Fishing Throwbacks

This month’s edition of Fishing throwbacks comes to us from the pages of Punch Magazine. Published in Britain as a comic paper from 1841 until 1992. Credited with first using the term cartoon with what we now know today as a humorous image. Lunatic (suddenly popping his head over wall). “What are you doing there?” Brown: “Fishing” Lunatic: “Caught Anything?” Brown: “No.” Lunatic. “How long have you been there?” Brown: “Six Hours.” Lunatic: “Come Inside!”

Trout in the Classroom 2020: Abandoned midstream

By: Dave Garfin

Things were looking rather rosy toward the end of January when the Trout in the Classroom (TIC) program started ramping up for 2020. We picked up four new teachers, lost two old ones and added four new coaches, three of whom are not club members. We were able to place all 32 of our aquaria in 31 classrooms and Jim Scherer’s garage. The aquaria were in such good condition that we didn’t have much to do in the way of maintenance. The aquaria were up and running by the middle of February. In other words, we were expecting yet another good year for our TIC program. But, alas, it was not to be.

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) furnishes fertilized rainbow trout eggs for the TIC program. They reported that this year’s eggs were from a new strain for us, the Eagle Lake strain. CDFW claimed that this strain develops into large, robust fry. We all were eager to give this new strain of eggs a try. On February 25, CDFW delivered eggs to our coaches who then took the eggs to their assigned classrooms. This year, as last, there were 50 eggs for each aquarium. Coaches helped teachers drop eggs into their tanks and then we all let nature run its course.

Teachers had primed their students for the arrival of the eggs. Excited is not a strong enough word to describe the kids’ expectations for what was to come, especially the younger ones. Once eggs began to hatch things began to change and our happy plans went by the wayside.

The eggs we were given didn’t look quite right to my eyes. A couple of teachers and coaches noticed the same thing. The eggs were smaller than those we were accustomed to getting and some were relatively pale compared with the bright orange we’ve seen in the past. Nevertheless, the eggs all had visible eye spots and, in that regard, they seemed okay. But, considering that this was a new strain we waited to see what would happen. And it did happen.

Eggs started dying on us within a week of delivery. CDFW reassured us that they expected 25% die-off so we shouldn’t get too concerned. CDFW was right about the die off, but we are not used to as many bad eggs as we were seeing. In the past, when eggs died they just seemed to turn white but maintain their size. This year’s dead eggs were white and swollen and had a corona (excuse the word) of cytoplasm extruding from them. If left in aquaria, dead eggs contaminate the water making it deadly for live eggs. The teachers were diligent and immediately took dead eggs from their tanks so they weren’t a problem. We also began to see what seemed to be alevins that were too small and fry that had bent backs. CDFW claims

Salmon Spawning - Image Reuse Courtesy of Ryan Hagerty of the US Fish & Wildlife Service that it is only this particular batch of eggs that had problems. We shall see what future batches hold for us. Because of the dying and deformities, the teachers were gearing up to talk with their classes about the cycle of life and that sort of thing. They tend to prepare themselves for this eventuality every year as some dying is inevitable. They never got the chance to give their spiels this year.

About the time that our trout began to develop into fry the governor announced his quarantine measures and schools were ordered to close. Teachers were allowed into their classrooms for short periods of time to retrieve belongings and important work. The principals at the schools we service were farsighted enough to give teachers with aquaria extra time to capture their fry for release. Maybe principals realized that they would have a stinky mess to deal with if the fry weren’t removed. Some teachers had enough time to clean their equipment (we require our teachers to clean their own tanks) and those aquaria are in the best shape for moving on.

In normal times, releases are turned into a party-like field trip with students putting their fry into the lake one at a time. It is a delight to watch the care with which the kids put their precious fry into the water. Sadly, that couldn’t happen this year. Most teachers took their buckets of fry on their own to one of the lakes and dumped in the whole bucket. A few teachers went so far as to video their quasireleases. Coaches also helped with releases. This was certainly not the same as a student release, but the best we all could do.

As you can guess, the teachers were fabulous. Given all that they had to deal with, and what lies ahead, they have handled this unforeseen situation calmly and professionally. They are to be commended. Our coaches, too, have been understanding and have helped as much as legally possible. As it turned out, though, a couple of teachers forbade the more elderly of us coaches from going into their classrooms and we obeyed.

We hope for better times next year.

Super Coach Julie Haselden doing a controlled release into Refugio Creek

The Importance of keeping an Outing Journal

By: Mark Likos

Iwas fortunate enough to take a fly fishing fundamentals class from one of my early mentors, Alan Christian. He taught the importance of maintaining a fly fishing journal to help improve our future performance. I rarely travel without it now.

When revisiting a venue you’ve previously fished, it can give you a huge head start in what to use and expect especially if you go back the same time of year. Keep track of the time of day you fished, the most productive times, temperatures, humidity, visibility, moon phase, wind & direction and barometer. Very key are the water temperature, flow and clarity. Record the hatches you see; their type, stage and strength. And, don’t forget the number and kind of fish you catch, and the fly/size and gear you used.

I keep notes on any wildlife I see and hazards such as the difficulty of hiking, snakes, loose rock and poison oak. I end up ‘grading’ the area on a scale of 1 to 5, where 5 would be an excellent venue to visit again and 1 the lower end rating I may want to avoid in the future.

Here is my 5.5” X 8.5” Journal sheet (On page 13; not seen are a lined back page for notes). This covers what I need and becomes invaluable for future reference. This sheet is similar to the one in the back of my Foundational Fly Fishing Field Journal & Entomology Reference book (available to all club members at cost.). These sheets are available to club members at cost in a 25 page Journal supplement bound in a handy size to take in the field.

Make your own, use mine, just USE ONE!

Contact me with inquiries.

mlikos@comcast.net

The journal page as described by Mark on the preceding page. Understanding the environment can help to really understand the difference between a good day’s fishing and a day of nothing but skunks. Courtesy of Mark Likos