I took in the Salt Lake City Sportsman's Show yesterday. Great show, but a pain to get there. Scenic, fun driving until you got near Salt Lake City. They shutdown the freeway for improvement...the Olympics are coming. That made for terrible, downtown driving to get to the show facility. I got to talk to Jack Dennis quite a bit. They are worried about summer water levels and don't have a handle on what it will be like. WA and Ore. have purchased power from our potato farmers over here who don't need the water do to an oversupply of potatoes..It's a wait and see what they will do with the water. Most of the west in this area, (Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Montana is around 65% of normal levels) My brother drew for the Smith River for June 23rd and I'll make the trip with him if they have water. I saw John Harder, who still lives in the Seattle area and wants to move over here near me in Idaho Falls. John now is head of sales for RIO Lines. They are located about a mile from my house. I also had a nice talk with Brian O'Keefe. He is one of my favorites in the "commercial" fishing business. And a great caster! I told him he must make the show rounds just to win the casting contests. He commented that the incentive was pretty good at this show. There was a boat for 1st price. If you ever get a chance to take in a Brian O'keefe slide show, you should do yourself the favor. My brother bought a one litter water filter bottle that filters out Salmonilla, or "beaver fever" (can't spell the big word!) I didn't know you could filter out that microbe? Thought you had to boil water to get rid of it. On the Smith, you have to bring your own water. Pretty neat to be able just to fill your bottle out of the river. Jere
