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Showing posts from January, 2008

News from the homefront...

...time will tell whether it is good or bad. At first glance, it's wonderful news. In case you didn't click through, this weekend it was announced that the PCB dredging plan in the Hudson River has been revised, and as a result, will remove 70% more contaminants from the river, while only needing to dredge about half of the volume of sediment originaly planned. A secondary result of this new plan is that some of the areas of focus have moved downstream, leading to significantly less impact in the Fort Edward area (my first, and shortlived, hometown). Finally...the reason behind all these changes...contaminated sediments have been shown to be generally shallower than previously anticipated. Chances are, the reduction and shift of impact will not be enough to lessen the local impact (trust me, there are some actual sob stories coming from the preparation activities already). But when I saw the headline, I immediately felt both vindicated, and happy for the often attacked and anta

Environmentally semi-friendly biodiesel?

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Mixed feelings about the news/revelation that didymo ("rock snot") can be harvested for processing into biofuel . First of all...I have no firsthand experience with the stuff. Let's start with that disclaimer. But to me, all that's come out so far regarding the algae is overhyped fear. All we know for sure is it is generally unpleasant and is rapidly spreading into new arenas. Other than that, there isn't enough data (that I've seen) showing it to be harmful to other biota (specifically the salmonid food chain). That said, caution is certainly warranted, and observation of posted warnings (if you've been on a stream in the northeast this past season, you've seen them) is critical to keeping the spread limited. So now it seems it could be a blessing in disguise? I mean, hey, we have this potentially invasive species...but at least we can find a use for it? Sure, it's nice to make the best of things, but caution is also warranted in pursuing the al

You heard of fish-porn...? This is fly-porn.

This is why I need to work on my tying skills. Singlebarbed explores his creativity...and shows a little more about the inner workings of his mind than I might want to know .... So where's the money-shot imitation?

Longing...

No, I haven't been fishing. Weekend before Christmas would have been perfect to get out a bit...but of course, for procrastinators like myself, there was much more urgent business to attend to. Alas, I am now wondering if I will ever have a chance to get out this winter. This coming weekend too had looked promising...but the break in weather has now been pushed all the way back to next week. It's a new year. That means spring is not too far off. If my count is right, 15 weeks untill open trout season. Of course, I plan on hitting some special reg. areas at ice-out, but with fickle weather, work deadlines and social callings (two of those weekends will require my attention be focused on addressing my Irish side), Spring will be upon us in no time. That means opportunities remaining for winter browns are very limited. Every rose has it's thorn .... So how were your holidays? Get anything good? Ok, don't really care what you got, but I do have a question for you