from Shaq in NY

send yours to salty@busterwantstofish.com

from Seth D in New Hampshire

send yours to salty@busterwantstofish.com

Reminder!  Richmond Fontaine will be playing at Dante’s, Feb 25th and teh Tractor on Feb.27.

Andy Goldsworthy makes nature-inspired sculpture, and it’s pretty badass in a weird, all-naturey way if you get high enough to really sit and um, well, I forgot my point.

Anyway, Mingo and Mingo’s Girl make ultralaser art that expresses a point and that makes it badass because it blows your neurons clear apart. Points you feel as if you could really grasp a hold of and remember.

Here we see the much-missed Mingo’s Girl back from hiatus, rearing back up on the art pony and going one better than Goldsworthy’s similarly themed time-based work. We say better, because she literally combines the alphabet with her giant art statements. Double laser.

As always, Mingo’s Girl > Andy Goldsworthy and James Prosek’s collection of 5000+ sweaters and plaid, collared shirts. Good to have you and your statements back, Mingo’s Girl.

Can be described in two words

Cast

and Blast

Listen up, marketing geeks  – I can’t take it anymore, and I know I’m not alone. If I have to see that got-dam stoopid, tired marketing cliche – the “Trout Bum” being trotted out and peddled through another season, I’m declaring full-on Durka Durka Jihad on the industry.

In a relatively short period of time, we’ve seen the marketing compass swing 180 deg. from targeting grey-haired retired guys ensconced in all the trappings of sprawling McLodges, streamside Cubans and pre-broken-in, River Runs Through It fedoras, to young dudes sleeping in the back of their car streamside, eating a cold can of beans as testament to their dedication. Dog knows I’ve spent a lot of nights sleeping in, under and on top of vehicles myself, and I can’t afford lodges anyway  (but not because I’m a “bum”). I’ll give credit where it’s due – it is great that you’re attempting to lure in a younger audience.

But you know what didn’t change at all when that demographic compass swung ’round? The fact that you’re still perpetuating a simplistic, tired stereotype as a means to convince people they need to spend thousands of dollars to get outfitted to go fly fishing. Yes, I know that’s your job, marketing guy. It still sucks.

At the risk of pointing out the obvious;

Someone clad in $2000 worth of your gear is not a “bum.”

Someone who gets sponsored to be sent to the other side of the world to fly fish is not a “bum.”

Someone who has their own line of rods is also not a “bum.”

And certainly, someone who can afford a special, limited-edition $1500 “trout bum” rod from a certain well-known eastern manufacturer is clearly NOT A “BUM.”

In case you’re still confused, this is a bum:

And just to be clear -  I’ve got nothing against real bums. Hell, I even have a certain amount of respect for the ones who’ve deliberately chosen that path. But they aren’t going fishing in Kamchatka in $700 waders.

So please – the time is well past to put the mythical “trout bum” out of its psuedo-romantic misery and instead just depict anglers, of all types and whatever economic level, as simply people doing what they love to do without having to wrap it in phony bullshit as some hokey demographic. AEG hung their “trout bum” hats up, maybe it’s time the rest of you do too…

A couple weeks ago we told our faithful, degenerate readers that a major new public lands bill, which would include designating 387 miles of the Snake headwaters and its tributaries as Wild and Scenic, was on its way to the Senate.

Well, last week, the second largest Wild and Scenic package in history passed the Senate, safeguarding over 1,000 miles of rivers in Oregon, Idaho, Arizona, Wyoming, Utah, Vermont, and Massachusetts. S. 22, the bi-partisan Omnibus Public Land Management Act of 2009, includes important protections for 270,000 acres of land along 82 new Wild and Scenic Rivers.  The legislation also contains new Wilderness designations for over two million acres of public land.

Hells yeah.

To find out more specifics, check out the good folks at American Rivers. And thank them for having a big hand in making this happen.

from Brian in Wisconsin

and on the subject of improvisation

send yours to salty@busterwantstofish.com

Neko Case has a new album coming out and well, we’re looking forward to it. It’s been a while since Fox Confessor Brings the Flood. Sample a free track and enjoy this slightly NSFW but tasteful link. A cheap grab for page hits? Probably, but don’t say we never did anything for you.

Trout Bum Uniform Requirement #1: Beard Like a Rhododendron

Apparently not everyone goes out and gets hammered all night when they’re stuck at a tradeshow in Orlanduh, far, far away from the Northwest winter steelhead rivers.

Props go to the Double R for a solid week of late-night hotel/motel production work on these beauties. Good to see your fool ass back at the vise again.

If these shanks-a-plenty don’t make you drool and sport mad crazy wood, uh, you must be one of those match-the-glo-bug hatch types or something:

The people are the only legitimate fountain of power, and it is from them that the constitutional charter, under which the several branches of government hold their power, is derived.
–James Madison

America is a willingness of the heart.
–F. Scott Fitzgerald

From Tom Bie at The Drake:

“As of this week, two partners and I bought the Flyfishing Film Tour from owners Terry Wolvert and Jim Crystal, ensuring that the tour will go on, with only a slightly delayed front-end schedule.

The tour will be called The Drake Flyfishing Film Tour, as my partners and I did not acquire the name AEG. Other than that, the most substantial change to the tour is that the filmmakers will take a share of the profits, based on a model that the Banff Film Tour has been using for years.”

Well played, Tom and Co. Congrats!

Because it’s NONE degrees out there and I can see anchor ice from the road, so I need to laugh.

Oh no, not for me, three men on a horse.

She trains polecats.

Snake River, Wyoming Range bill clears Senate hurdle

A bill that includes protections for the Snake River watershed and Wyoming Range is expected to get a vote in the Senate later this week after advancing Sunday.

By a 66-12 vote, with only 59 needed to limit debate, lawmakers agreed to clear away procedural hurdles on the public lands omnibus bill that includes the local measures and about 160 other bills, despite partisan wrangling.

The Craig Thomas Snake Headwaters Legacy Act would protect 387 miles of rivers and streams in the Snake River drainage under the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act. The Wyoming Range Legacy Act would prohibit further energy leasing on 1.2 million acres in the Wyoming Range, Salt River Range and Commissary Ridge areas south of Jackson Hole and would allow conservation groups to buy and retire existing energy leases.

Good news indeed, chaps and lassies.

Full low down here.

Better than even the most well-written Penthouse letter, there’s a dude that lives in my neighborhood who scares up the kind of food for which I’ve not the talent nor time. Birds. Oh-so-tasty upland birds. Norse Gjods cursed me as an anadromous fisherman, not a hunter. How it goes.

Let’s call this guy Larry, pretty much because that’s his name and all. That much about him I do know. By the sheer amount of guns, shells and beat-up canvas hunting gear I used to see this guy loading into the sweetest old 50′s-era station wagon every weekend morning, it’s fair to assume this is one genuine, old-school badass. He’s even got a mount for a Honda Trail 90 on the back.

To this day, damn near any morning we’re up at first light and loading, we see this guy loading his rig too. Half a block away. Problem is, the Dude Code of Conduct dictates you acknowledge this kind of respectable behavior with a momentary pleasantry, but there’s no time for talking. You can’t interfere with a guy’s a.m. program, lest that interruption cause an important omission of dire consequence. Like forgotten extra socks. A spare oar. Sixer of roadies stashed behind the seat for post-fishing or hunting relaxation. Necessary shit.

Dude Code of Conduct, rules 2 and 3: Never intervene; Expect to get turned down when offering help. All good Dudes evolved and perfected the solo packing program. You don’t mess with that.

Last weekend, outta sheer Dude ingenuity, I made sure Larry was done loading, actually walked over, kicked some tires and scratched gravel with the fella. Hell of a guy. Conversation led to fishing and hunting, and before I cold really control what I was about to say, blurted out an offer to trade the guy fish for birds, fully knowing Dude Wild Food Truth 1: The canyon chukar hunter never gives up his bounty. The economics of bird v. fish acquisition output don’t compute. Just never seen that bold of a barter go down. Had to try, tho.

Got home from the river, skunked and 3 flies lighter, look down and see a baggie of three skinned chukar on my steps. Super badass, but badder ass still was the note on the bag:

-Retribution: One winter steelhead fillet. Smoked. Over alder. Don’t forget to pull the pin bones.

Well played, neighbor guy Larry. Well played.

Pre:

Post:

Photo from NaturalFly

Best one for the above so far: baconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbaconbacon

We’re all stumped on this one  

We’d heard rumors that the selling of the Canyon River Ranch along the banks of the Yakima River had been going a bit slowly. Perhaps it was the ridiculous prices, perhaps it was the cheezy “timeshare” feel of the thing or maybe — just maybe — it was that fact that it was being built on a 40-year flood plain. With the Yak now running around 30K , looks like them soggy chickens have come home to roost. Good luck selling that bullshit now!

*Note: The photos previously appended to this post were taken from a post on Westfly. The photographer has requested that these be photos removed from BWTF. Other photos of Yakima River flood damage can be viewed at the Red’s Fly Shop site.

**Note Note: Fixed.

Yes! Finally, they’re here! If this series of Hunter S. Thompson motivational posters doesn’t make you feel just a bit mo betta, there is simply no hope for you. Behold thee awesome, holmes.