The fishing pause: Part 1- Damn Science

From the Science Daily

Fewer Fish Eggs, Smaller Fish Result From Over-fishing

ScienceDaily (Jan. 24, 2006) — The practice of harvesting the largest individuals from a fish population introduces genetic changes that harm the overall fish population, a UC Riverside graduate student and colleagues have determined. Removing the large fish over several generations of fish causes the remaining fish in the populations to become progressively smaller, have fewer and smaller eggs with lower survival and growth, and have lower foraging and feeding rates, the researchers report.

The figure shows the decrease in body size in Atlantic silverside as found by a research team led by UCR graduate student Matthew Walsh. The silverside, having been reared for five generations in laboratory experiments, are all the same age. The fish shown here are from the fifth generation. The fish on the left are from populations from which large individuals were harvested over five generations; the fish in the middle are from populations from which fish were harvested at random over five generations; and the fish on the right are from populations from which only small fish were harvested over five generations. (Photo credit: M. Walsh)

The pup, a cork handle, and my local fly shop

Last August the pup was four months old. I kept him him gated on the deck while we at the place in th U.P. One evening coming in from the lake after doing some popping for bluegills I brought the rod up on the deck to clean it, set it down and turned away for 30 seconds to get a drink and in that time the damage was done. The all cork reel seat handle on my custom built out Sage LL 9 ft 4 wt was chewed. I'm not a gear collection guy. The rod was one of two that I have and fish. A bit irritiating and mildly problematic.

4 month old Grif and the damage done

The rod had been originally been built out by Eric at Coren's Rod Reel. Coren's is my neighborhood fly shop.

The store

Eric is really skilled at fixing any fishing equipment and has the shop nicely appointed with equipment, predominantly fly stuff. So I toyed with the idea of doing something about it myself. Cork Filler ? Sand it down ? Finally decided to take it back to Eric and show him the damage to his handiwork. He took a quick look, and said " ah - no problem. I''ll take this section of the handle out, split three cork rings, cement them back in, shape the handle, no problem."

And it turned out just like that.

The repaired grip on my Sage LL 9 ft 4 wt

The man himself ...

Need a fly shop on the North Side of Chicago ? A rod or reel repair ?

Corens Rod & Reel Service

6001 N Nina Ave
Chicago, IL 60631-2411
Phone: (773) 631-5202

One must have whitefish ..

Seemed appropriate in light of my recent Gefilte fish recipe.

It's Banner Update time

underwater brown troyt fishee, we hardly knew ye ...

Why did the DNR NRB board overturn the vote?

I've been trying to figure this out. Political pressure ? Did a high ranking official in Wisconsin state government lean on the appointed NRB board members to cement the "killl more small trout" central Wisconsin voting bloc ? Are the members of the board actually not capable of understanding the science behind the regulations ? Was there a payoff and if so, why ? I was stumped. Then, by accident I stumbled on the answer while following my UPI feed ....

from the UPI
" MADISON, Wis., April 8 (UPI) -- A post office manager in Madison, Wis., says delivery workers are being terrorized by wild turkeys in a West Side neighborhood.

Mara Wilhite, manager of the Hilldale Station Post Office, said between five and 10 large male turkeys have been pecking at postal carriers and occasionally attacking them with the spurs on their legs in the Parkwood Hills neighborhood, the Wisconsin State Journal (Madison) reported Tuesday.

Wilhite said one turkey barged into a mail truck's open door and scratched the surprised driver.

Eric Lobner, regional wildlife program supervisor for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, said the turkeys' aggression is likely tied to the mating season, which started recently and lasts until mid-May. He said the red, white and blue coloring on the mail trucks could be raising the ire of the birds, whose heads change color between blue, white and red during the mating season."

Could these vicious crazed sex addled wild turkeys and the NRB board be the same ?

Well, it was only advisory ...

The WDNR board met today and decided to not take the advice of the Conservation Congress advisory vote last week on the Prairie River quality trout fishing regulations. Despite the fact that the vote carried in 47 counties and by a 2024 to 1494 plurality, the regulations were overturned by a vote at the WDNR board hearing today.

This of course does not bode well for the future of the enlightened system of regulations currently in place in the state. This is decidedly an anti-resource decision, completely based outside the normal set of scientific principles at work on managing cold-water resources.

Snow is almost all gone

Last of the snow about to go ..



If you can find them, the Morels are here...