Dicked: Guess who's to blame for the west's biggest salmon kill?

You have my permission to kill me if Gone Fishing turns into a political blog. As it says on this very title page, I try hard not to think about George W. Bush.

That said, my interest in fishing occasionally intersects with politics. This gives me license to gas on about the Washington Post's series on Dick Cheney--Angler: The Cheney Vice Presidency.

It's a great newspaper work, heartening in an otherwise bleak time for the industry. What it reveals about the Beltway is utterly appalling.

Did you know that Dick Cheney is responsible for the death of some 77,000 coho and chinook salmon on the Klamath River? That his scheme to shore up the support of ranchers and farmers in Oregon--at the expense of a drought stricken river--led to the worst salmon die off in the modern history of the west? I didn't until I stumbled across this story.

Now, to take your mind off this odious matter, I suggest you contemplate thelovely sunset photo above this text. I shot the image at Cass Lake on May 13 while fishing for walleyes with Paul H.

Henceforth, I will try to avoid mention of Dick Cheney.