La Crosse

Bill, taking the path he's driven to many great weekends of fishing in southeast Minnesota and Southwest Wisconsin, piloted the rig from Minneapolis to La Crosse, WI. Fin, Nate and Bill spent the afternoon on the mighty Mississippi. No salmon swim in up these waters, but Fin sure does appreciate a great river when she sees one. A great moment was when an icon of the Mississippi, a paddlewheel steamer came by to get a good look at an icon of the Snake/Columbia (namely, Fin).



A few people asked us, why are you in Wisconsin? Wisconsin has a great history of watershed conservation. Take Coon Creek, just south of La Crosse as an example. In the 1930's the watershed was chosen as a pilot project to reduce soil erosion and increase farming yields. Prior to the program, Coon Creek, after decades of poor farming practices was subject massive flooding, and lost most of the native Brook Trout. After introduction of contour farming, reforestation, and better pasture and grazing practices, not only did farmers benefit from increased yields, but Coon Creek was restored into a great trout stream that today is a destination for anglers from across the region.

It is in the spirit of this kind of success story, that is both good for farmers and good for fish, that drew the Road Show to Wisconsin. Indeed, while Bill, Nate and Fin were on the River for a few hours, Joseph, who rejoined the Road Show in Minneapolis, was meeting with Rep. Kind's staff. Rep. Kind has carried on the Wisconsin's proud conservation tradition, and we here at SOS hope that he can be a leader to find similar long-term solutions for the farmers and the fish of the Snake River watershed.

Goofing off in St. Paul

The Road Show finally pulled into the Twin Cities, and Bill was happy to sleep in his own bed. The Patagonia outlet in St. Paul hosted us over the lunch hour on Thursday. Ellen, the manager and the staff were very excited to have us. We were also met by former and current Twin Cities presidents Kevin Biegler and Steve Carlton. At one point Kevin mentioned a wishing we had a salmon costume. Well it turns out we do. Kevin got a little excited. A little too excited. (Forgive the shaky camera work. I was laughing too hard.)



While we found his antics amusing, it was a little much for this little guy to handle.




A little later some of Bill's friends stopped by to see Fin with their own eyes. Here's Dave, Amber, Barney, Bill and Michelle.




St. Paul resident Greg stopped by for a while, and good thing, too. Somebody there needed to be a little serious about salmon.



In the afternoon, and at Steve's suggestion, we stopped by Midwest Fly Fishing Magazine. Editor Tom Hagelson was hosting a gallery opening, and made some time to let us talk to the crowd. It was a great spur of the moment event, and it was great mingling with everyone, we had to run off to LaCrosse for our event there Friday Morning. We'd like to thank Steve, Kevin, Ellen and Tom for making the Minnesota leg of the tour a great success.

The Great Journey

The blog has been quiet this week because Nate, Bill, and Fin have been channeling thier inner truckers and putting some mileage on the RV. Sunday Morning they pulled out of Reno, bound for the little town of Dutch John, Utah. Monday, the guys took a day to float the Green River, through the Flaming Gorge to catch some trout. Bill struck first.


Nate got into the action, and thier guide Paul had to get in for a photo, too.



It was a great day fishing, both of them boated over 20 healthy Brown and Rainbow trout. If you're ever through the Northeast corner of Utah, give Paul and Denny a call at Trout Creek Flies

After the fishing, it was a long haul to Minneapolis.

A few things were learned:

Google Lies
Nebraska is very long
Fin doesn't like Thunderstorms
Omaha is cooler than you'd think.

Reno, Nevada

After a slower start to the week, the last several days have been a flurry of activity. On Thursday morning we travelled down to Carson City to Edith Fritch Elementary. This was a re-schedule because of high winds on Tuesday, our original day. Now that we're away from the Pacific Coast, the students here don't have the opportunity to do Salmon in the Classroom, but they do have Trout in the Classroom. The students didn't seem to mind that trout and salmon are only cousins, and took to Fin quite quickly.



That afternoon we went to the Nugget casino for the Fly Fishing Film Tour. It was an evening of the coolest new fly fishing films, including Fish Bums Volume 1: Mongolia, by AEG. During the intermission, Eric Petlock, SOS Nevada organizer said a few words about restoring Salmon to Nevada. The highlight reel:




Friday morning we set up at University of Nevada, Reno. The students, weary from studying for fast approaching finals still found time to embrace their inner second grader and crawled inside for a picture.



Fin then dropped by Senator Reid's Reno office for a quick meeting and a photo. Here's Nate, Eric with Reid Staffers Nicole Trzynadlowski, Mary Conelly, Matthew Tuma and Victor Mercado



After the meeting, Fin wanted to check out the Riverwalk and Whitewater Park in Downtown Reno. How do you say no to a 25' Fiberglass Salmon? Exactly.



To finish off our stay in Reno, we headed down to Orvis Days. Lance, and the staff at Orvis were great, and even made us a pancake breakfast!



We're off to Minneapolis, Bill's hometown.

Lahontan!

On Wednesday, Bill and Nate had some time to kill and decided (with a little "arm-twisting" by the guys at Reno Fly Shop) to head to Pyramid Lake to fish for the lake's legendary Lahontan Cutthroat trout. It was cold and windy. Bill discovered no fewer than four new leaks in his waders. Nate called it quits after about three chilly hours, but Bill, being mentally ill a committed angler, stuck it out. His persistence was rewarded.




Lahontan Cutthroat Trout are endemic to the terminal basins of ancient lake Lahontan, which includes Northwest Nevada, Lake Tahoe and parts of Southeast Oregon. These wonderful fish are in the Pacific Salmon family (Oncorhynchus) and suffer from some of the same issues as their ocean-going cousins, namely Dams. The Pyramid Lake strain, which once reached 40lbs or more, migrated up the Truckee River to spawn. But in 1905 Derby Dam was built on the river for irrigation, and with an inadequate fish ladder, the Pyramid Lake strain soon went extinct. However, the Piaute Tribe have successfully restocked Pyramid lake (although with a smaller strain) and maintain populations through hatchery operations. With fish passage bing installed on the Derby Dam, there is hope that someday there will be wild Lahontans in Pyramid Lake once again.