A champagne-induced dare in Fiji led angler and jeweler Mac McBurney to begin designing diamond-inlaid fishing flies and lures. Now his bling-bait is sold to "the fisherman who has everything." "Here's a true story: last year while on a television shoot, angler Andy Lightbody of Rocky Mountain Television lost four flies in the Taylor River in Colorado; four flies worth $13,000. 'People came out with scuba gear to look for them, and that water was coooool,' Lightbody said. 'Two people found two of them and asked if I wanted them back,' McBurney said. 'I told them, 'I lost them, you found them, they're yours.' That's a fishing story." You can find your own personal bling on a string at www.macdaddysfishinglures.com. Thom Gabrukiewicz of the Scripps Howard News Service.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:38 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Blogger Nick Mills describes an essential truth -- that salmon and trout rarely live in places that are not beautiful -- in his correspondence from Maine's Upper Dam. "Darkness arrives late in mid-June, but it eventually does, and when we could no longer see our lines or trust our footing in the black water we took the short walk to camp, shucked our boots and waders, lit the gas lamps and sat down to cold beer and hot beans and felt like kings." On MaineToday.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ivan Doig doesn't write fly fishing novels, but he is a favorite of fly fishers who read, perhaps because of his ability to write with such great skill about Montana and its unique personality. "The Whistling Season does what Doig does best: evoke the past and create a landscape and characters worth caring about. Set on the Montana prairie, it's a story any good teacher, or anyone who appreciates learning, should love. It's about a one-room school and the several kinds of education found in and out of the classroom." Bob Minzesheimer reviews The Whistling Season (Harcourt, June 2006, 352 pages), in USA Today.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"After days of sweating yourself dizzy you finally come down to 15 pounds, then 10. Finally you say, 'Lord, just let me land a couple of eight pounders and I’ll never ask for anything more the rest of my life.'" Gray's Sporting Journal editor James R. Babb delivers a predictably hilarious story about competing with tournament bass fishermen on a distant Mexican lake.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

More notable for me because of the hometown recipe included -- Sullivan’s Island Shrimp Bog -- A. D. Livingston's take on copyeditors and the damage they do must be read by all current and aspiring fly fishing authors. "But all other editors and copyeditors are hereby put on notice: Since I’m advancing in years and may have mad cow disease, I no longer care whether I publish or not. Really. So, copyeditors be prepared to defend your marks, and be warned that I don’t hunt with a 28-gauge." In Gray's Sporting Journal.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Stream flows in Colorado are reaching that matching level where trout are accustomed to taking surface insects. Those who've worn the cork off their grips casting streamers all spring are sighing with relief. "The same tale is being told in rivers all across the state. At last, light-colored bugs are hatching, complex hatches make for intriguing puzzles, trout are slurping at the surface and fly lines are graceful and easy again. " Ed Dentry in the Rocky Mountain News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The last of the big three tarpon fly fishing tournaments in the Florida Keys ended Friday. The top three finishers:

1. Angler Tim Mahaffey fishing with guide Rick Murphy. They caught 5 weight fish -- including a 155-pounder -- and released 11 total.
2. Angler Charles Duncan with guide Rob Fordyce.
3. Angler Andy Mill with guide Tim Hoover.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Three members of the Idaho state fish hatchery staff have discovered a surprising level of interest in their pressed paintings of sockeye, chinook and steelhead (they've also done sturgeon and cutthroat trout). Their Web site, FourSockeye.com, includes a gallery of their efforts, which combine acrylics, watercolors and ink pen. "All the fish but the cutthroat have one thing in common: They are all listed as either endangered or threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Young and his compatriots intend to paint all listed Idaho fish, with only the bull trout remaining to be done. The fish are not killed solely for the art, and each fish becomes a set of 350 limited-edition prints that sell for between $70 and $100." Nate Poppino on Idaho's MagicValley.com.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Jeff Currier spent some time fly fishing for Nile perch in Egypt's Lake Nasser this spring and Wally Zimmer of the Casper, Wyoming Star-Tribune reports on the trip. "Currier compared the experience to fly-fishing smallmouth bass, but 'smallies that get up to infinite size. Nobody else in your way, and every time you threw to a rock you didn't know what was going to come out of there.'"

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I fished with Captain Bob Branham in Biscayne Bay this weekend. Bob has been guiding on the flats east and south of Miami, Florida for almost 30 years. Something funny always happens when guides get together to fish -- this time courtesy of MidCurrent reader Chris Miller -- and Saturday was no exception. By 7:45 AM my finger was bleeding (sliced unhooking a jack), my nose was bleeding (hooked on a bad cast), and I was wet from the waist down (retrieving fly from sharp coral).

But the funnies didn't really begin until we all got comfortable and the stories started flying. The best of the day was Bob's tale about tournament fishing, which we both agree is one of the more painful obligations of being a guide, if only because it tends to bring out the worst in people. As Bob told it, one year he was stuck fishing a particularly loutish angler -- demanding, whiney, and virtually blind. At 3:00 every day, the fishing ended, and for the purpose of ensuring that he stayed within the rules, he carried a wind-up alarm clock on board. Every day of the tournament, the sound of the alarm brought the enormous, visceral relief that only abused guides seem to truly know. So when the tournament was finally over, Bob decided to leave the alarm set to go off at 3:00 PM, and when he wasn't fishing he enjoyed the shiver of excitement and pleasure the ringing bell sent up his spine. The tournament had been in June. It wasn't until February that the sweet sound of the bell ceased to make the hair on the back of his neck stand up.

Oh yeah, I almost forgot: the fishing Saturday was really good.

You can reach Capt. Bob Branham at 954-370-1999.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"The lodges that draw fishermen from around the country are temples to the sport. The walls of historic old Weatherby's, once the home of the tannery superintendent, and Leen's Lodge are lined with mounted trophy fish and photographs of celebrated anglers, including the late Boston Red Sox great Ted Williams, once a familiar figure in town." Associated Press writer Jerry Harkavy offers a nice perspective on the history of guiding and angling traditions in of one Maine's premier fisheries. In the Boston Globe.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Certain social predicaments seem to arise naturally among anglers. Consider, for example, the passing of a bit of good advice from one angler to another -- it's an act of generosity that is often quickly and conveniently forgotten once the hot tip is put into play.

This week South African trout preserve owner and author Wolf Avni shares the hilarious perspective of a guide caught in a grating exchange between erstwhile angling partners, a pompous classicist and an unrefined, but repentant, "coarse" fisherman. It's a nice change of literary pace excerpted from Avni's eccentric and entertaining book A Mean-Mouthed Hook-Jawed Bad-News Son-of-a-Fish.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:28 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beth Pearson profiles Alistair Stewart, who for a couple of years now has been sharing his perspectives on the River Kelvin, which runs through the heart of Glasgow, Scotland, in his blog Urban Fly Fishing on the Kelvin. Among our favorite quotes from Stewart: "My theory is that if you look like an absolute idiot when you go fishing, people are going to leave you alone. I walk everywhere - I don't drive - so I get funny looks waiting for the bus in Partick in my waders." If you're not familiar with Stewart's blog, check it out. The June 22 entry contains links to several of the author's favorite entries. From the U.K.'s The Herald.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Al Raychard describes some of the larger -- and more famous -- trout waters in Maine, New Hamphire and Vermont in this extensive overview from New England Game & Fish magazine. If you're looking for brook trout, Maine is the place to go and waters like those of the Rapid River are a great place to start: "Despite its relatively short 5.9-mile run from Middle Dam on the west shore of Lower Richardson Lake to Umbagog Lake on the border with New Hampshire, the Rapid River offers some of the finest native brook trout angling in the Northeast."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last Friday, West Yellowstone Fly Shop owner Bob Jacklin was demonstrating nymphing techniques for future viewers of a fly casting video when he hooked and landed a 10-pound brown trout on the Madison River. "'I was doing a segment on the correct technique for nymph fishing with an indicator,' Jacklin said. 'I had a March Brown and a No. 14 Jacklin's green rock worm caddis on. I cast right up into a small riffle. My indicator twitched, and I struck what felt like a really big fish.'" Of course Jacklin went fishless for the rest of the day except for two whitefish. Mark Henckel in the Billings Gazette. (Thanks to reader Drew Smith for this link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Styling itself as "Exposing and Combating Liberal Media Bias," Newsbusters.com offers some tasty quotes from Howell Raines's recent book The One That Got Away as further proof of conspiracy. "'Fox Television showed us the future -- outright lies and paranoid opinions packaged as news under the oversight of Rupert [Murdoch], a flagrant pirate, and Roger Ailes, an unprincipled Nixon thug who had assumed a journalistic disguise in much the same way that the intergalactic insect in Men in Black shrugged into the borrowed skin of a hapless hillbilly.'"

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:15 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beneath a quick review of Manstealing for Fat Girls, StyleWeekly.com's Valley Haggard mentions two new fly fishing books out from the University Press of Virginia. "James Barilla’s West With the Rise: Fly-fishing Across America (University Press of Virginia, $27.95) and Fishing the Greenbrier Valley: An Angler’s Guide (University Press of Virginia, $12.95) by Mike W. Smith don’t have to swim too far upstream to find their way into your tackle box."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:24 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Though this article is doesn't talk fly fishing specifically, it's a good history lesson about salmon stocking in Lake Superior and the distribution of Atlantic salmon in the north-central U.S. "'Salmon' is derived from an ancient word meaning 'the leaper' and may hark back to Sanskrit, one of the earliest-known Indo-European languages. Delicatessens from Bogota to Berlin sell Atlantic salmon under the name 'lox,' an ancient Hebrew word that also means 'leaper.'" Eric Sharp in the Detroit Free Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"If you’re a serious fisherman, ask three questions when you’re rating a city: If you could switch jobs, would you consider moving there, to increase your fishing options? Would you plan a visit there, specifically to fish?" Field & Stream lists 20 choices for urban settings where the fishing can be fantastic, including these top five cities: Miami, San Diego, Minneapolis-St. Paul, Seattle, and, surprisingly, New Orleans. Good basic maps and suggestions for angling for various species in each location. I suppose we're glad they didn't list Bozeman, Montana, or even Livingston.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

A Michigan judge granted summary judgement for the Sierra Club and Anglers of the AuSable in their lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service and the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to stop drilling in old-growth forest by Savoy Energy LP. "Though the Forest Service determined in 2005 the project would have no significant impact, [Judge] Binder in his report cited myriad concerns, including changes to the area's natural beauty and doubling of the noise level in the area. He said the federal government in its assessments only paid 'lip service' to vital issues." Paul Egan in the Detroit News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Unless an appeals court rules differently, C. Lynn Moses of Driggs, Wyoming will spend 18 months in jail for violating the Clean Water Act. "It was a landmark criminal conviction in Idaho under the 1972 federal law. Moses was indicted by a grand jury in March 2005, accused of knowingly discharging sand, gravel and other fill material into Teton Creek without a permit." Christopher Smith of The Associated Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It had to happen sooner or later: thieves have begun regularly targeting vehicles at boat launch sites and recreation areas around the country, most notably in Tennessee and Oregon. Some anglers are getting fed up about wondering what is happening to their rigs while they are fishing and have started to form patrols at trouble spots. "'We want to do something about tweakers (meth addicts) breaking into our cars,' said Steve Crook, a Eugene fly-fisherman and RAT member. 'One out of five people I talk to has been affected by this.'" Rebecca Nolan in the Oregon Register-Guard.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Opposition from environmentalists and difficulty with permitting have prevented use of Rotenone several times in the past, but state and federal officials will try once again to use chemicals to help recreate an environment for the endangered Paiute trout near Lake Tahoe this summer. "Rotenone along with electric shocking would be used to clear non-native and hybridized trout from a 9-mile stretch of Silver King Creek from Llewellyn Falls to Silver King Canyon, as well as from portions of three small tributaries. The creek in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness would then be restocked with genetically pure Paiute cutthroats." Jeff Delong in the Reno Gazette-Journal.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:17 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Macauley Lord is head instructor at L.L. Bean's fly casting schools and certifies casting instructors for the Federation of Fly Fishers. We long ago realized that becoming a better fly caster required not taking bad advice as much as it meant learning from the best teachers, and in Lord's case his peers consider him almost nonpareil. Now on MidCurrent you can read Part I of Lord's excellent guide to the techniques that will help you step beyond the average in "Beyond Competence."

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 5:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

1,200 nautical miles of the northwest Hawaiian Islands will be protected from commercial and recreational fishing within five years, thanks to U.S. president Bush granting National Monument status to the area this week. "Many presidents have long tried to protect this wild stretch of the Pacific. A century ago, Theodore Roosevelt named most of the islands a wildlife refuge. Six years ago, Bill Clinton designated the waters around the islands as a coral reef reserve." Elizabeth Shogren on NPR.org.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Prisoners, prostitutes, bikers, sailors ... and fly fishers? I remember the first time I saw someone sporting a fly fishing tattoo. It was on their shoulder, and I noticed it only because we were fishing a very still, hot day on the Turneffe Atoll and a shirt change was required. I was mildly aghast, I think, not because of the tattoo, but because it was a dry fly -- some sort of mayfly -- and we were fishing for bonefish, for gosh sakes. Naomi Schaefer Riley writes about the ever-more-popular practice in The Wall Street Journal (subscription required).

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Despite losing his eye on a fly-fishing outing with this father, Tanner Vavra says his dad, now hitting coach for the Minnesota Twins, is the one who got the raw deal. Though a story with tragic overtones and lessons aplenty, this piece by Jason Williams in the St. Paul Pioneer Press shows how fathering can go both ways.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm not sure why it's so rare to see an accomplished fly fishing instructor write a brief guide to getting started in fly fishing. Maybe there's the desire to keep something sacred a secret, or save it for the next book. Or maybe it just requires Haiku-like precision in writing. Anyway, this article by Ken Allen does as good a job as any I have read in explaining how to get started in fly fishing in less than a thousand words. "Multiply this story by dozens more and you begin to see why taking the time to identify bugs scientifically helps catch fish. It shows the fly rodder how to fish a nymph without actually scuba-diving to figure out how to duplicate the submerged nymph's behavior." On MaineToday.com.

Share this piece with a friend or two.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Whether it's Mexico's Yucatan, the Bahamas, the Seychelles, Christmas Island or Los Roques, traveling anglers enjoy an embarrassment of riches compared to what was available just 40 years ago. As a class of sight-castable and catchable gamefish, bonefish have helped define destination fishing. "The proliferation of specialized lodges and the availability of excellent equipment combined with increased focus on conservation and the expansion of regular jet service put the bonefish belt within reach of thousands of travelers armed with fly rods, sunscreens, and polarized glasses." Joe Doggett in The Houston Chronicle.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sometimes crimes affect not only people, but the economy and the long-term viability of a species as well. Thieves managed to steal 200 adult spring chinook salmon from the Leavenworth National Fish Hatchery on Washington state's Icicle River last week, forcing the closure of that fishery. "'That was basically all the spring chinook we had return up to this point,' said Travis Collier, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife acting hatchery manager in Leavenworth. 'The early returning portion of the fish are the larger 4- and 5-year olds, and that is roughly 20 percent of the production goal that is now missing.'" The good news is that hatchery managers predict they will still meet their yearly goal of producing 1.625-milllion smolts. Mark Yuasa in The Seattle Times.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

This appropriately timed piece about the fly fishing traditions of a father and father-in-law includes not just an eloquent tribute and and a striking example of sporting art, but a great recipe for wild trout. "'The fish were flipped expertly, at just the right moment when the skin was crispy brown and the meat was tender, by leathery hands scarred with cuts and thickened with years of exposure to sun and rain, my father's hands that knew how to tie a fly and cast it out on the water with the grace of a dragonfly alighting on a lily pad.'" Greg Atkinson in The Seattle Times.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"'That one rises up off the bottom and opens its mouth just under the surface, so it's taking emerging caddis,' [Dennis McKinney] said. Then he proved it with a small beadhead emerger pattern. He declared the emergence of the insects 'a classic microcaddis hatch.'" Ed Dentry and friend hunt the elusive salmonfly hatch but find success on the Rio Grande comes with tiny caddis flies. In the Rocky Mountain News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:23 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Noting that New York City's argument that it shouldn't have to comply with the Clean Water Act because it doesn't apply to drinking water is simply silly, a panel of judges upheld a 2001 ruling that penalizes the city for muddying Esopus Creek in the Catskills. "The basic problem is the 80-year-old single intake at the base of the Schoharie Reservoir, which could be fixed with a multilevel intake similar to all the other reservoirs in the city water supply, said Karl Coplan, plaintiffs' attorney. The Esopus is a beautiful, clear running trout stream that turns 'chocolate brown' where the Shandaken Tunnel reaches it, he said." From the Associated Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

While wife Chris Evert cruised the Greek Isles with the elder Bushes, Andy Mill added the Hawley Invitational Tarpon Tournament to his list of impressive fly fishing tournament wins. It was the first time Mill has one the Hawley -- which, by the way, was the first big tarpon fly tournament to promote release fishing -- even though he has won both the Gold Cup and Golden Fly 5 times each. As has happened in the past, Mill and guide Paul Tejera staged a come-from-behind win on the last day. "Mill said he was out of practice using 12-pound tippet and wasn't 'sticking them hard enough' when the Megalops atlanticus took the fly. 'They all just flopped off the hook,' he said." John Geiger on Keynoter.com. (Thanks to reader David Dalu for this link.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Sisters on the Fly is in the news again, this time with due attention paid to their fancy trailer-work. "While the 515-member national organization was established in 1996 with an emphasis on linking women interested in fly-fishing, the Sisters are best known for their vintage camp trailers, caravans of which have been featured on several television programs." Deirdre Stoelzle Graves in the Caspar, Wyoming Star-Tribune.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"It's that Shaquille O'Neal of mayflies, that Andre the Giant of Ephemerids, that behemoth of bugs, the Hexagenia limbata, which is starting to make its annual appearance on streams." Eric Sharp notes that the recent cool weather will prove a temporary interruption to the annual explosion of big bugs in Michigan. In the Detroit Free Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At almost any age, fly fishers tend to think of themselves as indestructible. And we are, mostly. At least until multiple events conspire to make us feel like idiots. One of those events that causes anglers to go down the path of no return most often is falling into cold water, and this excellent piece on cold water survivability in Yachting World gives anecdotal and scientific info that will make you shiver. (Originally posted on Dan Blanton's bulletin board.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

"If you have the time to drive an hour west of Creede on Forest Road 520, you might find rainbow trout spawning again in the free-flowing upper Rio Grande, in meadows upstream from the reservoir." Ed Dentry offers tips on finding rainbow and cutthroat trout this season in the drainage surrounding the upper Rio Grande in Colorado. In the Rocky Mountain News.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're like many of us, your first thought when you realize that trout are not taking insects on the surface is to tie on a nymph and a strike indicator. But there's an alternative, one which can provide infinitely more interest than watching for subtle subsurface takes. It's wet fly fishing, and though it's probably been around since the beginning of fly fishing history only recently has its practice gotten renewed attention.

In "Beyond the Swing," John Likakis talks about why he likes swinging wet flies and the simple adjustments to style that make all the difference. As a follow-up to Phil Monahan's "Think Outside the Swing," it's a round-trip ticket to methods of getting big fish -- who won't always rise to dries -- to change their minds and clobber a fly.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

If you're heading to Yellowstone National Park this summer, you may want to check out the Fly Fish Yellowstone Weblog, which has been posting some very nice updates on fishing and conditions on park streams. Despite a fair number of widgets that cause the site to load slowly, the info is on the mark and some of the most current you can find. (Thanks to reader John Devault for being first to make us aware of this site.)

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As we noted in yesterday's news, Mark Harrup, father of a four-month-old-son and an employee of The Fly Shop in San Jose, California, died last Wednesday in an accident while fishing. Friends of the family have responded by setting up a fund to help aid his wife and son. Donations may be sent to:

The Harrup Family Fund
1740 University Way
San Jose, CA 95126
Make checks payable to Lisa Harrup

More information about the fund can be obtained from John Kunde at 408-690-9137 or john.kunde@fusonet.com.

There is also a memorial service today in Los Altos, California. See Tom Malech's post on Dan Blanton's board for more info.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:19 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Since April, the Great Smoky Mountains National Park has allowed anglers to keep brook trout, a mark of progress in efforts to create a brook trout "redoubt" in the U.S. southeast, where logging and acid rain have contributed to huge brookie population losses. "After 30 years, the Smokies have restored 11 stream segments — totaling 17.2 miles — to pure brook trout populations. Brookies also now coexist with nonnative trout in another 69 miles of streams." Duncan Mansfield of the Associated Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We hesitated to report this story when we first learned of it last week, hoping that there might some unexpected good news. But it now seems certain that Mark Harrup, an employee of the San Jose Fly Shop, drowned last Wednesday after the boat he was fishing in capsized in California's San Luis Reservoir. Apparently the bilge pump in the fifteen-foot craft he and fishing partner Jeff Kettelson were using failed, and their boat filled with water before they knew they were in danger. Tom Malech, owner of the San Jose Fly Shop, reported most of the details on Dan Blanton's board on Thursday.

Having witnessed other boating accidents that occurred because of failed bilge pumps, we can only emphasize the importance of being sure your bilge pump is operational before leaving shore. And putting on high-quality personal floatation devices before one gets in to trouble almost goes without saying. Not only do many unexpected conditions prevent anglers from reaching safety devices, there are many circumstances that cannot be foreseen. For example, having personally tried to retrieve Type I PFD's from beneath a capsized boat, I can tell you that it is almost impossible to do.

Please be safe.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Though no one is sure of the eventual impact of mud snail infestations, environmentalists are rightly concerned about their impact on rare and endangered species. That's why scientists are alarmed about their recent appearance in isolated streams in southern California. "Environmental groups learned last week that the creatures were found during winter bug surveys of Malibu Creek, Las Virgenes Creek, Lindero Canyon Creek and Medea Creek. Malibu Creek is home to two endangered species: the southern steelhead trout and the red-legged frog, which eat insects that could be displaced by the snails." From the Associated Press.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

An increasing number of juvenile Yellowstone cutthroat have been counted in Yellowstone Lake recently -- a possible sign that increased snowpack and aggressive gill-netting of predatory lake trout are improving the chances for a new generation of spawning fish. "Earlier this year, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service denied a petition to protect the cutthroat under the Endangered Species Act. The agency said that despite shrinking habitat and threats to the fish, there wasn't enough evidence to indicate the fish will disappear in the next 20 to 30 years in the West." Mike Stark in the Billings (Montana) Gazette.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:13 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

The state of Pennsylvania is suing the Spring Ridge Club, which owns both sides of a 1.3-mile stretch of the Little Juniata River, to enforce public access to the river in that section. The owner of the club says the river is not navigable, which means it is not public water, according to state law, but the state is arguing the opposite.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 7:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

After years of hand-wringing over the worsening state of Virginia's Shenandoah River, locals seem no closer to solving problems with the river's degradation than they were before massive fish kills in 2004 and 2005. "'Here in Rockingham County, every bit of land that can be farmed is being farmed, and what can't is being developed. We've got 500 dairy farms and 500 poultry farms in this county alone -- that's millions of tons of waste washing into the watershed, plus the nutrients from sewage treatment plants.'" Angus Phillips in The Washington Post.

Posted by Marshall Cutchin at 6:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)