The Joke's Over

But the laughing’s not. April Fool’s Day exposed the humorous sensibilities of several fly fishing writers/photographers, including the folks at Alaska Fly Fishing Goods, who revealed a new steelhead stream under construction in downtown Juneau, a killer Mommas and Babies mouse pattern, and waders made — conveniently — entirely from Aquaseal. “Try on a pair. You will be amazed. Note: Because Aquaseal is clear by nature, we strongly recommend you don’t wade ‘commando.'”
Meanwhile, Kirk Deeter of Fly Talk reported that portions of the Mississippi will soon be declared fly-fishing- and catch-and-release only. “Noodling for catfish will still be allowed in all sections of the river and its tributaries.”
And over on Singlebarbed, where April 1 sometimes seems to come two or three days a week, Keith Barton struggles with the ethical conundrum of whether or not to kill a potential world record pike minnow: “… and what kind of fame does an IGFA accredited World Record Pikeminnow really bring? Kissing babies and cutting ribbons, Paris Hilton on one arm, little mean-spirited rat dog clutched uncomfortably to my bosom, or is it really infamy, the kid with the largest unsightly blemish caused by ingestion of a single candy bar?”
Meanwhile Dan Bacher’s keyboard seemed to run away with him as he reported on a 10,000th California lawsuit, the last New England groundfish, Mexican drug cartels expanding into fishing, and monthly $13,201.69 oil drilling royalty checks for Alaskans, “as long as they stay in Alaska.”
Lastly, if you didn’t notice Scott Bowen’s entertaining MidCurrent reportage on the breaking of the George Perry bass record, read it here. Not content to enjoy the swarm of emails that resulted from his tomfoolery, Bowen kept me going for about two hours yesterday with this additional report: “Pretty wild news about Winston, eh? But they might be on to something. Production shift to 80% bamboo. Seems they’re going to move entirely away from graphite over the next four years. ‘Greening’ process, and improved trade with China (the best bamboo).”
“Really?” I said.