fish driven to the brink in the USA by dams, development and pollution.

[tags]atlantic salmon, maine, penobscot[/tags]

Wanna Feel Safe in the Outdoors? Don’t Watch This

September 26, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

If you’ve never seen a wheelchair-bound granny fire a fully-automatic assault gun, then today’s your lucky day.
[tags]automatic weapon, granny, gun[/tags]

“Who’s On First” Batten Kill Stocking Story Not Over

September 26, 2006, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

I reported (two posts down) that the restoration efforts on the Batten Kill were going to proceed without state stocking of rainbow trout (further stressing an already pressured fish population in marginal habitat).

If you’re not current on this story, several organizations (including Trout Unlimited and Orvis) were funding habitat restoration efforts on the river when the Vermont Fish & Wildlife service announced plans to stock 1000 sterile rainbow trout for catch & kill purposes (the river is C&R).

Restoration efforts on the Batten Kill
Restoration on the Batten Kill should continue without stocking of rainbow trout.

Orvis threatened to withdraw the remainder of its $100,000 habitat restoration contribution if the river wasn’t managed for wild trout, and after a public meeting where comments ran 5-1 against stocking, the stocking plan looked dead in the water.

Still, the final decision won’t be made until October 21, and Wayne Laroch – Commissioner of Vermont Fish & Wildlife – said “The possibility of stocking is slim.”

Slim?! For now, we’ll take that as a good sign, but we’ll keep an eye on the thing.

Nowadays you can’t take your eyes off a good wild trout population for fear you’ll go there one day and discover someone has smashed the passenger side window and stolen the wild trout “radio” out from under your nose…

[tags]Batten Kill, restoration, Orvis[/tags]

Fishing Pigs? Sure, When They Fly Out My Butt…

September 25, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

Fishing pigs “When pigs fly” is a common phrase. Thank goodness it’s not “when pigs fish,” because these feral pigs on Tonga are doing exactly that in the ocean (do sharks like the “other white meat?”).

Sure, I’ve fished with plenty of swine in my day, but never the kind with curly tails and cloven hooves…

[tags]pigs, fishing, Tonga[/tags]

Plans to Stock Vermont’s Batten Kill River Ended

September 25, 2006, by Tom Chandler 6 comments

An earlier post detailed Orvis’ opposition to Vermont Fish & Wildlife plans to stock sterile rainbow trout on the Batten Kill River, and generated some interesting comments.

Orvis – whose conservation arm had raised $100,000 for Batten Kill habitat restoration work – threatened to pull out of the project if the state stocked the river (one of the five remaining “wild” trout fisheries in Vermont) with rainbow trout, effectively creating a put-and-take fishery.

Orvis restoration projects on the Batten Kill
Habitat restoration includes returning woody debris to the river (Orvis photo).

According to a Vermont TV station’s Web site, Vermont Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Wayne Laroche said the agency would bow to public pressure and abandon the stocking plans.

[sfx: deep sigh of relief]

Meanwhile, Back at the Batten Kill

A five-year study of the Batten Kill suggested that too many of the in-river debris had been cleared away (a common by-product of development), and the reduction in cover had resulted in lower fish populations and marginal habitat.

Orvis took the lead in raising funds to restore the habitat with the hopes that trout populations would rebound on their own once the habitat improved.

Orvis habitat restoration on the Batten Kill
Close up of the restoration work on the Batten Kill. I’m ready to fish it. (Orvis photo)

Adding more fish to an already-stressed river wasn’t a very good idea, and I wonder if the strong public response wasn’t manifestation of a fear that the Batten Kill would be managed as a put-and-take fishery even after fish populations had rebounded.

With so many waters in the state of Vermont already allowing catch and kill – and only five manged on a sustainable “wild fish” model – it’s not hard to understand the public response, which ran four-to-one against stocking at a recent public meeting.

It’s a marvelous Monday on the Underground.

[tags]Battenkill, Batten Kill, resoration, Orvis, Vermont[/tags]

Teddy Bear Latest Threat to Trout

September 25, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

As if the “Chucky” movies weren’t enough to convince you that dolls and stuffed animals were in fact deadly assassins, then this story (via Moldy Chum) will. A teddy bear clogged a pipe at a hatchery, killing 2500 rainbow trout.

No word if there will be a sequel.

[tags]teddy, teddy bear, hatchery, rainbow trout[/tags]

Washington Fish Kill

September 23, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

Another piece of bad news (with pictures) from the Blogfish conservation blog, this one detailing a fish kill in the Hood Canal in Western Washington.

What’s startling about this kill is that this is not a wildly urban waterway, and used to be very, very rich in sea life. Read all about it at the redoubtable Blogfish.

[tags]Hood Canal, fish kill, Blogfish[/tags]

Klamath Misfortunes Detailed on Blogfish…

September 17, 2006, by Tom Chandler No comments yet

The redoubtable Blogfish conservation blog once again leaves a trail of breadcrumbs to some solid Klamath River information. The Klamath has been beaten half to death over the last few years, and that was before it became a political football.

As always, good reading (and good links) on Blogfish!

[tags]klamath river, klamath[/tags]

The Underground Road to Fame & Fortune: Let’s Buy Field & Stream…

September 17, 2006, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

Ever wonder why you should actually fish and hunt in the wet, uncomfortable outdoors when you can simply write about it instead?

Well, here’s your chance. Moldy Chum reports that the venerable Field & Stream magazine is on the auction block, and with retro-mania the rage among the aging boomer set, my proposal is simple:

Field and Stream cover The Undergrounders pool their money (I know Sully’s pretty loaded, and Chris Raine owns a fly shop, so we know he’s got millions stuffed in his mattress), and we re-launch the magazine in retro-dress – like it was the 1950s and 1960s.

Viola! No controversial pollution or environmental stories, the equipment’s so cheap it’s almost free (I’m buying a truckload of Hardy reels for $35), and – best of all – we won’t waste precious advertising revenue buying new content.

We simply run all of the old stories under the old author bylines, thereby avoiding the modern – and inefficient – practice of running the old stories under new bylines.

It’s genuis like this that sets the Underground apart from the rest of the sniveling pack of fly fishing blogs. Arf!

p.s. – Click here to see Field & Stream’s entry into the bikini wars. Oy.

[tags]bikini, field and stream, magazine, Time[/tags]

Brookies Meet Fall With Bling.

September 15, 2006, by Tom Chandler 4 comments

From MidCurrent (who has totally tanked in the Bikini Wars) comes a link to an excellent Ed Dentry article (Rocky Mountain News) about Fall fishing for Brookies (The Official Char of the Trout Underground).

They color up spectacularly, and I’m reminded that there’s still time to hit one or two of the local backcountry lakes in search of the little buggers. A couple years ago I caught a 14″ brookie that was so breathtaking that you’d accuse me of altering the photograph (if I’d taken one).