Articles

A few thoughts on fishing emergers

Why you should be fishing emergers, when and where

by Chad Shmukler - Monday, Jan 20th, 2014

This pretty-spotted brown fell prey to my favorite emerger pattern, the Parachute Adams.

Emergers are one of my favorite kinds of flies to fish. This is most likely because, on many an occasion, they've rescued me from a seemingly endless run of failed attempts to match the hatch. It's possible I had indeed failed to properly discern which bug the fish were taking, instead selecting the wrong pattern. Perhaps I had misjudged the size. More likely, my attempts to select the correct dry fly failed because because the fish I was targeting weren't taking duns in the first place. They were taking emergers.

Major Victory for Oregon Wild Steelhead and Salmon

by Ben Kryzinski - Saturday, Jan 18th, 2014

Ed Hepp and Tom Larimer of Oregon's Larimer Outfitters with a Sandy River steelhead.

Wild fish advocates all over the country and world have, for many years, been arguing that stocking hatchery fish in waters where wild fish populations exist poses a threat to those wild fish. As of yesterday, it appears as though the courts in the state of Oregon agree.

Via a ruling by District Court Judge Ancer Haggerty, the court sided with the the Native Fish Society and the McKenzie Flyfishers which claimed that hatchery operations on Oregon's Sandy River were harmful to the Sandy's wild steelhead and salmon, resulting in the defendants -- the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the National Marine Fisheries Service -- being in violation of both the Endangered Species Act and the National Environmental Policy Act.

Mike Moody, director of the Native Fish Society, noted in a statement released yesterday that "the science is irrefutable. The law is irrefutable. And, Judge Haggerty affirmed this. This is the most significant decision benefiting wild fish in Oregon in over a decade." Moody quoted Haggerty's ruling, which stated that "it is undisputed that hatchery operations can pose a host of risks to wild fish… it is clear that the Sandy River Basin is of particular importance to the recovery of the four [Endangered Species Act] listed species and is an ecologically critical area.”

Grim Picture Painted by Final EPA Assessment of Mining in Bristol Bay

by Ben Kryzinski - Thursday, Jan 16th, 2014

Bristol Bay Rainbow Trout

The long awaited final scientific assessment of the potential impacts from large-scale mining in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska was released earlier this week by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. The pictured painted by the assessment is a grim one for the salmon of Bristol Bay, the ecosystem they drive and the native cultures and modern economies that depend on their survival and abundance.

The assessment states unequivocally that construction of a mine such as Pebble Mine, under the most extensive mining scenario, would result in the total loss of 94 miles of salmon-producing streams simply by virtue of the footprint required for mining operations to take place. Also resulting from the mine footprint would be streamflow alterations over 20 percent or more in 33 miles of streams and the loss of almost 5,000 acres of crucial wetland habitat.

The report goes on to detail a litany of additional negative impacts that could result from mining operations in the region, the majority of which are described by the report as "expected" or "likely" due to comparisons with the history of existing, similar mining operations. Detailed are impacts resulting from leakage during routine operations, wastewater treatment plant failures, spillway releases, culvert failures, pipeline failures, tailings dam failures, truck accidents and more.

The Importance of Fly Rig OCD

by Chad Shmukler - Tuesday, Jan 14th, 2014

Be even more obsessive when you're fishing a shallow, rocky, snag lined run like this one.

I go through life with, for the most part, a cavalier attitude. I’m lousy with organization, terrible with abiding by deadlines, dismissive of rules and regulations due to their perceived silliness and critical of people who spend their time compulsively obsessing over minutiae. While it is fair to say that this approach to life most certainly causes me some level of complication, it is a personality trait I’m proud of, one I embrace. Put simply, I believe things generally tend to work out, and that obsessing over details is a waste of time. That is, except when it comes to fly rigs.

When on the water, I strive to obsess over minutiae. That’s my goal. I haven’t gotten there yet. But I’m trying. This means rebelling against my every instinct. And it isn’t easy. But I believe it is important. As opposed to the rest of life’s silly details, which require attention I’m unwilling to devote, obsessing over your fly rig is not only not a waste of time, it’s essential.

If I fail to renew my driver’s license before it expires, I can still drive (albeit illegally). Forget to pay the water bill on time? I can still take a shower (for a while). But, if I fail to pay attention to my fly rig, to regularly check that it remains the same rig I built and tossed into the water before casting it, there’s a good chance I’m no longer fishing.

Pennsylvania Conservatives Continue Assault on Wild Trout and Endangered Species Protections

by Chad Shmukler - Friday, Jan 10th, 2014

The height of summer on one of Pennsylvania's many wild trout streams.

Pennsylvania conservatives in the House and Senate have been aggressively seeking to undermine the ability of state agencies to protect wild and endangered species since June of of last year. The mechanisms through which these efforts have been channeled is Pennsylvania House Bill 1576 and Senate Bill 1047, otherwise known as the Endangered Species Act. The most recent revision of HB 1576 has been met by success, passing through the House Game & Fisheries committee in November of this year, and now sits awaiting listing for a vote on the House floor.

If the bill becomes law, it will dramatically diminish the ability of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) and Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) to protect wild trout and endangered species throughout the state by miring the now independent processes of these agencies within a heavily politicized, bureaucratic process that serves to produce the opposite of the effects its proponents use to justify the bills' proposal.