Trout Slayer killed

In a disappointing move Bayern Brewing in Missoula is changing the name of Trout Slayer Ale to Dancing Trout Ale. The recipe remains the same, but the name will now be politically correct. Master brewer Juergen Knoeller explains in today's Missoulian

Trout Slayer was a leased name, and it wasn't Knoeller's “cup of tea” anyway, he said, explaining that his environmental philosophies lean more toward trout habitat preservation than wholesale fish slaughter.

I'm all for catch-and-release fishing on Montana rivers. But there is nothing wrong with the occasional slaying of a fish destined for the skillet. I prefer mine lightly dusted in seasoned flour and fried in a mix of peanut oil and butter. There are times when I worry the catch-and-release ethic has turned into a cult whose members have forgotten a basic fact: fishing is a form of hunting which uses flies and lures instead of hot lead to capture its prey. The modern fly fishing cultist who fails to clunk a fish on the head every now and then may not be an angler at all. It sounds more like golfing in waders to me.