Post by wisp on Mar 16, 2009 0:06:54 GMT 8
Hi, just something I got off fishingkaki that I would to highlight on our background efforts. Let's not forget the lessons of others!
IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT
By GARY LOOMIS
The same thing that led me to create a fishing rod company is now taking me on another path. Years and years of fishing (and frustration with my equipment) led me to create a fishing rod company. Now, those same years of fishing (plus about thirty more) are taking me on another mission, conservation. The passion I feel for saving our wild and native fisheries can only be compared to the way I felt about graphite when I was forty and the way I've felt about fishing all my life. The thousands of hours I've spent fishing have taught me the difference between a good and a bad rod and the difference between a good healthy river and one that we've managed to screw up. Watching huge runs of salmon, steelhead and trout that have survived for thousands of years be all but decimated in the matter of a human lifetime is unbearable to me. After all, what is a fisherman if there are no fish?
I could go on and on (and I have) about what people are doing wrong that is causing the current problems in the Pacific Northwest (gillnetters, dams, habit destruction etc.) but eventually I realized the only way to save fish was to do something. As avid fishermen, we often know our home waterways (and what is hurting them) better than anyone. After all, we're the ones floating and wading through them everyday. Here in Washington we saw firsthand what a bad culvert could do to a tributary and what happened to spawning grounds when the bank was suddenly devoid of vegetation.
It was this knowledge that led us here at G.Loomis to create Fish First, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to saving the wild and native fish in Washington's Lewis River system. Our methods are simple, rather than complain about the things we can't change, we fix the things we can. We have created countless bank enhancements and in-stream structures. We put up fences and bridges to keep cattle out of the entire river. We've created pools and eddies for fish to rest and spawn and replaced culverts deemed unpassable for anadromous fish and complete many, many other projects. It hasn't taken millions of dollars or new laws or tax initiatives. It has taken hard work, a lot of it. The work of people who weren't afraid to get their fee wet or their hands dirty.
The important message here isn't what we've done, it's what's possible for you to do. It's hard for me to express the satisfaction I've felt watching fish flourish because of something we've done. Heck, it's almost as good as watching them hack a lure. I guess what I'm trying to say is, do something. You're the ones who know what needs to be done and you'll be surprised what a difference you can make. No one wants to save your local fish as much as you do. Take a good hard look at your local fishery the next time you're there and I bet you can find more than a few ways to make it better. It's going to take us all.
IF YOU WANT IT DONE RIGHT
By GARY LOOMIS
The same thing that led me to create a fishing rod company is now taking me on another path. Years and years of fishing (and frustration with my equipment) led me to create a fishing rod company. Now, those same years of fishing (plus about thirty more) are taking me on another mission, conservation. The passion I feel for saving our wild and native fisheries can only be compared to the way I felt about graphite when I was forty and the way I've felt about fishing all my life. The thousands of hours I've spent fishing have taught me the difference between a good and a bad rod and the difference between a good healthy river and one that we've managed to screw up. Watching huge runs of salmon, steelhead and trout that have survived for thousands of years be all but decimated in the matter of a human lifetime is unbearable to me. After all, what is a fisherman if there are no fish?
I could go on and on (and I have) about what people are doing wrong that is causing the current problems in the Pacific Northwest (gillnetters, dams, habit destruction etc.) but eventually I realized the only way to save fish was to do something. As avid fishermen, we often know our home waterways (and what is hurting them) better than anyone. After all, we're the ones floating and wading through them everyday. Here in Washington we saw firsthand what a bad culvert could do to a tributary and what happened to spawning grounds when the bank was suddenly devoid of vegetation.
It was this knowledge that led us here at G.Loomis to create Fish First, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to saving the wild and native fish in Washington's Lewis River system. Our methods are simple, rather than complain about the things we can't change, we fix the things we can. We have created countless bank enhancements and in-stream structures. We put up fences and bridges to keep cattle out of the entire river. We've created pools and eddies for fish to rest and spawn and replaced culverts deemed unpassable for anadromous fish and complete many, many other projects. It hasn't taken millions of dollars or new laws or tax initiatives. It has taken hard work, a lot of it. The work of people who weren't afraid to get their fee wet or their hands dirty.
The important message here isn't what we've done, it's what's possible for you to do. It's hard for me to express the satisfaction I've felt watching fish flourish because of something we've done. Heck, it's almost as good as watching them hack a lure. I guess what I'm trying to say is, do something. You're the ones who know what needs to be done and you'll be surprised what a difference you can make. No one wants to save your local fish as much as you do. Take a good hard look at your local fishery the next time you're there and I bet you can find more than a few ways to make it better. It's going to take us all.
