First Cast

OPENING DAY

River Tay

the garry flows again

WALLPAPER: GOOD GEAR

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OPEN IT

.. So then, two big events: we missed them both this year.
.. First; it's opening day of the salmon season on the River Tay.
.. Second; water restoration of 15 miles of the 'Dry Garry' will commence as soon as a bit of engineering work is completed. This first order tributary has been 'dry' due to hydroelectric priorities.
.. The major breach some 15 miles north of Blair Atholl will  commence in a few weeks to restore flows to the River Garry.
.. An initial breach has already been made at the Struan Weir to begin this process.

COURTESY DAILY MAIL

.. Spring salmon fishing is a big deal in Scotland. The river gets blessed with a toast, a splash for the river, and piping the fishers to the river.
.. A ceremonial cast is made from a mid-river boat and then, the river is inundated with hopeful fishers. Of course they all use Tay Rods for their Tay Casting. Even spin fishers know how to Tay Cast with spinning rods, {see videos below.}
.. The biggest ceremony is celebrated at  Kenmore. This year they are celebrating their 70th year along with the anniversary of the re-opening of the Kenmore Hotel [LINK-1].
.. The Kenmore Hotel was commissioned in 1572 by the then laird Colin Campbell, and has its origins in a tavern built around 70 years earlier offering accommodation and refreshments. It is reputed to be Scotland's oldest hotel.

AILEEN SWINGS A MEAN STICK

.. Although this is Campbell country, save for the pipers, the Royal Stewart Tartan is the most common pattern and the Dress Royal Stewart is de rigueur for the ceremonies.
.. Last year the ceremonies were opened by the Environmental Minister Dr. Aileen McLeod [LINK-2].

DRESS STEWART TARTAN

.. This would be the same as a cabinet level person coming to our village for the opener in Yellowstone National Park. It would hardly happen here.
.. For more information just run a web search. This is big news in Scotland. SALMON FISHING SCOTLAND is a good website for information, accommodations, activities, and fishing stuff.
.. The ABERFELDY website is a grand introduction to the area. Year round activities and other bits of interest are supplied by the site. Sort of like a regional chamber of commerce.

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 SEE ALL ABOUT IT

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..Well it's approaching a warm 0°F, so it must be time for breakfast and then wash and wax the car.

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WALLPAPER:  SALSICCIA, CARROT HASH, TATERS, 'N' EGG

In A Galaxy Far Far Away

LAST BEAT GONE BY 30th

THEN COMES THE GRAYLING

the flies are different too

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.. Not much to say. It is not about Yellowstone National Park.
.. There are fish to be had in places other than Montana. We've met a few and shall be meeting more.
.. First off: chalk stream fish are fun because the river keepers cut the weeds and you can see the fish.
.. The River Test has the latest season closing for salmon. That's where they use 'testrods.'
.. And then: striped bass in the surf in Carlsbad, California are not unheard of. Neither are the bonefish of the mud flats where razor clams hide in San Diego.

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.. Lastly: there's the thanksgiving salmon and ghost runs of steelhead of deepest southern Oregon.

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.. You should buy some fishing for yourself, £175,000 - (LINK).
.. More later - - - time and inclination permitting.

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AKROYD SANS COCK

GENERAL PRACTITIONER

SWAMI SHRIMP

From The Salmon's Mouth

SALMON: INDICATORS
OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Traverse Fresh & Saltwater

aquatic canary

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.. The good folks at ANS, (Protect Your Waters,) have clued us in to the role of salmon as, "one of the natural world’s most sensitive indicators of the biological and chemical effects of climate change."
.. The note at FISHupdate.com cites the work of Dr. Ken Whelan of the Irish Marine Institute.
.. Whelan recently delivered the results of his team's findings to the Royal Irish Academy, (RIA,) in Dublin.
.. In classical understatement the address points out that salmon are and ideal indicator species for climate change.
.. By responding to the results of changing climate in both fresh and saltwater the salmon is an ideal bio-monitor to: ". . . track and trace climate change from remote mountain streams to distant zones in the Artic (sic) seas."
.. In a world that is billions of years old, both climate change alarmists and nay-sayers generally speak from the perspective of decades. The salmon, with generations of adaptive responses in the same time period provide behavioral data that spans the world's waters.
.. In the salmon's odyssey, from their mountain streams to the ocean depths, these fish ". . . collect and store a wide range of physical, chemical and biological information."
.. The research is complex and is carried out by multinational teams of scientists under the auspices of the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organization (NASCO).
..Dr Ken Whelan is director of the Marine Institute’s Aquaculture and Catchment Management Services Team, based at Newport, Co. Mayo.

MONEY QUOTE

“Although the science is complex the take home message is clear. Adaptation to climate change is in our hands. Combating climate change requires a clear and unambiguous focus on: monitoring change, responding to change, conserving populations of animals and plants and relieving man made stresses on the environment.”

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Safari To Jackson

GET AN 11-WEIGHT

Hire A Local Guide

tell nobody we went

get famous

.. The secret is out. Giant Fish exist in the Snake River near Hog's Head Island, south of Jackson, Wyoming.
.. We're trading in our collection of trout rods for some more substantial gear and planning a safari to the nether regions of Wyoming.
.. It seems that a new guiding industry has sprung up in the region based on the possibility of catching Atlantic Salmon that lurk in the depths of this fabled river.
.. One of the more famous guides is an old Africa hand and experienced in those things that make for an excellent safari.
.. He is renowned for finding women, congenial watering holes, game of all sorts, and having a good time. It is also rumored that he once caught a cold fish.
.. We've already procured our safari outfit from the local outfitters and feel that we cut a fine figure of the salmon hunting genre.
.. We plan to nose around the local pubs for information about the location and methods for taking this monstrous invasive species.
.. Many people doubt that the Atlantic Salmon exists in the Snake River and believe that the sightings and captures are of it's cousin the Kokanee Salmon, that do reside in the river.
.. A little known fact, however, is that Atlantic Salmon were, in reality, introduced into Yellowstone Lake in the early 1900's.
.. Most trout fishers and biologists poo-poo the thought that the fish could have gotten out of Yellowstone Lake and survived in the Snake River.
.. On the other hand, a small cult of fishers has been spawned and they are currently stalking the river banks and the shadowed coves in an attempt to capture this elusive prize.
.. When the capture happens, you'll have to take our word for it, because we believe in strict 'catch and release' of all salmonids; invasive or not.
.. On very rare occasions the veracity of our reports has been questioned. However, in this instance, independent confirmation is a precursor to our report. Read all about it in the Planet Jackson Hole Online article HERE.

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FISH ON!

Possible Reprieve For Another Cutt

CUTTHROAT PAST IS KEY TO PRESENT SURVIVAL

Imagine A Pristine Continent

.. Moldy Chum lets us know that the Bonneville Cutthroat is being reconsidered for Endangered Species Status. The news release from the Center For Biological Diversity briefly details this legal struggle. It might be noted that back in the year 2000 Utah and several Federal agencies agreed on a conservation plan (PDF) for the survival of these fish.
.. The Cutthroat Trout, Golden Trout, and Fluvial Grayling are fish that pioneered the inland waters of the America's. These circumpolar fish are the evolutionary descendants of fish stocks that eventually became all of the Salmonids. These fish are the inquisitive, adventurous, sturdy stock that gave us the inland fisheries that we have today. They deserve to be saved for that reason alone.
.. Sometime between 80 and 60 million years ago these estuarine fish began to probe the inlets and rivers of a continent that was moving north and was full of steep rivers. The adaptive behavior of becoming anadromous served them well over the eons and has persisted to the present. They, unlike most of the other salmonids, can return to spawn several times.
.. Below are a series of maps that show the changing face of our continent over the past 75 million or so years. This is the time period of the evolution of the salmon, char, and trout that we know today: (From Paleogeography & Geologic Evolution Of North America.)

-- 75 Ma
-- 65 Ma
-- 60 Ma
-- 50 Ma
-- 40 Ma
-- 25 Ma
--15 Ma
-- 8 Ma
-- 3 Ma
-- 0.126 Ma
-- Present

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.. These fish are wed to the continent and the Western portion of it in the same manner that the Brook Trout and Atlantic Salmon are in the Eastern portion. The things that these fish have in common are a seeking behavior, the need for cold clean water, and their rapid disappearance from the contemporary waters of the continent.
.. Although hooking up with any fish is special, these fish are part of the fabric of our heritage - they were here in some form long before us, and now they need us.