(Bill) Dancing with a Trolling Motor

This comes from YouTube via Moldy Chum. I don't usually re-post things from other blogs, but this just made me laugh. Bill wrestling his trolling motor at about 1:00 is priceless.

One Way Natural Gas Drilling is GOOD For PA Trout?

One of the hot button topics in Pennsylvania (and referenced in this blog on several occasions) is the impact of natural gas drilling now that the state government has opened up huge expanses of state park lands to extraction. The main environmental issues (beside the obvious encroachment on the forests) are that the drilling requires a large amount of locally-provided water, and the increased risk of fish kills resulting from chemical spill contamination.

I found this article today outlining a Penn State University study focusing on how the building of the drilling infrastructure is assisting the spread of invasive plant species in Pennsylvania forests. Bad, right? Maybe not 100% evil. Conversely, this limestone road building seems to also have a positive side-effect that could actually be good for fish such as trout.

A few notable excerpts are below:

Researchers learn why invasive plants are spreading rapidly in forests

University Park, Pa. -- Invasive plants are advancing into Eastern forests at an alarming rate, and the rapid spread has been linked by researchers in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences to forest road maintenance and the type of dirt and stone used on roads.

Perhaps predictably, according to David Mortensen, a professor of weed ecology who has been studying the spread of invasive plants for nearly two decades, humans are unwittingly accelerating the relentless march of invasives into even isolated forests. The findings are especially significant in the face of massive forest road-building efforts expected to support greatly expanded natural-gas drilling operations into the Marcellus shale formation. Hundreds or even thousands of gas wells could be established in Eastern forests in the next few years, depending on the market price of gas.

Perhaps the most startling finding of Mortensen's research relates to the nature of dirt and gravel on forest roads that enables invasive plants such as Japanese stiltgrass to thrive.

"The crushed limestone used to surface many forest roads and to line culverts and drains along those roads are creating ideal conditions for the invasives to spread rapidly," he said. "The high alkalinity sediment from the stone, mixed with water running off the roads during storms, eventually spills out into the forests, carrying invasive plant seeds and creating areas for them to grow quickly. The high alkalinity prevents native plants that have become adapted to acidic forest soils from growing, and invasives such as Japanese stiltgrass fill the void."

Ironically, the crushed limestone is being used on many forest roads and in ditches and drains that parallel mountain streams precisely because the material leaches a high-alkalinity slurry that improves the productivity and water chemistry of the streams. That benefits the wild trout and other aquatic organisms that have suffered in many mountain streams after decades of acidic atmospheric deposition (acid rain).

Read the entire article at Penn State Live:
http://live.psu.edu/story/43333

I Didn't Go Fishing Last Weekend

Instead, I stayed indoors and out of the cold. Sunday was a total veg-out day of watching football (& Lilly). The Eagles crushed the Falcons, which unfortunately that wasn't all that exciting, so Lilly tried her hand at balloon juggling as entertainment.

Prince Nymph

...no, not that Prince nymph.

Was looking through my flies the other day and realized I needed some more beadhead Prince Nymphs. They've been my pattern this fall/winter (and thus have lost my fair share). Well, I could tie some of my own...

...but then again, I don't "tie" and don't have a vice or any of the other needed materials. So I guess I'm off to buy some. Lucky for me Albright Fly Fishing launched flies on their website this week, so I can get a pretty good deal. Basically buy 6, get 6 free, or about 80 cents a piece. I already bought a 3/4 click & pawl reel from them earlier this week, what's a few more bucks? It's worth a shot.

And yes, this is pretty much a throw away of a blog post. I haven't gone fishing in a few weeks and am suffering from a mean case of angling writer's block!

Another "Flowing Waters" Giveaway

Wolfy at the Flowing Waters blog hosted a fly fishing giveaway last week, well this week it's a bass fishing giveaway. There's really too much stuff to list here, so you'll have to click here to visit his blog to read the laundry list of goodies and enter yourself.

(This isn't even all of it!)

Electrofishing for Brookies

Here's a video one of the members of the PAanglers.com message board actually posted (so I can't take credit). It's taken from the NJ Star-Ledger website, and shows the process and techniques that the Division of Fish & Wildlife biologists use to survey a stream via "electrofishing."

The accompanying article can be found here:
http://videos.nj.com/star-ledger/2009/09/scientists_study_fish_to_help.html

Catch & Keep?

I don't. But I'm no evangelist for catch & release. You want to keep your limit and eat 'em, more power to you - especially on stocked waters. That's why you buy a license with trout stamp, right?

So I was on Bing.com, and to be up front I really never use Bing as a search engine. I prefer tried & true Google. Or, if I want to rock it old school 1997 style, Lycos or Alta Vista. (Yes, believe it or not they do still exist). Anyway, I typed "trout" in Bing and got the standard URL, image, & news results...but interestingly enough, got this on the first page of results as well:

Actually there's an even deeper breakdown HERE.

Huh...wonder what happens if I type in "Whopper"?

Flowing Waters Fly Fishing Giveaway

Was turned on to this giveaway by two other blogs I follow (Wandering Owl Outside & The Fisherbabe). It's a great fly fishing offer from "Wolfy" over at Flowing Waters.

All you have to do is answer a few questions in the comments section of his post, and you'll be entered to win a great assortment of stuff including fly line, leader, tippet, and best of all - a fly box stocked with flies!

The drawing will be on November 28th, so get on over there soon and sign up.

Also, take some time and read some of his other posts...they're quite interesting as well - lots of good fishing talk.

50% off Select AEG DVDs

Got this nice little deal in the inbox today, thought I'd pass along.

Find the perfect holiday gift for
the fly fisherman at 50% off!

(Click On Image Above)
* Discount applied to the shopping cart during checkout.

In following the link, found you can get any one of these titles for $12.49/ea

Trout Bum Diaries: Patagonia Volume I
Trout Bum Diaries: New Zealand Volume II
Fish Bum: Mongolia Volume I

Went to the Orvis Warehouse Sale today...

...and I'll try to be kind. It was basically a waste.

This is the 3rd year in a row I've went when it hit the Philly area, and there just wasn't a lot of good merchandise to pick through this year. I'm thinking it most likely has to do with the economy. Being in retail, I know most retailers have kept inventories tight this year, unwilling to "go deep" on buys due to unpredictable consumer spending patterns. Also, a lot of the stuff at the show seems to be catalog/internet returns (ie TONS of dog beds with a dog's name already embroidered on it), so less people buying stuff in 2009 also means less returns.

There was a lot of summer clothes, especially in size medium and large. Shamrock shorts anyone? Not much in cold-weather wear - basically no fleece or outwear. I was hoping to stumble upon a wading jacket, but no luck. The fishing equipment was also slim-pickins, with most rods and line being heavy (6-wt and above). From what I could tell the only reels were gigantic saltwater Vortex reels the size of dinner plates. There were quite a bit of fishing accessories to be had, but a lot of it seemed almost like it was purchased especially for the warehouse sale - Rapala multi-tools and small Plano boxes?

After playing some seek n' find, I did find a good deal. A 4-wt Superfine trout rod for $200 (catalog list $575). Unfortunately, I didn't want or need a new rod so I passed. Probably could have played the eBay game...but not interested in sending a fishing rod through the mail.

I did end up spending money; purchasing a $10 raffle ticket from some folks from Perkiomen Valley Trout Unlimited to help support their Trout in the Classroom & stream restoration initiatives. I guess not all was lost.