Thanks Richard. It'd been some time since I'd even thought about the Eel river and your mention of it sort of triggered a cascade of old memories. But I should have got my facts straight first, though. After posting the message, I decided it was past due for my annual call to my brother Bruce who still lives on the Eel in Scotia, California. He gave up fishing about ten years ago when the river seemed to be in irreversible decline. Bruce told me that the river has stabilized to the extent that it now sees several modest runs of both salmon and steelhead. The state Fish & Game has designated the Eel as a C&R, special rules restricted fishery. He told me that even today, the Thor, along with the Comet, Silver Hilton and Black Ghost, are still among the most productive patterns used on the Eel and the other wild North Coast rivers. Kent Lufkin >Kent, nicely written piece! Thanks for sharing . . . > >Richard Embry > >-----Original Message----- >From: Kent Lufkin <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Date: Friday, November 17, 2000 2:37 PM >Subject: Re: Thor > > > >As a sad sidebar to the Thor thread, I grew up in the little town of > >Fortuna on Northern California's famous Eel River. > > > >Just a short bike ride away, I first fished the Eel as a grade school > >kid in the 1960s with worms and salmon eggs, catching creels full of > >what I thought were trout, but which were probably juvenile steelhead > >instead. As a college student, I learned to fly cast and extensively > >fished the Eel and neighboring Van Duzen, Mad, Trinity and Klamath > >rivers. > > > >When I started tying flies, the Thor was one of the first patterns I > >learned - with real polar bear hair! But getting polar bear hair > >today is easy compared with catching fish in the Eel River. > > > >Today's Eel is a pathetic poster child for fished-out rivers. > > > >Historically, the Eel enjoyed California's largest runs of chinook, > >coho and steelhead, eclipsing even the massive Sacramento and San > >Joaquin river runs. Beginning in the 1870s, Eel River salmon spawned > >an extensive and lucrative freshwater canning industry. With daily > >catches measured by the ton, Eel River canned salmon became a highly > >prized delicacy and fetched premium prices in San Francisco, New York > >and London. But the intensive horse- and steam-powered freshwater > >netting operations finally annihilated the salmon runs. The last of > >the canneries failed before the first World War. > > > >Shunned by the canneries, the river's huge steelhead attracted sport > >fishers from around the world through the 1950s. But even these > >robust fish couldn't overcome the combined pressures of sportfishing, > >increased Native American gill netting and spawning habitat > >degradation due to irresponsible logging practices. > > > >Sadly, the Eel River no longer sustains any anadramous fish runs. > > > >My uncle has published numerous articles and books on the history and > >decline of the Eel and California's early steelhead and salmon > >fisheries. I'd be happy to share copies of those I have with any > >other mourners among our group. > > > >Kent Lufkin > > > >>The Thor is not only "like the old, standard flies", it's one of them. It > >>was first tied by C. Jim Pray and was named for Walter J. Thoreson who >used > >>it on the Eel river in 1936. Most of the traditional white-winged >steelhead > >>flies were tied with polar bear hair and a Skykomish Sunrise, Polar Shrimp > >>or a Brad's Brat tied with anything else is only a pale imitation of the > >>original. > >
