Giant Lake Pend Oreille Rainbow

Here is a picture finally of the 25lbder.  Too bad it was whacked...but still a great fish and a good sign for the future on Pend Oreille.  The latest Kokanne numbers are up to 15 million. 

The Lake

....finally un-locked itself to us last week.  After 4 days of fishing and 40 some rainbows landed...and way too much Kokanee, we were happy to become obsessed with yet another fishery.  All of these fish were caught on flies on the surface.  We were not fly fishing, just trolling polar bear flies on the surface.  It is really cool to see these fish boil on the flies...  Watching the fish try and hit looked like it was raining bowling balls.  If a guy were to put in his time, I bet you could get one on a fly rod in the lake.  Here are some hero shots taken on the weekend.

Perfect Day

Listening to Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" drinking a Kokanee and watching Landon fishing (naked) was truly a perfect day.

Next Generation

Landon's First Bass

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Landon had a full weekend of fishing last weekend. He wouldn't even take a break for a snack or water. After catching the largest bass of the day, he wanted to be sure and let his Grandpa know...so one quick phone call later my Dad was in tears over the "fishing story" that this 2 year old was dishing out. "My fishy was bigger than Uncle Nick's." Then on Sunday Landon had his first fly fishing lesson. I elected to remove all the hooks for the safety of everyone, he didn't really mind, he just wanted to cast.

Salmon Fishing

The runs for the Snake and Clearwater Rivers look very promising this spring.  With a higher peak than 2009, which was a great year, 2010 is looking to be great.   The fish should hit Lower Granite Dam appox. two weeks after they pass over Bonneville Dam.  Here are some charts for the upcoming season on the Clearwater and Snake Rivers as well as the fishing regulations.

Press Release:  http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/apps/releases/view.cfm?NewsID=5394
Fishing Regulations: http://fishandgame.idaho.gov/cms/fish/rules/chinook_seasons/10rules.pdf

Charts

Judging by the Charts, the Adult Chinook should hit Lower Granite Dam somtime around the beginning of May.

Zale Among Wave of Jewelers Opposed to Alaska Mine

From the New York Times this morning.




ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- The nation's second-largest jewelry retailer on Tuesday joined the opposition to a gold and copper mine being developed in southwest Alaska near the world's largest remaining wild sockeye salmon streams.

Zale Corp. announced that it not only is boycotting precious metals from the Pebble Mine, but supports permanently protecting the Bristol Bay watershed from large-scale metals mining. The mine is situated near the headwaters of Bristol Bay on state land designated for mining.

''We believe gold should be mined and refined in a manner that protects both the environment and its inhabitants,'' Gil Hollander, Zale's executive vice president, said in a statement.

The Irving, Texas-based jewelry giant has 1,930 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico. It had $1.8 billion in revenues in 2009.

Zale Corp. was accompanied by 12 other entities in a new wave of jewelry retailers and designers that have joined the No Dirty Gold campaign being promoted by conservation group Earthworks and partners. Twenty companies previously pledged to boycott Pebble, including Tiffany & Co., Helzberg Diamonds and Ben Bridge.

The more than 30 jewelers now opposing the mine represent more than $6 billion in annual sales.

Getting jewelry retailers and designers on board is important because jewelry represents more than 80 percent of the global demand for gold, said Earthworks' Bonnie Gestring.

John Shively, chief executive of Pebble Limited Partnership, which is promoting the mine, said Zale coming out against Pebble is nothing more than a meaningless publicity stunt.

''It is pretty easy for a company to come out against buying gold that doesn't exist at this point,'' he said. ''We are years away from construction. The people managing that company now will probably be gone. Big deal.''

Canada's Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. and London-based Anglo American are developing the mine. They have approved spending more than $73 million this year to finish a prefeasibility study and prepare the project for permitting in 2011.

Northern Dynasty President and CEO Ron Thiessen has described the deposit of copper, gold and molybdenum at Pebble as ''among the most significant accumulations of metal ever discovered.''

But Bob Waldrop with the Bristol Bay Regional Seafood Development Association said the area's salmon, which come back year after year, are worth much more. All the other river systems that supported huge salmon runs -- the Columbia, the Sacramento, the Fraser -- have collapsed, he said.

''This one stands alone,'' Waldrop said of Bristol Bay.

In 2008, commercial fishermen were paid between $160 million and $180 million for Bristol Bay salmon, he said.

''Pebble is bad business,'' Waldrop said. ''Why risk fish for fashion?''

Dry Fly Action on the Clark Fork is Now!