My favorite magazine, The FlyFish Journal, ran a feature article on the fight to get hatchery fish off the McKenzie River.
It’s worth a read, if you want to relive that great night back in 2010 in the Springfield Amory.
I haven’t gotten around to the rest of the issue yet, but I’m sure it’s amazing. Plus, it also features a short essay I wrote on my favorite Oregon, band Red Fang.
To date, Red Fang’s video for the song Prehistoric Dog has over 1.5 million views. I account for about a third of them. The premise of the video: Beefy heavy metal dudes drink enough beer to build weapons and suits of armor out of the aluminum cans and attack a group of LARPing kids in a Portland park.
In another video, they weld a plow to the front of a station wagon and drive it through a wall made from 80 gallons of milk, shotgunning PBRs and huffing nitrous oxide through balloons.
The music is great, but the magic of these videos is the guys themselves. The dudes in Red Fang look old. But they’re having this amazing time. And that inspired the story in the magazine.
Pick up your copy at the shop and enjoy.
-MS
Hello Matt,
One of those old gray beards looks like something from the mirror! It was & still is a good fight. To date, some good data has been flowing in from floy tagging and radio tracking efforts. Kudos to those willing to let the cards fall where they may.
The trip isn’t made often, but a ride starting at Springfield, east along Rt 126, to McKenzie Bridge tells all. There is “always” a For Sale sign within sight. Sad to say that ODFW, ACE, and the MRGA drove the McKenzie River into the ground. ODFW even stopped their Angler Vehicle Counts in 2002. Nobody goes there.
If fishing the mac is on your bucket list, I’ll suggest spending the money in Montana.
Best Wishs,
Craig