“The 1974 film “Tarpon,” which was shot in Key West, Florida by UYA Films, has been a well guarded cult classic in fly-fishing’s underground. You were the envy of your circle of friends, if you “owned” a bootleg copy or a buddy let you watch his. Now fans everywhere can leap and splash like a tarpon, because UYA Films has just rleased a fully-restored DVD of “Tarpon” commercially.The first of the modern fishing films, “Tarpon” features early guides and anglers as they fly fish for tarpon in the wilderness of the Florida Keys. The film captures the essence of the sport in dramatic footage and in the appearance and commentary of popular authors Thomas McGuane, Jim Harrison and Richard Brautigan. Colorful scenes of Key West from another era—with treasure hunters, smugglers, hippies and eccentrics—are background to stunning cinematography and tarpon fishing at its finest. To top it off, Jimmy Buffet also composed original music for the film.”
-Film description from The Book Mailer

(Richard Brautigan)

The long rumored cult film “Tarpon” is getting a full US commercial DVD release. Filmed by Guy de la Valdene in 1973, it has footage of the old Keys and Keys Guides Woody Sexton, Steve Huff, and Gil Drake. Plus, the featured anglers are Richard Brautigan, Tom McGuane and Jim Harrison. The original print, which was stored in a French barn for over 30 years, has been completely restored. Order it from The Book Mailer.

Paul Barrere & Fred Tackett – Two Trains

Rush – Leave That Thing Alone

and some Hillbilly Hare

Warren Zevon- Lawyers, Guns and Money

Chuck Bukowski- Poets are dumb, fiddling assholes

Hare’s Ear Parachute – fly & photo by Ginseng Sullivan – League MVP season after season, no glitz, all lunchpail. It just works and it’s a thing of beauty. ALL HAIL!

The Hideous Jabbering Head of Izaak Walton had a dream last night.

He dreamt of a time before blogs. Before torrents of bandwidth. Before clunky web sites and lame animated gifs of jumping fish. Before eternal September, and before R.O.F.F. A time when you had to go to a fly shop to bitch and moan, or write a fevered letter to a magazine, and when you were done there was nothing left to do but go fishing.

And when the Hideous Jabbering Head of Izaak Walton awoke, he cursed his luck for, of all things, being born too late. Because in his dream it was quiet.

Wow, I didn’t think that dude would ever shut up.

Datsyuk > Crosby
Lidstrom > Gonchar
Zetterberg > Malkin
Holmstrom > Hossa
Draper > Stall
MC5 >  Anti-Flag

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Dear Ross Reels

Lately, I’m not sure what to think of you. First it was the global offshoring push that you committed to with Ross Worldwide. Now, this video from the 2007 Fly Fishing Retailer Show comes to light. Seriously, you’re putting out a line of centerpin reels? I mean come the fuck on. It’s bad enough that the centerpinning mouth breathers already will drift an egg sack a mile up and down a river, drifting over everyone else, but now you’re trying to promote this shit by calling it “high tech nymphing”? As if that wasn’t bad enough, these ass clowns are taking on steelhead with a super whippy, 12 foot long 3 wt, playing the fish until it is just about spent, and then releasing it. That’s awesome for conservation of the resource.

Here at Buster, we can get down with gear fishing, but running a drift over everyone else, then playing out a fish until it can’t fight anymore isn’t what we call sporting, in fact, we call it being a douchebag. For me, you’re starting to drift into that territory.

As usual, we’re a day late and a dollar short (so buy our stickers, dammit), but Felt Soul Media’s world premiere of their new film on the Pebble Mine project in Bristol Bay was last night, at Telluride Mountainfilm Fest. Fear not – it plays again tomorrow night @ 9:45pm, with Travis and Ben in person. Look for a general release date soon. And if you’ve been living under a rock and somehow missed this, here’s the trailer:

And please – get involved and do whatever you can to help stop this shit.

hey you pittsburgh fucks, fuck yuo very much! goddamn, drop the puck already!!

Whoops!! The Cameco uranium refinery at Port Hope, Ontario, across Lake Ontario from Rochester and northeast of Toronto, has admitted that it is possible that the plant has been leaking uranium, arsenic and fluorides into the lake. The plant shutdown last July as part of a soil cleanup process and modeling used to plan the cleanup indicates that the pollution occurred.

According to Cameco spokesman Lyle Krahn “We’re anticipating that material may have been entering the harbor”, which if you know corporate speak, strongly indicates “we fucked up, badly”. The soil cleanup, which began almost a year ago, and was scheduled to last two months, has a completion date of sometime in the third quarter of 2008. On the upshot, if pollution is confirmed in the lake, Mr. Krahn indicated that it would not delay reopening the plant. HOORAY!!!

The plant opened in the 1930′s and supplied Uranium to the Manhattan Project; however it was built in a time of, shall we say, lax regulations. As Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility, puts it “The whole siting of this refinery is absurd. It’s right in the center of town, it’s on a flood plain and right on the lakefront.”

As a special tip from the BWTF Business Development Office, we’d like to recommend that our good friends at the Oak Orchard Fly Shop in Williamsville, NY begin stocking 12 wts and Tibor Gulfstream reels for the future generations of lake runs. Oh, and geiger counters, exposure badges and those Tyvek suits.

The stickers are here and they turned out pretty effing sweet. Thanks to our black background, you can’t really see the borders of the BWTF tattoo design, but it’s the same size as the “crass” design, just flipped on its side. They measure 5.5×2.75. They are printed on weather-proof vinyl by punk rockers toiling in Charlotte, NC. Creative by thee and Banknote. Execution by Banknote. Click the “more” link for info on how to get yrs…

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Golden Demon – Fly & photo by Glista

Fuck… it’s still only Wednesday night. The gee-dee finals don’t start ’til Saturday… that’s like 4 or 5 days! What ever shall we do, o angling hockey fan? Shall we break down the finals? Yes. Shall we hurl invective at those diving, sissified cherry picking Pens? Certainly. Shall we make ridiculous predictions? But of course! Shall we cite history and tradition and the GODDAM FACT that the Detroit Red Wings have won 10 Stanley Cups as if it holds any bearing on this year’s Stanley Cup Finals? You betcher ass.

Banknote: “Dude, there he is, there he is….! grab the rod! he’s on it!”

Bacon, grabs rod: “Ug. Un. feels big. could be one.”

(proceed the 10 minute ass-whupping and gutteral, heave-ho gruntlemumbles)

Bacon: “he’s calming down some and i think its a, um, jesus fuck man, it’s headed toward that wood again. haven’t seen it, but it might be a—”

‘Note: “turn it dumbass. get it outta that tree. turn it. turn! turn! lift!”

Bacon: “here he comes, getta good look at ‘im—”

Bacon: “—man, i think it’s a — yep. SPRINGER! FUCKIN’ A, SPRINGER! HOLY SHIT IT’S A SPRINGER!”

‘Note: “DON’T YOU AND YOUR MINGEY MESS THIS UP!”

Bacon: “SPRINGER! SPRINGER! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FINALLY, A SPRINGER!”

Double R (in a Towelie voice), completely responsible for 89% of getting that fish hooked: “Man, i’m so hiiiigh i don’t know what’s going on.”

Calling all spey geeks! Put down the Dungeon Master’s Guide and get out of mom’s basement, it’s time to have a life! Meet actual people and maybe talk to them! There might even be real live GIRLS there!

No? Too smartassy? I’m just havin some fun. Sorry, I’ll start again.

Attention all ardent devotees of the two-handed rod, switch rodders, the spey-curious and fans of a free barbecue. If you can get yourself to Altmar, NY on June 21, 2008, you can attend Spey Nation – The Experience, the latest in a growing number of “spey claves” in the U.S. And it’s FREE!

What the hell is a Spey Nation? It’s a grassroots organization dedicated to furthering the culture and techniques of spey fishing on Great Lakes tributaries, and they also like to party. There’ll be presentations & demonstrations by Bob Meiser, Peter Charles, Rick Kustich, Brian Styskal, Lee Davidson and Mike Kinney. Also in attendance will be manufacturer reps from Buelah, Echo, Thomas & Thomas, Scott, Orvis, Guidelines, Hardy, Diamondback, Cortland, CND, Winston, Sage, Burkheimer, R. B. Meiser, Airflo, Snowbee and St. Croix (and maybe more).

There will also be a fly swap, and raffles to benefit the Salmon River Hatchery, because everybody likes swag.

Oh yeah, and there’ll be a FREE barbeque sponsored by The Oak Orchard Fly Shop and Buffalo’s Flying Bison Brewing Co. That’s right, FREE FOOD.

It starts at 9 am and ends when you leave. There’s a bit of last-minute uncertainty about the site, but it’ll definitely be happening, so watch the official page for news and other details.

*NOTICE* – the location has been secured – click HERE for details.

Here’s a list of nearby accomodations. It’s real purty up there, and the Salmon should have more kayakers on it than fishermen. There are resident salmonids in the river, and some damn strong smallies. And there’s plenty of other fishwater around too.

So show up! Meet stalwart Buster commenters like Shaq, Ginseng Sullivan, Glista and the Day Tripper. Buster’s planning to attend, though I have no real clue about spey casting and no real cash to blow on another maniacal obsession. But you can bet I’ll be photographing you stuffing your face with burgers for later bloggish hilarity.

Royal Dutch Shell, bringers of the benefits of energy exploitation to such wonderful areas as Nigeria, has set their sights on setting up coal bed methane extraction in the Klabona Valley, British Columbia. The valley, roughly a million acres, is the headwaters of three watersheds, Skeena, Nass and Stikine,  that are critical to west coast salmon and steelhead.

The methane well heads will produce a water based run-off that is so toxic its effective containment time is forever. Shell, which has a horrible environmental record, is planning on setting up thousands of wellheads in what is currently a roadless wilderness, and would put the west coast salmon and steelhead population at great risk, as if they weren’t already.

The Skeena Watershed Conservation Coalition is organizing an action drive to compel the provincial government of British Columbia to block Shell’s extraction plan. The plan is set for a vote next month, so time is short. Please go to the SWCC’s online action center  and add your signature to the petition being sent to the BC government and the executive suite at Shell.

Hat tip to This is Fly Daily

May 21-24, 2008 at the Jackson Lake Lodge
Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming

The Responsible Energy Development Symposium in Jackson Hole, Wyoming May 21-24, 2008 will bring together leading practitioners and researchers in wildlife science, resource planning, and wildlife conservation to pool their ideas and develop a road map for balancing wildlife conservation and energy development in the Rocky Mountain West. Click the link above to find out more info and register to attend.

Sponsored by Sportsmen for Responsible Energy Development.

according to the washington post, George W. Bush and Dick Cheney received a whole buncha gifts last year:

The forms show that Bush and Cheney both received a variety of gifts last year, mostly related to outdoor activities. Among the gifts Bush kept were a $6,160 bicycle given to him by a Wisconsin bike manufacturer, custom Hawaiian shirts and fly-fishing equipment.

As dog is my witness, I hereby pledge a BWTF t-shirt and some brand new “corporate fly fishing still sucks” stickers to the reader who can identify the source of the fly fishing gifts.

Well now whut the hell was that shit?

I mean, there I was, hugging the bottom like I’ve been doing all spring, chowin down on delicious squirmy bugs gettin all fat. Why should I rise, dammit? That’s work! And along comes a bouncing bug thing and I’m all GROMF and the whole gig goes to hell. Gassed from jumping and pulling and then there’s a monkey in my face with his big stupid thumbs and here I am. DAMN MAN! I mean, was that really necessary?

Yes it was, fish. Yes it was.

“The devil made me do it the first time, the second time I done it on my own” 

Billy Joe Shaver, “Black Rose” 1973

Last weekend, I went on a misguided quest in search of a rumored stretch of trout stream high up in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The trek up the canyon didn’t quite turn out how I expected, and out of desperation, I then took the Catalina Highway up to Rose Canyon Lake.

I have known about this lake for a while now. It is another WPA-CCC project from the Depression, similar to Parker Canyon Dam, and it is a put and take recreation area. As long as I have known about it, I have been avoiding it. A put and take fishery, this close to Tucson, would be bedlam. Also, I have a weird sort of revulsion to standing on a lakeshore where a few days before a truck pulled up and dumped a few thousand fish. All during the drive up, I was thinking “It won’t be that bad. It is late on a Saturday afternoon, most people will be on their way home by now, you should get some solitude and some fish.”

I pulled up to the entrance, paid the usage fee and followed the road through the campground to the parking lot. I was dead wrong in thinking that late afternoon would be less crowded. The lot was just about full and during the walk down to the lake, which is only a few acres, I could see that solitude, or even enough space for a cast, would be in short supply.

I walked down to the far end, near the spill way, and found some space. Rise rings were appearing on the surface, so I used an olive EHC, and just put it out there. I caught four stocker rainbows in 45 minutes, just casting out onto the surface.  I was able to lose myself for a bit and get away from the shoulder to shoulder insanity of this place, even while watching the guy a few hundred feet from me pour some canned corn into his hand and toss it out onto the lake, chumming up the fish.

The event that really put things in perspective for me was when a large brood of kids, maybe 10 and their parents, aunts, uncles, whomever, showed up. They all lined up on the shore, starting about two feet from me. One of the adults came over and asked if they were crowding me, and with a feigned smile, I said “actually I was about to go”.

 I developed a sick feeling on the drive down the moutain. Even though I had caught some fish, and eased the pyshic itch of being a fisherman living in a desert, I still felt cheap and tawdry. I could only imagine this is one what feels after leaving a brothel. Sure, you felt physically satisfied, but how would you feel when you next looked into the mirror? I paid for it, got what I was after and still didn’t feel right with the world.

A public service announcement reminding everyone in favor of a sustained no-kill policy on WILD Umpqua River basin steelhead that now’s the time to make your voice heard.

In the petition’s words, signing this signals your “support for the existing catch and release regulations that protect non-adipose fin-clipped steelhead throughout the Umpqua system (including the mainstem, North, and South Umpqua River). ”

Trust us, protecting wild fish a real good thing.

You can find the petition here.

And gracias, forward thinkers. North Ump skater season’s getting very gotdam close and that’s super badass.