My Dog & Me

It's late December. I should be thinking about winter steelhead more than I am. Instead I am thinking about my dog.

Yep, my dog. A mix-breed mutt somewhere between Australian Shepherd and Border Collie. He's skittish at best, often misunderstood, and always a caution around young kids. His hair is stringy in places and smooth as silk in others. He runs fast. Real fast. Like 'I got diarrhea and need to find a potty' fast. He fetches well, but doesn't always take a command the way we envisioned him to. He ignores other dogs and follows me everywhere. He leaps at me when it's time for a walk and he never pees in the house. Mostly he's a great companion.

Saturday night found the wife and I taking the kids to the movies to see Marley & Me. I had no idea what this flick was about, I only knew it had a PG rating and Jennifer Aniston starring. Good enough, let's roll! It started out cute enough, a story about a boy and his dog. Soon it got to the relationship between the characters, but always returned to the the dog Marley and how he was a constant throughout their lives they could both relate special memories to. Marley is a fixture in their home, through moves across country, kids growing up, a stabbing next door, etc, and all the way the dog has a definitive relationship with each character. While the story is a bit mushy at times and somewhat convenient, it made me examine our dog (Chance) and how special he has become to our family. He's a constant for us, a special companion to each of us in our own way, and the one personality in our home that never judges, seems to be happy all the time, and for the most part is the lowest maintenance of all. I could stand to learn a lot from this dog. I could stand to be more joyful, less maintenance heavy, and be a better companion to all the others in the house. I am sure my wife will agree with that.

Peculiarly, I left the cinema with - get this - a tear in my eye. Grown men do cry, at least this one does, especially when it comes to a beloved hound. I won't give up the story, but let's just say that it swayed my thoughts from the river to Rover. I figured most sporting types out there could relate. Perhaps not with seeing Marley & Me, but at least relate to the special kinship we share with our canines.

I am going fishing this weekend. And I am taking the dog...

Fish Projections Icy At Best

We are all hunkered down right now, waiting out the ice and snow accumulation that is keeping us off the roads. On Friday I was hopeful the weather would be manageable and I could pursue some fish on the local haunt. It was not to be. I am at home with the family (equally enjoyable most days!) throwing snowballs at the dog.

A parallel storyline is playing out in SW Washington. The most recent fish projection for the spring runs on the Cowlitz, Lewis, & Kalama falls well short of our hopes. Every year I have hope that the counts will surpass the previous year, and seemingly every year we are delivered coal in our stocking. Now this is not to say that projections meet actual, or the science is always wrong, etc. It is only the observation that we look to science to give us a concrete, definitive answer that in no way can be definitive or concrete. We will anxiously await this declaration of uncertainty and then either a. complain about fisheries science and global climate change, or b. revel in a 2 fish day that wasn't supposed to happen. Or, the reality of these reports is that they can destroy our expectations if they force a closure of the fishery.

Here's the damage report:

http://www.columbian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081217/SPORTS

The conclusion here is that rarely do results meet expectations. Being snowed in kept me from fishing this weekend, but a report on fishery health can either heighten, or exterminate, any expectation.





http://www.columbian.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20081217/SPORTS

Trout Wars in California

I'll get plenty of crap for admitting this, but I am a transplant from the bay area who just completed his 8th year here. I tend to go back to trusty, reliable sources from the BA on occasion to read about the old haunt and what is going on. The following link is to an article in the SF Chronicle by Tom Stienstra, a well-respected journalist and naturalist from the BA. While I might not agree with everything this man says, he is a wise person and of sound intellect, and most interstingly, he is a practicing sportsman. Read the following article and decide for yourself if something seems wrong in this decision. Most of the lakes in question are man made and a host of far more aggressive introduced species (bass, bluegill, etc.) are resident there as well. The unfortunate play here is that DFG in CA cannot afford to litigate this battle. Pretty soon they'll be penniless and completely ineffective at managing special interests like this from running the 'outdoors' according to their plan and theirs alone. What is startling here (or not) is that the directive from this organization is keenly aware of the DFG financial position.

Groups like this do plenty of good work. Groups like this also tend to take your taxpayer money to court rather than allowing it to work within itself and find reasonable, accountable initiatives. If DFG could use this money on actually improving and restoring habitat, rather than paying for a legal mouthpiece, we all might come to a compromise and be better off. I am rarely against an organization for attempting to better a situation, however, a targeted campaign in this manner does less for their credibility than it does for their integrity.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/12/11/SPUJ14K8B0.DTL

Contact Noah Greenwald at:

503.484.7495, ngreenwald@biologicaldiversity.org

Rain. Please.

A little rain goes a long way. Here in SW Washington I live near a small river that struggles to maintain a flow over 250 cfs this time of year, making the fishing opportunities few but the desire greater. I guess in some ways this is a good thing as it keeps the supply down but the demand great. Definitely a positive for fishing. Not so for the impatient.

My good friend Derek Fergus, accomplished and consummate professional, often states that fishing is a matter of interception, not so much a matter just fishing the right seam or the right method. He's taught me that waiting for the time that fish are holding, or fish are going to move, is more critical than time on the water. Now this is all basic information most fisher people know, but actually practicing this principle is not always as easy as it seems. We all get a bit antsy to get back on the river and practice our craft to perfection. In fact, I spend a lot of days walking the river during off times for fishing to identify holding areas, or other structure I might not have recognized during higher flows or tougher conditions. And during these times I fool myself into thinking maybe there's a holdover I could wrangle out - Easy big guy, easy - Patience...

The other day I heard a few folks complaining about the impending rain coming, and I smiled knowing that the time for interception would be soon. Water levels will rise and fall more frequently, offering passage to returning fish and increasing the windows of opportunity we have for our passion. I impatiently wait...

For river level information, check this site. We feel it is the most comprehensive we've found:

http://www.wkcc.org/levels/