Follow Up On Our Beloved Carp Apparel

Back on June 11th, I posted an article entitled "Our Beloved Carp Apparel".  My posting was instigated and in response to Trevor Tanner's article "Ode To Stank", where Trevor reveals his attachment to a certain cap that had certainly reached gnarly and stank status. 

When I published my post on June 11th, I figured there were other carp-by-fly fans that were just like Trevor and me, and they too just couldn't let go of certain pieces of apparel that had been with them for time. 

Sure enough, it wasn't long until I hear from Gregg Martin in Idaho and not only is Gregg the owner of crusty gear, it seems he has a whole collection of gnarled and stank-status carp-by-fly head wear. 

With Gregg, I think we may very well have found the kingpin of crud and I feel obliged to share his collection. 

The stinky, stank-status, crusty, crud-laden, and gnarly carp gear that we own are more than products of grime and grit.  These pieces of apparel have involved blood, sweat, and tears.  Blood from thorny bushes and sharp hook points; sweat from the sweltering temperatures of summer; and tears from the times those behemoth carp snap our leaders when there only seconds away from our grasp. 

Here's Gregg's offerings.

Chapter 58 Day 32 - Trout Season

River Keepers - River Warriors - Fighting The Good Fight

It's always good to hear stories about people who care about our fishing water and water in general. 

I don't know if there are any awards given to people who make an extra effort to protect our fishing streams and rivers.  Awards like River Keeper, or maybe River Warrior, or maybe the Fighting The Good Fight For Water award.  But, if there are... I would nominate some gentlemen today. 

McTage is a good fellow in Colorado that seems to have this terrible addiction to fly fishing in general.  Then, when it comes to the pursuit of carp by fly, his addiction only heightens. 

It seems, that recently, McTage was on an expedition in pursuit of his favored carp and he was somewhere near the confluence of Sand Creek and the Denver South Platte in Colorado.  As he reports it, he knew something was wrong almost as soon as he entered Sand Creek.  McTage smelled petroleum. 

With further investigation, McTage found an oily sheen on the creek and that's when he decided to take action.  A call was made to, I believe, the Colorado Public Health and Environmental Authority.  McTage explained what he had found, but, the response he got was somewhat lackadaisical.  McTage grew frustrated rather quickly, but, didn't abandoned his effort. 

Although this event would start at 9 a.m., McTage would pursue help until late mid-afternoon, but there was little results.

That evening he decided to take to writing about what he found on his blog Fly Carpin.  Not knowing how effective his blog would be, McTage published the post and that got things going.

In Idaho is a fellow fly fisher named Gregg and he quickly picked up on McTage's blog post.  From Idaho, Gregg called Bruce Finley at the Denver Post.  Bruce, upon learning of McTage's story called the EPA.... and things really got rolling then. 

Long story short is that a threatening environmental situation was stopped from getting worse because several men cared. 

You can read the whole account by visiting McTage's blog at Fly Carpin.

To me, McTage, Gregg, and Bruce are all heroes and if there was a River Keeper, River Warrior, or Fighting The Good Fight For Water award, I would nominate these guys right now. 

Keep up the good fight guys.

Here in Oklahoma, I expect to see more water heroes come forth.  I'm talking about the plight of the Lower Illinois River - Oklahoma's first year round trout fishery. 

It makes no sense to me, that with all the massive amount of water in Lake Tenkiller there has never been a single drop of water allocated for the Lower Illinois River. 

To me it's a no-brainer - if the Upper Illinois River supplies Lake Tenkiller, then Lake Tenkiller should supply the Lower Illinois River.  It's like someone said, "Let's build this big reservoir and screw the downstream side of it." 

Oklahoma's Trout Unlimited, the Oklahoma Wildlife Department, and concerned individuals are making efforts to find a permanent solution to the problems this lovely little trout stream has. 

I do believe there will be heroes emerge in the process and this story will have a happy ending.