Tim Smith

The climate change debate has not gone away and given current trends there won't be much but a greasy spot left on the denial side once that's done... ...but we have indeed been asked not to engage in this discussion and unless the management intends to change the rules (oh please, oh PLEASE change the rules), a topic under this heading is out of order.

I have always thought that my clothes should match my background on small water. I think that matters less and less as the distances and depths get larger. I just spent the weekend crawling on my hands and knees to get close enough to cast to brook trout in a mountain stream. I don't know if the black t-shirt and kahki vest helped me when the canopy was open. I think it was an asset when the trees were closed above me.

We had some discussion on this earlier and as predicted, the flood this year has been a boon for fish on large rivers. (and if the corn crop is down this year it's because there hasn't been enough rain rather than the other way around) From the AFS message board...

The original post said you were aiming for economy. I'm with you there. Something like Keenes that you can wear straight from the river to just about anywhere fall into that category. You get the benefit of multiple uses and a highly durable piece of footwear even though that's an 80-90 dollar investment. Al's complaints about gravel and Keenes are true (and yes, I barely wore shoes the first 17 years of my life so I don't tend to notice the gravel) but everything has draw-backs. I had Salome wading shoes that were very similar to the design you mentioned, Al. They were fine, but once you stepped into silt they filled up and didn't let it breathe back out. Once silt is inside the shoe, there's no back pressure to get it out again. The gravel also still made it in over the top as well (although a gaiter might have stopped that). Those shoes were ok but I still had to stop and empty them periodically and unlike the Keenes, I had to pull them all the way off to clean them out rather than just flick my foot. If you're ready to spend money, just go for waders and wading boots. Even the rubber cheap-o 20$ hip waders keep the gravel out of your boot. They'll take a season of hard use if you hang them properly afterward. Another point that Al touched on briefly that hasn't been fleshed out much here is that WHERE you wade makes all the difference. You probably won't want hip waders in a stream with large deep holes. You may not want to wet wade at all on a stream with a sewage treatment plant on it. You might enjoy a sandal if you're in a stream with coarse substrates but find they are a curse on a stream with fine substrates. You may find a pair of breatheable chest waders and wading boots are useful for getting through brush down to the spot you want to try. I think you're on the right track by sticking with gym shoes until you have been a few places and have in mind the demands those places will entail and you know your specific needs.

I fished the upper East and the headwaters of the Taylor last week. The upper East was loaded with brook trout but showed little sign of bigger fish. The headwaters of the Taylor were full of fish too. The Taylor itself was loaded with fishermen in public areas with long stretches of roped-off private land but gorgeous. The area below the reservoir was shoulder to shoulder. The headwaters were beaver pondy with some serious undercut banks in flowing water. Bigger brookies there but much more picky and harder to fish. Almost everything is gorgeous around Gunnison.

Ditto on the Keenes. I like mine. Just don't try to use them in silt. Used to cycle through old sneakers until the water blew them up. Hip waders, waders and wading boots...

http://fishhabitat.org/images/documents/fishhabitatreport_012611.pdf Here's the full report with explainations about designation criteria etc. You might look at the blue stretches to find new fishing areas, but I think the main purpose of the report is as an inventory. The purpose of the habitat project is to get more rivers out of the red and into the blue. This serves as a sort of baseline to measure how that's going. Look at the national map on the full report. Pretty impressive.

More on this here: http://www.trcp.org/assets/audio/Backcountry_Telepresser_8-9-11.mp3 Where are the people who were portraying roadless areas as a federal "taking" of federal lands. I can see why no one would want to try to defend this bill.

New maps for the national fish habitat project showing threatened and high quality habitats in Arkansas and Missouri. http://fishhabitat.org/images/SFS/mofactsheet.pdf http://fishhabitat.org/images/SFS/arfactsheet.pdf

There seems to be a consistent interest in gar here. There aren't many alligator gar left in Arkansas, but there are a few. Texas, where the head of Parks and Wildlife was calling them "trash fish" just a few years ago, has a large population and seems to finally be taking steps to understand and manage the fishery for one of the largest freshwater fish in the world. From the AFS message boards.... #Despite being one of the largest freshwater fish species in North America, scientists knew little about alligator <http://www.worldfishingnetwork.com/fishing-101/species/gar-8474.aspx> gar until relatively recently. In the last two decades, knowledge about the species has grown tremendously in response to evidence that alligator gar populations are declining in many areas. The primary reasons alligator gar have declined throughout much of their historic 14-state range are loss of floodplain habitats necessary for reproduction (from reservoir construction and river channelization) and overfishing. As a result, the American Fisheries Society has considered alligator gar "at risk of imperilment" since 2008. Texas is fortunate to still have many of the best populations of large alligator gar in the world. The Trinity River has become one of the most popular locations to fish for the species. Susceptibility to habitat loss, coupled with increased fishing pressure, prompted Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) to adopt a one-fish per day bag limit on September 1, 2009. This made Texas the eighth state to adopt harvest regulations for alligator gar. Alligator gar longer than six feet are considered to be more vulnerable to angler harvest due to their more desirable "trophy" size. Although alligator gar may reach three feet in length in three years, their growth rate slows with age, and the fish may take 20 to 30 years to reach a length of six feet. Biologists have discovered that alligator gar can live more than 50 years and take about a decade to become sexually mature. It could take several decades to restore their numbers if depleted. Many states are already in the process of stocking and attempting to reestablish alligator gar populations. By setting a one-fish per day regulation, Texas inland fisheries biologists hope to prevent the decline in alligator gar populations seen in other areas. A number of research initiatives have been completed or are underway to better understand gar populations throughout Texas. TPWD biologists have conducted studies to evaluate growth rates and life span, understand their reproduction, and track the seasonal movement of alligator gar. Biologists have also conducted studies to evaluate angler harvest rates of alligator gar and estimate population sizes. Efforts to increase age data for alligator gar from waters throughout the state are underway by collecting otoliths from angler-caught alligator gar. Otoliths are pairs of small bones in the inner ears of fish which contain annual growth rings similar to the rings in a tree. Age data make it possible to determine how fast fish grow, how long they are capable of living, and compare historical river conditions to the year the fish were hatched. By comparing age data with historical water levels, biologists observed high river flows during late spring can result in strong alligator gar reproductive success. For example, high river flows in 2007 resulted in a very strong year-class of alligator gar in the Trinity River. In the current drought year, alligator gar may produce few to no offspring at all. Knowledge about which environmental conditions produced the most fish will allow biologists to better predict strong and weak year classes. Biologists may also be able to work with river and reservoir controlling authorities to help provide the conditions necessary for successful reproduction. From October 2008 through July 2010, a study on the Trinity River used acoustic tags to track the movements of alligator gar between Lake Livingston and Trinity Bay. Biologists found alligator gar were concentrated in deep pools in the main river channel for most of the year but moved to tributaries and protected backwaters during flooding. Biologists also found that although some fish moved more than 100 miles, most of the alligator gar remained within 15 miles of their tagging locations. There was little interaction between fish tagged in different parts of the river, suggesting that alligator gar near Trinity Bay may be a separate population than alligator gar near Lake Livingston Dam. Further research is needed to determine if these populations should be managed separately. A mark-recapture study in the river between Dallas and Lake Livingston (about 200 river miles) was also conducted with the help of fishing guide Kirk Kirkland. Captain Kirkland tagged alligator gar, and TPWD recorded the number of tagged fish he and other anglers caught. With these data, biologists estimated that this portion of the river contained about 9,200 alligator gar 42 inches long or longer and about 1,400 fish 78 inches or longer. It was determined that about three to four percent of these alligator gar were harvested annually with most (73 percent) of the harvest occurring between April and July of each year. Biologists also estimated that only about 5 percent, or 400 fish 42 inches or longer, could be harvested each year from this portion of the river and still sustain this trophy fishery. Since 2009, 130 harvested alligator gar have been collected and aged from anglers at Trinity River bowfishing tournaments. Using information obtained from tournaments, biologists were also able to estimate harvest rates of alligator gar at the events. Only about one alligator gar was harvested for every four bowfishers at the Trinity River tournaments, and it took an average of 50 angler-hours to harvest an alligator gar at a tournament. Angers harvested an average of 21 fish each year 42 inches or longer during the three studied tournaments, or about 5 percent of the sustainable annual harvest of 400 fish. This level of harvest from tournaments alone is well below estimated sustainable levels; however, biologists still need more information to determine what total percentage of alligator gar are harvested annually outside of bow fishing tournaments and using other methods like rod and reel. While the Trinity River is a well-known stronghold for alligator gar in the state, many Texas reservoirs, such as Choke Canyon Reservoir and Lake Amistad, also support healthy populations. TPWD began a tagging study of alligator gar in Choke Canyon Reservoir in 2011. Tags returned by anglers will provide biologists with information on harvest, abundance, size structure, and survival. In addition, recaptures of tagged fish during the spawning season will provide clues to number of spawning locations, how often fish spawn in the reservoir, and if fish return to the same locations to spawn each year. Through the various research projects throughout the state, biologists plan to refine management objectives specific to certain rivers and reservoirs around the state to better maintain or enhance the alligator gar fisheries. Future research needs will involve further assessments of alligator gar populations around Texas to better understand fishing pressure and harvest. A population study of alligator gar in the Brazos River below Waco is currently in the planning stages. TPWD's goal is to study and manage Texas alligator gar populations to sustain excellent fishing opportunities for this species for present and future generations to enjoy.

According to Forbes, spotted bass were in the Champaign area before smallmouth were. LOVE catching big native spots. Super aggressive (they'll throw a hook and rush straight back in to take the lure again) and well into the mid to upper teens on the Illinois streams where I fish them, native spots are a blast. Range expansions of spot dinks...not so much. Also love the support on the thread for native predators. Warms the heart.

Learning the ropes for Colorado trout fishing this summer and finding out that brook trout are a good combination for fishing with kids. These are an introduced species in the west so there's no stress involved for sensitive native stocks. They're willing, they tend to be in scenic high altitude locations, and they tend to be in small accessible water. Best of all, she loved it. Yesterday near Gothic I carried the daughter to the sites (7 years old). Just slung her on my back and waded from gravel bar to gravel bar. The fish tended to be small (biggest at 10 inches) but the bites were non-stop. The bugs were thick where the brush was high, but by keeping in the open we were able to minimze that. Spinners and float and fly only so far. We'll be out again today. Maybe we'll try the fly gear but I'm not sure I feel comfortable with a 7 year old whipping a sharp object around her head.

I did this kind of fishing with my dad when I was a kid and those were memorable trips. We used Coleman white gas lanterns on a branch above the water. The bugs fried in the lamp and fell in the water the shad rose up behind those. Mostly we caught crappie and catfish. Mind the snakes...they're super active then...and have a plan for what to do if one or all the kids start to get sleepy. If you're going to be on the water at night anway you might think about running a trot line on the side. Those are exciting for kids if they're of an age you can count on them to behave safely around taunt wires and hooks.

Good stuff, Chief.

For size and flavor I have to agree. Redear/shellcrackers are the bomb.

Bluegill and greens both have a dark spot there on the soft dorsal.

More than once I've had flavor issues with green sunfish. Mixed in with bluegill for a fish fry they didn't compare favorably and tended to be the last fillets taken from the plate. They were still edible and better than most grocery store fare.

Mountain lion. Front paw, bear (the footprint, not the hand). Back paw, bear. The outcropping in the distance is part of the same formation where Red Rocks ampitheater was built. You can see the Denver skyline at the top of the ridge. The park naturalists told me someone sees a bear there every day (we saw 2) and mountain lions are common.

The fish looks like a Cyprinella if that shoulder bar is a natural marking and not something it picked up getting drug by the fish. Probably red shiner if you took the picture at a reservoir. The snake was 2 feet or less, yes?

Another two characters no one has mentioned yet are the regular rows of spots on the belly of the spotted bass (some largemouth can have this too) and the fact that their spinous and soft dorsal fin have no gap between them. If you're not sure after that, check for the tooth patch on the tongue (you may have to stick your finger in to feel for it). The jaw thing can be misleading sometimes.

Amen.

From the AFS newsfeed:

Thanks for this update, Dano. Looks like the Corps is going to pony up for now but budgets are shrinking for all the agencies and the issue of federal funding for hatcheries is going to remain an active debate.

OB I don't think we disagree at all here. I do think, however, that those feelings come from somewhere and it makes a lot of sense to define why we have the values we have. You're right that some people won't ever care. But it makes sense to sort out as best we can why we feel the way we feel about what's "legit" and what's not because laws get passed every day based on feelings. In the case of Belize, it was my impression that most Belizeans who were appalled by this ranch were more worried about encountering feral buffalo in the bush than anything else. I can see their point as it would take a pretty good shot from a deer slug in a 16 gauge shot gun they normally carry to drop a cow that size. The rest who piled on were animal rights types (who bashed all hunting without discriminating between this group and others). Conservationists were barely involved.