Rivers of a Lost Coast

• Posted on 03/16 at 08:16 AM

Two legends

I grew up spending two weeks every summer running around between Klamath lake and Bend in central Oregon with my mother and father. As a kid I remember hearing the name Polly Rosborough and thinking it sounded like an uppity big city stiff. My perception of the man’s name couldn’t have been further from the reality of the man himself. My father and his friends sat around a campfire at night talking about the legendary Williamson River angler and when we went into town, we always stopped at the Chiloquin hardware store to pick up a handful of his fuzzy flies. When we were lucky enough to see Polly out on the river, my dad would quietly whisper “That’s Polly Rosborough” as if we were in the presence of the type of greatness that requires whispering. Although I hate that type of hype, we probably were.

Polly Rosborough, lived an un-frivolous, simple and devoted life. He was one of the country’s best fly tiers with a unique style that remains today, unmistakably his. He lived in a rented space about a stone’s throw from the river.

After reading last week’s blog about Bill Schaadt’s Christmas Card to CHarlie Napoli, Cameron Derbyshire picked up an old Christmas Card he had been keeping in the book jacket of his copy of the Angler’s Coast and emailed it to us. It is a hand-drawn Card Bill Schaadt sent to Polly Rosborough shortly after the two men became friends. In the early 60s Bill Schaadt was busted by a California game warden for fishing at night. His license was revoked for a year. Not willing to sit on his hands for 12 months, Schaadt traveled north, and not long after crossing the Oregon border found himself exploring Polly Rosborough’s home waters. The two quickly became fishing partners and good friends. The rainbow trout of Upper Klamath Lake and the Williamson River have always acted more like Steelhead than spring stream trout and naturally Schaadt’s steelhead experience on California’s coastal streams made him a quick understudy. The season spent together left a lasting impression on both their lives.

Take a look at another hand-drawn Christmas Card and note the brief message Schaadt wrote for Polly. “Hope to see you soon. Thanks for your help and info. Bill"(The sketch is a self-portrait of Schaadt.)

Schaadt to Rosborough

Posted by Justin on 03/16 at 08:16 AM in (12) Comments • Permalink

• Posted on 03/12 at 08:22 AM

The upcoming schedule

We’ve received a lot of emails about the upcoming theater showings, and wanted to clarify what’s going on. We’ll be starting off with a presentation about the film including some short clips at the Russian River Wild Steelhead Society gathering at the Russian River Sportsman Club on Saturday April 11th. The following Thursday, April 16th, the film will be at the State Theater in Modesto. On Tuesday and Wednesday the 21st and 22nd of April the film will be at the Rialto Theater in Berkeley, also on Wednesday the 22nd and again on Thursday the 23rd, Rivers of a Lost Coast will be showing at the Crest Theater in downtown Sacramento. The following Monday and Tuesday the 27th and 28th of April the film will be at the Rialto theater in Santa Rosa.

The film is in discussions with theaters in San Jose, Santa Cruz and San Francisco but at this point nothing has been agreed upon.

Rivers of a Lost Coast will be traveling north for stops in Fortuna, Arcata and Crescent City although the specific dates and times have not yet been finalized.

On Saturday May 9th filmmakers and narrator Tom Skerritt will be attending the Wild Steelhead Coalition’s reception and screening of Rivers of a Lost Coast at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus in Seattle Washington. Tickets will be available on the Wild Steelhead Coalition website the week of March 14th.

On Thursday May 14th, Rivers of a Lost Coast will be screening at McMenamins Theater in Bend Oregon. The film is also likely to be shown in the Eugene and Portland areas although no dates or locations have yet been set.

Make sure and check us out in the latest issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine and keep an eye out for upcoming reviews in California Fly Fisher, Outside, Outside online, Salmon Trout Steelheader, Midcurrent, Northwest Fly Fishing and the Petaluma Argus-Courier.

Hope to see you at a showing. 

Posted by Justin on 03/12 at 08:22 AM in (4) Comments • Permalink

• Posted on 03/11 at 08:23 AM

Time to step up

A panel of legal and fishery experts blasted the state’s inadequate, under-funded and poorly managed salmon practices at a special hearing yesterday. Identifying a host of serious blunders including, lack of monitoring of fish returns, lack of monitoring riparian and groundwater withdrawals, lack of monitoring land-use changes, and a severe inability to enforce existing laws, the panel told legislators the problem is not new and that their blind eye has only worsened the problem.

The panel, which included several UC Davis fishery experts, told legislators the state’s environmental laws are both robust and legally adequate, but what remains inadequate is the level of state funding and resources allocation to enforce the existing laws. The panel noted California had the lowest warden enforcement to citizen ratio in the entire country.

The panel also noted Oregon, Washington and Idaho all closely monitor their salmon in order to make informed and wise management policy decisions, and yet California, with possibly the greatest salmon problem has no comprehensive data gathering structure in place.

The legislators were routinely reminded of Prof. Moyle’s recent study stating 65% of California’s native salmon, steelhead and trout populations will be permanently lost if current practices do not change.

You can read more in a Sacramento Bee article by Matt Weiser California must step up to save salmon

Posted by Justin on 03/11 at 08:23 AM in Conservation • (4) Comments • Permalink

• Posted on 03/10 at 07:25 AM

Another Schaadt Drawing

On top of painting signs for local resorts and businesses, Schaadt did a wealth of sketches for his closest friends. Schaadt drew this Christmas card in 1962 for Charlie Napoli and his family (see the “Shad” insignia on the lower right). Each year Schaadt drew a handful of Christmas cards, it is unclear if it was a way for him to make a few extra bucks or if he just did it for fun. The accomplished artist loved to sketch.

As a boy Charlie Napoli befriended Bill and quickly became a consumed angler. Charlie was about as close as a young man could get to the reclusive angler. It was through Charlie that many other Russian River kids befriended Bill.

Later in life, Charlie and a companion were tragically killed while on a boat ride out of Bodega Bay. Charlie is fondly remembered by many of his now gray-haired Russian River boyhood friends.

Napoli Christmas Card

Posted by Justin on 03/10 at 07:25 AM in Bill Schaadt • (6) Comments • Permalink