• Posted on 06/09 at 07:29 AM
Rivers of a Lost Coast DVD to come with 25 page insert booklet
Skinny Fist Productions is proud to announce the Rivers of a Lost Coast DVD which will be available later this Fall, will include a 25 page insert booklet full of new material. The booklet will include writings from Russell Chatham on Bill Schaadt, Jack Berryman on early west coast fly fishing culture as well as tributes to Ted Lindner and Nelson Rossig. The booklet will also include a host of photos and goodies not used in the film.
Also available later this Fall will be the Rivers of a Lost Coast soundtrack CD. Palmer Taylor’s stirring symphony orchestrations, will be a great rhythmic ride-along for any of your fishing trips.
Below is an excerpt on the Eel River taken from the booklet:
So here we stand: The Eel River
So here we stand, 125 years after commercial fishermen in a single season netted over 1 million fish (not pounds, but fish), from the lower Eel River. 100 years after John Benn, William Carson and other Eel River pioneers first began casting flies to the sea-going trout they were calling Steelhead. Ninety years after San Francisco anglers spent two days traveling through the damp and dangerous redwood forests for a chance to hook a tackle-busting Eel River King. Eighty years since the Eel was noted in national sporting magazines as one of the finest angling streams in the country. Seventy-Five years since the Eel captured 1st through 5th place in the annual Field and Stream Big Fish Contest, earning the title “River of Giants.” Seventy years since Sam Wells and Jim Pray’s fly shops were graced by steelhead-seeking ex-presidents and congressman. Sixty-Five years since returning WWII servicemen rushed to the river to experience one of the greatest seasons the Eel would ever produce. Sixty years since the Fernbridge and Fulmor holes turned black with massive schools of fish. Less than Fifty-Five years since Bill Schaadt flipped his car on an Eel River gravel bar in his mad pursuit to get down to the swarms of crashing steelhead. And only fifty years since Nelson Rossig hooked three King Salmon on each of five consecutive mornings, all within the short hour he fished before work.
So here we stand, at the dawn of a new century, where now all species of salmon, steelhead and cutthroat trout of the Eel River are either listed as Threatened or Endangered. Where the salmon and steelhead returns are so dismal, no angler is allowed to keep even a single fish. Where, when the river’s flows are low enough, the Eel is closed to all fishing, including catch-and-release.
We stand now, looking back at a century of ruthless logging. We stand looking at two impassible dams that carry Eel River water to Sonoma County. We stand watching invasive pike minnow attack juvenile salmon and steelhead. We stand looking back at the irresponsible introduction of genetically inferior strains of salmon and steelhead. We stand now looking at a river that has become a collection of stagnant frog pools surrounded by sterile fields of silt-covered boulders.
We stand now looking back at how man’s greed and ignorance destroyed one of the greatest steelhead and salmon rivers on the planet.
And yet now we also stand with a greater understanding of the damage we’ve done. We stand armed with better restoration tools and science than ever before. We stand now knowing continued road building and increased rural and municipal water demands will pose the greatest threat to the future of the Eel River. We stand knowing that moving water from one watershed to another has devastating consequences. We stand knowing there is no replacement for the processes of Mother Nature. We stand now with hundreds of organizations working to protect and restore California’s Creeks and Rivers. Yet ultimately we stand now knowing that we will lose 65% of California’s native salmon, steelhead and trout in the next century if we do not change our current practices.
