Posts tagged: trout

Wisconsin Prepares to Shoot Self in Foot Over Fishing Regulations

April 8, 2008, by Tom Chandler 12 comments

What do you do when you implement special “artificials-only, one-fish limit” regulations and they produce a 135% increase in trout populations?

If you’re the ~~moronic~~ easily influenced folks in charge of fisheries at the Prarie River in Wisconsin, your course is clear; you lift the regulations on a critical five-mile section of river (more than 30 miles are fishable) that provides much of the river’s rearing habitat.

Whaaa?

Yeah. Us too.

Read all about it here.

A small group of individuals had influenced the DNR to put this social question on the ballot, and other similar vocal individuals and groups want to influence rule makings to eliminate all category 5 trout waters in the state. This is a movement we all need to be aware of and take notice. The next group may organize to assault the size and slot limits that have been created on other species (that you fish) and that have resulted in quality fishing in Wisconsin.

Unfortunately, you have to be present (in Wisconsin) to vote on this issue, but if you know someone who lives in the area, be sure to pass this one along.

Technorati Tags: prarie river,wisconsin,fly fishing,trout fishing,trout,fishing,regulations

Pretty Little Fish: The Underground Loves Watercolors

March 7, 2008, by Tom Chandler 3 comments

I like artwork sketched fast, watercolors done bold. In fact, I’m more interested in my artist friend’s sketchbooks than their finished work.

That’s why Mark Liu’s Web site(s) caught my eye. His work offers a fun, spontaneous immediacy that avoids even a hint of the formal or stilted.

Sadly, what you miss when someone posts artwork online is the eyeballs-on-the-glass perspective that really allows watercolors to shine.

That’s why I’ve included a shrunken image of the full-size pic (which you can click for a much bigger version) along with a real-life-sized excerpt right beneath it.

Polish those eyeglasses and give it a look. You’ll see why I love the fast and loose world of water colors, and why Mark Liu’s Web sites (he has several) are worth a visit:

Below is a brown trout (click on it to see the full-size image), that illustrates what I love about watercolors: at a distance it’s pretty, but up close, the work becomes compelling.

The shading and gradations from one color to the next are wonderfully “real” and rough, and the transparency of a watercolor gives it a vibrancy and spontaneity that other media just can’t match (admittedly, that’s an opinion).

Of course, man does not live by watercolors alone, so here’s a charcoal sketch of a cutthroat:

And the closeup:

There’s plenty more on Mark’s blogs, which include:

His Illustration Blog (the above images came from here).

His Photography Blog

His FlyinTropic Blog (elements of all the others)

And yes, his “BeTrout” Blog that focuses on fisheries, people and ecology

See you on the river, Tom Chandler.

Technorati Tags: trout,art,watercolors,fly fishing

Winter Fly Fishing the Upper Sacramento: He Catches Big Trout — I Play Fish Paparazzi

December 10, 2007, by Tom Chandler 8 comments

Fly fishing the Upper Sacramento River in winter can mean fishless days — but it can also mean big rainbow trout.

The Trout Underground Launches Catch.com — The Online Dating Service For Fly Fishermen (Free Book Too)

November 30, 2007, by Tom Chandler 36 comments

The Trout Underground announced the launch of Catch.com — an online dating service aimed exclusively at fly fishermen (and fisherwomen) who are basically too pathetic to get dates the normal way. Genius, baby. Genius.

Is the Pending World Record Rainbow a Real Trout?

June 27, 2007, by Tom Chandler 60 comments

The 43.6 pound Rainbow Trout recently caught at Lake Diefenbaker has been submitted for world record status… Except, it’s clear the enormous trout is one of the half-million triploids who escaped a commercial fish farming operation and took up residence at the lake.

Conservation writer Ted Williams sums up the questionable background of the fish:

I learned further that an aquaculture operation called CanGro on Lake Diefenbaker produces over 100 Tons tons of finished commercial fish products annually. The operation is vertically integrated from hatching to processing. Fish are raised inside from egg to feeding size, then moved to net cages in the lake. The fish raised are steelheadXrainbow crosses and triploid females. Apparently the record fish was one of triploid females that recently escaped from CanGro net pens.

The Pending World Record (farm raised) Rainbow?

In other words, the “pending” world record (IGFA) was raised in a pen, genetically manipulated to grow huge, and regularly fed. Not exactly in line with the “spirit” of the rules, and it raises some pretty interesting questions — which I expect you to answer.

Can anything raised (and fed) in a pen be a “real” world record? The floor is yours…