FlyTalk

Truth is, trout fishing in America, as we know it, just wouldn't be the same without tailwaters. Minus those hydro dams, you could kiss goodbye those wallhanger trophy photos from the Green ... or the Missouri ... or the Frying Pan ... or the Colorado at Lees Ferry ... or the Delaware ... or the White River in Arkansas, among many others.

But there's also no doubt that certain dams are killing native fisheries, and in some cases, they should go. Period. Especially in the Northwest where we're in the final hours, it seems, of finding some logical solutions for recovering the Columbia-Snake River basin to help steelhead and salmon migrations. Take five minutes, right now (or at least before December 15), and visit www.tu.org to find a link to contact NOAA fisheries, and let them know you demand all options be considered in the federal recovery plan for Columbia-Snake River salmon and steelhead, including lower Snake River dam removal.

It's time to end the gridlock and lethargy.

Deeter

Last month I learned that the Rocky Mountain Farmer's Union in Bailey, Colorado, will close its mile-plus of the North Fork of the South Platte River to the 75 dues-paying members who have been fishing it for years, as well as outfitters and their clients. A wealthy individual agreed to pay $80,000 per year for five years to lease the property exclusively. So, he gets the big "F.U." from the rest of us.

The Rocky Mountain Angling Club also described in its last letter how an outfitter and his sugar daddy financier wheedled a lease from the group by promising untold riches to a landowner. Then of course, there is the infamous Donny Beaver squeeze on Pennsylvania's Little Juniata ... and Montana, it seems, is always beating back efforts by wannabe land barons to undo what may be the most enlightened stream access law in America.

Don't get me wrong, I support private landowner rights, and fish private water often myself. But the trend of privatizing, excluding, and raising the price of admission will kill this sport ... at least as far as trout fishing is concerned. And it's time for all the shops and manufacturers who collectively fret and whine about the shrinking fortunes of the flyfishing market to wake up and admit the obvious ... flyfishing is killing itself. Unless we all get aggressive about expanding stream access nationally, there will be a few winners, and everyone else will lose.

Deeter

Mr. Bartkowski brings up a very good point when he mentions the color issue.

Do trout really key on colors? I must say, when the mayflies are hatching, I match size foremost ... with a gray parachute Adams. When it's PMD time, I'll use a yellow or cream colored parachute. But I've never been a big advocate of specific shades. Until now.

Recently, I've found purple to be a hugely important hue in my flybox. When no other attractor nymph works, the purple Prince will. Then there's the blue midge, or the blue glo-bug. Blue? You can turn over a million rocks in the river, and never see anything remotely similar to a purple Prince (or regular Prince for that matter) or a blue midge. Yet they work. My theory is that differentiation is the real factor in play here ... and a good drift trumps all. Anyone with some good sources on colors as they relate to trout attraction, please chime in.

Deeter