Nice guy huh?

Well, I enjoy his humor, ill or otherwise and when the chance came to order a sticker to jazz up the beloved Subaru I couldn’t resist.

Of course RH-B never misses an chance to belittle us anglers so he included a little advice…

Wise ass. Wait till he meets up with Chris Hunt and his Lake Trout tenkara prowess. Bet he won’t be so quick to tell the tenkara boys what to do…

Dang handy little item.

But there in lies the challenge. Little. Like easily misplaced little.

So having spent some time thinking about ways to keep the little rascal from disappearing I came up with this idea.

Since I have a lot of old fly line lying around I decided it could be put to good use.

I grabbed my power drill and a 1/32 drill bit and made a slight modification to the end caps of my collection of Tenkara USA rods. Then I slipped a short length of old fly line through the hole and tied a figure-eight knot at the end.

Here is how it turned out.

Tenkara USA end cap MK 1 Mod 1

Since I wear a Fly Vines lanyard, I will just stash it there. If I drop it, the bright green line will be much easier to find as well.

Hopefully this will keep the rod caps from wandering off…

Damn right it is worth protecting!

Tomorrow I will put on my American Fly Fishing Trade Association hat and join sportsmen from around the country in Washington, DC. We are gathering to tell our elected officials and the President that protecting Bristol Bay in Alaska is a top priority for sportsmen.

Scott Hed, director of the Sportsman’s Alliance for Alaska, shares the importance of our effort in this post from Trout Unlimted’s Save Bristol Bay website

Sportsmen fly to DC to tell President and Congress no to Pebble Mine

Next week, April 16 – 18, about 40 sportsmen from around the country are traveling to the nation’s capitol to let their elected officials and the President know that protecting Bristol Bay is a top priority for sportsmen.

This is an important week to show the folks who have the power to protect Bristol Bay that sportsmen are in this fight. We’ve got folks from Alaska, Montana, Michigan, Colorado, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Texas, Wisconsin, Washington, Oregon, Ohio, North Carolina, California, Missouri, New York, and Virginia representing this great country and the millions of people who want Bristol Bay to be protected.

A recent report by the Congressional Sportsmen’s Foundation shows that there are 34 million hunters and anglers in the U.S., and we’re a powerful constituency. Every year, we pump $76 billion into the economy in pursuit of our passion, through our spending on gear, licenses, gas, lodging, meals and more. All of that spending and activity directly supports 1.6 million jobs in this country.

We are also an influential group because 80% of sportsmen are likely voters – much higher than the national average. And, we also contribute the most money of any group toward government wildlife conservation programs. So, hopefully if we care about an issue and show our support, the decision makers will listen to what we have to say.

In just a few weeks, the EPA will be releasing a draft of its Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment. This huge scientific assessment will likely guide future decisions about large-scale mining and other industrial development in the Bristol Bay region. If they find that disposal of waste from the mine would adversely harm the surrounding clean waters or natural resources, the EPA can deny or place restrictions on a required dredge and fill permit. If warranted, we hope the Obama Administration would take that step to protect Bristol Bay.

You can support the fight for one of planet Earth’s finest and most productive fishing and hunting destinations by taking action today. Fill out this simple form that will send a letter to the President and your members of Congress asking them to protect Bristol Bay. Let’s carry our sportsmen into D.C. with a lot of momentum.

Werner set up a Kickstarter campaign for Olive to spread the word and raise some money for this new project. Olive’s stories are critically acclaimed and a big seller in the traditional format. But as Werner explains “apps” are now common place and the iPad offers provides interactive opportunities for kids to learn.

A key point of the Olive books is to get kids interested in learning about fly fishing, and outside away from video games, cell phones and yes, iPads. So, you may be asking, ‘why jump on the bandwagon and become part of the nature-deficit problem?’  I don’t see this as becoming part of the problem at all, rather adopting the technology that kids (and everyone) have already embraced, and using it to communicate the value in getting outside. If kids are going to be sitting around playing with their iPads, they may as well play with something educational and entertaining that still encourages outdoor activity. There’s no app for actually going out and exploring a stream, turning over rocks to look at bugs, and wetting a line—but soon there will be an app that celebrates that.

Help Get Olive on iPad!

There is not much time so I hope you will join me in backing Olive’s project.

You can learn more about it and make a pledge on Olive’s Kickstarter page.

Go ahead, every little bit helps!

Thanks!

Public lands are good for the soul

Hal Herring wrote a terrific piece in Field & Stream, How Public Land Has Shaped and Defined My Entire Life. He paints a written landscape of his lifelong experience hunting, fishing and wandering this nation’s unique and varied public lands. Well worth the read and perhaps, if the opportunity presents itself, you can assist Herring in his challenge to those folks running for public office to join us on and fighting for our public lands.

“Join us, and see what free people do on the lands that visionaries set aside for us all, long ago, so that we would never lose the basic frontiersman’s edge that made this country different from all the others, so that our children would grow up strong under heaven’s blue eye and learn the ways of wildlife and wild places, and learn what it is that we fight for, when we have to fight.

Join us. We’ll show you something that you’ll want to fight for, too.”

Who cares about public lands

The second article offers a look at the strengths and weaknesses of public land supporters, defenders and exploiters. Check out Public Lands Cage Fight on Truchacabra.

This is a no-holds-barred critique that will boil the blood of some folks. Of course there will be a bunch of bitching and moaning and trying to defend one group or another. That will just prove the author’s point. The critiques are spot on and those of us who fit in to the categories are well-advised to learn from these observations.

When all is said and done, if you enjoy the outdoors then you damn well need to set a good example or as the author notes in response to a comment, “It seems ideology is more important than anything these days. Anything can spin off the right track, and there are vultures waiting whenever it happens.”

So next time you feel like the other guy doesn’t care as much as you do, think again, then share the bounty, trail or river. If not, the vultures will waste no time in taking it away from us.

I had no idea what he was talking about.

I then came upon this post on Troutrageous! “I Have Lost All Faith In Trout Unlimited.”

Kinda made me wonder what was going on?

Come to find out Dispatches is in some mighty fine company in the an article by Chris Hunt in the Spring 2012 issue of Trout.

It was an unexpected honor to share the “Ten Fly-Fishing Blogs You Should Check Out” with those other fine blogs. If you are looking for a ready-made blog roll this list would be hard to beat.

Blogging for Fish - Trout Spring 2012

Conservation Messengers

As Hunt notes in the article, there is a strong conservation message in these blogs. Hunt knows what he is writing about he not only works for TU, but also has a blog, Eat More Brook Trout that should be on this list as well.

What is interesting and important about this list is the conservation challenges these bloggers often write about. Conservation can be a tough beat. The policy and the politics can be rough going and sometimes the comments can be a bit troublesome to say the least. But these bloggers wade in and slug it out in both an informative and entertaining way. Blogs are an increasingly important channel of communication for getting the important conservation messages out to people. These folks are some of the very best at doing that. I am very proud to be in their company.

The Ten Fly-Fishing Blogs You Should Check Out list

Fly Talk

Buster Wants to Fish

Moldy Chum

The Fiberglass Manifesto

Troutrageous!

Compleat Thought

Dispatches from the Middle River

Chi Wulff

Gink and Gasoline

Trout Unlimited blog

And if you don’t belong to TU or haven’t renewed your membership, what are you waiting for. Go to TU.org now and throw a few extra $$$ in the pot for good measure.