Smiles and Wonder
Thank you for reminding me, with each magazine that lands in my mailbox, the importance of returning to my favorite childhood creek. “The First Trout” by Bill Barich took me back to tying my first knots (thankfully, they held). My first fish caught was small, and that was not as impressive as seeing it swim away. Thank you for many memories relived by the chance to rejoice on the back end of y’all creating a wonderful fishing magazine.
Bill King
Concord
Small World
I enjoyed Bill Barich’s article “The First Trout.” I just have to say, “small world,” as it always is in fly fishing. You see, my grandparents owned a dairy farm on Putney Road in Brattleboro, Vermont. It is where I caught my first fish. Not on a fly at my young age, but probably a worm dug behind the barn. It was a small brook trout stream. Our property backed up to the Kipling property. He probably fished it back in the day. Our property became the Dodge dealership, and Grandma’s house became the office for years.
About 30 years ago, I talked to Joan Wulff, trying to get her to come and speak in California. It didn’t happen, unfortunately. But I told her that talking with her reminded me of my grandmother. She asked me why, and I said she was older and had the same New England accent. She asked me where my grandmother was from, and I told her Brattleboro. She told me she and Lee lived across the river in Keene, New Hampshire, in the early ’60s and knew our little brook trout stream. Small world.
Brian Adams
Mentorship Director
Kern River Fly Fishers
RESPONSES TO REEL STORIES
We received a strong response to our Reel Stories question “What California water—river, stream, or lake—is worth fighting for?” The winner of the promotion was Ove Kargard who answered the Owens River.
Over the years, the Owens River and Valley have been heavily degraded due to development, water drainage, and environmental changes. Diversions from the Owens River by the Los Angeles Aqueduct have devastated the Owens Valley’s ecosystem, desiccating Owens Lake and causing severe ecological damage. Although restoration efforts have begun, it will be years, if at all, that the river will be restored to a healthy waterway.
– Ove Kargard
The results were a reminder of how much this community cares. Hot Creek led all mentions—and there’s a reason: Read “The Good Fight” to learn about the fight to protect its headwaters from a proposed gold mine. The McCloud, Upper Sacramento, and Kern River each drew strong support, along with more than a dozen other waters. And perhaps the most honest answer of all? “All of them”—which more than a few of you wrote in.
Hot Creek is our Pebble Mine fight to protect a spot that started the fly-fishing journey for so many of us!
— Alex Zinniker
The McCloud is one of the most beautiful rivers I’ve ever fished in California. It is a cold-water spring-fed ecosystem.
Protecting the river helps preserve one of the most historically significant wild trout lineages in the world.
— Jose Mendoza
The Kern River drainage—North Fork, South Fork, Little Kern and Golden Trout Creek (Volcano Creek)—is a spectacular watershed.
The Kern is a spring creek supporting California golden trout and Kern river rainbow (both species of special concern), and Little Kern golden trout (threatened and endangered). What makes the Kern River worth fighting for are these three California heritage trout whose native waters are in this river drainage. It may be too late, but every effort must be made to protect these native trout species in their native waters.
— Ronald Slimm
The Truckee River. Legendary and scenic, it is the lifeline of the Sierra.
— Alejandro Castillo
The Smith River. The longest undammed California river should remain protected at all costs. The icy cold clear water is home to native wild trout that call this river between the redwoods home.
— Sascha Michel
