Then Moldy Chum posted 61 photographs of a big steelie being manhandled, taped, and generally beat to hell before release (it ended up on the cover of Fly Fishermen magazine). With its chances of survival about as remote as your chances of inheriting $23 million from a Nigerian Prince, we’re forced ask the obvious question:

What the hell?

Perhaps the world’s steelhead fishermen should to take a lesson from our own glow-in-the-dark Singlebarbed:

A couple dozen large Pikeminnow and the occasional smallmouth were browsing in deep water – and without any vegetation available to hold insects, and with the catastrophic upheaval of the runoff, I guessed these might be hungry and desperate fish.

I had a fistful of the “Ellis Island” reject flies I needed to expend and plopped an Olive unknown into the water above them. With a 4mm bead and 25 turns of fuse wire there was a corresponding mushroom cloud and crater in the river bottom – and most of the fish scattered.

I gave it a quick tug to free the fly and all hell broke loose, some silver flash comes out of the water and does its best Salmonid imitation, screams off downstream and returns to sulk.

I’m long past caring what it is – and from its profile it appears to be a trophy Pikeminnow – but thick and fat like a bass, not skinny and cylindrical like usual.

It’s laying in the slack water at the bank, and I realize it’s the new IGFA world record for Sacramento Pikeminnow. The old version was merely 6.25 pounds – and “Mr. Chunk Monster”, the genetically blessed fatty was likely to tip them scales closer to seven.

Did our heavy-metals-rich friend rush to the nearest certified scales to claim his spot in the record books – and the adulation sure to follow?

Hell no. (That’s why we like him. Well, that and the fact he’s usually good to bum flies off.)

Our take? They’re fish, for godssakes – not magical beings capable of validating our sorry, quietly desperate existences.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

fly fishing, steelhead, fly fishing for steelhead, world record fish, pikeminnow

The original group of old- time California Steelhead fly fishing addicts are having a gathering on April 11th to pay homage to our departed friends who made our sport including greats like: Bill Schaadt, Bob Nauheim, Mel Krieger, Mike Fong, Grant King, Myron Gregory, John”Buddy”Tarantino, Andre Puyans, Gary Rowen, Kay Mitsuyochi, and many others. Lani Waller will do a steelhead presentation and Russell Chatham will provide, “A Look Back.”

The program will kick roughly off with a 4:00 p.m. bar opening and hors d’oeuvres, a display of vintage steelhead memorabilia from bygone eras, a 6:00 p.m. Lani Waller presentation, and dinner which will followed by filmmakers Justin Coupe and Palmer Taylor discussing and showing short clips from the great movie about our buddies, “Rivers of the Lost Coast.”  The evening will conclude with a salute and farewell to the Immortals, and a Good Night & Good Luck.

Frank Bertainia is one of the organizers and advises this event will be also be the kick off of the new “Russian River Wild Steelhead Society.” Frank says that one of the main purposes of the group will be to save the  remnant runs of Russian River Steelhead and that they are already discussing the possibility of establishing a Russian River Fly Fishing Museum. Think about possible donations.

The Saturday night event starts at 4:00 p.m. and the $35 per person admission includes dinner. Join us at Russian River Sportsman Club, 25150 Steelhead Boulevard, Duncans Mills, CA 95430 (707) 865-9429 (off Moscow Rd which is off Hwy-116).

If you’re coming, please make sure to RSVP in advance, so that adequate facilities and food can be provided. Call either: Frank Bertania at (707) 573-0759, or Steve Jackson of King’s Sport & Tackle in Guerneville (707) 869-2156. Frank suggests that if you’re staying over, and many are, you might try the Northwood Lodge, 4 miles down river www.northwood-lodge.com (877)-865-1665 or (707) 865-1655 in Monte Rio. However, speak to Frank first, because he’s trying to get a “rate.” There are others as well.

This is not a fund raiser, no raffle, or auctions. This is a celebration of another steelhead season, some of it’s history and about some of those anglers that helped in shaping it’s legacy. There will be a discussion about the wild steelhead habitat restoration of Willow, Freezeout, Austin, and Dutch Bill Creeks and consideration of a low water juvenile rescue plan to help with escapement and enhancement of our wild fish stocks in the lower tidewater section of the Russian River.

Skitt fiske
Marty Seldon

fly fishing, fishing, rivers of the lost coast, bill shaadt, steelhead, fly fishing for steelhead, california fly fishermen

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World record steelhead on the Hoh River? Bleeding out??

Someone forward an email outlining the story of Peter Harrison of Port Townsend, who exhaustively detailed his battle with the record steelhead in terms I’d suggest are a little on the mock heroic side, which probably isn’t helping his cause:

At around 2 PM I was swinging my fly through some good-looking water and something that I can only describe as a lightning bolt hit my whole body. Suddenly my Ross reel was screaming at a decibel level usually reserved for Rolling Stone concerts. In a couple of heartbeats 200 yards of line had disappeared from my reel as the fish headed for Alaska.

I told myself not to panic, but my whole body was shaking; I knew that if I could survive the first round I would at least have some chance of getting the fish to the bank. For the next 30 minutes I battled the fish, standing at times chest deep in the middle of the river on a submerged bar.

At this point I had not seen the fish, but eventually I managed to make it back to the river bank and was able to stand on dry ground. At that time the fish exploded into the air, executing three cartwheels. I couldn’t believe my eyes, the fish was almost 4 feet in length. I had never seen a steelhead like it. After 45 minutes of battling the fish I managed to beach it gently.

My intention was to let it go, having first measured the fish, but it was bleeding quite heavily from the gills. As it seemed likely not survive the ordeal, and because it was the fish of a lifetime, I decided to take the fish. In 10 years of fishing Washington state rivers this is the first fish I have ever taken, of any kind, from a river.

As Buster Wants to Fish noted, the Washington fly fishing board has already accumulated 11 pages of comments, many of which are not exactly favorable (the thread degenerates into the usual C&R vs C&K arguments, trolls, etc).

Based on the photos, some doubt the contention that blood was streaming out the gills (you can see the fly stuck in the fish’s nose), but in truth, none of us will ever know.

My first reaction wasn’t simply one of sadness over the removal of the monster fish from the gene pool; it’s that our steelhead fisheries are so messed up that the loss of just one fires up this kind of response.

With Oregon inching towards a logging plan that will further deplete its steelhead runs, many of California’s steelhead and salmon facing extinction, and Washington’s steelhead runs not meeting management goals (which most suggest are too low), the problem isn’t that one guy killed a world-record steelhead.

It’s that our rivers aren’t teeming with monsters like that every year.

Dylan Tomine adds a welcome bit of actual knowledge to the mess:

The fact that it’s even still legal to kill a wild steelhead on the Hoh is ridiculous. The river has not met escapement in 9 of the last 17 years and has shown a marked decline in recent times. That’s part of the bigger picture I’m talking about.

On one popular regional fishing bulletin board, at last count, there were 9 pages of posts condemning the angler for killing this single fish, while just below that there were several threads outlining political actions currently ongoing in Washington, and none of them had even half the response.

As a rule, humanity is a lot better at righteousness than we are at not mucking things up to begin with. And as Tomine points out, the right to “legally” kill wild fish on a river that’s already scraping bottom is the real lunacy here, yet it’s not a thought that provides much comfort.

Through the maze of political “realities” (translation: somebody’s getting screwed), anadromous fish continue to experience the short, brown end of the stick, and right here in my own county, our addled Board of Supervisors have dedicated themselves to fighting dam removal on the Klamath River despite the very real economic boon that would follow should the Klamath return to health and see salmon and steelhead runs a fraction of their former glory.

And yes, I’ll just say it; I have never fully grasped the sportsman’s need for trophies or “world” record keeping, especially when the latter seem useful only in documenting the precipitous decline in the quality of our fisheries.

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

world record steelhead, hoh river steelhead, fly fishing for steelhead, fly fishing

“A small and self-serving group with guidance from the BC Ministry of the Environment is trying to drive a wedge in the long, happy and mutually advantageous alliance between the good people of the Skeena Valley and the traveling anglers from around the world who have treasured this resource and taken its side when it has been threatened.”

-Thomas McGuane

Fly Rod & Reel just posted a doozie of a story about the drive to largely eliminate non-resident angler access to some of British Columbia’s best steelhead rivers, and writer Seth Norman asked me to give the problem a little ink. Why?

Non-resident anglers (that’s most of us) are not only being shut out of the fisheries (and the process), but Norman believes there’s an ulterior motive here.

After all, what group benefits when you drive a wedge between wealthy foreign anglers (NRAs for the purposes of this story) and local guides, thereby bankrupting those who have a stake in maintaining healthy fisheries?

Any guesses from the Undergrounders?

Answer: the resource extraction folks (mining and energy companies), who suddenly won’t have foreign fishermen bankrolling fights to protect resources – something that’s happened in BC several times, including a recent victory to keep Shell from developing coal-methane beds.

Whew. Sound a little far fetched? It did to me – until I read Norman’s piece, where he makes a convincing case (if not for conspiracy, then for unmitigated incompetence).

First, here’s the backstory:

Hundreds of Canadian businesses with thousands of employees will be crippled or bankrupt if the British Columbia Ministry of Environment (MoE) passes proposed regulations to limit or ban non-resident steelheaders on the Skeena River and its tributaries: Kispiox, Bulkey, Babine, Morice, Skawala; also the Zymoetz (Copper).

Frightened stakeholders in the area estimate damage to the local economy at between $35 and $50 million per year, and losses to local property values in the hundreds of millions.

“What could be so bad,” you say? Here’s a taste of the restrictions out-of-area anglers will face should they invest thousands traveling to the area (hint: they won’t):

Non-Resident Alien anglers (NRAs) shall be:

• Banned from one or more resident-only waters
• Banned altogether from fishing two “premier,” Class 2 rivers, unless fishing with select BC guides
• Banned from fishing other premier rivers on Saturdays, or both week-end days
• Required, unless fishing with select BC guides, to apply in advance for lottery tickets that would permit winners to purchase licenses for one eight day period, valid on (the only) river they may fish at this time, regardless of conditions
• Banned from fishing property they own on premier rivers unless accompanied by a select BC guide, or in possession of a winning lottery ticket with the eight-day and other restrictions described above

You read it right – even non-resident property owners couldn’t fish the rivers on their property unless accompanied by the “right” BC guide.

These draconian restrictions aren’t designed to protect the fishery or even to milk non-resident anglers to the benefit of the local economy. Instead:

“They will bankrupt us,” declares a Skeena lodge owner, anonymous here for fear of retaliation. “That’s why they kept us off the ‘Working Committees’ that came up with these options using the MoE ‘toolbox.’ That’s why the committees kept everything secret, until somebody leaked the draft just before the end. Nobody will travel thousands of miles and spend thousands of dollars to put up with rules like these…We’ll go bankrupt and the Ministry knows it.”

At its best, the process behind the development of the rules is corrupt. At its worst, it’s a process designed to deliver a pre-determined outcome – an outcome that Norman believes has more to do with frustrated resource extraction companies than moronic resource management groups.

To whit:

“There is another: that the allies here—NRA steelheaders, and steelhead-dependent Canadian businesses—are not merely victims of a flawed MoE process, but the targets.

The same stakeholders facing devastation actively supported First Nation and Canadian conservationists in a (so far) successful fight against putting fish farms on the Skeena. They fought again, helping conservationists and First Nation protesters stop (so far) Royal Dutch Shell’s coal-bed methane exploration in that river’s Sacred Headwaters.

NRAs contributed—politically and through donations to these, especially to the campaign that stopped Shell in 2006—the year MoE re-opened the dormant AMP process.

The same allies questioned and may oppose construction of a $4.5 billion segment of pipeline through the area, a project of the American giant Enbridge, Inc. In 2006, Enbridge temporarily abandoned this effort. On November 4, 2008, Enbridge set up two new Skeena-area offices.”

When gross incompetence or extractive-industry funded conspiracy are your two best choices, then it’s clear one of the world’s best steelhead fisheries might be circling the bowl.

What to do?

First, read Norman’s story here.

Then, my strategy is simple – contact the players (names & email addresses at end of story), though whatever you do, don’t send abusive emails to anyone. That, my friends – if Seth Norman’s worst fears are true – is precisely what the bad guys want:

“At every turn of this investigation, I found misleading declarations that it was mainly NRAs—by implication, angry, ugly Americans in particular–who object to the changes in regs that will devastate Canadian businesses.”

Instead, make it clear that the financial implications of the proposed rules are significant – that you and your friends would never invest your dollars in the BC economy under those rules, a fact which would likely doom the local steelhead-related outdoor industry to bankruptcy.

Don’t question anyone’s intelligence or their parentage, just firmly ask that they reconsider – and also ask why so many stakeholders were shut out of the rule-making process.

I believe Norman might be writing a “Part II” followup, and we’ll keep an eye on this one for you.

UPDATE: The Way Upstream blog published an excellent post about this in November, and a couple of the comments below the story are excellent.

Honourable Gordon Campbell, Premier
premier@gov.bc.ca
Phone:250 387-1715; Fax:250 387-0087
PO Box 9041
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC

Honourable Barry Penner, Minister of Environment and Minister responsible for Water Stewardship and Sustainable Communities
Env.minister@gov.bc.ca
Phone: 250 387-1187 Fax: 250 387-1356
PO Box 9047
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E2

Honourable Bill Bennett, Minister of Tourism, Culture and the Arts
TCA.Minister@gov.bc.ca
Phone: 250 953-4246; Fax: 250 953-4250
PO Box 9071
STN PROV GOVT
Victoria BC
V8W 9E9