Photo courtesy of Scott Dickerson / Design Pics/Getty Images/Design Pics RF
If you haven’t checked it out yet, you need to visit The Guardian and read its ongoing series on public lands and the threats to them. A deep dive into the public lands issue, this collaborative project with the Society of Environmental Journalists is all about examing not just the obvious challenges, but the hidden politics behind public lands management in America. From the starvation funding practices in Congress to the existential threats of transfer and sale, this series promises to open eyes and, hopefully, open federal coffers to better management of America’s most valuable treasure, the wild lands that belong to its citizens.
As an angler in the West, this is the issue I fret about the most, and not just because I love to chase wild trout in wild places, but because the threat is so real that I worry my kids won’t enjoy that same privilege. Read the series. Call your legislators. It’s an election year, after all.
Here’s what else is happening in the fly fishing world today:
- Urban anglers in D.C. can get away from the nation’s capital’s political quagmire and actually catch fish all winter long. Beats 8-hour speeches, ginormous military parades, memo-gate and hush money any day, right?
- With a lead like “Long sticks catch crappie!” who in the fly-fishing world isn’t thinking about Tenkara for these tasty panfish? Seriously, a slightly weighted Deceiver on a 13-foot Tenkara rod could make for a great day on the water.
- When noted conservationist Alex Diekmann died two years ago, his friends set out to make sure he would be remembered. In Montana, they’ve gone and named a mountain after him. It’s a fitting memorial.
- Itching for the tug of a winter steelhead? In Oregon, it’s time.
- Word today is that the bond market is making the stock market nervous. Perhaps it’s time to check in with “fly-fishing financier” Bill Michaelcheck, who draws parallels between angling the somewhat subdued nature of bonds.
And, finally, your moment of fly fishing Zen:
Who wouldn’t want to be right here, right now? Thanks Wikipedia.