Archive for April, 2009
“All joking aside, it’s a very kid-friendly event and if you haven’t seen the film, the Bagdad’s big screen would be a pretty bomber place to watch a fantastic documentary about a national treasure not worth losing to the almighty, temporary dollar.”
When: April 16th @ 6:30, doors @ 5:30. (Thursday)
Where: Bagdad Theatre, 3702 SE Hawthorne Blvd.
I am going to this for sure. Make an effort to get there to learn more about habitat issues………
British Columbia, Alaska, the Sea of Cortez, the Galapagos Islands, Euro River Cruises on and on are the small ship voyage venues. Small Ship Voyages offer the most intimate contact with the environment and the rewards of nature at its grandest, travel at its most relaxed yet sophisticated, and friendships with seasoned, educated travelers that will expand your horizons.
I have traveled on both the big ship as well as the small ship. There is no comparison between the two if your focus is nature, relaxation and the destination. If you want the crowds, confusions, neon, herd instinct then by all means take the big ship or pretend and go to the mall at Christmas time or Saturday. They are similar experiences. But, if you want a genuine naturalist to share the flora and fauna with, then board that zodiac as it departs the Small Ship to explore. Listen to the glaciers calv or take a deep breath as your sea kayak glides along some tropical back bay. Whales, whales and more whales. Glaciers, coral beaches, Euro canals and rivers….it is there at an intimate level that a seasoned traveler can appreciate.
Mary Jo Muncy, the owner of Small Ship Voyages, knows the destinations, knows the ships and has traveled many of the routes. She knows what it feels like to sit on a small ship off Cabo San Lucas on New Year Eve and watch the giant fireworks display, to dive with sea lions in the Sea of Cortes, to travel by zodiac amongst the ice flows of Glacier Bay. To paddle sea kayaks and snorkel with the fish. She has twelve years experience with small ships and enjoys putting together group tours and romantic getaways. Honeymoons, anniversaries, a surprise sweetie moons, or show the ol’ girl you still love her, the Small Ship Voyage is the intimate ticket! Oregon Girls, Holly Madison and Bridget Marquardt love Small Ship Voyages!!!
October Caddis~ Dicosmoecus by G. Muncy
The October Caddis are available at current edges or slower water by June or July according to Westfly, where I imagine they stage or prepare for the late Summer hatch.
Peeking Caddis~SwittersB
October Caddis Dry~Smokey Mtn. Fly Guide
”There are apparently a number of different sub-species in what is commonly called October Caddis or Fall Caddis or Giant Caddis. Most belong to the family Dicosmoecus. They range from California to Alaska.
The larva of these giant caddis build tube-like cases. During the winter months when the larva are tiny, these cases are made from vegetable matter attached to a foundation of silk. As the larva grows in size through the spring months they abruptly switch to cases made from small gravel. You can observe these larvae crawling around on the streambed dragging their cases with them as the forage for algae and decaying plant and animal matter. During the the summer months of June and July Dicosmoecus larvae are important trout foods. Daily behavioral drift cycles occur in the early afternoon, usually peaking about 4:00 P.M. They are one of the few families of caddis that leave their cases before behavioral drift cycles. This makes them extremely enticing to large trout. In August these larvae seal themselves in their cases and by September they are ready to emerge as adults.”
I recently had a brief stint in front of news camera. The results provided proof of two things: One, I looked ghastly because of repetitive sun damage and two, I am more vain than I imagined as I saw how aged I looked from the years of sunburns and damage. Today, I saw a TV angler named Henry Waszczuk promoting the UV Buff. I had previously noticed this on saltwater anglers and suspected it was to protect from wind burn. The Cool Max fabric and the ability to wear the tube around the top of the head or around the neck and face does offer sound protection. I am surprised my ears have not fallen off yet, given the baseball cap and scorched ears. I do wear lots of sunscreen and reapply it a lot now…but the damage is done and I will not be in front of a TV camera again… Check outhe Angler UV Buff Info Saw them at Caddis Fly Shop in Eugene on 4/7/09.
Fish Tailing
I have written here a few times about my Christmas Island adventure. I had not been in that environment before and may never again. It was bizarre dozens of times over. I cannot put into words the images and spatial adjustments your vision and mind have to try to adjust to. It is, by virtue of never ending horizons, a tilting, catawhompus world.
The above picture by no means is related to a salt flat, but it made me think of standing with a guide facing outward toward the edge of the flat, as the light sand gave way to the blue abyss. I saw nothing. The guide stared out seeing or sensing something through those copper colored lens. And, then they were there. A dozen pointy tails lined across my path some fifty feet out. The tails were sticking up out of the water ever so slightly and the bonefish were nose down feeding… A surreal scene of contrasts, wind, shimmer and life.
The Tail
I was instructed to carefully cast before the fish and not on top of the fish. As much as you can judge distance so easily on a stream or lake and plop that fly down where you want, on the flat I was never sure if that was really fifty feet, one hundred feet or shorter. This time, I fought the wind and succeeded in placing the fly before the approaching, feeding bones. The take was immediate and the run was beyond description for speed and power. I have tried to explain what that is like compared to my freshwater experiences, but nothing compares for speed or power (by size). The bonefish screamed out so quickly toward the deep and then down and down until the leader was cut from the coral.
My lasting memory from that moment was the fish yes, but really those bobbing tails out of the water just enough to excite and bring the stealth mode out, always enter my mind. It was like casting to the rising trout or the stillwater fish up in the shallows picking off damsels from the reeds. The stalking is the same.
- Lightning Bug~FlyArtStudio
Directed to this fine site re fly fishing photography. Also, has a good tutorial on tying a productive little pattern called the Lightning Bug. The pattern has been around a few years. My son, Tony, has had great success with this pattern on stillwaters, but I am sure it would be successful in streams as well.
I have posted this piece from the Bristol Bay Times. It is informative on several fronts depending upon one’s position re Pebble Mine, Bristol Bay fisheries, off shore drilling, eco agitprop or enviromental issues, AND hearings re Bristol Bay (most importantly).
“Verner Wilson III was born and raised in Dillingham. He salmon fishes in Bristol Bay every year and recently graduated from Brown University with a degree in environmental studies. He now works for the World Wildlife Fund, Kamchatka/Bering Sea region, in Anchorage.”
“On April 14, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will be holding a public hearing in Anchorage to hear public comments on offshore drilling in Alaska. If you are in Anchorage, please join us in providing your testimony. If not, you can sign the petition “Fishermen for Protecting Bristol Bay from Offshore Drilling,” which I am proud to say that more than 650 Bristol Bay fishermen have signed so far. We are trying to get even more for Salazar’s visit, and will put all names of people who sign in an advertisement. You can visit Nunamta Aulukestai’s office on Main Street in Dillingham, or e-mail me at Verner.Wilson@wwfus.org to sign.”
Wilcher Award: 2004 Award Recipient
Verner Wilson III
Verner Wilson is the son of Verner Wilson of Dillingham and Jackie Wilson from Savoonga/Nome. He first became involved in environmental issues through an Alaska Youth for Environmental Action-sponsored trip to Juneau. Since then, his infectious spirit has inspired others to become involved and aware of environmental health in his Dillingham community. Verner launched the Dillingham AYEA chapter. He has received statewide recognition of his efforts, including a 2003 Spirit of Youth Award for his efforts to maintain a healthy environment where Alaska Natives can continue their cultural traditions. He spoke on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) as a youth panelist at the Alaska Native Health Board in 2003. At the conference, he stated: “To continue our traditional ways and to pass them on to our children . . . we must protect our environment, our animals and their habitat. By protecting these things, we are protecting our tradition, culture, and way of life.”
So, if Salazar is scheduled for hearings re Bristol Bay, then the Pebble Mine issue is hopefully looming and the outreach should begin. Somehow, I am leery of the motives of so many enviro’s ….I am sorry to say, I see it as a vehicle toward greater restrictions and crushing conformity. I refuse to kneel at the Religious Altar of Green. I know, sacrilegious to utter this anymore. I believe it is a trap of could’s, maybe’s, might’s, probably’s calculated to steer you where those that spout that relentless mantra are hellbent on controlling so many aspects of our life. Mr. Wilson smoothly touches upon all the right buttons of class envy, demonization, anti corporate, anti oil, alternative energy, global warming, the sky in falling. I am all for controlling drilling, mining, logging, the works..BUT not destroying the industries. The intent is not balance. The die is cast…something is fishy besides Bristol Bay. But, I suspect it is too late. The young ‘bots like Mr. Wilson chant the repetitive mantra.
The Altar: “One way this free-range spiritual thinking has played out is how love of nature and to some extent the environmental movement itself have become the accepted secular faith here.”
FELINE INFIDEL: Kill Your Cat, They Are Anti-Green (what would PETA say?)
“The rank and file are usually much more primitive than we imagine. Propaganda must therefore always be essentially simple and repetitious. The most brilliant propagandist technique will yield no success unless one fundamental principle is borne in mind constantly… it must confine itself to a few points and repeat them over and over.”— Joseph Goebbels Nazi Propaganda Minister
Then, all the ’bots pickup the message and group speak it as well. It all must be true, right?
Deer Ticks to Scale
A tense dialouge is seen between those that see the narrow chicken/egg construct and those that live with the realities of living with nature. Only post it from a humor point of view because my yard is not invaded with deer…I have coyotes in a suburban setting.
Deer Tick
“To begin with, ticks don’t fly, jump or blow around with the wind; these suspects are not ticks. They are small, very patient and amazing in their approach to locating their host/prey. Their purpose in life like so many species is to propagate their species. They don’t feed often, but when they do, they can acquire disease agents form one host and pass it to another host at a later feeding.”
What to avoid: Smothering or burning a tick could make it release fluid—which could be infected—into your body and increase your chance of infection.
Do not try to:
- Smother a tick that is stuck to your skin with petroleum jelly, nail polish, gasoline, or rubbing alcohol.
- Burn the tick while it is stuck to your skin.
