Not long ago, Tim Romano over at the Fly Talk Blog asked how you felt about downloading fishing applications to your iPhone. There are "apps" out there that give you real-time stream flow rates and tell you how to tie fishing knots. Of course, before you can download one of these programs to your smart phone, you have to actually own a smart phone. Love the idea or hate it, in due time these gadgets will likely replace the common cell phone. So when they do, you may as well take advantage of the useful fishing tools at your fingertips. Take, for example, the recently introduced Boat Ramp and Bait Shop applications.

How many times have you been fishing away from home and could really use a bait shop but aren't sure where to go? Type in the zip code and the application spits back all area tackle shops, including the odd hardware store or gas station that just happens to have a worm fridge and handful of spinners in the back. The Boat Ramp app works the same way, showing you terrain or road maps, providing marina and launch phone numbers where available, and giving you directions.

Granted, if you're traveling with your boat in tow, I'm betting you figured out where to launch before you left the house. But ramps get crowded and flooded. They wash out. I've pulled up to a ramp at 5 a.m. only to find out I couldn't launch until 8. You need to change plans on the fly. That's when I see this app coming in handy. To learn more about these apps, click here. -- JC

A buddy of mine sent me a link to the painting at left. It had me cracking up because this beautiful piece of art (painted by Roby Baer) sums up a bane of my spring trout fishing. I found it so amusing I nearly ordered a print, then decided that I've lived this scenario too many times and will again in the coming weeks, so why hang it on the wall when I can have the real thing? I bet you know the drill. You're carefully sneaking to a run or pool you know is holding trout. You can picture them gently rising. You're watching the water, not your feet when all of a sudden....HONK! HONK! HONK! HISSSS! Wings are flapping, the big male Canada goose is charging and your heart stopped so hard you need to check your underpants. You never see the nests until you're on top of them. But it gets worse.

If you're lucky, you can give the geese a wide berth and eventually get to your spot. I, however, often find that the dang things nest right where I need to be to get at my intended pool. They love river islands. They love setting up camp behind fallen trees. You hop over, nearly step on them and it's game on. I've tried to stick it out and fish regardless, but the honking and false charges ruin the serenity or they splash down in the run, spook the fish, and I move along. They win.

Canadas are a big problem in my home state of New Jersey and many other places. Obviously ruining a spot or two during a trout trip is no real concern, but the fields and local parks covered with a nice layer of green goose turds are a problem. Having a picnic, playing catch, or walking your dog through toxic waste is not fun. They also destroy crops and have no real predators out here. I can easily obtain a permit to legally destroy eggs, and every year I say I will, but I end up not thinking about it until April when I get too close to a nest and all hell breaks loose. Any good goose tales to share? I'm sure some of you have fended off a Canada or two - JC

Are fly fly fishermen the only anglers who read books?

I ask for a couple of reasons. First, when I look on the shelves of my local bookstore, most of the fishing-related books seem to be about some kind of fly fishing. There are relatively few about bass or pike, for example, and fewer still about non-fly gear. There are more non-fly anglers out there, but based on what’s for sale, they seemingly read less. Or at least buy fewer books.

Then, too, as a long-time angling author, most of the 15 or so books I’ve written, edited, or compiled over the past 30 years have been fly-fishing works. The common wisdom in the book trade has been that such books sell, and that general-fishing books do not.

It’s been at least 10 years since I’ve taken the time to write an angling book. So I’m thinking of getting back into that. I could write something about flies and fly fishing. Or I could write about lures and lure fishing. Decisions, decisions....

Then again, maybe the Internet has made books commercially obsolete. Now there’s a terrifying thought. I am a lifelong bibliophile with a house chock full of books that I found in some way interesting and so added to the shelves. An electronic collection just wouldn’t be the same.

When I first wrote a book back in 1978, I did so on a manual typewriter. In many respects it’s much easier and faster now in this desktop-computer age complete with digital photos. But as books have become easier, faster, and less expensive to produce, have they also become less valuable to readers? That’s a very disconcerting question...

Here's an interesting story from the Los Angeles Times that proves you never know who has a video camera and Youtube account, so if you're going to potentially break the law, don't do it around a huge crowd of people. There are some gaps in this tale of sketchiness, but it begins with an angler on a boat catching a monster black sea bass off Newport Beach, California, on January 3. Problem is, these are protected species. Here's where things get weird.

The article claims this was an accidental catch, which is probably true. But it's unclear why these guys decided to tow the barely-kicking bass close to the beach where an "unidentified man" swam out, grabbed the fish, and pulled it to shore. From the story:

What initially appeared to be a case of a good Samaritan rescuing a huge black sea bass in Newport Beach could now result in criminal charges against the man for allegedly failing to help the animal, authorities said...

"They thought he made a reasonable effort to return the fish unharmed to the water," department [of Fish and Game] spokesman Harry Morse said...

But a video posted on YouTube shows the man apparently pulling the fish onto the sand as a throng of people surround the animal, shouting and cheering.

Yeah, I don't see any effort to help the fish, and if you look closely, the bass is wrapped in tons of line, chain, and a grappling hook. There are strange things afoot. I would guess the swimmer had no idea the fish was protected and was just looking to impress the beach crowd. These are the same people that get gored by buffalo in Yellowstone and try to catch spawning salmon by hand during "nature day" on Alaskan Cruises even though you're not supposed to do that. Take a look at the video and let me know what you think. - JC