Casting for fall trout on the Snake River

Consider that if all the water in the world would fill a gallon jug .... the available fresh water would equal one tablespoon ...

What is deaddrift.com all about?
We are part of an effort to preserve, enhance, and champion the waters of our nation. Our love for fishing has made us aware of  matters that endanger the quality of our rivers, lakes, and streams.

That awareness has led us to educate ourselves and others about the impact of factory farming practices and its threat to water quality.

Our current focus is on a little prairie stream in the Nebraska sand hills, the Verdigre Creek. 

Threatened by the development of a 700 head dairy on it's headwaters, we have chronicled the fight over the last three years.
Read on to learn more.

Verdigre Update:

BREAKING NEWS
New Buyer Eyes headwaters dairy
Bargain basement prices by Wells Fargo Bank of South Dakota has attracted out of state dairyman to the failed teVelde dairy on the headwaters of the Verdigre Creek. Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water ....

ABANDONED LAGOON
"ticking time bomb"
According to Sierra Club organizer  Laura Krebsbach, CAFO owners and investors need to be held responsible for clean up of  abandoned lagoons. In a statement made at a Sierra Club sponsored Kids Fishing Contest, Ms. Krebsbach cited an abandoned lagoon at the Red Willow Pig Co. northwest of Indianola, Ne. , the site of a 500 head hog operation which went bankrupt in 1998.
Nebraska has no statewide financial assurance requirements for CAFOs to provide for cleanup in the event of a site closure.

In an accompanying statement, Trout Unlimited #710 spokesman Steve Westphal,  echoed concerns that the teVelde lagoon in Antelope county could fall to a similar fate. In light of the Sept. 24 Court of Appeals ruling that enjoins the embattled Nebraska dairy from operating the class "I" CAFO, Westphal called on the NDEQ to oversee and enforce cleanup of the already filled 1.34 acre waste holding lagoon. 
Ne. TU #710 helped to fund the winning appeal.
Read Steve's full statement HERE.

Link to: NEBRASKA TU SITE

LONG PINE OUTING
Read about the TU sponsored fall outing to Pine Creek, one of Nebraska's finest trout streams. Pictures, stories, and accommodations.


PINE CREEK OUTING

COMING: See NDEQ response to inspections at the teVelde dairy:  DAIRY VIOLATIONS 

Nebraska Cornhusker Flyfishers, deaddrift.com, and Antelope County landowners testify before Ne. Legislators about evidence of dairy runoff reaching waters of the Verdigre watershed

ROB SCHUPBACH REPORT
We get to brief the legislatures natural resource committee about the current Verdigre Creek/ TeVelde dairy sump pump outs and the Snodgrass dairy sump pump outs caused by their frozen sewage systems and how this is yet a
third and probably the most realistic and reoccurring
and fastest way Verdigre creek will become polluted. the briefing is at 1:30
Wednesday 03/07/01 at the Ne. state capitol. We have video tape of both pump outs, the TeVelde tape shows the effluent running down their pasture on top of the snow. It gets closer to Verdigre creek every day that the snow
melts a little more. The tape also shows their stored manure piled up and ready to start its frothy journey into the road ditch and Verdigre creek.

Thanks Rob Schupbach

Read Robs Report : Claims that the degradation of the Verdigre watershed has already begun.
See PAPER TRAIL of supporting documents. Letters from the NDEQ, aerial photographs of the site, maps, and more...

NDEQ Q&A

Fundraising

Chino Connection

Factory Farming

Paper Trail (documents)
Supporting documents and official correspondence
Updates/editorials

Update Archive

Engineer Reports

Deaddrift.com

Join the Deaddrifters

SPECIAL:
DEADDRIFT REPORTS

The Middle of Nowhere
Joe Hawbaker
Three Days With the Pig Boys
Kathy Martin, PE
What's In the Water
Kathy Martin, PE

NEW: Has the pollution of the Verdigre Creek begun? Read the Special Report by Rob Schupbach:
The Damage Done

LINKS

• Sandhills Care Org.
  We apologize for not providing a link to this important grass roots group. Veterans of the CAFO wars they are champions of water quality and family farming. In 1999, C.A.R.E was one of five organizations in the state that received a Community Conservation Award from the Nebraska Wildlife Federation for its efforts to protect the Long Pine Creek area

• Water Keepers Alliance

• CAFO Litigation

• A Look At Factory Farming (Seaboard Corp)

Steve Westphal
Public Relations Administrator
Guiding Services
Custom Rod Building
Four seasons of the Verdigre Creek

Bruce Nelson
Logistics Co-coordinator
Bivouac Liaison
Epicurial Scout

"...think of me when in the
boat and staring in the water
seeing yourself reflection and
the sky clouds above mingle
the mirror of your face ruffled
with small breeze; and clouds
obscure the sun moment to
Monet. look again past your face into the pool past the light
and shadow and over your shoulder the breeze; you will
see reflected me gazing into my
pool seeing you reflected in me..."

old dog/new tricks, songs of the new millennium
kdbay 4/16/99

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deaddrift focus on Nebraska trout streams 

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VERDIGRE CREEK
BATTLE TO STOP DAIRY DEVELOPMENT ON PRAIRIE TROUT STREAM
continues with a new round of plans to turn a mom and pop dairy on the headwaters of the Verdigre Creek in Antelope County,  Nebraska into a 700 head mega dairy. After a court win on a technicality a year ago,  local landowners and trout enthusiasts find themselves back in the fight to preserve one of Nebraskas rare class "A" trout streams ..... VERDIGRE CREEK REPORT 

MERRITT LAKE TITLE TRANSFER
NEBRASKA: FEDERAL TRANSFER OF MERRITT RESERVOIR IRRIGATION PROJECT TO LOCAL AUTHORITY  is opposed by warm and cold water fishermen alike. The Snake River is one of Nebraska's premier trout fisheries and would be directly affected by the effects transfer of Merritt Lake to the local irrigation authority.  Recent hearings found Cherry County Commissioners voting 3 to 0 against the Ainsworth Irrigation Districts bid to transfer title of the Merritt Reservoir  from the Bureau of Reclamations to AID  ...  MERRITT_RESERVOIR REPORT 

Snake River Fall Trip

Top notch fishing and beautiful scenery on the Snake River 

Notes from the Snake:
ah huh.
shirt sleeve weather with one day snowing and blowing and raining sideways.
comfy cheap motel with plenty heat plenty hot water.
good camping arranged by june w., dd trip planner, accommodations and reservations her specialty.
almost completely empty motel just for dd tucked in the corner unit for maximum wind protection in the loading and unloading zone.
maximum security at all times.
and the fishin, well wayne, the fishin was, how can i say it, how can i frame the scene, explain the mechanics of perfection in fly fishing.
flawless.
a study in trout solutions,
big ones lil ones medium ones some here some there some in that riffle some in that pool and some at my feet and some on that turn and some in that bend and some under that sweeper tree some over the rocks some under the rocks some around the rocks some in the runs some at the end of the runs some at the edges of the runs and some deep in the pools some at the front of the pools some rising some huggin bottom some out of nowhere some when i wasn't lookin some when i just let my line hang out around me some near some real far 50 foot casts with a lil bullethead bugger some ya can see some that are just invisible but tickin on your fly some slammed the fly hard some just inhaled lightly some jumped really high many many times some took a parachute adams floatin high n saucy some hit the adams when it swept under at the end of the swing and when i twitched it some hit it bam some jumped up in the air and came down on the fly slam
one the largest for me did that and broke off 6 lb. tippit wham
and some on and some off quick short tussle then gone off the barbless hook some chased the one i had hooked and followed it to shore trying to take the
bugger out of the mouth of the hooked
some twirled dervish on the line some silently curled to hand for quick release and skitter disappear
some fooled me good some, not many, i fooled
some times we both got fooled and i think i enjoyed them the most
some ignored me, maybe one or two
all were healthy fat n happy snake river wild rainbows n browns
shining clean water silver shadows leaping
droplets sparkling blue sky
trout dancing.... kdbay