The Northern California Fly Fishing Board

No, that wasn't exactly my point. There were a couple of points. First was that for every woman like the one in the article who was using foundation money for this side of an issue, there's someone using foundation money to support the other. My other point was that there are in fact legitimate concerns about the state of fisheries, especially oceanic fisheries. I spent part of my afternoon sitting on my ass watching Rivers of a Lost Coast today--for anyone on this board who hasn't seen it I recommend it as highly as I can. If you've ever fished in California you will find it fascinating. Fact is that the salmon and steelhead fisheries in Northern California were the envy of the world, and through a variety of factors they are virtually dead now. They were well-screwed by the time I got around to exploring the Russian and the Eel. There's one scene about anglers targeting fish stranded in a pool by drought. And there are interviews with these guys who in retrospect realize how shortsighted they were about the management of the resource. You can hear the heartbreak in their voices.

Do I think Obama is going to shut down fishing in America? What exactly do you think I'm smoking? There is no way that this country would put up with b.s. like that. Is it possible that fisheries may be highly regulated, like they shut down coastal salmon fishing in California and Southern Oregon? I thought that was likely the right thing to do, and I bet there will be other situations where it's merited. Like after poison spilled in the Upper Sac. That was the right thing to do to restore that fishery.

Do I think environmentalists do a better job protect natural resources? Hell yes I do. Without the environmental movement we'd all be fishing with pork bait for catfish by now.