Tim Smith

Oh heck. Next time I'll actually click on the picture instead of just getting in line for a drive by. Al's right. Neascus is a sharp pin prick black dot. They can cluster a bit but this is clearly something different. Thanks for the catch, Al.

Electrofishing definitely breaks fish backs from time to time and broken backs can reset in odd positions if the nerves aren't severed. I had seen quite a few fish like this while I was doing electrofishing over the years and I assumed that the electrofishing itself that had caused it. But searching back through various sources I'm get the impression from what I've seen that most of the fish you see like this were made this way from parasites.

Smallmouth. There's a parasite that affects fish during the late larval/early juvenile phase that misaligns the backbone can do that to fish. Or it could be from an injury.

The parasite's genus name is "Neascus" and it's common throughout the Midwest. It's a fluke that has one of its life history stages in a snail so the prevalence of snails is associated with the presence of the parasite on fish. If you cook the fish they're not harmful... ...although I agree with Chambug about the crappie and trout. Native smallies aren't for the pan.

Exxon dumps oil into one of the premier trout rivers in the world and it elicits not a whimper on an entire angling forum.

This looks like a good note to end on.

Yeah, the plant shouldn't meltdown just because it floods. It does appear they are having some operational problems and if it has to shut down for a while that's not especially helpful to the power grid. It seems pretty clear the level of confidence was too high when it came to siting nuclear reactors. Tsunamis, floods...hope we never get further down the list to earthquakes and terrorists.

http://columbustelegram.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_73f7766c-9da0-11e0-a64d-001cc4c03286.html More water-related problems at nuclear facilities...this one much closer to home and weather related. Minot North Dakota was evacuated today as well ahead of record flood waters.

Guys I really appreciate the advice but it was all for naught. The snow pack is crazy this year and the reservoir was so disturbed and so far above flood stage that no one was really catching. At night, the afternoon melt would surge into the reservoir and raise the river levels. I talked to a dozen anglers and between them all the total take over 2 days was 2 trout and one pike. I tried #3 spinners and rattle traps along the flooded willows and never got a strike. I guess the good news is that the daughter enjoyed the canoeing I finally got my Colorado permits. With the canoe now in the garage along with the kayak, day trips are possible and time on the water should go up appreciably.

Catman, I get the impression you're looking at this video like a hammer to whom everything is a nail. Jason Clay and Paul Erlich don't have much in common aside from acknowledging the reality of an expanding population and limiting resources. Apparently you accept that idea too (unless you and Mr. Hawking are planning to colonize space just for the heck of it?) It doesn't appear you have any objections rooted in reality here. Completely false and more than a little paranoid. Clay isn't promoting the expansion of large companies. He's working in the real world where large companies use most of our resources. Whatever overbearing influences those have (and we probably agree that they are too great) that influence needs to be sustainable. So for instance, Walmart may be crushing local businesses, but they still exist. If you go there to buy shrimp and you buy sustainable shrimp instead of badly polluting shrimp we're all better off. Quite the opposite is true. Jason's main thesis is that the market can help sustainability by providing advantages to efficient, sustainable producers. In fact, he's quite unpopular with socialism-oriented environmental groups who see the free market as environmentally unsalvageable. Yeah, you need to go back and try again. No one is promoting 3X the population or eating ants or the exclusion of research or freedom of thought. Not everything's a nail.

Thanks, FT. That sounds like great information. I'm used to fish with teeth dealing with barracuda and similar things recently. Steel leaders in freshwater. Man. We'll see how it goes.

So, ironically, it turns out I'll be near a reservoir in Southern Colorado that is know for good pike fishing in the late spring. I'd prefer to fish for trout, but pike are what is there. So..when in Rome I guess... I've had success trolling for pike at the Boundary Waters, but it has been a while and gears and techniques have come a long way. At the moment I have medium action rods with 10 pound mono or 20 pound braid. The 10 pound mono is lighter than is ideal, but this is a clear water lake and braid makes me nervous there. I've taken big snook on the same 10 pound line and I think I can make it work for pike. I do have an option of 20 pound braid and I may switch to that. I'll need to get proper leader material and settle on a selection of lures that makes sense. Is flourocarbon an adequate leader for good sized pike? The local blogs are talking about swim baits and in-line spinners. I won't have long stretches of time to fish so I'm thinking of trolling those offshore from weedlines in the early morning. Any suggestions or experiences would be welcomed.

Might as well have kept him and smoked him, Al. That fish is at the end of its rope. Quite an exercise in patience to play him that long. Great story.

Man. Step away from the forum for a few days and it virtually guarantees that something really cool will pop up. Blue suckers are primitive, rare, and possibly the coolest fishes in the Midwest. Awesome catch!!

This is a talk in the TED series by Jason Clay, the director for the ecocertification programs at the World Wildlife Fund. This is a major movement in global conservation initiatives and it directly links the typical concerns in biodiversity and ecosystem services to the practical realities of profit and free enterprise. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCFVhRkElYM&playnext=1&list=PL0E1BB1F69065725D

I just did a google search on the Duke study and there are equal numbers of web sites stating that it both confirms and refutes the claims of Gasland...and pathetically as usual, they are aligned along opposite sides of the political spectrum. I spent several weeks last year digging back through claims about oil spill effects during the Gulf Oil Spill to finally get at the soild information there. It looks like we are in for a similar process regarding gas fracking with similar denials and hysteria likely to be in the offing. I do appreciate your attempt to pull away from binary thinking, Wayne, but let's do be clear, methane extraction is not a solution for greenhouse gasses (and it seems odd that you would cite a paper making that argument, Wayne). If we want to talk about biofuels and recycling the carbon that's already in play then fine.

Unreal indeed. I assumed this was just a bad storm until I got online and looked. I've been through tornados and even seen them wipe out small towns, but none of that was even close to this this.

I haven't seen Gasland yet, but from the follow up and the fact that universities like Duke have confirmed the flaming spigots and many of the troubling things in that film, it's hard to see how this level of rejection is appropriate. Scientists must wait until they have absolutely conclusive proof to draw conclusions. Often by doing so, they fail to support things that are true. Popular media, though often wrong, are also often right before scientists follow up later. In this case, it appears there is much to be concerned about. Salt, by the way is one of the most toxic things you can put in freshwater. You can spill oil on a field an in a few months it will come back green. If you put salt on it, years of rain might not wash it out. The way shrimp farmers regulate their use of salt water is probably the biggest determinant of their environmental impacts. In the case of hydrofracking it's also clear there is more than salt water going down those holes.

Man, if there was ever a meat fish made for gigging it's the Asian Carp in North America. I don't know the regs on them but if there's even a whisper of a law to protect them it needs to go away yesterday. Get all the giggers off the native paddlefish and suckers and on the silver and big head carp. Take 'em all if you can. Yes, they're great to eat. Yes, they're huge. Clean 'em out.

No. Something far more horrible than that...I take you on as a project.

Well since it's all about your rights and what you can get away with and you're so sure you'll win and it's all about you you you, I guess I'm pretty glad you got gobsmacked and I hope you get it even worse next time. Good for the CO who recognized that you didn't give a flying turd about staying off a vulnerable fish out of season and who made your life a little harder. Maybe you'll get to beat a nice deep path to the judge's door over the years with that attitude of yours and you can get all those tickets thrown out over and over and over again...since that's all that matters to you. More power to country boy cops and please do spout off like this at the judge. Better yet, hire a lawyer. A real, real, expensive one who'll milk you the way you deserve.

Better not miss.

No chance of a food shortage resulting from this. Losses will be offset by the increased yields on higher ground. Not much loss of wildlife when a river floods either. They're adapted to it. Cities aren't. Disrupted families and cities will definitely hurt us though. If your poll had been should we move cities out of the flood plain, I'd be a solid "yes" and I'd support forcing people to move out or taking away government support for them after a sundown period. The COE spends way too much money trying to prevent something that is a part of nature that is beneficial to the riparian zone if handled correctly and ultimately can't be stopped. But for now you don't have much choice but to try to protect the cities.

I agree mostly with what you say here, Justin. I would add that it's up to all of us to pick up our end of this. Overall, successful resource management doesn't depend on what's legal. It really is about doing the right thing and the "spirit of the law". There aren't enough COs, bikini clad or otherwise to keep the resource intact if the standard we set is what we can get away with. If you know better, do better.

And when they're all dead what will you shoot next?