By Howard Meyerson
FARWELL — It was a sunny, mild day in early April when I climbed into a drift boat with Jeff Johnson and Terry Drinkwine for an unusual day of trout fishing.
Johnson, our gracious host, offered some Rice Krispies treats. Neither of us was hungry. The sweet satisfaction we had in mind swam somewhere deep in Johnson’s two-acre trout pond, hidden back in the woods. It is called Brookhaven Lake — and a haven it is.
The lake is private and closed except when Johnson opens it to youth groups for free or to well-heeled anglers he guides for a fee. That in turn pays for the dream he shares with his son Michael: providing youths with a great place to learn fly fishing and trout conservation.
“The water is 55 degrees year-round,” Johnson said cheerfully as he rowed around the pond, giving us plenty of casting room.
Fifty-five degrees is good, just right for the big, Canadian Lake Nipigon brook trout Johnson stocks. It is perfect for the Arctic grayling he plants, too. Continue reading
The Outdoor Journal 
When voices get too loud to be heard: “I Hunt, But I Oppose the N.R.A”
Having hunted on and off since I was a teen and having enjoyed guns and shooting equally as long, whether for target practice, skeet, trap or sporting clays, I have often worried that the zealotry I see demonstrated by ardent NRA supporters gets in the way of having a rational and meaningful discourse about guns and firearms.
It is troubling that the state and national electorate are cowed by the organization, when few pick apart NRA assertions about the relationship between hunting and gun ownership and how their work protects both.
Lily Raff McCaulou, an op-ed contributor for the New York Times, has an excellent piece today that sheds light on the contradictions contained within NRA statements, important things that are often overlooked by politicians who are far too quick to court voting blocks and power bases. Read more: I Hunt, But I Oppose the N.R.A.
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