40 Rivers To Freedom

A recent study, to be published in the journal “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS)” this week , suggests that people are more likely to enroll in conservation programs if their neighbors do.

The research, to be published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) this week, is the first to focus on the phenomenon of social norms in the context of China’s conservation efforts, said scientist Jianguo “Jack” Liu of Michigan State University (MSU).

The study focused on a mammoth government initiative called Grain-to-Green that pays Chinese farmers to convert cropland back to forest.

“Much of the marginal cropland in rural communities has been converted from agriculture to forests through the Grain-to-Green Program, one of the largest ‘payment for ecosystem services’ programs in the world,” said Alan Tessier, program director in the National Science Foundation (NSF)’s Division of Environmental Biology.

“Results of this study show that a community’s social norms have substantial impacts on the sustainability of these conservation investments.” source

Further proof that if you care about a conservation issue, let everyone you know hear about it.  Then, when it becomes cool, you can tell everyone that you cared about it back in the day…

It seems to me that Twitter has killed all the posts you used to see in the fly fishing blogosphere regarding the good stuff other fly fishing bloggers were writing about, or the posts about a new blogger with something to offer joining the scene.  At first, I thought that Twitter was perfect for sharing those kind of tidbits, and it is, but there’s one problem with that.  Most of our readers aren’t sitting on Twitter all day.  In fact, I’d guess that 99% of the people who read fly fishing blogs- the ones most likely to keep tabs on the fly fishing twittersphere, don’t.

So, instead of trying to sell you on something that isn’t working, I’m going old school.

There’s a new fly fishing blog in town.  This one is written by Michael Hackney.  Michael happens to be a hell of a fly tyer and rod builder.  The dude even makes his own fly reels.

From Scratch.

Check out his blog, Eclectic Guy, when you get a chance.

I’ve gotta admit to feeling a little proud of my son today.  Why?

Proud Moment #1: Son finds his first fishing spot that he can truly call his own.

We’re driving over to the local puddle and about half way there, he asks if we can try a new spot.  “Sure.”  I tell him.  The pond isn’t a puddle by any means.  It’s actually pretty big as far as bluegill holes are concerned.  Yet I usually only fish one of three different spots.  It’s not like I ever do bad, so I’ve fallen into one of those ruts where you stop exploring a certain spot any further.  Apparently, he’s had his eye on this little patch of mud on the far bank for a while now; cause he had the whole thing planned out.  He told me where he thought the best place to park was and everything.

We get down to the water and it was like we had walked into a little bluegill brothel.  There were so many beds, the bottom of the pond looked more like a honeycomb than, well, the bottom of a pond.  His evening was epic, to say the least.

Proud Moment #2: Son smells it coming

Last night the mrs. sent me on a trip to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner.  The boy came along to pick out dessert (see proud moment #3).  Along the way to the store he says,

“Dad, I bet tonight would be a good night to go fishing.”

“Yeah, I bet it would be a good night to go fishing” I replied

“I can smell it in the air” he says back

“Smell what?”  I asked

“It just smells like a good night to go fishing.”

I’ve always preached that just before it rains is one of my favorite times to be on the water. Well, 30 minutes later we got about 1/2″ of rain.

Proud Moment #3: Report Card Time

Yeah, he’s only in 2nd grade, (well, technically he’s now in between 2nd and 3rd), but he managed to keep his grades up throughout the whole school year.  In fact they got better and better, along with his social and listening skills, each grading period.  Adding to that- he was pretty active in sports the whole time, specifically wrestling, where he spent 6 months practicing around 2 hours, three nights a week for weekend tournaments.  His season was capped by placing in the top 10 at the Ohio Tournament of Champions, the largest tournament in the country; as well as placing 3rd at the Eastern Nationals. Here is a picture of him, and all of the hardware he added to the top of his dresser this season

There should be one more in that pile, however there was a tournament where he took 2nd instead of 1st and had a moment of poor sportsmanship; so we didn’t let him have his trophy.  In all honesty, he really did get jipped on points, but that was no excuse to act like a two year old.

Anyways, my point is, I’m damn proud of him.

It’s time for our Annual Top 10 Most Played out Words or Phrases in Fly Fishing. Those words/things/phrases that have been used so much recently, that they’ve lost their cool.

10.) Brownlining

• It’s sad to see such a clever word tossed around with the frequency of words like rod, line, and reel. And if I could’ve found the right font, there would be a nice big pic of the word, “Brownnosing” at the top of this post…

9 & 8.) Urban & Urban Assault

• A stream is a stream is a stream is a stream. It’s all still fly fishing, no matter where it’s at- doesn’t matter if it’s in the middle of the wilderness, or in the heart of Central Park, so let’s just call it fishing; k?

7.) The “Lifestyle” of Fly Fishing

• Still waiting for a definition on this one

6.) Fly Fishing Media

• Anyone who spends a measurable amount of time contemplating the ins and outs of a minuscule segment of the media, needs to spend more time fishing- unless they’re part of said media- in which case, they should stop blabbering about the stuff they don’t know that they think they know.

5.) Micro Brews & Fancy Schmancy Imports

• There was a time when throwing in a pic of your favorite, local microbrew or import was a nice touch to any fishing report. Now, it’s just another weird looking bottle.

4.) Bacon

• I can only think of 1 or 3 people who have the rights to praise the gospel of this fine cut of pork.

3.) Anything to do with the 20 to 40 generation of fly fishers; with a heavy emphasis on getting them to buy stuff

• Being at the heart of this target demographic, I can only offer this advice- just when you think you’ve got us pegged down, we’re gonna start liking something else. So to “get” us, you’re gonna have to actually be original.

2.) Purist

• Close mindedness is out. Variety is in.

1.) Leave your suggestion for the most played out word/phrase/thing/etc. in fly fishing and you’ll automatically be entered for a chance to win a copy of Drift, courtesy of the Hatches DVD Store.