High Water Mickey Finn

     Record spate coming down the upper Columbia this year. Up to 200% above average snowpack in some places on the higher mountains to the north & east – the Kootenays, the Cabinets. Still more to come. Water coming in from the Pend Oreille, carrying topsoil from the Flathead & Pend Oreille valleys, is dang near like chocolate milk. The river is flooded into the trees & there is a concerning amount of logs & debris coming down the American Reach-Columbia mainstem.

The nutrients carried in the spate will replenish the reach. Too bad they can’t make it past the dams to the sea where they are necessary in the chain of life. If we were to be made truly great again, then imagine the great wealth & job-creating project it might be to remove the dams, restore the fish, & get going providing the grid for sustainable, low-cost power. If it is really true that “Americans can do anything,” then why do we continue to support the world-destroying status quo? I’m afraid we’ve a long, long way to go toward greatness from where we are now.

The U.S. & Canada Columbia River Treaty is up for re-negotiation in Washington D.C. this week. At nearly the last minute, in a unilateral move, it has been decided that the Columbia River Tribes on both sides of the border, & all other fisheries stakeholders, will be left out of the talks. Apparently the only legit stakeholders are the power consortiums operating the dams.

Once in a while in a fisherman’s life he must fish.

And fish have to eat. No matter how high or dirty the water, no matter how inane & short-sighted the policies of men. There are places where the determined can hammer it out. The bugs haven’t really got going yet, so I’m swinging things large-ish in visible colorations. The old Mickey Finn is a good one. I love bucktails. Bucktail has great action & allows a large pattern that is easily cast, the material providing the illusion of mass without actual bulk. Everybody knows the dressing. I like UV treated bucktail for these.