Almost There Baby!

Things have been insane the last few weeks at TWK Intergalactic Headquarters. Most of it has been work and travel--gotta pay the rent--but also Teh Windknot is preparing to be completely out of pocket for a week on a (mirabile dictu!) full blown fishing trip. Been too busy even to toss a few 'maters Donny's way, even though he has been in the new again.

We are down the teh short strokes not folks. This afternoon, TWK braves the hell that is summer air travel to spend a couple of days doing the meet and greet in Teh Big Apple, but Friday a.m. (good Lord and US Scareways willing), you hero is hittng the road for ten days fishing in Michigan.

It ain't the most exotic locale, but it is the highlight of the year. For going on 15 years now, TWK and a couple of buddies have rented a cabin on the Holy Waters of the Au Sable. A cabin without a phone and even reliable cell phone service. A stint of pestering the feeshes late at night on the Au Sable and Manistee with mousies will work wonders. Sitting on the porch, looking at the river while drinking cheap beer during the day won't hurt much either.

I will definitely return refreshed and take up tweaking the Spring Ridge Club and other losers again. Who knows, I may even post some fishing pics.

The Truth Is Out There

Teh crack team in the basement of TWK's world headquarters is ready to blow the lid on the real mission of Field and Stream.

Most of you loyal reader(s) probably don't read such trash (except in the checkout line of the grocery store), but Field and Stream is a popular, mainstream outdoors magazine, known to snobs like TWK as a hook and bullet rag. One thing that F&S loves--almost as much as photos of guys with dead critters and B.S. bear stories--is ranking stuff. They probably are second only to People and VH1 in the number of rankings of the useless and unrankable.

A fishing pal, sent me a link to F&S's rankings of the best tailwaters in the U.S., presumably so we could share a good chuckle. I checked it out just to see how silly they were in choosing one fine well-known stream over another.

The article is mostly about the Green in Utah. Haven't hit it yet, but it isn't one to argue about. Then I got to the 'Best of the Rest' piece that is required in any ranking article and here is the summary:

Here's a quick guide to five of the best:

1. San Juan River [New Mexico]
2. Fryingpan River [Colorado]
3. Lower Sacramento River [California]
4. White River [Arkansas]

San Juan, Frying Pan, blah blah--all famous tailwaters. Then I got to:

5. Gunpowder Falls [Maryland]

WTF? The Gunpower? One of the top tailwaters in the US? Now, I love the Gunpowder and fished it all the time when I lived in the area--and even hit it a few weeks ago for old times sake when passing through--but no way is it one of the top tailwaters. Sure it may be one of the top tailwaters in the Bodymore-Washington Metroplex, but F&S listed it over some far, far better steams.

I was just about to close out of the window, when I noticed their latest list 150 Best Fishing Spots (near you). This one was complete with Google Maps of said spots. So, I checked it out in all the states with which I am familiar and it was even weirder than the tailrace list. Each state (that had all three) got a saltwater place, a bassin' impoundment and a trout stream. However the trout streams were either all very famous streams or completely wrong. Some crappy stocker stream that nobody but the greenest n00b would waste a minute on.

Then it hit me. Field and Stream is actually one of the good guys. Unlike many of it's 'highbrow' bretheren, F&S isn't telling anyone anything about where to fish, unless it is a stream everyone in the world already knows. Deliberate misinformation. A conspiracy.

Daddy likey!

Hail To The Victors Valiant!

No, Teh Wind Knot is not getting an early start on the college football season. Heck, he is not even a Big Ten fan.

Teh shoutout is for The Anglers of the Au Sable who just won an injunction in court against Merit Energy's plan to pump 1.2 million gallons per day of treated groundwater into Kolke Creek.

Merit bought some production property near the headwaters of the Manistee that Shell Oil had spent years polluting. As part of the purchase, they took over the requirement to do something about the toxic groundwater plume caused by the previous owners. Merit wanted to pump the groundwater, filter it and discharge it into Kolke Creek, which runs into the Au Sable river.

Forgetting the fact that this water might not be as squeaky clean as Merit says it will be, the simple fact of taking this much water that essentially runs into the headwaters of the Manistee and move it to the headwaters of the Au Sable is going to make a big difference in both systems. It is the kind of idea only Krushchev would love these days.

The Anglers of the Au Sable and local property owners filed a lawsuit and recently won an injunction to stop the plan.

The judge in the case held:

Plaintiff landowners have brought this action to prevent the release of treated groundwater into Kolke Creek as part of the Defendants' efforts to remediate a hydrocarbon spill. This court finds that the Defendants' proposed use of Kolke Creek is unreasonable, and grants a limited injunction to prevent unreasonable use, of the watercourse. In addition, this court holds that the proposed use would violate the Michigan Environmental Protection Act.

He goes on to note:

Given the delicate ecosystem of Kolke Creek, this court finds that it is not a suitable location to discharge large volumes of treated groundwater. This is especially true in light of the fact that Merit has other feasible and prudent alternatives to discharging the treated water.

A huge pat on the back goes out to The Anglers of the Au Sable, the landowners and Rusty Gates, who worked very hard on this one. Unfortunately, these folks have no time to rest on their laurels. They are fighting a plan to drill for gas near the Mason Tract on the South Branch in U.S. district court.