Friday, August 21, 2009

Presidents On The Fly!

Obama On The Gallatin
Cartoon Link


BELGRADE, Mont. (Aug. 15) -
Moving beyond his usual sporting pursuits of basketball and golf, the U.S. president took advantage of his trip to Montana’s Big Sky country on Friday to try his hand at the Western pastime of fly fishing. His original plan for a 30-minute helicopter ride to a fishing spot at the O’Dell Creek Ranch was nixed by rainy weather. The Sweetwater Guides from Livingston definitely did a great job and "I found him to be a real good listener," said Vermillion, who runs the Sweetwater Fly Shop in Livingston. "He really wanted to learn about the whole experience of fly fishing."


On The Econimic Stimulus For National Parks Link
President Obama's $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed in February and designated $750 million dollars to the national parks. But not all of the stimulus money is being used -- and the parks are facing a $9 billion backlog in maintenance projects. So far, nearly 10 percent is in the pipeline. "We are picking away at it as much as we can and we've been fortunate to have the recovery act money," said Jeffrey Olson of the National Park Service.


Past Presidents that Fly Fished, yes there have been a few. President Bush Sr. also enjoyed many day's out on the water whether fishng for Tarpon in the Keys, Stripers in Kennebunkport.
Vice President Dick Cheney loved to spend weeks in Jackson Hole and Montana each Summer as well chasing fat rainbows and Yellowstone Cuttroats. Other Presidents you may have not known about: Jimmy Carter, Hebert Hoover, and Grover Cleveland were each fly fishing enthusiasts –more so than any other U.S. presidents. Theodore Roosevelt also brought attention to the sport after spending so much time out with Herbert Hoover in the Shenandoah National Park.


Our views on Politics are that any President or VP that brings awareness to fly fishing is never a bad thing, I hope you don't mind a thread that contains Political involvement regarding Environmental issues & Recreation


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2 comments:

Fishguy said...

Would love to have seen that picture of him on the water

Jake

Troutdawg said...

Yeah no kidding. Bad casting or not it's nice to hear the Sport continuing in popularity and I hope he sticks with it. It seems that whenever anyone visits the Yellowstone area these days they do the ride along, take pics of Bison, hike about 50 yards on a trail and tryout fly fishing! Nice