By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

For those of you who missed it, I wrote a conservation column in the March '08 issue of Field & Stream on the Pebble Mine project in the Bristol Bay region of Alaska. The Pebble project could reap billions in gold and copper ... but at a potentially greater price, namely the largest wild salmon fishery in the world. For more context, click to see the Red Gold Trailer by our friends at Felt Soul Media ... or the efforts of Trout Unlimited to save Bristol Bay.

Yesterday, I got a note from Scott Hed of the Sportsman's Alliance for Alaska explaining how the issue is quickly expanding beyond the Pebble site, as other mining interests ramp up development efforts in the area.

In a nutshell, this year will be critical in determining the future of mining v. fishing in Alaska, and possibly beyond. Hed explained: "If the Clean Water Initiative passes in Alaska (assuming it survives an Alaska Supreme Court review) this fall, these (mines) will all be very difficult to move forward. However, it’s now become much more than stopping Pebble Mine. We really need to rally the world of hunting and angling – individuals, conservation groups, businesses, etc."

That's where you can help. You should look into the matter, encourage your friends to do so, and weigh in, now, on what I believe to be the most pressing issue concerning fishery conservation in the world. One way to do so, is to E-mail Alaska's governor, Sarah Palin, expressing your desire that some of the last great wild fisheries on the planet be protected, at all costs. E-mail Governor Palin

Deeter

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

Sometimes, seeing is believing, and the river guide has just about seen it all.

My top 10 favorite "strange but true" guide experiences:

10. The guy who pays for his $350 guide trip with a wad of $1 bills, peeling each off and counting, one-by-one.
9. "Wow, that's a beautiful fish Mrs. Smith caught, Mr. Smith; want me to take a photo with your camera?" "No photos ... that's not Mrs. Smith."
8. "How do you get these things on again?" the guy asks as he sits on a bench in the shop (in his underwear), wading boots laced up, trying to stuff his feet down the Gore-Tex wader pant legs.
7. "I'd like to return this rod, it doesn't work," the man says, explaining his $650 refund is due because it must be a defective product (and not the fact that he has the motor skills of a three-year old) that keeps him from casting more than 14 feet.
6. The guy who complains because he cannot fit the tip of his WF5F fly line through the eye of a size #20 blue-winged olive.
5. The woman who insists on wearing stiletto heels in the drift boat, because they help her see better with a "taller" point of view (then sinks ankle-deep in muck at the pull-out).
4. The guy who proudly shows off the "killer fly" he bought at the shop yesterday (a Royal Wulff), ties it on, greases it, and then proceeds to pinch on three Water Gremlin split shots, three inches above the fly.
3. The guy who burns a permanent scar on his $2000 bamboo rod by holding it too close to his stogie as he fights a 12-inch brown.
2. The lady who excitedly unspools her entire fly line and 30 yards of backing by reeling, backwards, after a trout inhales her grasshopper fly.
1. The guide who pins his raft on a boulder in heavy current, and brushes the episode off by saying, "Let's fish here ... try that seam over there."

I know some of you folks have other winners ... share with us, please!

***UPDATE We'll give a Loomis Xperience 9-foot 5-weight rod (retail $285) to the best, believable, strange but true tale from the guide side described in the comments below. We'll pick April Fool's day.

Deeter

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

Click on the poster for a larger image.

Apparently there's a myth in the north country of Minnesota about freshwater mermaids who found their way down the St. Lawrence, up the Mississippi, and into the cool waters of northern part of the state. Each year on the summer solstice they reward anglers who've kept the lakes clean with cold refreshing beer. Sounds a little fishy to me, but hey who am I to judge great marketing? Schell's brewery and Rapala have joined forces to bring thirsty anglers LakeMaid Beer.

I highly doubt I can score a case of this stuff in Colorado, but if anybody out there can I'd be indebted forever... Personally, I would love a case of Miss Muskie, but any Lake Maid will do.

Ladies, as soon as someone out there makes a merman beer I'll be sure to post it...

Tim

By Tim Romano & Kirk Deeter

I've been hearing an awful lot of negatives lately about ATVs. Trout Unlimited is on a kick to clamp down on quad riding in environmentally sensitive areas where stream habitat may be compromised. Sounds logical to me.

But I'll call myself a hypocrite before one of you does. Truth is, one of my best fishing adventures was in Alaska ... and it never involved a float plane. We fished by quad. We stayed on established trails, but we found a vast and exciting realm sandwiched between the crowded rivers by highways and the expensive fly-out lodges. Check it out:

Quads in Alaska

Seems to me that it's a matter of assuming some responsibility and doing things right. Ride like a banshee, and people will object. Ride responsibly, and the quad is your chariot to the next river over. But I wonder what you all think about the issue. What's the real dirt on ATVs and flyfishing?

Deeter