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Blessing or torture?

2K views 14 replies 10 participants last post by  FinLuver 
#1 ·
Hand Arthropod Scaled reptile Finger Reptile
This just flew into my WS back yard. I saw the unmistakable ungainly flight of a stonefly. Then, it literally flew into my leg, which was propped on a chair in front of me. When I moved, it flew into the grass where I captured it. It was pretty active and didn't want to stick around for a ventral/inferior shot. Not without crushing it anyway.
 
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#3 ·
That's what I was thinking. I hope so anyway. For now, I am needed at home but I am saving up some fly fishing chi.

I mean a random golden stone just flew into my back yard, and into me, kinda weird. I'm not that far from a creek but it ain't much of a creek and it's not next door. Most stones are pollution tolerant from what I gather.

Funny where I keep running into aquatic insects. Maybe I just notice them more...as a fully programmed flyfish-bot 5000.
 
#5 ·
Funny where I keep running into aquatic insects. Maybe I just notice them more...as a fully programmed flyfish-bot 5000.
I noticed the same. As a kid that grew up around the salt, the freshwater insects and birds are all new to me. Apparently I paid no attention to these critters before age 30. Now, even on vacation I am stopping to photograph and look up a bug or bird.

Now I need to work on retaining this information... Al least enough of it to benefit my fishing addiction.

Here is an example... We visit Chelan in summer and there is a hatch of huge Mayflies. I went on the water to investigate and also found a larger hatch of super small mayflies. This was in In Mill Bay. I have found trout feeding on these huge mayfly hatches, feeding on the nymphs, and had good fishing. This huge lake and a bunch of the rainbows stacked up in one small bay. Pretty cool.

Lone has a hatch of small Mayflies Taxon called Black dancers. I have had less luck fishing this hatch. Keep working on it I guess,
 
#7 ·
Here is an example... We visit Chelan in summer and there is a hatch of huge Mayflies. I went on the water to investigate and also found a larger hatch of super small mayflies. This was in In Mill Bay. I have found trout feeding on these huge mayfly hatches, feeding on the nymphs, and had good fishing. This huge lake and a bunch of the rainbows stacked up in one small bay. Pretty cool.
The hex hatch on Chelan can be epic, at least from a bug perspective. I've been on the water and seen collections of the shucks that were several feet across. The swallows and blackbirds get in on the action too.
 
#6 ·
Then there's this aspect of the whole "how did it get here"? conundrum:

The hyporheic habitat of river ecosystems (1988)


J. A. STANFORD* & J. V. WARD†

* Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Polson, Montana 59860, USA
† Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA

Contemporary river ecology is based primarily on biogeochemical studies of the river channel and interactions with shoreline vegetation, even though most rivers have extensive floodplain aquifers that are hydraulically connected to the channel. The hyporheic zone, the interstitial habitat penetrated by riverine animals, is characterized as being spatially limited to no more than a few metres, in most cases centimetres, away from the river channel1-9. However, riverine invertebrates were collected in hundreds per sample within a grid of shallow (10 m) wells located on the flood-plain up to 2 km from the channel of the Flathead River, Montana, USA. Preliminary mass transport calculations indicate that nutrients discharged from the hyporheic zone may be crucial to biotic productivity in the river channel. The strength and spatial magnitude of these interactions demonstrate an unexplored dimension in the ecology of gravel-bed rivers.
 
#8 ·
Then there's this aspect of the whole "how did it get here"? conundrum:

The hyporheic habitat of river ecosystems (1988)


J. A. STANFORD* & J. V. WARD†

* Flathead Lake Biological Station, University of Montana, Polson, Montana 59860, USA
† Department of Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado 80523, USA

Contemporary river ecology is based primarily on biogeochemical studies of the river channel and interactions with shoreline vegetation, even though most rivers have extensive floodplain aquifers that are hydraulically connected to the channel. The hyporheic zone, the interstitial habitat penetrated by riverine animals, is characterized as being spatially limited to no more than a few metres, in most cases centimetres, away from the river channel1-9. However, riverine invertebrates were collected in hundreds per sample within a grid of shallow (10 m) wells located on the flood-plain up to 2 km from the channel of the Flathead River, Montana, USA. Preliminary mass transport calculations indicate that nutrients discharged from the hyporheic zone may be crucial to biotic productivity in the river channel. The strength and spatial magnitude of these interactions demonstrate an unexplored dimension in the ecology of gravel-bed rivers.
There are additional studies done in Alaska many years ago that found invertebrates more than a half mile from the river edge. In essence, this behavior protects invertebrate populations in streams that have large amounts of annual scour or major anchor ice in the channel. The hyporheic zone is responsible for many functions such as cooling the stream and creating upwelling for spawning areas for species such as bull trout.
 
#14 ·
If so that would fall in the "torture" category since it isn't open to fishing! Although I do like just watching fish too. The crick drains directly to the Sound, over and through some impassable barriers. It is quite short and steep. The school kids release coho fry in it from the "Salmon in the Classroom" program. Some poor adult fish do come back but they really have nowhere to go or spawn successfully due to the lowermost manmade barriers. I suspect some of the fish that duck in are likely strays as well. It probably had a decent little run of coho and cutts before it was so heavily altered. I wouldn't be completely surprised to find some little resident cutthroat persisting above the barriers though.
 
#15 ·
View attachment 116349 This just flew into my WS back yard. I saw the unmistakable ungainly flight of a stonefly. Then, it literally flew into my leg, which was propped on a chair in front of me. When I moved, it flew into the grass where I captured it. It was pretty active and didn't want to stick around for a ventral/inferior shot. Not without crushing it anyway.
QUIT takin selfies of your hand...grab a rod or two and hit the stream!! :D
 
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