Latest updates, page 28

I was in Portland this week for the annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society, and I had time early Monday morning before the sessions started to meet up with a fishing buddy from college (thanks, Willy!) and try for some trout. That area is in the midst of a serious drought, so fish were hard to come by, but we each managed to draw a bit of interest in our flies, and I finally landed one fish.

It was only about 8-9" long, but it was my first cutthroat ever! I've been running a website called "Troutnut" for far too long to have never caught one of North America's major species. Problem solved now. Next up: golden trout? One can hope!

I've been lucky enough this summer to see a tremendous amount of good scenery and good fishing during my work on three Alaskan streams and breaks in between. I have a backlog of good photos to share from all these adventures, once I eventually have time this winter. But this one I just couldn't wait to post.

This summer is intensely busy because we're beginning the first season of real fieldwork on a complicated new project. We just completed June sampling and I put together a video of what we're doing, including some really nice fish videos of feeding juvenile Chinook salmon, dolly varden, and Arctic grayling in interior Alaska:



More details about the project, including context for some of the things in the video, are available at the Drift Model Project website.

Four senior fisheries scientists, including the executive director of the American Fisheries Society and my dad, have just published an editorial in multiple newspapers about right-wing extremist governor Scott Walker's efforts to severely diminish Wisconsin's fisheries research capabilities. It's a must-read for anyone in Wisconsin, and perhaps nationally if Walker runs for President.

The ground around Fairbanks is finally mostly snow-free, and most of the creeks are beginning to open up. I went down to North Pole yesterday to test some new drift sampling nets for summer fieldwork in Piledriver Slough, and on the way back home I stopped at Badger Slough to catch the first grayling of the year, and the first fish on my new Hardy Ultralite DD 4000 reel.

This was not idyllic Alaskan fishing, but it's a good place to spend five minutes and put something on the end of the line. I was casting into a culvert pool between a kids' playground and a gas station. Despite my using a size 16 fly, the first fish was somehow hooked in the back, so that didn't count. The second fish was fair hooked, but landed by a kid from the playground, so that didn't quite count. The first "official" (I guess?) fish of the year is below.

I only had a few minutes to fish, but the new Hardy was a pleasure. I'll be testing it out on nicer fish in mid-May, when I'm going to fish for a few days in Slovenia before heading to Spain for a research symposium.