YES, YOU CAN TRY THIS AT HOME
Shore Lunch, The Angler’s Gourmet
Many people haven't even heard of shore lunch, but if somebody started a restaurant and served it, I suspect he or she might be quite successful.
In early September, I spent a week at an angler's paradise called Oliver Lake Wilderness Lodge. During my stay, I not only had great fishing but I was reminded how really great shore lunch can be.
And I am not talking about the little boxes of breading for fish you buy at the supermarket. I'm talking about the real deal. Most Canadian and Alaskan fishing lodges include a daily shore lunch in the package, and I suspect most first-timers have no clue what it is. Fortunately, for us, our guide at Oliver Lake, Mike Pundyk, was as skilled at cooking shore lunch as he was at finding fish.
[more]
WHAT MAKES A FLY-IN FISHING LODGE SO SPECIAL?
Fishing at its Finest: Oliver Lake, Saskatchewan
Anglers, especially fishaholics like myself, always lust for new and better fishing. We constantly push further and farther to find it. And I've discovered that looking for great fishing is a lot easier than finding it.
But it can happen, and it just did.
Last week, I endured a 15-hour drive (last hour on gravel) and a bumpy flight stuffed into a small floatplane to reach a truly remote fishing camp in northern Saskatchewan called the Oliver Lake Wilderness Lodge. My well-planned adventures don't always turn out to be so well-planned, but this time, the reward more than matched the effort.
[more]
MORE ARTICLES ON FISHING THE NORTH COUNTRY
Saskatchewan Fishing ChronologyIf you're a regular reader of NewWest.Net, you probably know I go up to Saskatchewan once each year to fish. In the process, I posted a series of articles on traveling to and fishing the north country of our neighbor to the north. Here's a convenient chronology of these articles. Enjoy. [more]
Advertisement
Blogvertorial
Revett’s Rock Creek Mine
The Wilderness Act of 1964 defines wilderness areas as places “where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man.” If you take that definition for what it is, as I do, you will likely conclude that mining is prohibited in designated wilderness areas. Imagine my bewilderment, then, at the proposal for Rock Creek Mine, which calls for digging and blasting under the Cabinet Mountains Wilderness of northwest Montana. A mine in a federally designated wilderness area? But silly me—the mine isn’t in the wilderness, it’s under it. And thanks to the 1872 mining law, that’s permitted. Here I thought the ground I was hiking on, all of it, all the way down to the earth’s core, was protected.www.SaveOurCabinets.org [more]
MORE INSIGHT AND INGENIUS FROM NEWWEST READERS
2007 Comments Worth Repeating IV
Yes, more comments this week, but I doubt you will be disappointed. I confess that I did this two weeks in a row because I am out fishing in a place with no online access. I'll try to write a real column next week.
This is the fourth selection of notable comments I've published so far this year. In addition to last week's column, you can read the first two Comments Worth Repeating posted earlier this year, clicking here and here.
[more]
WETLANDS PROJECT WINS COMMUNITY APPROVAL
Working Together: The Lodge at Whitefish Lake
A lot of business people and government leaders haven't learned this yet, but working together almost always works better than working against each other. And there is no better example than the upcoming expansion of the Lodge at Whitefish Lake.
Referred locally as "the wetlands project," a recent collaborative effort between the lodge owner and local environmentalists will soon result in some extremely valuable real estate being managed for its public resources such as wildlife and water quality instead of its private worth as condos or trophy homes.
Last week, I spent a night at the luxurious Lodge at Whitefish Lake and had dinner with owner Brian Avervill at the lodge's equally luxurious restaurant, the Boat Club. Over dinner, we talked about the evolution of the collaborative project.
[more]
DON'T OVERREACT TO WILDFIRE NEWS
Red Skies Over the Tourism Industry
Since the legendary fires of 1988 when Yellowstone and a lot of other places went up in smoke, the tourism industry has had a fiery challenge.
Forest fires are big news at NewWest.net and any other news outlet with no chance of this changing. Nor should it change, because people affected by fires need the most current information possible. For the most part, the media and fire information officers do a great job keeping us informed, but all this news coverage has activated the Law of Unintended Consequences. With these "Western Forests Ablaze" headlines, the media unintentionally sends out the false impression that the entire New West is burning up and that traveling there isn't smart or safe.
Not to belittle the real problems some people and communities suffer from forest fires, I say, "Whoa, partner. It isn't nearly as bad as it seems."
[more]
T-REX STILL LIVES IN EASTERN MONTANA
Dino Trail is Tourism Home Run
There's something about dinosaurs that makes me feel like I'm six years old again. And I suspect I'm not the only one.
When you walk in the Fort Peck Interpretive Center, you instantly turn into a wide-eyed youngster because you're starting eyeball-to-eyeball at a life-size replica of a Tyrannosaurus Rex found nearby and masterfully restored.
It's almost like they discovered the Fountain of Youth out in eastern Montana, so if your kids like dinosaurs (and what kid doesn't!) or you need a shot of youthfulness yourself (and who doesn't!), plan on taking the Montana Dinosaur Trail. It's for kids of all ages.
[more]
WE FORGET ABOUT OUR GREAT OUTBACK
The Other Montana
When the name of the state is Spanish for "mountain," it's understandably hard for people to think about the tranquil charm of the prairie.
Ad agencies and the media have made Montana synonymous with "western Montana" or perhaps even more appropriate, "mountainous Montana." So now, when you travel and tell people you're from Montana, they want to talk about mountains and trout fishing and grizzly bears and famous national parks, not the Montana Outback, other two-thirds of the state.
But The Other Montana is worth experiencing.
[more]
LEAVE YOUR CAR BEHIND, STILL SEE IT ALL
Glacier’s New Shuttle a Bold Step
If we built it, will they come? In this case, let's hope so.
On July 1, Glacier National Park (GNP) launched the long-awaited and long-needed shuttle system over Logan Pass on the famous Going-to-the-Sun Road, which is probably the most scenic drive in the New West. Such scenic beauty creates its own popularity, but the old road wasn't built to withstand the vehicular traffic in now receives.
Will the new shuttle system save the day for the historic road?
[more]
