The Cost of Freedom

On this Memorial Day 2012 I want to take a moment to honor those Americans who paid the ultimate price.
I don't believe we can ever adequately express the debt of gratitude we should feel to those fallen heroes in the wars this nation has been involved in.


So as we grill our burgers, drink our beer and enjoy our three day weekend let's remember what it is that gives us the freedom to do those things.

A Wrong Never Righted - The Death of Celilo Falls

As I travel east on I-84 on my many journeys to the Deschutes I of course pass by the freeway sign for Celilo village. It's pretty easy to just speed on by and not really consider what was lost over fifty years ago and many people are oblivious to what took place there for perhaps tens of thousands of years prior. An important part of the heritage of the Columbia river tribes died that day over fifty years with the completion of The Dalles dam. Gone are the platforms from which native Americans dipped into the raging Columbia for salmon. Salmon played a huge part in the culture and daily life of the Columbia tribes and still do today. A lot of their rituals and ancient religion revolve around the returning salmon runs although dwindling salmon runs have taken a huge piece of that away.
I cannot begin to fathom what the native Americans endured due to white mans greed and ambition and I suppose it's easier to just act like it never happened but the fact remains that these ancient people and others throughout North America suffered greatly and it's a debt that can never be repaid. The bottom line for me is that I, unlike so many of my fishing brethren,begrudge these tribes their share of salmon. I do not! At the expense of lost friendships I support the native tribes fisheries of the upper Columbia. Are native fish being harvested in the non-selective tribal gillnets of the Columbia? Yes they are BUT when it compares to what the commercial netters of the lower Columbia and what greedy so called sports anglers kill then I think what the native Americans take is far less. These bogus conservation groups with their fake lofty goals of "Saving the Fish" is a smokescreen and a ruse to get more fish for themselves. Native tribes of the northwest got screwed plain and simple...end of story!
So next time you speed eastward on I-84 take a minute to think about what is at stake if we continue to use up and plunder the natural resources that we take for granted.
Here is an article by Elizabeth Woody on the passing of Celilo Falls

Along the mid-Columbia River ninety miles east of Portland, Oregon, stand Celilo Indian Village and Celilo Park. Beside the eastbound lanes of Interstate 84 are a peaked-roof longhouse and a large metal building. The houses in the village are older, and easy to overlook. You can sometimes see nets and boats beside the homes, though some houses are empty. By comparison, the park is frequently filled with lively and colorful wind surfers. Submerged beneath the shimmering surface of the river lies Celilo Falls, or Wyam.

Wyam means "Echo of Falling Water" or "Sound of Water upon the Rocks." Located on the fourth-largest North American waterway, it was one of the most significant fisheries of the Columbia River system. In recent decades the greatest irreversible change occurred in the middle Columbia as the Celilo site was inundated by The Dalles Dam on March 10, 1957. The tribal people who gathered there did not believe it possible.

Historically, the Wyampum lived at Wyam for over twelve thousand years. Estimates vary, but Wyam is among the longest continuously inhabited communities in North America. The elders tell us we have been here from time immemorial.

Today we know Celilo Falls as more than a lost landmark. It was a place as revered as one's own mother. The story of Wyam's life is the story of the salmon, and of my own ancestry. I live with the forty-two year absence and silence of Celilo Falls, much as an orphan lives hearing of the kindness and greatness of his or her mother.

The original locations of my ancestral villages on the N'ch-iwana (Columbia River) are Celilo Village and the Wishram village that nestled below the petroglyph, She-Who-Watches or Tsagaglallal. My grandmother, Elizabeth Thompson Pitt (Mohalla), was a Wyampum descendent and a Tygh woman. My grandfather, Lewis Pitt (Wa Soox Site), was a Wasco, Wishram, and Watlala man. But my own connections to Celilo Falls are tenuous at best. I was born two years after Celilo drowned in the backwaters of The Dalles Dam.

New Research: Hatchery Salmon Posing Problems For Wild Stocks

It's something we have known for awhile now but to the pro-hatchery crowd this is what is called an "inconvenient truth"

Click here for full story

The Classical Angler: Pride of ownership

Written by my friend and fellow blogger Erik Helm...enjoy


The Classical Angler: Pride of ownership: As fly fishermen (and women), we tend to somehow reach a stage where the aesthetics of equipment becomes important to us. There is somethi...

The Importance of Wild Fish

Here's to You, Mr. Robinson

Today marks the 65th anniversary of the first time an African-American stepped onto the playing field of a major league ballpark. That man was Jackie Robinson and it's fitting that he is honored as a hero.
The following is an article about this milestone and the man of courage who took that important first step.


By John Donovan - Sports Illustrated
This is not about baseball. Or, rather, it's about so much more than baseball. When Jackie Robinson took America by the collar 60 years ago and shook it for all it was worth, he did it on a baseball field, yes. But why he did it, how he did it, the era in which it took place -- and, of course, that he did it at all -- are infinitely more important than where it happened. Then and now, the act itself was much bigger than the stage. None of us should ever forget that.



Major League Baseball this weekend celebrates Robinson and that history-changing day 60 years ago when he desegregated the national pastime. The impact of Robinson's appearance in that game at Ebbets Field on April 15, 1947, can't be overstated. It was a seminal moment in baseball history -- the first black man playing in the major leagues in the 20th century -- and it cleared the way for thousands of men of color that have played the game since Robinson first took the field for the Brooklyn Dodgers that day.

But, again, that was only part of it. And not the biggest part.

It's often said that baseball is a reflection of society, and in early 1947, that was undoubtedly true. The game, like the country, was just finding its peacetime rhythm after World War II. But in many parts of America, especially in the Jim Crow South, the country was still splintered in "separate but equal" parts -- clearly separate yet anything but equal. That was true of professional baseball, too, with the white major leagues and the less-than-equal Negro Leagues.

So Robinson breaking baseball's color line is more than a simple sports story. It's a story of a society -- American society -- during a critical juncture in its history. Robinson's courageous step wasn't simply about opening the doors to the Major Leagues. It was about opening the doors to America.

This wasn't about baseball reflecting society. This was about baseball showing America how it could be. How it should be.

"This is an explosive event. This is the moon landing for black America," says professor Chris Lamb, who wrote the book Blackout: The Untold Story of Jackie Robinson's First Spring Training. "And a lot of white America was saying 'Hey, what's the big story?' He captured the imagination of a lot of white America. They couldn't ignore it."

Robinson's stoic and heroic handling of the racism he faced as the major's first black ballplayer is legendary. Robinson got a quick taste of it in that first spring training with the Dodgers' minor-league affiliate, the Montreal Royals, a team that trained in segregated Daytona Beach, Fla. There, many teams canceled games against Robinson's Royals, figuring a player who couldn't play couldn't make a major-league team. One team, in DeLand, Fla., cited a problem with lights for calling off a game. A day game.

Robinson was forced to practice on a field in the black part of Daytona Beach, away from the main stadium. Threats were an everyday part of his existence. "He took on Jim Crow in Jim Crow's front yard," Lamb says. "This wasn't Ebbets Field. He went into the deep South, where black people who challenged desegregation were lynched."

When he got to the big leagues as the Dodgers' first baseman, the harassment continued. His Brooklyn teammate, Duke Snider, recalled some of the abuse that he saw Robinson endure. "A lot of runners would come down there and instead of stepping on the bag would step on his foot or his leg," Snider told XM Radio in a recent interview. "The obscenities from the stands and from the opposition's bench were radical. It was terrible. I would hear it and it would embarrass me."

Yet to place Robinson's experiences in a baseball-only context, to describe him as simply a baseball pioneer, is to miss the larger picture. Robinson signed his contract with Dodgers GM Branch Rickey in 1946 -- he was just 27 at the time -- and took his spot at first base in Ebbets Field in 1947.

That was nearly seven years before the Supreme Court, in Brown v. Board of Education, ruled segregation in public schools unconstitutional. It was almost a decade before the Little Rock Nine. It was almost 16 years before a preacher from Atlanta stood in front of hundreds of thousands of marchers in Washington, D.C., on one late August day and told them, "I have a dream!"

Robinson was not simply a baseball pioneer. He was a civil rights pioneer in every sense of the term, suffering though many of the same indignities that others would shoulder five, 10, 15, 20 years later. And, yes, even today.

"It's not that he just broke the color barrier in baseball. He broke the barrier for a lot of people in general," says Ray King, a reliever for the Washington Nationals. "He was Rosa Parks. He was Martin Luther King. He was in the forefront."

Ten years ago, in a tribute to what he meant to the game, baseball retired Robinson's uniform number, 42. This weekend, dozens of players in 15 professional ballparks around the nation -- including every player from the Astros, Brewers, Cardinals, Dodgers, Phillies and Pirates -- will don it for the day in a similar tribute.

The faces of baseball today are hugely different because of Robinson. Though the number of African-American players in the game has fallen from its peak in 1975 -- from 27 percent then to about 9 percent now -- the number of players from Latin America, Asia and other places outside of the United States has increased dramatically. A record 246 players on Opening Day rosters and disabled lists -- about 29 percent -- were born outside the U.S. Nearly half of the players in the minors leagues are not from the U.S.

"I grew up in the '70s, so I don't really know much about Jackie Robinson," said the Braves' Andruw Jones, a native of the Caribbean island of Curacao and the lone Atlanta player who will wear No. 42 on Sunday. "But I know he broke the color barrier, and he gave Latins a chance to get to the major leagues, and a lot of others, too. That's why we're all here."

The front offices in baseball and baseball's central office in New York now have more minorities than ever, too. In Robinson's last comments about the game, before his death in 1972, he urged baseball to hire its first black manager. That finally happened when Frank Robinson was picked to manage the Cleveland Indians three years after Robinson's death. Today, there are two African-Americans managing teams, the Mets' Willie Randolph and the Rangers' Ron Washington.

"I try to tell [my students] about Jackie Robinson, and it's almost like telling them what happened 200 years ago," says Lamb, an assistant professor of communications at the College of Charleston (S.C.). "I think that's why we need to continually remind people about Jackie Robinson.

"Just walking onto the field gave hope to Americans, white and black. He knew what had to be done and did it."

This weekend on baseball fields from Boston to Los Angeles, from Atlanta to Seattle, and on other days in other places all over America, that's something worth remembering.

Coastal Conservation Association? Not Really!

CCA is anything but a conservation organization as I have long suspected. Their agenda is more hatchery fish means more fish for sports anglers. They have this ongoing war with Columbia river commercial gillnetters and claim it's because the gill nets are non-selective killing devices that kill hatchery and wild fish alike. No argument there but sports anglers do the same and most could care less about saving wild fish. They oppose barbless hooks and any measure that would safeguard wild fish while all the while talking about how concerned they are....bullshit!

The link below is from Spencer Miles "White Fish Can't Jump" blog. Take a look
CCA and ODFW want Hatchery Acclimation Site on Wild and Scenic Molalla River

Stay The Hell Out Of The Upper River

This will be a yearly thing where I bring this post to the top. I feel it's just that important for the well being of wild steelhead. Those of you that already curtails your upriver fishing, I applaud you!
Those of you who insist on harassing fish on their redds then maybe you should pay attention. There are still fresh steelhead in the lower portions of the river so why not stay down there and leave the upriver areas alone....ya think?

This subject is something I strongly believe in and adhere to so since this is my blog you dear readers will just have to indulge me.
As most of you know I spend a lot of time on the Wilson river near Tillamook, Oregon. I fish for steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout on that river and know it intimately. I know the fish and where they frequent, although you would never guess that by my angling success or lack thereof on the Wilson. This time (first of April actually) of year I will stay out of the upper river because I know there are many wild steelhead using the upper main stem Wilson to spawn.Because of this I will not fish this area of the river and wish that the ODFW would close it above Jones Creek to all angling from March 31st until the last Saturday in May. They used to do this and but for whatever reason a few years ago they saw fit to open the entire river year around.
How did I arrive at this decision? In 2001 I was fishing in the upper river on or around the first week of April and hooked a very large wild female steelhead. I played her out and landed her carefully to avoid any harm coming to her when I saw that she was dropping her eggs. I had probably taken her right off a spawning bed and I felt disgusted with myself for even being in that section of the river.
I vowed from that day on to never fish the upper river after March 31st until at least the end of May. I've tried to convince others to do likewise and have managed to convince some but others steadfastly refuse.
The ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) closes the nearby Miami river completely for that two month period and the upper Nestucca river is closed in order to limit access to spawning areas but why not the Wilson or the Trask?
I have seen too many pictures of grinning fishermen holding a wild buck steelhead out of the water for their glory shot while that male fish is dumping it's milt all over the fisherman's waders.
Some might say that why stop at the upper river why not close the whole river during that time? Wouldn't bother me in the least but the Wilson is a big revenue river for both the ODFW and Tillamook county so with heavy lobbying from a few "good old boys" Tillamook area fishing groups it stays open.
I urge everyone who reads my blog to consider what they can do to further the cause of wild fish in this state and any state. If we don't do it then who will!
Okay it's off the soap box for now but I hope to see you at some ODFW hearing where wild fish issues are at stake....it's important.

The picture below gives you an idea of what to look for.


PLEASE LEAVE SPAWNING or GUARDING FISH ALONE

The Earth Does Not Belong To Us.....

....But we think it does!
I spend a lot of time outdoors and the outdoors is a beautiful place to be sure. The rivers, the forest, the high desert of Central and Eastern Oregon are a marvel of beauty.
We do not own it, however, and never have. We are just passing through and what counts most is what we do with our time here on earth.
We are not very good tenants of this planet, our home. If there is some sort of cosmic landlord he would probably kick us out with out refunding our cleaning deposit. We have certainly made a mess of things here on our rental "home"
We have polluted the water by dumping everything from raw sewage to toxic chemicals into it. We have over harvested almost every natural resource that has been given to us. We have gouged the earth with our greed for riches and over populated it to it's breaking point.
It was just our generation either! Our parents,grand parents and every generation before has done the same. Our generation has the technological resources to dig deeper and pollute more than the generations of our forefathers. We also have the technology to try to reverse at least a little of the damage humans have done as far back into history as we can go.
Global warming? Well according to most scientists this is real and man made. Why then has it become such a political football? Are we so arrogant as to think our presence has left no footprint on our planet?
What kind of earth are we leaving the next generation of tenants? A better one I hope but this "Mother Earth" of ours does have a breaking point. How many more species need to go extinct for us to understand? How many more metric tons of pollution do we need to pump into the air? How many wild rivers do we need to dam or forest we need to cut down? We are certainly slow learners in the proper way to take care of our home aren't we? So if I am called an environmental wacko or tree hugger or wild fish hugger by the soulless and greedy I will wear that handle with pride because it is the least I can do for my home.

Ted Rhea and Dean Marsh,Farewell My Friends...... One Year Later

I posted this a year ago today. Some say "life goes on" and it indeed does but on this cold and wet first day of spring I'm thinking of these two friends and the families and friends they left behind one year ago. Death is a part of life but that does not make losing a loved one any easier. So this is for the families and friends of Ted Rhea and Dean Marsh and for all who grieve for a loved one or dear friend who left too soon. Time might make things a bit easier but time does not fill that empty place in our hearts. It is an open wound that does not heal....it never will.

Is It Too Much To Ask?

Observations from the winter steelhead season just past.

I have been fishing in the Pacific northwest for almost 40 years. I have seen or experienced nearly everything a steelhead fisherman can experience. In all those years I have never seen or experienced the behavior I have seen from my fellow anglers as I have witnessed this winter. I am disheartened and disgusted!
Is it too much to expect simple, common courtesy? Sometimes this stuff happens and it is just part of the game but almost every trip? Rude, drunk river guides fishing through the water I am fishing? Garbage like I have never seen before? Over crowding and boorish behavior by other fly fishermen? This is just plain crazy.
I've come to the point in my fishing life to where all I want from a fishing trip is peace and enjoyment! Is that too much to ask?
I have caught a lot of fish over the years. Big ones and small ones. Some on a fly others with bait. I enjoy catching fish like any angler would but I have arrived at the point to where catching a fish just isn't the whole ball game for me. Fishing in peace where I can swing my fly in water undisturbed by morons and assholes is enough to make my day a success. I can't even seem to get that on storied waters like the Deschutes! If this post sounds like I am whining then absolutely I am. I also realize that most who read this are not the type of slobs I am talking about either but I also know that some indeed are who I am talking about....some are even fly fishermen!
I have to wonder why it has become like this. Is it hatchery programs that are not well thought out like maybe the steelhead broodstock program? Yes without a doubt that contributes but you know guys each of us is responsible for our own behavior and even though we can look at hatchery programs as contributing to this mess we should know that we can still be good stewards out on the river.
So for you guys that are good stewards then I tip my fisherman's cap to you and thank you for your good stewardship of the resource.
To those of you that are only interested in putting up big numbers while spoiling the enjoyment that comes from fishing for others then shame on you. I assume you know what doing the right thing means so dammit DO IT!

Hatchery Junkies

I was researching the history of salmon hatcheries here in the Pacific northwest and you might be surprised that history goes back a long ways.
They go as far back as the late 1800's as a matter of fact. Here is a brief history of the beginnings of Columbia River salmon hatcheries by author and fisheries scientist Jim Lichatowich.
In 1875, Spencer Baird, the United States Fish Commissioner, advised the commercial fishing industry that artificial propagation of salmon would be so successful it would eliminate the need to regulate harvest. Regulation was a controversial issue at the time, as the salmon runs were being fished heavily for economic gain but without effective regulation, and some scientists already were concerned that overfishing might prove catastrophic to the runs. In response to a request from the Oregon Legislature, Baird outlined the problems he saw for the salmon industry: 1) excessive fishing; 2) dams; and 3) altered habitat. Baird believed each of these problems could be resolved through artificial propagation of fish. That is, sufficient numbers of fish could be produced in hatcheries to satisfy the demand of commercial fishers, hatcheries could be located on tributaries of the Columbia where the fish would not have to pass dams on their way to the ocean as juveniles or back from the ocean as adults, and altered natural habitats would be of minor consequence because so many fish would be spawned artificially at the hatcheries.
Sounds pretty simplistic doesn't it? Remember that all of this took place before the Columbia river hydro-electric dams were built and needless to say they changed the game completely.
Lichatwich goes on to say...
In reality, there was no critical examination of the impacts of hatcheries on wild fish. The extent of success or failure simply was not known. Few questioned the opinion of the U.S. Fish Commission, even though it was hardly unbiased on the question and even though, at the time, only two hatcheries were operating on the West Coast. It did not matter. Hatcheries were political tools to assuage powerful fishing interests as much as they were fish farms. Hatcheries produced fish; fish produced commercial fishing opportunities; fishing opportunities put people to work. Hatchery fish even were planted in some rivers to win political favor from elected officials.
Fast forward to 1938 and many of the dams were being built. The dams acted as a barricade to the upstream migration of spawning adult salmon and blocked the downstream migration of ocean going salmon smolt.
The solution to this? The Mitchell Act.
Simply put the Mitchell Act was put in place by the US Congress to mitigate for the loss of those salmon caused by the dams.
In the years since the Mitchell Act came to be we became addicted to the hatchery product! Not only commercially but recreational as well. We got so used to mega returns of salmon that in truth we became, in druggie vernacular, strung out on hatchery salmon like a junkie is strung out on methamphetamine.
Sports anglers came to Oregon in the millions to experience the legendary runs of Chinook and coho salmon. Sports fishing fleets filled marinas from Coos Bay to Warrenton in search of a salmonid bonanza. Huge commercial fleets plied their trade in the ocean and into the Columbia itself.
There seemed to be no end to the salmon cornucopia and the economies of communities on the lower Columbia were driven by the returning salmon.
Of course the wild spawning Chinook and coho, along with wild steelhead got lost in the boom and little notice was given to this until it was too late.
The old cliche of "What goes up must come down" paid a visit to this party and the runs, both wild and hatchery, crashed and the salmon orgy was over. The wild salmon and steelhead runs were damaged beyond repair and no longer could state fish and wildlife agencies blitz the Columbia with hatchery smolt because of budget constraints.
Unfortunately the salmon appetite of the commercial and sports fishermen were not sated. The rancor and posturing of both groups became heated to the point of near violence because neither wanted to give ground and do what is right for the resource.
These "Salmon Wars" continue to this very day with a lot of finger pointing and political maneuvering. Wild salmon and their habitat are still kicked to the curb in the name of fair allocation.
I've distanced myself from these "wars" because I see it as little more than a couple of selfish brothers fighting for the last tater tot on the plate. A few so called conservation groups have come on the scene saying they are going to save the wild salmon...bullshit! Sure they want to save the salmon from the greedy gill nets only so they can have more for themselves.I would invite any of you to attend public meetings where the subject of catch allocations are the topic. You will see greed and base human nature like you probably never seen before.
The hatchery system will be with us for as long as there is a salmon left to fight over. Minimal protections for wild salmon and steelhead will continue to be comprised and watered down for the "best interest of the sport"
"Angling opportunities" is a clever euphemism used by Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife for maximum exploitation of a dwindling supply of fish. This winter saw some decent returns of hatchery steelhead into some of the coastal rivers of this state but it also saw a orgy of greed, ignorance and repulsive behavior by so call sports fishermen.
When will it all come crashing down in an Armageddon of user groups? Maybe next year, maybe not in my lifetime but you can bet it will come crashing down. It may not be one cataclysmic crash but a death by a thousand tiny cuts.

Have You Evolved As an Angler?

Okay first of all I am not talking about skills or technique here. It has nothing to do with how well you can tie a fly or how well you can row a drift boat. What I am talking about is your outlook and attitude as you ply those angling skills.
Does it anger you to see litter along the stream bank? You know like bait containers, monofilament, beer cans etc. Or are you just focused on what you came to do and do not bother to pick any of it up.
When you catch a wild steelhead does it bug to have to release it because "it has too many fins" or is it a joy for to release that wild fish steelhead so it can spawn?
Are you involved with any organization that advocates the conservation of our wild cold water fisheries or do you belong to a fishing club that supports thoughtless hatchery practices that harm wild fish?
My questions might seem some what rhetorical but think about it for a minute. The evolution of an angler might take years. It certainly did for me. I am still evolving in my angling life and I hope to never stop learning and growing in my appreciation of what we have. I would think that someone who has spent their most of their adult lives speaking out for wild salmonids and clean water would never be satisfied with where he or she is in their growth as an angler/sportsman/conservationist.
There is always something to learn and the minute we are complacent and self satisfied then our the world will pass us by and we have become an obstacle to progress.
When a person denies the science that tells us that hatchery salmon and steelhead do harm to wild salmonid populations then he is little more than a knuckle dragging neanderthal. Their perspective on what is important does not go very far beyond their own greed and ignorance. They don't care about anything but themselves and what the outdoors will give them.
I want to keep growing in my commitment to wild fish and I know there is a ton of things I don't understand...yet.
So journey well my angling friends. Take it all in while giving something back along the way. Get involved because you can make a difference even in a small way.

Native Fish Society Speaks Out For Wild Salmonids

By Bill Bakke

The Native Fish Society has an important mission that others believe in and support. We are making progress. I have worked in native fish conservation for more than 40 years and have spent time with legislators in my constant effort to strengthen and fund conservation. Senator Jan Wyers responded in the 1980s by funding five native fish conservation positions at ODFW. It was though that program that key people were hired and important work for Oregon’s wild salmonids was accomplished. In 2012 the legislature is again concerned about the future of wild salmonids as more and more populations are protected under the ESA and others are lost forever. The NFS Hatchery Accountability Project clearly states that there needs to be better accountability for biological and cost impacts of hatchery programs. There have been two hearings this session and in the next session our goal is to hold the agency accountable.

At one time it was possible to expect administrative solutions to problems affecting native fish management by government agencies, but that has changed, so legal action is necessary to force the government to follow its own rules and comply with state and federal law. This is why we have put ODFW on notice to clean-up its Sandy Hatchery program so that wild winter steelhead, coho, fall chinook and spring chinook are protected and a path is opened up for their recovery under the ESA. A 76% stray rate of hatchery spring chinook into the wild chinook spawning grounds is not acceptable under state or federal rules and it needs to be corrected.

We are in Stevenson Washington tonight defending the management program for recovery of wild summer steelhead in Wind River. This run has been protected as a wild steelhead management river since 1982, but there is local pressure for a stock and kill fishery. We are involved in these public meetings to make sure that the Wind River wild summer steelhead continue to rebuild and eventually recover.

The NFS is working for wild salmon, steelhead and trout throughout the Northwest through direct action and by supporting the good work of other groups. Our volunteer river stewards are working in their communities for healthy watersheds and native fish. It is a big job and for a small organization and it can seem wild and wooly, but we are undaunted in our efforts and we have a record of success when we take time to look in the rear-view mirror. 

I am committed to the future of the Native Fish Society because it is an effective advocate for native wild fish in the Northwest. We base our advocacy on the best available science and there is a lot of it being published that has direct bearing on our conservation work. We have a history of success but we could do better with more funding and more folks to push our advocacy program forward. The point is that as we grow our funding base we do so without sacrificing our mission for native wild fish. The organization and its leadership have made that commitment and with the support of our members and friends we can be successful in solving complex and difficult problems for wild native fish in the region.

As Winter Wanes

So here I sit with just a few weeks left of winter. And what kind of winter has it been?  Well it has certainly been a better winter than last year that is for sure!
All of that aside though, I am ready for spring. All the signs are there too! Baseball's spring training has begun. I can uncover my outside faucets because the chance of freezing them to the point of bursting is minimal. I am also beginning my six month long sneeze fest which means there is pollen floating around in the air that irritates my sinuses.
I dusted off my old drift fishing gear and put a few hatchery steelhead in the freezer this winter as well. I complain about the hatchery influence so much on this blog that I figure instead of sitting around all winter waiting for the rivers to drop into some sort of reasonable fly fishing levels I could kill a few of these hatchery fish.
I have been lazy too. You may have noticed that I have re posted a few earlier entries from this blog. Kind of a "Best of the Quiet Pool" sort of thing. Well it's really not laziness, it's more like not having much to write about. God knows I have covered the "Winter, ODFW and Hatcheries all Suck" topics ad nauseum on this blog. I also write about the Deschutes river a lot as well. I think the Deschutes is a subject that I could never run out of things to write about it and my love for it.
I mean could you ever find too many words to describe something beautiful like Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or the feeling you get the first time you see your new born child? Beauty and wonder are beyond my weak human abilities to do justice to in words.
So as the first trip over the Cascades to central Oregon in pursuit of rainbow trout nears I anticipate the reunion with my "Mother River"
Like a child anticipates Christmas or as someone who has not seen a loved one for a long time anticipates
It is just that isn't it? You have to look at a river as more than just a place to catch fish. I love the trip over to the Deschutes almost as much as the actual fishing. I love to look for things I have never seen before as I travel east. Maybe it will be a species of bird that I have never seen before or spotting a bald eagle, which is always something I would never get tired of. As I have evolved as an angler and as a person I try to be satisfied with what is around me at the moment. It doesn't always work out that way but I will say the beauty of the outdoors never disappoints me...it's is the human factor that disappoints and spoils the moment.
I don't care what Punxsutawney Phil might or might not have seen on February 2nd! I am looking forward to the renewal of spring. Winter be damned and as British poet Anne Bradstreet wrote.
“If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome.”

The Hatchery Influence

 

The following is an opinion by my good friend John Bracke of the Nestucca river. John has long been an important advocate for wild salmon and steelhead for many years along the north coast of Oregon.


The use of hatchery fish is nothing new. What has happened is the removal of the hatchery product from stretches of river that had been planted. While the removal of the hatchery product is good for the wild fish it is also bad for the wild fish. Many of today's remaining wild populations are being influenced with a percentage of successful hatchery spawn. With the removal of the hatchery product the obvious then comes out. A percentage of the wild run is made up of hatchery strays that have spawned successfully.
This fact is obvious on all of Oregon's hatchery polluted fisheries dealing with ocean migrating runs. The agency in charge realizing that the hatchery product is somewhat successful in the wild then removes the bad hatchery product and then begins to use the wild return for their hatchery use. This is justifiable because the fish is of wild origin and if they due spawn in the wild the agency feels the impacts are not as bad. Not quite so fast the agency has been put on notice not to exceed a 10% stray rate into the wild spawning population. Their new reason for failing to meet these guidelines are that they do not have the money nor the willingness too look into this problem. They are going to take this issue up during the new native fish policy.
Not so fast, a large part of the problem with the new broodstock fiasco is the run timing. We now have the hatchery return coinciding with the wild return in run timing and in spawning. The pressure is then twice as bad. Before you had a group just fishing on wild fish with little impact. Move a hatchery product on top of this run and you have a mess.
With the removal of the hatchery run you will see a decline in the wild population. Within 4-5 years depending on the hatchery influence in the drainage the true population of the wild return will become obvious.
How due we solve this problem. The hatchery fish are not cheap with the cost of the product being what it is let's put the expense of the product on those who would prefer to purse such prey and make it mandatory that they kill every hatchery fish they catch and not play catch and release on such fish. This form of fishing has had a much more negative affect on the wild population and creates even more problems.
Then we have those of us who would prefer to fish on wild runs instead of hatchery crap. We also need to pay for our fishery as well. A user fee for each drainage would benefit not only the drainage but also the surrounding area. What it boils down to is who is willing to pay for the expense associated with a wild fishery or a hatchery fishery. At this point in time the only people willing are anyone?
Then the idea of shifting towards a consumptive wild fishery on steelhead and everything else. Sorry folks, the ocean migrating runs that this state has left are not healthy enough for a total take on the wild population. Yes, they will open up certain fisheries to boost tag sales and optimism that the run is better than it really is.
What the problem really revolves around is public involvement. If the agency only hears from the kill crowd who do you think gets what they want. Those of us involved in the health and welfare of the wild fish can only due so much. The fisheries are in trouble due to the lack of involvement, from the new angler. When I say new I mean within the last 2 decades.
Those that have dropped out thanks for getting out of the way, you only created more problems than they were worth.

To All You Fishing Superstars Out There

When I started this blog over 5 years ago my intention was to write down my thoughts and opinions based on my life of fly fishing. With the exception of a few politically charged offerings I've kept pretty much to what I set out to do.
If you've come here to get instructions or advice then I can tell you that there are many out there who know a hell of a lot more than me. I try to be a good steward of the rivers and the fish that live in the rivers that I love. I do not want notoriety beyond doing what I can for wild salmonids. I know many people who feel the same as I do.
What I have seen the last few years is the emergence of the fishing "superstar". They are in both the fly fishing community and the conventional gear crowds. The internet is their playground and you cannot escape their plethora of hero pictures. These young and some times even middle age fishing studs have a little success and all of the sudden they know it all and are even writing articles in national magazines. They are giving "sage" advice on hooking big numbers of fish worldwide.
Most of these stars are in their 20's  or 30's and have had very little time to experience shaving their damn face much less learning all the ins and outs of fishing.
I find these instant experts funny in a pathetic sort of way. They rig up their indicators and bobbers and brag of big numbers and fishing in exotic locales. They have their images plastered all over the internet with holding wild steelhead out of the water out. Their "posse" of wannabes are there to sing their praises and tell them " You da man!"
They even have a series of DVDs out their to exhibit their exploits to those that can only dream of fishing in such far away places. One youngsters is 27 years old but he writes a regular column for a nationally known fishing magazine based here in the Pacific Northwest....give me a friggin' break!
You can call me a cynic and maybe I am but these rock stars are hurting our sport and most of the time that actions and attitudes are the only impression the general public gets of fishing. This "in your face look at me" brashness wears pretty thin to most everyone but their peers,camp followers and ass kissers. Another thing they do to hurt the sport is the way they come across to those who might be interested in taking up fishing. They care little about conservation or anything that might limit them from putting up the big numbers and plastering their face all over the internet.
You won't see them at an important public hearings when the well being of wild trout and salmon is being discussed. They are too busy having pictures holding wild trout or steelhead out of the water. They are too busy treating salmon and steelhead fishing like some sort of angling extreme sport to be play along with snow boarding and skateboarding.
Oh they will exploit the resource and talk about what a darn shame it is that all the wild salmonids are disappearing but to get them to take action? They love the bloated hatchery runs in small coastal rivers and you can see them holding court with the morons who don't know any better.
So young man, I say young because most of you are younger than my kids, I will acknowledge that you are a better fisherman than me. You catch more and bigger fish than me but I am not impressed and in fact I am worried that after the old guys are gone the traditions of fishing in the Pacific Northwest and more importantly conservation are going to be left in your hands
I doubt you are up to the task and so all the things that are wonderful about casting a dry fly to a rising trout or drift fishing for winter steelhead will be gone and that scares the hell out of me.
So young dude if you have time to actually do something more than being a steelhead fishing superstar and popping zits in the mirror then maybe you can help us old guys out as we try to save a few wild trout. You don't respect the river, the resource or anything but your own over-inflated ego!
If you think I am writing about you then yes I more than likely am.....deal; with it!

Haunted by Water

I recently re-read "A River Runs Through It" by Norman Maclean. This is a wonderful story of two brother growing up and flyfishing in Montana during the early 1900's with their Presbyterian minister father. It is also a deep and tragic telling of the loss of a loved one and the helplessness the author felt when he could not save his brother.
Maclean paints a picture in words of the waters and trout of the Montana of his youth and I could easily fill an entire entry with the lofty prose he treats the reader to.
I think the one thing that attracts me to this story is the deep understanding that Maclean had with his surroundings and how the great Montana trout rivers spoke to him in the timeless manner that I can try to relate to my own angling life.
Maclean does not rely on a bunch flowery adjectives to tell his story like so many erstwhile writers do today, he puts into words the very sadness he never got over at the loss of someone he could not help.
Don't we all have someone in our lives like Norman Maclean's brother Paul. Someone so gifted but so fatally flawed that you know that your precarious grip on them and your love for them is not enough. Paul Maclean was a shooting star that shone bright but so quickly and prematurely extinguished.
Maclean wrote " All good things come by grace and grace comes by art, and art does not come easy" So I would ask simply what does that say to you? I know that Maclean was writing about the art of casting a fly but I think it says more...at least to me it does.
To me it says simply that the things we work hard for are things we cannot take for granted. We strive to make the best casts or tie the most perfect fly but how about the journey?
Is fly fishing a means to an end? I suppose it is for me because it is only through the archaic but beautiful "four count movement" that perfect peace in an angling life can be achieved or at least striven for.
I had a friend who wanted to proudly display a picture of a steelhead he had recently caught. He acted like I would be angry that he got a fish and I had not....was that what he really meant? I was happy for him! I was happy for him in a way that can only come through the satisfaction of knowing I need not compete anymore.

Please Kill Hatchery Fish

When I say kill hatchery fish I mean just that! If you buy an angling license you are helping to pay for the rearing of hatchery fish. That cost has an astronomical price per fish so since you and I are paying for them we should utilize them by killing them and therefore removing them from the river.
Sound wasteful? Not at all! You are just utilizing a resource that was put in place for you to harvest fish. You say you just like to catch and release all fish and cannot bring yourself to kill any. Well that is fine and good for wild fish as they should almost always be released to propagate the species so good on you for being a good steward of the wild resource. On the same line of thinking, you are also being a good steward of the resource when you remove hatchery salmon, trout and steelhead from rivers with a wild fish population.Remember that hatchery salmon, trout and steelhead should never ever be allowed to co-mingle with wild salmon,trout and steelhead...got that? The effect on the wild population is devastating!
So here is my advice. Want to eat some fish? Kill your limit of hatchery fish! Did you catch a trophy sized hatchery fish? Congratulations! Kill it and then have it mounted or better yet take measurements and pictures for a replica mount then kill the hatchery fish to eat or give away or use as fertilizer for your wife's rose bed. The important thing is to harvest that hatchery fish.
How about if the fish is unfit for consumption from spawning? I kill it, tag it and release it back into the river for nutrients. I do that but you might not want to do it because it is considered wasting a game fish so do not do anything illegal! If you've caught your daily limit of hatchery fish then go home and come back the next day and kill your hatchery fish limit again.
You may get the warm fuzzies by letting a hatchery fish go and thinking you've done the fish a big favor, well you may have done that fish a big favor but you sure as hell didn't do the resource any favors! That fish could stray into wild salmonid spawning grounds and spawn with a wild fish thus diluting the wild salomnid genes. You've done a huge disservice to the wild fish by releasing a hatchery fish that you should have kept.
Remember this much. That hatchery fish is yours to utilize in whatever way you see fit. Give it away or plant it in your flower bed or use for crab bait or put it on the BBQ grill and have uncle Vern over for dinner.The important thing is to KILL ALL HATCHERY SALMON, TROUT AND STEELHEAD!!!!

"Rasslin" with Salmon

In this corner, weighing in at 25 to 30 lbs. fresh from the Pacific ocean...the champion of anadromous salmonids...Oncorhynchus tshawytscha AKA King Salmon!!!!!
and in this corner, weighing in at TOO DAMN MUCH,the stumbling angler....AKA Dumb Ass!!!!!
As Michael Buffer would say "LET'S GET READY TO RUMBLE"
Yes that is what it seemed like as I struggled to help my friend land his very first fall Chinook salmon on an Oregon coastal river a few weeks ago.
The river was running pretty high when John hooked this brute on what amounted to steelhead tackle. John fought the strong flow as much as the fish and with the river being so high there was little if any room on the bank for him beach this big fish.
I coached him along as he played give and take with the fish ever fearful that his light tackle would fail him.
After what seemed like an hour (more like 10 minutes) the fish was ready to come in. With no bank to slide the salmon up on, it was up to me to land John's fish so he could stay on his girlfriend's good side and play hunter/gatherer bringing home some fresh meat. All of John's future fishing trips rested on my shoulders as I positioned my self to "pin" this fish. Well what happened next would have been an excellent submission to the funniest home videos show but thank God no one was filming. I pounced on this salmon and he was not quite ready to surrender! With his broad tail he scooped up a big finful of sand and mud and threw it right into my face.Pissed off now, I grabbed this slimy bastard with both hands as he and I "rassled" in the shallow water with me taking on water from the thrashing about. Since John did not have a salmon club to beat the fish senseless I directed him to take a thick piece of shoreline drift wood and bonk the big fighter. Fortunately that worked and his prize was harvested.
I was very happy for John as I brushed sand and grit off of my face and out of my mouth. He had gotten his first fall Chinook and peace would reign at his home.
But wait!!! A few minutes later I hooked a very acrobatic winter steelhead that actually did kick my ass! As I was thinking about how I would be cooking this 10 lb. or so hatchery fish he jumped one more time, spitting the gear which smacked me right in the mouth......it was a knock out and all I went home with was a fat lip and a gritty taste in my mouth.

Many thanks go to "Al Baker" for encouraging me to capture this epic moment of angling technique for all of posterity....Merry Christmas to all

When Winter Did Not Matter

Remember that old Janis Ian song "In the Winter" ?
One of the lines is  "and in the winter extra blankets for the cold, fix the heater getting old"  That song is playing in my head these days.
Although it's not quite winter yet here in Oregon it certainly feels like it outside. Night time temperatures are down in the higher 20's and the day time temperature doesn't get much above freezing. So as I wait out this cold and rainless weather my lack of piscatorial activity give me a lot of time to reflect on my angling life.
When I was in my 20's this weather was little more than a minor inconvenience. Yes I had to deal with iced up guides on my rod and maybe wear an extra layer of clothing but so what? Dude this was winter steelhead season we are talking about and there's is no way a little cold was going to stop me.
Back in the day before breathable waders we wore whatever cheap chest high waders were on sale. There was almost no flexibility in those old Red Ball rubber shrouds but I was about 75 pounds lighter and 35 years younger and, like I said before, it just didn't matter. Cleated soles for traction? How about felt soles? Nope! It was rubber to rock and you hoped for the best. I lost a brand new fly rod on the Washougal river one year after falling in the river one winter and my friend that was with me that day in 1976 still reminds of it every time he sees me. Those old rubber chest highs fill with water pretty fast let me tell you. It's because of that "spill" that I am a super cautious wader today.I will even pass up to the promising looking water because I am not comfortable with the wade I needed to make to get to that water.
Back then I never even used a rain coat, most of the time, while winter steelheading and also got drenched, most of the time, coming home looking like I went swimming instead of fishing. It was fun though and I have a wealth of memories from the days when winter didn't matter.
Today...well it's a whole different story. These old bones need some warmth and although I have a rain coat at the ready I still rather not deal with any rainfall that is little more than a mist.
The desire to get up at 4:30 AM with a chance of marginal water conditions (no internet back then remember) is long gone because I finally realized that in the winter the steelhead are just as apt to bite at 10am as they are at 6am.
Since it's no longer necessary to be the first one on the river in order to get the choice spot I get a few hours more sleep these days.
I feel I enjoy my fishing more these days without the need to be hard core about it.
Although I take a more laid back approach to my fishing I still feel nostalgic for those old days of trips to the Grays river in Washington or the walk up to the pipeline hole on the Sandy to fish along side of my 50 closest friends...no exaggeration either!
It was fun laughing in winter's face back then but in the end winter won as it always will inevitably.
The drive back over the coastal range is always enjoyable for me. I have seen more elk this fall and winter than in prior years. The smell of rotting salmon carcasses greet my nose along the river bank and while it is not exactly Chanel No.5 it is a good sign that these noble fish reached their spawning grounds and accomplished their purpose, insuring the future of the species.
I do not enjoy the winter season like I once did but I try to make the best of it remembering that there can be no spring without winter and in my 57 plus years spring has never failed to arrive.

Steelhead

They can bring you to your knees after and encounter, leaving you a slobbering, jelly-legged, quivering mess! These sea going rainbow trout will bring a seemingly sane person out into near blizzard conditions in pursuit of them.
To the non-angler this behavior surely must seem like masochism or insanity at the very least. In my years of pursuing these fish I've hiked 5 miles up the Deschutes canyon in blazing heat August after summer steelhead. I have fished in weather so cold that the water not only froze in the guides of my rod but also froze my reel thus rendering it useless. It's hard to explain to someone who has never caught a steelhead why those of us who have will do almost anything to hook one.

Steelhead trout (oncorhynchus mykiss) are the fish of legend from the coastal rivers of British Columbia, Oregon, Washington and California to the mighty Columbia and it's tributaries like the Deschutes, Sandy, Snake and it's tributary the Clearwater. Steelhead have also been introduced into the Great Lakes of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota to name a few. They are the premier coldwater game fish in North America and are second only to Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) as the greatest freshwater game fish worldwide but some would argue that steelhead fight better.
Steelhead trout have captured the imagination of generations of anglers. Celebrities like Jack Hemingway and Zane Grey sought them on the banks of the famous North Umpqua and Rogue rivers in Oregon. The rivers of British Columbia like the Kispiox, Skeena, Bulkley, Thompson and Dean are truly the rivers of dreams because of their large strain of wild steelhead.
So why do I love them so much? They are the truly fish of MY dreams! Their wild abandon when hooked is unforgettable and gut wrenching in it's fierceness. I can remember many of the steelhead I have hooked in the 38 years of fishing for them and I think it would be safe to assume that other steelhead anglers can do the same. They connect us to those fabled steelhead anglers of long ago like Roderick Haig-Brown and Mike Kennedy and the modern contemporaries like Bill McMillan and Lani Waller.Many celebrity steelheaders were made famous by the fish and not vice versa!
Wild steelhead numbers are in an alarming decline throughout the northwest and it is truly enough to bring hardened steelhead anglers to tears. We will never again see them in large numbers and to those that really care about this fish it breaks our hearts.
I remember my first steelhead from Oregon's Sandy river from back in 1974 just like it was yesterday. Each steelhead I have caught over the years was a unique encounter that will be with me through the rest of my days and honestly what other outdoor pursuit can do that?
There is no such thing as a casual encounter with a steelhead and even in their inferior hatchery version they still battle better than anything swimming in fresh water in this part of the world.

I have an affection for cutthroat trout not unlike a doting father would have for his fragile newborn. With steelhead it's more like a torrid love affair! You obsess over these fish like nothing else. Dec Hogan calls it "A Passion for Steelhead" and that explains it best.
People might wonder why some of us take our passion to a visceral level when our beloved steelhead are threatened by those that have no soul. We mourn the death of any wild steelhead because of the love we have for them.
So if you have not had the chance to fish for one of these magnificent trout in their wild form then do so and at all haste because we are nearing a day when they might be just a fond memory of a loved one lost.

The Dangers of Steelhead Broodstock Programs

Wilson River angler delivering wild winter steelhead to holding pond for use in Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife's hatchery broodstock program.



I've been mulling this entry over for a few days now, wanting to express how I really feel about the exploitation of wild steelhead through the broodstock programs.I had fully intended to do one of my emotional rants because it goes without saying I despise this program.I cringe every time I read where someone supports the broodstock program based on false information or because greedy professional guides on ifish.net says it's a good way to restore depleted wild populations. I've even alienated a few friends and phony so called conservation organizations like the Association  of  orthwest Steelheaders because of my opposition to broodstock programs.
I don't care! The wild steelhead are too important to worry about sparing feeling and making enemies. So that is all old news and why be redundant ranting about something I've ranted about many times on this blog. I've decided that I will let the experts tell you all about the harm this program does and the misinformation that is being put out there by ODFW, Northwest Steelheaders and those professional guides.

Here is what Kathryn Kostow, formerly of ODFW, says about broodstock programs
Juvenile phenotypes and fitness as indicated by survival were compared for naturally produced steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss), a new local hatchery stock, and an old non local hatchery stock on the Hood River, Oregon, U.S.A. Although the new hatchery stock and the naturally produced fish came from the
same parent gene pool, they differed significantly at every phenotype measured except saltwater age. The characteristics of the new hatchery stock were similar to those of the old hatchery stock. Most of the phenotypic differences were probably environmentally caused. Although such character changes would not be inherited, they may influence the relative fitness of the hatchery and natural fish when they are in the same environment, as selection responds to phenotypic distributions. A difference in fitness between the new hatchery stock and naturally produced fish was indicated by significant survival differences.
Acclimation of the new hatchery stock in a “seminatural” pond before release was associated with a further decrease in relative smolt-to-adult survival with little increase in phenotypic similarity between the natural and hatchery fish. These results suggest that modified selection begins immediately in the first generation of a new hatchery stock and may provide a mechanism for genetic change.
Kostow notes in her study that ‘new hatchery fish’ derived from the wild population and called ‘native brood stock’ had poor survival.” She said, “Average smolt to adult survival for the naturally produced
winter and summer steelhead were five to six times higher than for the new hatchery stock."Large phenotypic responses by fish from the same parent gene pool to the differences between the captive and natural environments are consistent with the process of domestication.”
“This study demonstrates large average phenotype and survival differences between hatchery-produced and naturally produced fish from the same parent gene pool. These results indicate that a different
selection regime was affecting each of the groups. The processes indicated by these results can be expected to lead to eventual genetic divergence between the new hatchery stock and its wild source population, thus limiting the usefulness of the stock for conservation purposes to only the first few
generations.”

Bill McMillan of Wild Fish Conservancy had this to say about this broodstock program
It doesn't much matter where they (broodstock programs) have occurred geographically, the basics are the same. It is virtually the same hatchery technology that we began with 130 years ago on the West Coast -- take wild fish from their stream of origin (where they are typically needed on the spawning grounds, not removed from them), strip wild females of their eggs, squirt sperm on them from males, rear the eggs in hatchery trays, and rear the juveniles in hatchery confinement prior to release. British Columbia has used native brood steelhead programs for over 30 years beginning with the Big Qualicum Hatchery. Most of the steelhead rivers on the east side of Vancouver Island have virtually collapsed in the past 10-12 years with closures of many of those rivers necessitated to preserve the remaining wild steelhead. I am a personal friend of the now retired hatchery manager who began the Vedder River Hatchery on the lower Fraser system. It had early success, and has seen significant failures in its objectives since. He is now an outspoken pessimist regarding native brood programs for steelhead who recently spoke out against such a program now being suggested by some for the Thompson River.

Bill Bakke of Native Fish Society has been an advocate for our cold water fisheries for over 40 years. He has written many times about broodstock programs and their impact of wild salmon and steelhead.
The fish management agencies and the NMFS have sold the native broodstock hatchery as a recovery tool for wild salmon and steelhead before they have been fully tested to determine whether they work. The few on-going research projects are not promising, showing that the native broodstock hatchery fish are not equal to wild fish in survival and reproductive success. These hatchery fish diverge from the wild fish gene pool they were derived from in phenotypic traits in the first generation. The native broodstock hatchery changes the fish so that they have greater survival fitness in the hatchery than in streams. This change is due to both selective pressures in the hatchery and to relaxing selective pressures the fish would encounter in streams (Reisenbichler 1977; Goodman 2005). This domestication selection in the hatchery can be reduced but it cannot be eliminated, so the hatchery fish will always be different from wild fish in traits important for survival ( Reisenbichler et al. 2004 ). The only result that can come from integrating wild and hatchery fish in hatchery programs is a homogenized population that does not do well in the hatchery or in streams (Goodman 2005). The fish managers have coined a term for these homogenized creatures, they call them “natural” salmon and steelhead, and they have the institutional commitment to transform the region’s wild salmonids into mongrels.

There are others that have written about these broodstock programs and I would encourage you to investigate further by going to Bill Bakke's blog .
Remember one thing though as you do. You will not get a truthful analysis of broodstock programs from people still working for ODFW. They are not allowed to tell you the true facts because it may jeopardize their jobs with the agency. Remember also that professional guides, the people that the broodstock program benefits the most, are going to paint a rosy picture of wild steelhead populations and that they are just borrowing the wild eggs and milt. Again do not believe it! These guides make money on this exploitation of wild steelhead and that too is a fact.
So you can take the word of experts in their fields of study or some loud mouth wannabe on an internet fishing forum.
Also you could ask some locals from the Tillamook area what they think of the broodstock boondoggle and almost to a person they dislike it intensely.
That speaks volumes to me.

A Most Sacred Place

On our 2009 vacation to Hawaii I was fortunate enough to be able to visit the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor on Oahu.
As I looked down into the rusting gun turret of this battleship I could not help thinking of the more than 1000 Sailors and Marines entombed in the ship.



What would have these brave men accomplished in their life if they had not died on that December morning 70 years ago? Could one of them found a cure for cancer or maybe one of them might have been elected president. Perhaps their offsprings would have done great things and made the world a better place.



I'm sure this has all been pondered before over the years.
To go to the Arizona memorial has been something that I have wanted to do all of my life and to actually go there was a surreal experience.
The diesel oil from the wrecked battleship still seeps to the surface.



I knew it would be an emotional time for me and it indeed was.
To all who read this and have a sense of history you owe it to yourself to visit this most sacred place.

A River in Winter

Highway 6 ribbons through the dark Pacific Northwest rain forest on this late fall day but in reality it is winter despite what the calendar says. It is something that all of us that call this part of the country home know all too well. The alders and maples have long since forfeited their summer garb, and in the low light of a winter sun, look stark against the gray sky.
Recent rains have swollen the river to a busy flow that is mostly the constant in wintertime. No longer do the leaves swirl in the dark tannin colored pools as now the river turns an almost slate color as if to define the coldness of it's water and winter itself.
The summer and fall river of just a few short weeks ago is now foreboding as if to warn of the dangers in it's water. The wildlife that make their living along shoreline go about their business as gulls wheel over head worrying about dead and decaying salmon that are just out of their hungry reach.
Man might be able to channel, dam and divert the river but if given the chance the river will always reclaim what it lost due to man's interference. The river in winter will reluctantly submit seemingly waiting for the right opportunity to rebel.
I have to take this winter river seriously on these cold days. The river that I waded on a carefree summer or fall day is now intimidating in it's winter power.
The river in winter is a cold and dangerous beauty that demands respect and reluctantly gives up it bounty. I spent almost all of last winter dealing with someone who needed help but refused to take it and my fishing along with my over all well being suffered. In the darkest days of that time I could have used the river for solace and renewal and this year I will do just that.
While winter is not my favorite time of year this year I will embrace it as the journey we need to get through to reach the promise of spring. It is much like our own lives.
I liken the river in winter as more of a time of cleansing and a refreshing of the stagnation of summer. It's a necessary thing that occurs but it is not always pleasant much like my own experiences.