unlimited odds and ends

[Onslow]

Jalapeno Margarita @ El Frias, Lampassas TX.  Best damn Mexican food I've ever eaten .

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[Onslow]

Reed Creek is becoming a lot more usable thanks to a newly established blue way

https://swvasun.com/wythe-completes-new-public-portage-parks-along-reed-creek-blueway-p12605-10.htm

The Kent Lane access is the uppermost near the I-81 Bridge (Wytheville) located at the Wythe County Joint Public Service Authority.  The water downstream is fairly low gradient, pastoral.

A second access is located just downstream of Max Meadows at Miller Portage Park has been established last week. The water downstream is more wooded, but the gradient is still low.

Carter Wayside Park has been open for a while and is more of a park than a canoe access, but legal access is access. Modifications to the steam bed took place here to accommodate the interstate.  The gradient picks up some here and at Grahams Forge. There possible take outs on private land near the New or one can paddle down to Allisonia.

I waded a little near Grahams Forge years ago, but only for a short while. I have no idea how this stream fishes. I suspect minimum flow for canoeing is 160 cfs while 300 cfs would be the upper end for float fishing which means a small window for good flows.

[trout-r-us]

Nice to see new access opening up in a world that seems to have been moving in the opposite direction for too long.

[Onslow]

Yadkin river canoe access @ Roaring River has been upgraded.

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[Woolly Bugger]

Shrimpgate: New bill to protect waterways would 'destroy' shrimp industry in North Carolina, critics warn
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Trawlers wouldn't be allowed to net shrimp in North Carolina's inland waters or within a half-mile of the coast under a proposal passed by the North Carolina Senate on Wednesday. Critics say the measure, if approved, would destroy the state's shrimping industry.

https://www.wral.com/story/shrimpgate-new-bill-to-protect-waterways-would-destroy-shrimp-industry-in-north-carolina-critics-warn/22055669/

[trout-r-us]

https://protectmypublicmedia.org/

[trout-r-us]

Shrimpgate: New bill to protect waterways would 'destroy' shrimp industry in North Carolina, critics warn
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Trawlers wouldn't be allowed to net shrimp in North Carolina's inland waters or within a half-mile of the coast under a proposal passed by the North Carolina Senate on Wednesday. Critics say the measure, if approved, would destroy the state's shrimping industry.

https://www.wral.com/story/shrimpgate-new-bill-to-protect-waterways-would-destroy-shrimp-industry-in-north-carolina-critics-warn/22055669/

A win (for now) for the shrimpers and those of us who enjoy eating wild local shrimp. 👍

"A bill to ban shrimp trawling in North Carolina's sounds died Wednesday at the hands of the state House of Representatives"

Read more at: https://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/article309400525.html#storylink=cpy

[Woolly Bugger]

Amelia Earhart's plane on remote Pacific island
Expedition sets to investigate mysterious 'Taraia Object' on Nikumaroro Island in search for Earhart's plane.

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Purdue University is launching a new expedition to locate Amelia Earhart's missing plane on a remote island in the South Pacific, based on evidence suggesting that it may have crashed there, according to NBC News. The university, which played a role in Earhart's 1937 flight by providing funding and employing her as a career counselor for women, is sending a team to Nikumaroro Island this November.

An expedition will investigate the mysterious "Taraia Object" on Nikumaroro Island, focusing on a "visual anomaly" in satellite imagery that may indicate the location of Earhart's Lockheed 10-E Electra. The object was first flagged in satellite photos following a tropical cyclone in 2015, which may have shifted sand and revealed the plane.

https://www.jpost.com/history/article-859883

video here: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/researchers-announce-new-effort-find-amelia-earharts-plane-rcna216286

[Woolly Bugger]

"Shocking" – 27 Million Tons of Nanoplastics Discovered in the North Atlantic


A major new study by the Royal Netherlands Institute for Sea Research (NIOZ) and Utrecht University has revealed that approximately 27 million tons of plastic, in the form of ultra-fine particles smaller than 1 micrometer, are currently floating in the North Atlantic Ocean. These findings, which provide a deeper understanding of the scale of microplastic pollution, were recently published in Nature.

"There is more plastic in the form of nanoparticles floating in this part of the ocean than there is in larger microplastics or macroplastics floating in the Atlantic—or even across all the world's oceans," said Helge Niemann, a researcher at NIOZ and professor of geochemistry at Utrecht University. In mid-June, he was awarded a 3.5 million euro grant to expand his investigations into nanoplastics in marine environments and their long-term impacts.


https://scitechdaily.com/shocking-27-million-tons-of-nanoplastics-discovered-in-the-north-atlantic/

[Woolly Bugger]

The long slow death of Norway's wild salmon


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Local angler Kristoffersen, who has been fishing for wild salmon for years, has not been catching much lately.


Waist-deep in a rain-swollen river, Christer Kristoffersen casts his line, landed it gently on the water, and caught... nothing. Norway's iconic wild salmon is in dramatic decline, a victim of fish farming and climate change.

"As a kid, in the early 1980s, there was so much fish in the river, you have no idea. It was packed with sea trout and salmon. We could catch 10-15 fish in one evening," said the fly fishing enthusiast as he stood in the Stjordal river.

Despite decades of experience, the 52-year-old left the river empty-handed 10 days straight.

Wild salmon is now so rare that Norway in 2021 placed it on its red list of near-endangered species.


An ever-growing number of wild salmon, which hatch in freshwater rivers before migrating to oceans as adults, are not returning to their birthplace to spawn upstream.

They disappear at sea for as yet unknown reasons, though scientists suspect a link to climate change.

Only 323,000 wild salmon swam upstream in Norway's rivers in 2024, against one million tallied annually in the 1980s, according to the Norwegian Scientific Advisory Committee for Atlantic Salmon, an independent body set up by the Norwegian Environment Agency.

That has sparked concern among sport anglers and those who make a living from the hobby, which has been part of Norwegians' DNA ever since English aristocrats brought fly fishing to the country in the 19th century.

"Salmon fishing is very important for Norway, both for the local communities along the river valleys and for the economy and value creation," said Aksel Hembre, vice president of the Norske Lakselver association grouping those who exploit salmon rivers.

"We attract a great deal of tourism in connection with salmon fishing."


https://www.thestar.com.my/lifestyle/living/2025/07/21/the-long-slow-death-of-norway039s-wild-salmon#goog_rewarded

[Onslow]

The Duke power dam release page has been updated and moved. It now includes forecasted releases for The EF Tuck and Nantahala, Pigeon, Tillery in addition to the Catawba releases.

Duke Power has also published a calendar for the recreational Tillery releases for 2026.  Floating the river between Tillery and Blewett Falls used to be horrible with pulse releases of 20k after near zero flow back in the 80s-90s. Minimum flows were established years ago, but now we have documented rec flows of 800-1000 cfs on selected weekend days.

Opportunities for springtime fishing Catawba and Yadkin/Pee Dee tailraces are great.  Lower flows, no muddy water.

High Rock dam has carp, striper, whites.

Tuckertown dam has whites, largemouth, white perch, striper

Tillery, Falls, Badin have bass, striper.  Tillery also has smallmouth and Buffalo.

Lookout Shoals has striper, hybrids, alabama bass

The rest of the Catawba is Alabama bass, striper.

Blewitt Falls has sturgeon, Buffalo, shad, striper, smallmouth, Alabama.

[Woolly Bugger]

US appeals court declares 158-year-old home distilling ban unconstitutional

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 A U.S. appeals court on Friday declared unconstitutional a nearly 158-year-old federal ban on home distilling, calling it an unnecessary and improper means for Congress to exercise its power to tax.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans ruled in favor of the nonprofit Hobby Distillers Association and four of its 1,300 members.

They argued that people should be free to distill spirits at home, whether as a hobby or for personal consumption including, in one instance, to create an apple-pie-vodka recipe.

The ban was part of a law passed during Reconstruction in July 1868, in part to thwart liquor tax evasion, and subjected violators to up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

Writing for a three-judge panel, Circuit Judge Edith Hollan Jones said the ban actually reduced tax revenue by preventing distilling in the first place, unlike laws that regulated the manufacture and labeling of distilled spirits on which the government could collect taxes.

She also said that under the government's logic, Congress could criminalize virtually any in-home activity that might escape notice from tax collectors, including remote work and home-based businesses.

"Without any limiting principle, the government's theory would violate this court's obligation to read the Constitution carefully to avoid creating a general federal authority akin to the police power," Jones wrote.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/us-appeals-court-declares-158-year-old-home-distilling-ban-unconstitutional/ar-AA20EdI5?ocid=msedgntp&pc=LCTS&cvid=69da37e14cd648d9896d08759613ca5c&ei=21

[Onslow]

Period of record from 1964-2025, the lowest average April flow for the Yadkin river @ Elkin was 723 cfs set in 2002. 2026 is on track to be lower than 723cfs for the month of April.


2002 sucked.  1988 was freakin horrible, but 2008 was even worse overall. Massive trout population declines exceeding 50-60 percent.  Widow creek croaked and never recovered due to 2008.  So much heat.  So much drought.  I'm already running drip lines in my garden.

[Onslow]

There is a mean stomach virus going around.  I'm giving a heads up since it hits with little warning and is absolutely nasty. If you have any loss of appetite whatsoever or just a little tinge of foul tongue taste, hunker down, get your trash cans and yogurt staged before all hell breaks loose.  It would really be unfortunate to be on a raft, wading a long beat, hiking if this thing hit.  It hits with near zero warning and is absolutely crippling.