Montana Fly Fishing: Wild country, wild water, wild trout, wild flowers...

As they a picture really is worth a thousand words...in this case about says it all, don't you agree.

Update on Call to Boycott Orvis, Scientific Anglers, Ross Reels....

I just received this letter from Bill Eyre, Orvis...apparently I wrongly accused the current CEO Leigh, "Perk" Perkins of being involved in the recent attack on Montana's Stream Access  Law...If so, I humbly apologize and retract my call to Boycott the above...I do however stand by everything said about James Cox Kennedy, United Property Owners of Montana and PERC, including "Leigh Perkins Sr.", the now retired head of Orvis...Here is the letter Eyre sent me judge accordingly...


Dear Mr. Robbins,

You’ve caught our attention with your blog post on Tuesday encouraging your readers to boycott Orvis. With all due respect, please allow me to set the record straight with a few facts:
Leigh H. Perkins (Sr.) is on the board of PERC. However, he retired as CEO of The Orvis Company in 1992. You have mistaken him for  Leigh H. “Perk” Perkins Jr., who has been Orvis CEO since 1992. We can understand the confusion since they share the same name, but thought you should know the difference.
Leigh Sr.’s role as a board member of PERC is personal, and does not represent the position of The Orvis Company.
In fact, The Orvis Company doesn’t and has never supported PERC, and certainly does not support its position on the issue of public access nor its role in the Montana Supreme Court case to which your blog refers.
Further, Orvis CEO “Perk” Perkins (Leigh Jr.) is on the Advisory Board of Trout Unlimited, widely regarded as one of the more outspoken proponents of public access. Both Perk and Orvis have a long-standing track record of supporting responsible access for the public. Make no mistake, Orvis has long been and will continue to be “pro” public access. A fine example of this is our 2002 customer matching grant campaign in which we partnered with TU and NFWF, raising more than $150,000 to preserve public access at the Three Dollar Bridge on the Madison.
We would kindly request that you retract your call to boycott Orvis based on these facts, and we would appreciate if you would set the record straight with your readers by affirming Orvis’ long standing record of support for responsible public access.
I would be pleased to discuss this with you further, if you wish.

Respectfully,
Bill Eyre
Director of Branding & Corporate Marketing
The Orvis Company, Inc.

Montana Fly Fishing: An Endangered Species...

...Unless we act fast to curb the latest in a long line of underhanded, self-serving attempts by rich pricks such as James Kennedy, United Property Owners of Montana and Leigh Perkins, Orvis CEO who sits on the board of the Property and Environmental Research Center (PERC) to overturn the Montana Stream Access Law you can pretty much forget such idyllic scenes as the one above. No more wade fishing, no more float fishing, hell if these bastards get their way you will be in violation breathing the friggin' air above any crick flows thru the hallowed fiefdom. You can start by joining in to BOYCOTT Orvis...Area businesses can help by NOT doing business with anyone even remotely related to Kennedy and his nefarious gang of thieves. Let him and them know they are NOT welcome...Read on for the rest of the story...


James Kennedy, United Property Owners of Montana and PERC are trying to Overturn the Stream Access Law



James Cox Kennedy, CEO for Cox Enterprises, may have done an outstanding job caring for fish and wildlife on his property, as Dennis McCoy stated, but Kennedy not only wants to keep the public off the Ruby River, he wants to keep the public off all rivers and streams in Montana that flow through private property were the stream beds are private. Kennedy, the United Property Owners of Montana and PERC have intervened in behalf of Madison County in the appeal to the Montana Supreme Court of the Seyler Lane access to the Ruby River. Kennedy’s lawyer argued that not only is the public not allowed to use road easements to access the river, but the public can not use the rivers and streams in all of Montana if they are non navigable. Kennedy’s lawyer skipped over the appeal case of access to the river from Seyler Lane and went right to challenging the 1985 Montana Stream Access Law, the Montana Supreme Court ruling on the law and the Montana Constitution that states “all waters are the property of the state for the use of it’s people”. Kennedy wants to take away our constitutional right to use and enjoy all waters of Montana. Remember Kennedy, United Property Owners of Montana and PERC the next time you are floating your favorite river, or wading your favorite stream, because if they get their way, you won’t be doing it any longer.



Leigh H. Perkins, CEO of the Orvis Company, is on the board of directors of PERC, "Property and Environmental Research Center. BOYCOTT ORVIS!

My Montana: Fly Fishing a Grayling Lake and Cooking a Dutch Oven Burgoo

I haven't posted lately because been busy with other more pressing matters, article deadline, NOWA newsletter, getting boat ready and a new (used) boat trailer which of course needs a little tweaking to make it work for my boat. And since spring has indeed sprung (at last) there are the usual chores to tend to...

So Friday we took a much needed break and headed into the hills in search of a ice free mountain lake and hopefully a bunch of hungry grayling. Lucky us we found both and enjoyed a fine, mostly sunny, albeit a bit windy at times day hauling grayling (and a few brookies) much to the delight of all...Gale, me and, naturally, Annie...who I think might have enjoyed the sojourn even more than us....

Saturday it was back to the old grind but...We decided to get out the Dutch Oven and build us a genuine, traditional Kentucky burgoo...Elk, fowl, pork, enough different veggies to start a farmer's market booth (alas we did not grow the veggies, this is after all Montany), a dash of this, a dash of that, including Guiness stout, if you can believe it, 4 1/2 hours in the pot, adding charcoal as needed and...Well, trust me, this baby is a keeper...You ain't tried a burgoo sorry but you really are missing it...

Windy (isn't it always?) I rigged up our old smoker as windbreak, laid the prescribed number charcoal top and bottom of Dutch Oven, in due time (4 1/2 hours) Gale ladled us up a really fine feast...sorry ya'll weren't able to share it...