Friday, December 30, 2016

Beach Day.

A few little fish on a December beach day. 


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Thursday, December 29, 2016

The Schoolie Shuffle.

A few Schoolies to end the evening. A trip home is never complete without a few of these. 
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There seemed to be a few better ones mixed in, but I didn't land any.
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Tuesday, December 27, 2016

Rainbows and a Rince on the Musky.

Looks like a good day for a swim.
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Yeah soooo I fell in today. It wasn't too bad, however, cut my day on the Musky a little short. I changed clothes and gave it my all for some wild fish with a dry fly on some small streams.

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No Dice On Christmas.

Officially shut the boat down without a Tog trip. 
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I don't recognize the old stomping grounds. 
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Not a tap!
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At least there was a west wind.
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There are still a few resident fish around, but I could not find them. Hopefully, I'll find some time to hit the beaches a little more.

Friday, December 23, 2016

“Shocking Reproductive Strategies of Brown Trout, Atlantic Salmon, and More!”

“Shocking Reproductive Strategies of Brown Trout, Atlantic Salmon, and More!”

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Mart R. Gross of the University of Toronto presented and interesting paper in 1984 titled Sunfish, Salmon, and the Evolution of Alternative Reproductive Strategies and Tactics in Fishes. He identifies some interesting reproductive behaviors within sunfish and salmon. He suggests that, upon review of his and others work, that Brown trout, Atlantic Salmon, Sockeye Salmon, and Coho Salmon have been documented to engage in behaviors of fertilization stealing and precociousness (the attainment of reproductive maturity at an unusually early age.)  
               
What does ‘fertilization stealing’ and ‘precociousness’ mean in terms of Trout? It means that the largest aggressive males are not always the fittest and sometimes the small sneaker males are more successful at fertilizing a female’s eggs!

As females position themselves near a redd (nest of trout), males try to position themselves as close as they can to her so they are first to fertilize her eggs.  Male trout line up in pecking order behind her. The largest and most aggressive ‘Hooknose’ (referring to kype) male gets the best position closest to the female.  Other ‘Hooknose’ males follow in line decreasing in size with greater distance from the female. However, hiding somewhere on the periphery of the spawning area are these precocial males, or “Jacks”. These ‘Jacks’ have become sexually mature at younger ages and smaller sizes. Their smaller size allows them to hide very close to the egg laying female, and swoop in and release their sperm, allowing them to often fertilize more eggs than the large ‘Hooknose’ males.  
               
The ‘Jacks’ can stay very close to spawning females until there are too many other ‘Jacks.’ When trout rely only on fighting to maintain a close distance to the female than the ‘Hooknose’ males usually win. However, below a certain number of ‘Jacks,’ the little guys can win the battle for distance from the female!

While the reproductive success of different size males may be in flux, the reproductive success of females is largely dependent on her size. Large females can simply create more eggs than smaller ones and from the sheer number of eggs alone, larger females are likely to have greater reproductive success.

Keep this in mind during spawning season, the future of the fish may rely on the little brownie as much as the big one! I usually take a break from fishing in the fall and let them do their thing! The fall striper run is always epic!  

For more information see:

Gross, M. R., 1984: Sunfish, salmon, and the evolution of alternative reproductive strategies and tactics in fishes. Fish reproduction: strategies and tactics: 55-75

Stephen Knott
TheLadyGreyFlyFishing.blogspot.com

Thursday, December 22, 2016

Can you Burp a Trout?

“Can you Burp a Trout?”

Most fish have swimbladders and use them to regulate their buoyancy, like a Buoyancy Compensation Device (BCD) used when SCUBA diving. There are two major types of swimbladders, physostomous and physoclistous. Physostomous swimbladders are inflated and deflated via the gut, so fish must gulp air from the surface to inflate it and pass air out the mouth or vent to deflate. Physoclistous swimbladders are inflated and deflated via the circulatory system.

Trout and all other Salmonids have physostomous swimbladders, which means you can burp them (if necessary). You may be asking ‘Why would I ever want to burp a trout?’ But this can be important information to know if you are fishing in deep water. Fishermen who have trolled deep in lakes for lake trout (or touge) have likely experienced fish with an over-inflated swimbladder. When trout that are hooked in deep water and brought to the surface quickly, gas held within their swimbladder rapidly expands from the decrease in atmospheric pressure. It often expands so large that the fish are unable to expel it. When you release a fish with an over inflated swim bladder they must fight their way back down to a depth of appropriate pressure. However, fish tired from fighting and released into often warmer (summer) surface waters, do not have the energy to do so and will die if not attended to.

Fly Fishermen rarely encounter this problem because they fish in shallow streams where the pressure changes are minimal. However, this can mean life or death to fish if you happened to be fishing deep. While on one of my annual summer fishing trips I found myself in this very situation. I was on the hunt for Brook Trout and Landlocked Artic Charr (Bluebacks) in the deep ponds of Northern Maine. The fish were holding around deep grass beds and would begrudgingly take heavily weighted nymphs and very small streamers.  I anticipated potential over-inflation problems from fish pulled from deep depths and prepared a deep-water release system.

Deep-water release can be used as an alternative to burping a Trout. It requires less handling than burping, which makes it a whole lot faster. I simply tied my thickest tippet to my metal landing net. I would land a fish with the net, snap a quick photo, and gently lower the fish and net back down to the murky depths. I would slowly lower it until I touched the bottom, hold it there for a second, and then slowly bring it back up to the surface. The fish, most likely, gained balance and left the net long before reaching the bottom, but better safe than sorry.

If you do find yourself in a situation where you need to burp a Trout, here is how to do it. Starting at the tail end of the fish, hold this fish between your thumb and fingers, and slide your fingers forward gently applying pressure. You should be able to hear the release of air. Burping a trout should only be done as an absolute last resort.  Many fish, if not played too long and released quickly, can make it back down on their own. If you are fishing deep you might as well have a deep-water release system in place for minimal handling and speedy releases. However, if a fish is struggling and is unable to make it back down to the cold deep waters, burp her as a last resort. Keep in mind a burped fish is going to lack the appropriate buoyancy control at its desired depth and therefore must endure more stress, but gives them their best shot.

Note: Keep in mind you can only burp fish with physostomous swimbladders. More advanced fishes such as Largemouth Bass, Smallmouth Bass, and other Sunfishes are UNABLE to be burped.  

Stephen Knott
TheLadyGreyFlyFishing.blogspot.com







Evolution of The Lady Grey.

I started this blog in order to keep my Grandfather up to date on all the fishing that I was doing. At that time, I was living in a city, working as a school teacher, and sneaking away on the weekends and in the summers to fish. I have since left the city and my life as a teacher to go back to school as a fisheries biologist.  

Starting a fisheries bio program as an experienced fly fisherman makes certain information particularly interesting. I have a feeling that most fly fishermen would feel the same way.  Before going back to school, I read everything I could about trout and loved anything written by the great Robert Behnke. His work acted as an intermediate between science and angling. My plan is to use this blog to interpret and present interesting scientific information that I am sure fly fisherman would love to know. This will be great writing practice for me and will hopefully result in a good read! Enjoy!

-Stephen Knott

TheLadyGreyFlyFishing.blogspot.com 





Thursday, December 8, 2016

The Fly Fishing Fraternity.

A good friend (http://jczaw.tumblr.com/ ) sent me a care package to get me through the end of the semester. Flyfishing is a hell of a bond.

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