Here in California, we typically have some of the highest gas prices in the Union. But our pal Big Fred Contaoi was recently passing through Arizona and sent in this pic.
All he wrote in the message’s subject line was: “OUCH!” Ouch, indeed!
125 Pounds of Paddlefish: A New Oklahoma Record
Aaron Stone with his 125-pound 7-ounce OK state record paddlefish April 10 from the Arkansas River. Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation/Courtesy
Here’s Aron Stone of Pawhuska, Oklahoma with a new state record paddlefish from the Arkansas River that weighed 125 pounds, 7 ounces. An impressive beast to be sure, but I’m not totally sure how I feel about the way folks go about catching paddlefish in the areas where they live.
As plankton feeders, paddlefish won’t bite anything when they run upstream to spawn, so snagging with treble hooks is allowed. While perfectly legal, for some reason, this just sounds kinda crude and barbaric to me but then again, it’s really the same thing that happens when sockeye (red) salmon run. They’re also plankton feeders and really don’t bite well in freshwater, so legalized snagging is acceptable and widely-practiced. You just snag reds in the mouth with beads, yarn or Coho Flies instead of gut hooking them with trebles (I’ve done it).
I guess I really shouldn’t knock something I don’t know all that much about, but paddlefish snagging just doesn’t seem all that cool. But maybe I’ll have to give it a shot someday…just so I can comment more intelligently about it in the future. Maybe there are plenty of ’em and the populations can handle the snagging. Perhaps I’m way off base here (wouldn’t be the first time!) and these are just the ignorant thoughts of one West Coaster…
What do y’all think?
Mikey Does it Again: A new Lake Tahoe record Brown Trout!
Marvin Child with his record brown!
Mike Nielsen of Tahoe Topliners is a very dangerous man…if you’re a brown trout, that is. This morning, he guided client Marvin Child to a new Lake Tahoe record brown trout. The fish weighed 15 pounds, 15 ounces and beats the previous mark of 15 pounds, 2 ounces, which was a fish that Nielsen guided a client to in 2008, which beat the previous record fish that…yep, you guessed it he guided yet another client to. Like I said, he’s a bad, bad man!
The latest record catch (which measured 36 inches), sucked down an F11 silver and black Rapala doused in Pautzke’s Liquid Krill.
Morons & Water don’t mix: Is it time for a boating license?
The now famous Bayliner crash in the Cowlitz: Notice the crunched front end...and you should see the props!
How is it that we make kids wait until they’re nearly adults to get a drivers license but we let any moron who can afford a boat drive one? Just doesn’t make sense…especially when you add water to the equation.
A few days back, I had to tow some guy and his two kids (probably around 4 years old) back to the ramp after he launched a 12-foot leaky aluminum boat into the river, which was raging 3 times higher than normal, then set off downriver with nothing more than a 35-pound thrust electric trolling motor. Shockingly, he was having a rough time getting back to the ramp when we came by! That kind of stuff makes me crazy (and don’t get me started about the 5 dead steelhead yearlings on the bottom of the boat!).
Then you had the genius who launched his Bayliner Trophy with twin Mercs into Washington State’s Cowlitz River (jet boats only, please!). Apparently, they went around the corner at famous Blue Creek, almost instantly ripped the props off and crashed into the wall down there since they had no power at that point. Fortunately, nobody was hurt (see the whole story at Gamefishin.com), but it’s stuff like this that really makes me think that there should be some sort of boating license required…and to get it, you have to pass an exam. I know, I know…that wouldn’t keep the idiots off the water, but it couldn’t hurt!
Tom McClintock: Advocate of Salmon Destruction
There'd be no salmon if McClintock gets his way
Just on the heels of the positive news that California’s salmon fisheries seem to be on the rebound, comes this: U.S. Congressman Tom McClintock (R), of California’s 4th District, has apparently declared war on salmon.
On April 5th and 11th McClintock held hearings in Washington, DC and Fresno vowing to destroy the government protections for salmon so that more Delta water can be pumped to junior water rights holders in the San Joaquin Valley. In orchestrating his water plan he said, “The facts we gather from this hearing will be instrumental as we begin the process to rescind government policies at the root of the San Joaquin Valley’s misery.”
McClintock proposes to remove the National Marine Fisheries Service salmon protections that restrict Delta water exports.
It’s time to fight back. Every fisherman in McClintock’s district (from Citrus Heights to the Nevada and Oregon borders) should be outraged and should write him a letter. To see a suggested letter you can send to McClintock go to: Water4Fish
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