On a sunny afternoon in January, Bryon Helm, a civil rights attorney for Smolen and Roytman Attorneys, enjoyed an iced Americano on the DoubleShot Coffee Co. patio as he shared lots of fishing stories. What started as a hobby has turned into a real passion.
Helm got into fly fishing the Arkansas River after he spotted what he calls an “aquarium of fish” swimming in the area where Bird Creek and the river meet as floodwaters receded in 2019 …I threw some flies in there and caught largemouth bass, spotted bass and striper. Then all these sunfish and catfish. It was crazy. I had no idea we had some of the best fishing in the region in the river flowing through our city.
Over the past few years, Helm has fly fished all along the river. He’s made new friends and had some epic battles with fish … One day the fish were really biting. I threw a fly and it just got demolished. Just like ripped right off. It shook my entire body. Shook my bones. I tied another fly. Then it happened again. Then I landed a big striped bass. I proceeded to catch three or four more before my rods shattered.
Helm has learned a lot about the river’s ecosystem and can tell an interesting story about how the river became a hotbed for striped bass. He hopes to keep it that way, but there are concerns. He and others are forming a nonprofit and have been in talks with the city council about protecting the river and making it safer for everyone … A group of us presented to them in the fall, and they were engaged and interested in learning more. There is a lot of old infrastructure project stuff dumped into the river and along the banks. There are plans to make it more recreational, and there is a lot of rebar sticking up in places. The river is really dangerous. Not to mention the currents that can suck you under. You have to be careful.
Other concerns include the operation of the Zink Dam once it’s completed in 2023 because it’s currently the area stripers migrate to and where they lay eggs. If the eggs can’t pass and are buried in sediment, they don’t survive. And then an even bigger threat is the proposed Jenks Dam … The studies that consultants for the City and (Tulsa) County did show that between Zink Dam and the Jenks Dam, fishing is going to be wiped out. The fish will have a new spawn point further south. You’d have a Keystone fishery and a Jenks fishery and a dead zone in between what is some of the best striper fishing in the region. We’re really lucky. We don’t want to lose that.
As for his day job, on how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted his work … Ninety-five percent of my work is civil rights cases in federal court. At the same time the courts were going through COVID-19 precautions, the Supreme Court ruled on McGirt. Federal courts were flooded with criminal cases and because of the speedy trial clause the criminal cases take priority. It is currently impossible, for the most part, to get a civil trial in federal court in the North and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma.
There also is a shortage of federal judges to handle the increased workload …My understanding is the Biden administration and judicial committee have approved a number of judges for the Northern and Eastern District. From what I hear Sen. Jim Inhofe is not going to let that happen to the extent that he can during Biden’s administration, which is very unfortunate, because we’ve had a lot of big civil rights verdicts and settlements come out of these federal courthouses. There are incredibly tragic cases resulting from systemic failures in our public institutions, especially in the jails. We have families waiting two years for a motion concerning whether the case goes to trial. It’s on pause until we get the order. It hurts these families. That’s a big issue we have faced along with the pandemic.
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