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Fishing line
AMERICAN RIVER - There's a "ton" of shad in the river, but catching them consistently requires trying for them the last hour or so of daylight. That's also a good time to avoid the mass of rafters that dominate the river when the sun is high in the sky. Most of the fish are concentrated above Sunrise Ave. A fair number of salmon and striped bass have also been attracted to the river, and, while
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Having a body that fit reduces her options in hiking partners basically down to her husband, but it expands her options for hiking to just about anything on the planet.
"I knew Memorial Day was a little early up there, but decided to try it anyway," she said, describing the couple's long-weekend adventure in the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.
The nice thing about hiking into Granite Lake in May is that you don't have to worry about deadfall on the trail. Most downed trees are still covered in snow.
"But we had to scramble up and over the big piles of snow left by the avalanches," she said.
Remarkably, the ice had melted off the lake, but the McLaughlins were not surprised to enjoy the spoils of shoulder season hiking.
"We had to camp on snow, but we were the only one's there," she beamed.
Not even the mosquitoes were out.
Prime time begins: The shoulder season is waning at all but the higher elevations in the region. Trails are virtually snow-free heading into areas such as Steven Lakes near Lolo Pass.
But check with Forest Service ranger stations before heading into more remote areas where small lingering snow drifts can block access to miles of otherwise bare forest road.
Also beware that that trail crews are just getting out and most high routes have not been maintained.
Koocanusa kokanee: Early anglers at Lake Koocanusa didn't do well during the usual late February-early March fishery near Libby Dam. Power wasn't being generated and the fish didn't show.
But while the upper half of the reservoir is still off-color, the few anglers on the water are now catching kokanee in fairly large numbers, according to Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks surveys.
Trouble is, the two age classes of fish being caught are short and shorter: Averaging 6 or 9 inches. The older age class should be in the 10-11-inch range in August.
Clark Fork's back: Flows on Western Montana rivers have been dropping and clearing steadily the past week, and Clark Fork River trout are back in action, according Clark Fork Trout & Tackle in St. Regis.
Salmonfly hatches are mostly history, but the trout still look at the imitations.
Hatches include pale mourning duns, green drakes, golden stones, little yellow sallies and caddis. On Tuesday, the shop reports, the rainbows were eating the green drake cripples like they were candy.
Chinooks blow in: The number of returning adult spring chinook salmon passing the Bonneville Dam on the Columbia River this year has topped 248,000, officials say.
Returning fish are down significantly from the 2001 record run, but this is still the fourth-largest count since record keeping began in 1938, and the fourth year in a row that fish counts have been healthy at the dam.
"This is particularly encouraging since many of the returning spring chinook adults had to migrate to the ocean as juveniles during the drought of 2001," said Brig. Gen. David Fastabend with the . Army Corps of Engineers.
The 2003 return of upriver spring chinook passing the Bonneville Dam as of May 31 was 192,012, well above the ten-year average of 122,209. The returns for 2001 and 2002 were 391,367 and 268,813, respectively.
Biologists with NOAA Fisheries said good ocean conditions were a major factor in the strong numbers.
Action is intense on upstream Idaho fisheries such as the Little Salmon River near Riggins. The next big salmon spike will start in mid-August, when fall chinooks start pouring in bound for the Hanford Reach.
Only in America: The waste created by the prissy politically correct inbreeding of urban society adds to the arrogant ugly- American image we telegraph to the poorer corners of the world.
Consider the great Seattle goose slaughter.
More than 5,600 geese in Seattle have been destroyed since 2000, when a federal judge ruled that the government could kill Canada geese.
The culling means people can now "see and enjoy" the geese, but "not be slipping in poop everywhere," said Roger Woodruff, . Department of Agriculture state director in Olympia.
This 75 percent reduction in the number of fowl fouling the city's parks should make it easier to find a clean spot of grass for a picnic and it should reduce the bacteria in bird waste blamed for causing "swimmer's itch" in local waters.
State and federal workers have been treating goose eggs while the parents are nesting to prevent them from hatching and becoming another boom in goose numbers.
But the number of adults had to be reduced, too. But even though the reduction would still leave thousands of geese in the area, the mention of "killing" a few sent certain animal rights groups into conniptions.
This spring, they even went to the neighborhoods of officials such as the local parks and recreation chief to protest in front of their homes.
What do you expect from people who can think of nothing more worthwhile to do than to organize a group called "Give Geese a Chance?"
Give geese a chance to do what? Put poop in the sneaker treads of every kid in Seattle?
This city is so rattled by animal-rights wackos, the officials did not even consider salvaging the goose meat. They rounded up the honkers and tossed them into gas chambers and hauled them to dumps.
Only the uncivilized countries in this world would consider cutting the heads off of perfectly good geese and feeding the meat to hungry people.
No comment: PETA is at it again, with a Boise Statehouse protest likening the human consumption of meat to the Holocaust.
Weapon of choice: Down South, criminals don't always rob people for bucks, they might even use bucks to rob people.
A North Carolina woman was in jail Tuesday after being accused of robbing a man at antler-point, according to a Raleigh TV station Web site.
Angela Johnson is charged with using a deer head to steal $20 from her victim. The police report calls the rack a dangerous weapon, but does not detail whether this was a Boone and Crockett quality buck or simply raghorn with an attitude.
Johnson was being held in the Wake County Jail on a $75,000 bond.
I am not making this up.
Coming next: Roadkill committing highway robbery.
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