Incredible Irony...

Remember this?

August 4th, 2014 the Mount Polley Mine had quite the disaster on their hands

Over 10 million cubic meters of contaminated mining water and over 4.5 million cubic meter of slurry ran out of the earthen tailing pond, into Hazeltine Creek, to Polley Lake and eventually into Quesnel Lake

Environmental Disaster of epic proportions.

What the long lasting impacts are, nobody really knows.  The creeks and lakes effected will likely be monitored for years to gage what is happening.    In 2013, the mining company documented their estimates of what the tailing ponds contained.   Hundreds and hundreds of tons of nasty nasty stuff, directly into one what was described as one of the deepest, cleanest lakes in the world.  

Did we mention that Quesnel Lake is important spawning habitat for a good portion of the Fraser River Sockeye run?

And what's now ironic?

The mine is now the sponsor of an upcoming fishing derby on Quesnel Lake

Weirdly,  zero fines or charges were levied agains the mine because of the breach.

It's like rain on your wedding day, it's a free ride when you've already paid....

Searching for Needles in a Gigantic Haystack

Dam counts have finally registered enough fish to make the question "is it too early" to "maybe" to "why not"

Truth be told, I had found a these rare needles in the haystack twice.  A steelhead in July, almost 400 miles inland on the tip of the impending run is a rare encounter that you can never depend on.  They are rockets that specialize in showing you your backing, quickly.

The earliness of my first trip gave me the river to myself which gives you two emotions  Elation because you are by yourself on one of the most famous steelhead rivers in the west, self doubt because why are you wasting your time being there so early.

That battle raged most of the day as I made cast after cast into a river that was in perfect early season shape.  I am sure that the flies passed over a few fish, but nothing special enough happened to incite the grab.

That time is coming, quickly.  If it could hurry up, that would be most appreciated.

6116-4 Redington Chromer Review

Small water, tight casting, big angry fish

Just the spot to take the Redington Chromer 6116-4 Switch for a spin.

My April trip to Prince of Wales in Southeast Alaska required a change of pace from what I am usually doing, which are more the big Western rivers with wide open casting.  Back in 2015, I tested the 8136 on the Clearwater and Snake and that rod matches my normal scene to a T.

POW is not that, at all.

Typically, I'm not a fan of switch rods, as they usually leave me feeling a lot to be desired on both sides of single hand and spey casting.

This rod pleasantly surprised me.  Paired with a 375 RIO Skagit Max, it turned over big sink tips and big bugs in tight perimeters to buckets that required quick and accurate casts.

The break in period that I normally experience with a new spey set up was slightly longer than usual because I am not used to spey casting with shorter rods.   That being said, when I found the sweet spot, all went according to plan

The light and crisp feel of the rod really feels like it would also excel in throwing a dryline (especially dries!) on more intimate steelhead rivers in the like the Methow and the Grande Ronde.

Regardless, the rod delivers performance well beyond it's $399 price point.

Find it at your local fly shop and take it for a spin.

Swing away!

Setting Out Without Plans...

There's a general idea.   An inkling if you will.

As much as I try to organize,  I'm always looking for what I cant find in the pile of materials.  That in itself sends you down the rabbit hole even farther putting new hides and feathers in front of you, chainging the bug away from what you had in mind in the beginning.

Somehow it all morphs in dead animal alchemy, worthy of a swing or two.

Why Are You Tagging #KEEPEMWET ?

A quick search on Instagram and there's over 65,000 images with the KEEPEMWET hashtag

The overwhelming majority get it.   The point of Keep Em Wet is to encourage the angling public with better fish handling practices, lessening our overall impact on the resources if a release is in the cards

The three main principles of the initiative are well represented in most of the pictures, but there are a substantial amount that seem to be using for a popularity contest

Some fish are meant to be kept and consumed.   A quick hero shot out of the water isnt always out of the question.  But why are they using the tag beyond the attempt at gaining more likes or followers?

Weak Sauce. 

Way out of the water.  Up on the bank.  On the rocks.  Dead fish.  Fingers in gills

Completely counter to the reason #keepemwet exists.

So what to do?  Dont turn it into a shame show.  Educate, be kind.    For the very reason you see these pictures are edited to remove faces and names because that's not the point

The point comes back to what the tag is all about.  Have a great time, treat the quarry with respect and when you can, #keepemwet.

FFC Fundraiser

This Tuesday, pick up some amazing artwork with 100% of the proceeds going to help children in need in impoverished situations.

Renowned Seattle artist Casey Underwood is stepping up by donating his work to help the Fly Fishing Collaborative in their effort to build self sustaining talapia and produce farms in third world countries that help orphanages expand their capacities

This fall, the FFC is on pace to build their 6th and 7th farm project, this time in Kenya and the funds raised on the 12th will directly impact the success of the upcoming builds.  When completed, another 100 children will be furnished with food and additional care.

The artwork is unbelievable, the cause is just.

You know you have a wall in your house that needs some decor.....

Rep Your Water Performance Sun Shirts

Rep Your Water's summer lineup of performance tee's are out and pretty damn killer if you ask me.

9 new varieties ready to roll to keep you roasting like a marshmallow on the face of the sun.

As always, RYW donates a portion of sales to 10 great conservation organizations.

They put their money where it needs to be.  Support these guys.

He Really Wanted It...

Well, when you're hungry and you're a smallmouth bass, and a mouse goes in front of your face....

I suppose it looks delicious.

Nom nom nom.