Krafty Off Piste

Shrinking Fish

2011-09-19T07:47:00.000Z

"Scientists starting a novel project to investigate whether overfishing alters fish behaviour and changes their pattern of development."

Tying Videos on YouTube

2011-02-04T10:19:00.009Z

I was curious to see what fly-tying stuff is available these days, free to view, so went searching via Gooooogle. Here is a great example of just how good things have become:

This video is one of many from Davie McPhail. If you want to see more quality tying you should definitely visit Davie's YouTube page where he's building a strong following.

If you tie flies left handed, Davie's videos are great because in his footage you're looking at the hook and vice oriented as it is when you tie yourself - some of the detail is masked but so long as you listen carefully that's covered by the narration.

Marine Astro Turf

2011-02-01T09:55:00.006Z

Not exactly Astro Turf, but artificial sea grass, is being used to replace lost plant cover in Coromandel estuary reserve by the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA) in New Zealand.

It's thought that increased sedimentation through wash-off from land development projects, has lead to a decline in sea grass. Some species of fish have seen a decline in numbers as less survive into adulthood. This is considered the result of increased predation due to loss of cover afforded by the structure of sea grass in their nursery grounds.

It's not just a local problem maybe this will become a world wide solution.

See reports and video:

Dead zones

2011-01-24T09:27:00.008Z

"A recent research study by scientists and fishery experts working in the western north Atlantic and eastern tropical Atlantic revealed that billfish and other finfish are becoming more vulnerable to overfishing as "dead zones" expand and shoal closer to the sea surface. This graphic using dissolved oxygen (DO) data from the World Ocean Atlas shows the depleted levels of oxygen at 100-meter depths off Africa and the Americas. The black and red colors indicate depressed levels of DO at or below 3.5 milliliters per liter (see scale)."

I was just reading an article over at www.delmarvanow.com about the effects of oxygen depleted regions in the world's oceans. A scientific study has established that while hypoxic zones, as they are known, are naturally occurring phenomena they are expanding further through continued increases in ocean temperatures. These expanses of water support less life and compress the regions of water available to many marine organisms.

These dead zones as they are known to anglers, are pushing bill fish, amongst others, into shallower higher oxygenated water and thereby exposing them to over fishing by commercial enterprise.

The study, composed of scientists from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, and The Billfish Foundation suggests if stocks are not to crash, fishery management strategies must be adapted to account for the influence of the dead zones.

More family silver

2011-01-22T10:31:00.006Z

O.K., I'll nail my colours to the mast, without debate. Don't follow Defra's advice and wait for government reports, act now!! Stop the UK government from selling our woodland! I urge anyone reading this, without delay, go sign the petition at

38 Degrees »

You might want to sign another one at

The Woodland Trust »

BUT don't be mistaken into thinking the Woodland Trust petition is the same as the one at 38 Degrees, it's not!! Sign the one at 38 Degrees before any other. If you read the article at the BBC you'll see that the Woodland Trust don't actually oppose the sell off!! And there enters the thin end of the wedge!!

It's meant to be International Year of Forests, let's make it just that!!

Shrinking Trout

2011-01-21T14:05:00.003Z

I was just reading this over at BCLocalNews:

A group of Norwegian and Finnish scientists have recently observed that during cold temperatures, Salmoniods can reduce their body length up to 10%.

The writer, Jeff Weltz, asks himself, "How big, actually, was my friend Dave Rice’s 44-inch, fly-caught Thompson River Steelhead before it shrank?" Well, that could have been almost 49-inches. That's massive! Then again, 44-inches is massive enough!?

Mobile payment

2011-01-20T08:58:00.004Z

In light of baseband hacking I wonder if buying your Starbucks coffee using your Android or iOS device is such a good idea? Over at RWW opinions are vague at best.

iMode users have been making payments using mobile devices for years, but that's such a small market hacking has probably never been much of a threat (correct me if I'm wrong). So, the success of payments over iMode can't really be presented as proof of concept.

Considering there is much development afoot with both Android and iOS regarding mobile payments, coverage could be huge. Hackers may well consider the expenditure of time and money worth a punt. The hardware manufacturers and platform programmers will have to close their security breaches and prove their cases before I'll wave my mobile at the coffee vendor...

Genomic signals

2011-01-19T10:44:00.013Z

The Independent reports, if rather late, scientists have mapped genomic signals in search of an explanation for the crash in stocks of Canadian Pacific salmon. Their study focused on sockeye and implicated viral attacks, but doesn't provide an explanation for crashes in other stocks of salmon. So the work continues... if funding permits!?

For a more detailed report and some interesting reader comments, go to Canada.com or do a Google search 'Dead pacific salmon'.

Update (Thursday 20th 2011): Further reading at Times Colonist and a report from the Pacific Salmon Commission.

iPhone 5 v xCover

2011-01-18T08:33:00.007Z

While I'm still a fan of the brand, I'm no longer the slave to Apple I once was. In the domain of look and feel, Apple's products remain second to none and mostly stand out far ahead of everything else in the market. That their products are the best functionally speaking is another matter, depending on perspective and requirements.

I own two Mac desktop PCs and a PowerBook all of which have performed pretty well over the years, but as my career has shifted my requirements have changed. These days I find just about any PC works fine for me. I use a computer to write program code, do basic image editing, word processing, email and web browsing. Even a cheap PDA can handle these tasks!? So any performance benefit the Mac can offer is mostly wasted on me, while style alone just doesn't cut the mustard, not at the premium Apple charges.

And when it comes to mobile phones I follow a similar trend. Currently owner of a completely rubbish phone, an LG KC550, my previous device was a Sony K800i which actually wasn't at all bad. However, I dunked the SE in a river bringing it to an untimely end. With the LG slowly dying, I'm after a new phone.

I could wait for the all singing all dancing iPhone 5 (which is hoping to steel some of Android 2.3's thunder, maybe outperform it (we'll see)) or maybe I could buy an HTC or Nexus. But do I need all that functionality (and limited battery life)? Not really! Anyway, a quick dip in the brine, or a good soaking in the river, and these, like most phones, end up in recycling! Treated the way I treat a phone before too long they'd all end up looking like a piece of jetsam (I can't stand the faff of cases and covers). So, I'm considering a basic rugged phone instead... something like the Samsung Solid Immerse GT-B2710 also known as the xCover 271.

The xCover has some good basic functionality and should take a reasonable amount of stick...

Murder?

2010-12-17T10:15:00.002Z

Monte Burke recently completed a "Rocky Mountain Grand Slam", afterwards he discussed the experience with wildlife biologist, Cristina Eisenberg, and animal rights pioneers, Tom Regan and Dr. Elliot Katz. His blog post over at Forbes is well worth a read »

Sea lice science

2010-12-14T10:11:00.002Z

When does science become advocacy? That is the question I continue to ask the authors of the latest paper that claims fish farms are generating large amounts of sea lice.

Robert Wager, The Daily News

I'm guessing the kind of paper Wager reports on does nothing to build a case against fish farming, in fact, sadly, it probably has the opposite effect.

Help Sea Lions

2010-12-10T10:37:00.002Z

Funny that. Ban fishing to protect the sea lion, not the fish.

Seriously though, I understand the reasoning, in this case the way the ecology works, but I can't help notice the significant role a nice fluffy animal can play when it comes to getting the powers that be to make a big decision...

Sustainable

2010-12-09T11:50:00.002Z

Conflicting interests are reconciled by proposals for balanced solutions serving all parties - obviously!! In one case, proposals for the restoration of forest ecosystems in Oregon suit both logging interests and wildlife, including threatened salmon stocks. Read more »

Frankenfish

2010-12-09T10:53:00.003Z

When consumer behaviour is lead by price, can local protests really make a difference? Fear of genetic and chemically altered food is probably enough to put a lot of people off consuming Frankenfish, but in markets where food source information is either not given or otherwise difficult to access, consumers will probably continue to accept what's in front of them - if the price is right!?

School of Fish

2010-12-09T10:14:00.004Z

This is great!! Students from Plymouth's Marine Academy were given the first underwater lesson by the education co-ordinator of the National Marine Aquarium (NMA) in Plymouth, UK. Caroline Johnson gave the lesson in the ocean tank surrounded by traditional schoolroom furniture.

She was also joined by three large sand tiger sharks.

Pupils were taught shark anatomy during a lesson designed to showcase the new £500,000 Just Add H2O learning facilities at the attraction on Plymouth's Barbican, which are due to open at Easter 2011.

Dysfunction

2010-11-17T10:32:00.003Z

Yet again the E.A. manage to undo their own good work...

Bored housewives

2010-11-17T09:55:00.003Z

I read with interest Matt Labash's article on Oprah and flyfishing. Here in the UK, 'followers' of Oprah are perhaps a little less extreme in their behaviour so I'm less alarmed by her recent appearance on the Merced River - I dare say I'd feel different if I were a U.S. resident. If as Matt suggests there was a sudden influx of bored housewives to our sport here in the UK, it would probably be a good thing (In the UK women make up only a tiny proportion of anglers.). However, a sudden increase in numbers on properly crowded waters may be a bad thing and while it's not gonna happen here in Blighty, I have to wish you all luck in the Land of the Free... it might actually happen?

Popper dropper

2010-11-02T09:45:00.007Z

Just wondering if this might be effective for the Autumn fry feeding trout on our Midlands reservoirs, especially for the big browns... Have a read of this article over at Louisiana Sportsman »

Helping Veterans

2010-07-16T09:40:00.006Z

"Every Thursday, a different group of veterans wander down to the banks of the Green River. Some are hindered by prosthetic limbs, some struggle to see, a few have limited hearing. Yet others are plagued with bodies altered by intense stress...

When they climb from a fishing boat two days later, their eyes seem to crinkle a little more often in laughter. Even though they started the excursion as strangers, they now hug one another as friends."

Vernal Express

Though a number of group activities may have a similar capacity certainly this is the therapeutic power of fishing. Of course there are loads of articles like this but all the same I thought this was worth the post.

Go take a look »

Wet Olives

2010-05-24T13:55:00.006Z

For a touch of tradition the Waterhen Bloa and a spot of dubbing...

Mounted

2010-05-04T09:53:00.003Z

Sad end to fantastic saga

Ivan Keeney spent an hour battling a 29.74-pound, 47-inch-long pike, keeping up with it in his canoe so he didn't run out of line. He caught it on fly which is quite something. Now he'll be getting the fish mounted... Read the story...

Back in time?

2010-02-05T09:44:00.011Z

Not by visiting as the article header suggests, but just by reading this piece, I was taken back in time. The images and details of the article reminded me of all the places in Ireland I've visited over the years, where everything from the best Guinness to postal and pension services, ham sarnies, toothpaste, and the essential flies for the day are all on offer in no particular order of importance. And at the right time you might even be greated by some top local live music.

From Wicklow to Kilkee, Cork to Killybegs establishments like that are, or at least were, common.

Fantastic!

Cyanide & Sewage

2009-10-07T08:08:00.007Z

Another bloody disaster hits an upper section of the River Trent and as the polluted water passes downstream, reports may yet spell out disaster for further sections after the Stoke-on-Trent to Yoxall section currently in the news. While the Environment Agency (EA) try their best to mitigate the effects of the cyanide and raw sewage pollution incident, by pumping hydrogen peroxide, their efforts will not bring back the thousands of fish already dead, or indeed all the other dead and dying creatures that make up a complex ecosystem.

Right now, people such as myself, feel both anger and frustration that the whole fishery is going to be wrecked. Invertebrates, birds, mammals, several generations of fish will all be hit. Nature may bounce back quickly but not I suspect without a great deal of help. The good people at Calverton Fish Farm no doubt will be called upon for restocking depending on the fishery's ability to sustain a new population of fish, while other niches in the system can only be filled by natural migration and new generations.

In the long term our focus will be upon government, both local and national, their actions and those of the various representative bodies that look to protect our natural heritage. The EA, Anglers Trust and Fish Legal will be most prominent in taking necessary actions.

This is just a footnote, but it occurs to me now that my recent hopes of spotting an otter (as they've begun repopulating UK waterways) will probably remain fruitless for a while longer.

One more...

2009-06-11T09:38:00.002Z

Couldn't help myself... just one more. I saw Holly Golightly at The Social, or was it the Rescue Rooms, a few years ago. She did well to step out from under Billy Childish's shadow and shed her own light on the scene. The YouTube clip above is a bit raw - if you wanna hear a regular recording try this instead... Enjoy!

Bleech

2009-06-11T09:29:00.002Z

From the present - these folks aren't bad... will they last?