Breaking News: Brownliners Now Part of The Establishment

It had to happen sooner or later - some of our favorite "Brownliners" have been mentioned in the Wall Street Journal. In our book that moves them square from the fringe right into the realm of "The Establishment."

Mr. Barton helped coin the name for his sport two summers ago. He recalls that a fly-fishing friend, Tom Chandler, called him to talk about "bluelining" -- scanning a wilderness map for the squiggly blue lines that represent remote streams and hiking into those valleys with a fly rod. Mr. Chandler had spent the day fishing in a cold, clear trout stream fed by Mount Shasta glaciers.

Mr. Barton had spent the same day casting his line into a slough littered with sofas, old cars and goat carcasses. "I told him what I'd just wiped off my shoes," recalls Mr. Barton. During that conversation, he says, the men first talked about the term to describe Mr. Barton's fishing.

Mr. Chandler began talking about brownlining on his blog, troutunderground.com. Mr. Barton soon started his own blog, Singlebarbed.com.

Congrats on the press guys. However, when we start seeing crowds of anglers with new boots standing around our favorite retention pond, our plan is to balme you. What is next, the International Brownline Fishing Association?

Also involved in the hotspotting: Fat Guy Fly Fishing , Michael Gracie, Tom Teasdale and John-Paul Lipton.