Spreading the Good Word (Angler’s Tonic….)

While perusing the Mountain River Journal to catch up with some of the most recent with Ms. Vokey, I noticed a post re Angler’s Tonic so I checked it out and it has that look. You know, the contemporary edgy look, but maybe even more. By contrast to the standard blog/website it is of that genre that excites the eyes and delivers even more in content. Beyond that it goes to the heart, mind and soul of this passion…or at least they intend to. Hope so.

“Fly fishing is about frustration, self discovery and, sometimes, exaltation. It isn’t about buying a $600 pair of waders, a vented cotton shirt, plus an $800 rod, and announcing that you’ve arrived. Angler’s Tonic is a lot about us telling each other, at the appropriate time, of course, “Deal with it.”

Angler’s Tonic was created for people from all walks of life; dig into the editorial content here and you’ll learn a wealth of information that can be applied directly on the stream. But don’t expect a bunch of reinvented articles pertaining to basic knots, bow-and-arrow casts, and life-changing fish landed under beautiful sunsets. Angler’s Tonic, above all else, is a community of like-minded people who know that life is short and each day ought to be secured by the throat and lived to its fullest. Angler’s Tonic is about a mindset, to take the good with the bad, to learn from that beat down, and to sit back and grasp those moments when life, even for the briefest moments, comes into complete and focused view…”

Oregon Timber Harvest (low demands + proposed increased harvest?)

Although not updated in the last month…the information here is worth review for Oregon Fly Fishers. Site care of Buster. By reviewing the maps, I could see the clearcuts since 1968 and their seeming vastness. I would like to see the reforestation maps and yields from those efforts and the boardfeet replacement equations. Does that matter? They did all that cutting (and exporting…another BS issue) so has the replanting been successful or is it even close to re-harvesting. The site suggests it is lagging (let me guess…climate change), and if it is lagging, for whatever reason, then no harvests should commence. If economic indicators provide no demand then no harvests should commence. And, if it doesn’t…for the communities that require food on the table…perhaps a quicker infusion of stimulus monies for those green jobs are in order for Tillamook County. Perhaps Governor Ted or our vaunted eco saavy Senators and Rep’s could for once be heard from. I know that is all highly improbable. While many are upset over Cheney appearing at a function, perhaps they should aggressively ask…what the hell has the State of Oregon government been doing for how many years under Kulongoski, Kitzhaber, Roberts, Goldschmidt and the pious Hooley, Blumenauer, DeFazio, AuCoin, Wu, Merkeley and Wyden. Quite a strike force of earnest green blood. So what gives? They are aware and they defer. Why? They have had the numbers enough times to bring a halt and haven’t.

I wonder if the flooding we see almost yearly in Tillamook County will become even more epic than the last few years? The put ‘n take philosophy for fish and timber is so pervasive in Oregon that the hard choices that were and are on the table are not palatable to the current or past leaders of this fair state.

GPS Tracking Device Assessment (lost, injured, overdue….will they know where you are?)

“Some readers might infer that SPOT has too many problems in its present state. On the contrary, if the user is aware of and takes into account the basic limitations of the Global Positioning System and satellite communications systems, and indeed of all electronic positioning and communications systems, SPOT can be literally a life saver, and has been already. SPOT, like all GPS-based and satellite-communications-based systems is undergoing rapid development. In my discussions with the company, they are taking their mission of making an affordable emergency location device very seriously.”

Giant Eel Possesses the Deck!!!

“The four needed to work up a plan of action, so they drank beer while considering a strategy. It was determined that Steve Jr. would distract the eel because he had drank the most alcohol and believed he was bulletproof. He opened up the sliding door down below to see what the “monster” was doing. As the door opened, the eel came up the two steps biting at anything along the way. The four brave men then ran to the wheel house like women and slammed the door shut. They never did identify which one of them screamed like a girl.”

This story raises so many thoughts from the enjoyable writing style to the 9mm in an unsteady hand. It is hindsight to add what if’s and reinforces that parts of the world offer up fishing events most of us freshwater trout/salmon chasers won’t encounter. Better their lower extremities at risk than mine. Story courtesy of Mara Henderson of Clearwater, Florida.

Catskill Fly Fishing History (Edward Van Put)

Edward Van Put

ED VAN PUT  Catskills Fly Fishing Historian

“Van Put’s prodigious research and wordy prose takes us on this voyage through time and space visiting significant ports of call and authoritative personages along the way to paint perhaps the most complete history of a region. A region devoted for almost two centuries, to the pursuit of Savalinus Frontinalis, the American Brook Trout, and its cousins the Brown Trout and, of late, Rainbow Trout. It was here in this twice blessed place that fly fishing in America began in earnest.”

“This panoptic chronology covers nearly two centuries of failure and success, tragedy and triumph in the cradle of American fly fishing. It is an essential reference for any and all who fish the Catskills….”     (More Info)