on ecologists and environmentalists

Note: This post has been edited from its original content to reflect less gender-bias.

-Robert May (an ecologist)

A friend of mine once told me that when he sits next to strangers on airplanes, he no longer tells them he is an ecologist. Instead, he tells them that he teaches biology. He said it is amazing how differently people treat him when he simply places the emphasis on teaching instead of practicing and on biology rather than ecology. While I've never had anyone accuse me of being a tree-hugger, I know how to read people's eyes pretty well. The problem is that I'm really not a tree-hugger, I'm a scientist. It just takes too long and gets too confusing to explain the difference to most people.

Ecology and the role of ecologists in our society are often confused with the environmental movement. While it is true that those of us who study the natural world would rather that our subject not be replaced with parking lots and strip malls, we study nature in order to understand it better, and in turn, learn what role we as humans play as part of local and global ecosystems. I think Schneider and Kay (1994, Complexity and thermodynamics: towards a new ecology, Futures 26: 626-647) have a nice way of explaining various aspects of this. Get ready to be educated on the role of ecologists and that of environmentalists.

Ecology is the science of the interactions of living organisms with each other and
their interactions with the physical and chemical components of their enveloping
environment. Ecology is a misunderstood, underfunded, orphan branch of science.
The sciences of the macroscopic, astronomy, and the microscopic, particle physics,
are the darlings of the funding agencies as we spend billions of our tax dollars on
Hubble telescopes and bigger and bigger supercolliders. It is interesting to know of
an astronomical event thousands of light years ago or to know that one subatomic
particle comprises eight or ten smaller particles. These scientific facts, however,
seem to intersect us in the peripheral aspects of our lives. Ecology, however, is a
science on the human scale. We humans are part of our ecosystems, and the
environment with which we interact is on a scale that is a part of our daily lives.
Those of us who study the dynamics and functioning of ecosystems are amazed that
a science that seems so important to mankind receives so little money, and that
minimal attention is paid to understanding processes that may influence the future of
humankind and the future of our biosphere.

Part of the problem is that many people confuse the science of ecology with the
environmental movement. When one of us tells a new friend, ‘I am a theoretical
ecologist’, they often think that we are members of a fringe political movement or
that we spend time lying in front of bulldozers in national forests. Even the well
known journal The Ecologist is not a journal about ecology but a journal about
science, politics and socioeconomic issues related to environmental management.
The environmentalists’ goal should be to encourage management of the local
through global ecosystems so as to maintain or enhance environmental quality.
However ecologists as scientists should advise society on ecological interactions and
the potential impact of human activities on natural resources. Ecosystem
management is about trade-offs, and the role of the ecologist should be to identify
these trade-offs. Which trade-off we decide to make is a political decision which
environmentalists can seek to influence.

Nicely put, eh. You see, the environmentalist typically doesn't care what type of management or restoration actions are taken-just so that something is done (usually everything that can be done). This results in a lot of money spent on a myriad of activities aimed at a particular natural resource concern. But the ecologist sets up experiments that reveal just what should be done about a particular environmental problem, thus saving time, effort, and money that would have been spent on the 'do everything' approach' that is usually relied on in absence of science. Underfunding of science agencies costs way more money in the long-run.

At any rate, now when you sit next to someone on an airplane and they tell you they are an ecologist, you can treat them like you would a particle physicist or an astronomer-only you can consider the ecologist a bit more socially relevant.

Outing #2

Howdy folks,

I don't have a ton of experience fishing for stream trout during winter. But the more I do it, the more I'm finding out that there are two basic ways to go about catching fish: 1) casting to 'pods' of hundreds to thousands of stagnant fish (probably recently stocked), and 2) stalking smaller groups of more 'wild' fish on smaller water with more structure (rocks, trees, etc...).

I have to admit, I have more experience with #1. This is the approach I took on my first outing of the year. I know a few spots that I think have some springs which supply warmer water during the cold months. Hundreds to thousands of fish stack up in these glassy pools. When you walk up on them, you can see them bolt. But if you just stand still, they all eventually come back. The lesson in winter is this- fish are where they want to be, and they will come back even if you initially spook them. Note: the bigger fish may not come back.

At any rate, it is amazing how many fish you can catch from these pods. It as though they are all in line to take a fly, get reeled in and released back to the group. This type of fishing is what we all need following a month or so of not fishing, and it is what I was after on my first outing of the year. It turns out I didn't get enough of it because I went right back to the same pool on Sunday and landed ~12 or so small trout in a half hour before getting bored.

The second way to catch trout during the winter usually results in fewer trout, but sometimes some larger fish. It also requires walking longer distances. For this approach I target smaller waters with some good trout habitat. Instead of looking into the water to actually see fish, I just approach the water the same way I would in the summer-cast to structure, look for surface activity, etc...

After I got bored of casting to fish I could see, I went in search of some smaller water (one additional thing about smaller water with good habitat is the potential for midge hatches). On Sunday, I took a number of fish from riffles and pools on small midge larvae. The fish were noticeably darker than the fish in the pods, reflecting their recent spawning activity. I caught a few fish that were very slender and looking 'spawned out'. This is what I like to see, because finding where fish spawn can lead to finding bigger fish. It didn't on this day.

I experienced my first midge hatch of the year. There was enough surface activity to convince me to re-tie my leader for dry fly fishing-but not enough activity to bring the fish back to the surface after my casting put them all down. Note: this is how I define a 'good' hatch. If fish are so keyed in on surface feeding that they are not permanently put off by my casting, then it is a good hatch. If they spook and don't come back to feeding on the surface, then the hatch really isn't all that important to them.

I got two photos before my battery went dead. I landed one real nice fish (~13 inches) that was dark and spawned out. The rest were in the 10 inch range. There are some bigger fish in this stretch of river and I'll get one. Unless it gets real cold again and I don't fish for a while, I'm not going back to fishing those big pods of fish-there's no mystery to it.

Woodpile as of 1-14-2010

I'm halfway through my woodpile as of Jan 14, 2010.

Brent (previous owner) used to burn two rows of wood in a single winter. I had these four rows stacked and ready to go back in October. I burned a little wood in October, some in November, much more in December and early Jan. Although I have plenty of wood for this and next year, I'd like to save the two rows on the left for next year and just burn the rest of the two that I'm already into.

What do you think, at the rate I'm going, how much more wood will I go through?

First outing of 2010

With temperatures rising above freezing for the first time all year (and much longer than that) I did some rearranging of my work schedule and hit the water for the first time in 2010. I got on the water at about 10:00 and the sun was already out, by 11:30 I had already stripped a layer and ditched the gloves. With the sun beating down, it might just as well have been summer.

By noon I stumbled upon a pod of several hundred fish. Note: winter fishing is strange, all the fish pile up in huge slack-water pools where you would never find them any other time of the year. It makes catching fish really easy and boring. I took a number of fish from this first pod, and moved on. I soon found another area with a bunch of fish, but they were more difficult to cast to. After fumbling around there, I doubled back to the spot I was first at. When I got there, two dudes from the MNDNR were standing nuts-deep in the hole where all the fish used to be, great. I spent the rest of the day trudging through knee-deep snow and looking for fish. Next time out, I'll have a handful of spots where fish are likely to be holding-nice to have some options.
One large pod of fish was holding along the bend at the top of the photo.

First trout of 2010. Nothing noteable about it-or any of the other fish I landed.

A few memorable moments from 2009

Early spring risers

Fat fall browns

Camping

Samuels first fish

Johnny's fat brown

Tiny creeks loaded with small fish

Huge largemouth

Welcome

I know, just what the world needs, another blog, another useless piece of someone's minds, their activities, their opinions, etc...

This has been a long-time in coming. I was posting too many recreational photos and sciencey stuff on my family blog and finally got the official boot from my wife. Hence from this point forward, our family blog will be for family activities and keeping family and friends up to date on the growth and development of our kids-which is what most folks care about these days anyhow. But here, at this blog, you will find my recreational activities and perhaps my thoughts on different 'things'. Think of this as the 'man-cave' and the family blog as the 'family room'.

Things you can expect to find me blogging about:
1) Flyfishing
2) cutting, splitting, and burning wood
3) home improvement projects
4) philosophy of science
5) Beer
6) Anything else men might discuss in the man cave

The concession

With this last warm water photo of the year, I hereby acknowledge Johnny Rotten as the champion of the warmwater fly provocation. John caught more species on the fly rod this year than I did. John led for the entire summer by at least 1 or 2 species. I learned that although the Mississippi River has a ton of species that could potentially be caught on the fly. It is difficult to get them to bite anything but bait. Also, you have to spend time on the water in search of some of these species, and I just didn't put the time in that I should have. All excuses aside, John put up one heck of a fly-fishing year. He not only caught more species, but he caught a ton of really nice smallmouth from some unknown streams. That's what it is all about-figuring out something new. I will be purchasing John a Pizza Ranch pizza and some beer for his efforts.

I consider the highlight of my warmwater fishing year to be catching two really large largemouth bass from the Mississippi River backwaters and then getting a nice smallmouth from the crow wing river up near Brainard, MN. From this season I have concluded that I like catching bass, I like the active nature of the fish and the methods that will take them.

I think the John's quillback might be the overall fish of the year. It was a species I didn't catch, and it looked really nice.

Oct 23rd - Fall Trout Fishing

Posting our cold-water fishing trip. I'm thinking I'm the WWFP winner with 9 specs this year. We're both likely to target trout the rest of this year. I suppose I'll make it out to the river once more this fall, maybe catch a Northern or Walleye.

The pics are from S.Bear and French Creek in NE Iowa. The Browns were spawning, it was neat seeing them in the shallows on French Creek. On French they were not interested in feeding on our flies. S. Bear produced some fish. The fall scenery was awesome as expected.

Walleye = 9 specs

John-9, LM, SM, Bluegill, Quillback, Bullhead, Crappie, Spotted (Kentucky) Bass, Green Sunfish, Walleye.

Rocky Creek

Green Sunfish & Scraper

Fished the Skunk River in Ames, IA with couple of buddies. Smallies were targeted and we did pretty good. I'm adding Green Sunfish to the species list and retracting Orange Spotted. Showing a couple specs within the Sunfish family.

Check out the scraper I found on one of my home creeks (wasn't found on the Skunk). I keep an eye out for this kind of stuff when I'm on the sandbars. This is my first artifact and a dandy at that.

Green Sunfish (top left) Hybrid Sunfish (top right)
Characteristics - bluish green back and sides with white to light yellow belly; sides of the head mottled with emerald and yellow streaks; black ear flap has a whitish or yellowish margin; leading edges of the dorsal, anal and caudal fins typically whitish or yellow-orange. (IDNR)

**From looking at pics online I'm pretty sure the top right sunny is a hybrid. The mouth is smaller than the Green Sunfish and his colors are a little different. A hybrid is a cross between a male bluegill and a female green sunfish. This spec top right has the deeper slab body and smaller mouth like his bluegill dad with the coloration of a green sunny.

Bluegill (bottom 2)
There's variation in the shades of bluegill. Coloration can vary greatly with age, season, and sex.

John-8, LM, SM, Bluegill, Quillback, Bullhead, Crappie, Spotted (Kentucky) Bass, Green Sunfish.

Spotted (Kentucky) Bass

**for reference, largemouth bass pictured with spotted bass.

Spotted bass are common in the southern latitudes of this continent, and are not a native species in Iowa. This species was introduced into the Middle Raccoon River and Whitebreast Creek in 1963 from fingerling produced at the Lake Wapello hatchery. It is possible they still exist in these two streams, but there have been no recent identifications. In 1969 and 1970 spotted bass fingerlings were stocked into Lake Macbride where they have established populations that are reproducing. Spotted bass have been recently collected in Coralville Reservoir, and they probably exist in the Iowa River near the reservoir.

The spotted bass is a slender, streamlined-shaped sunfish with a large mouth, and the upper jaw extends slightly past the rear margin of the eye when the mouth is closed. The sides are greenish in color with darker mottlings and golden-shaded reflections. There is a broad dark continuous stripe along the side, but the margins of this stripe are noticeably more broken and uneven than in largemouth bass. This stripe may become indistinct in large fish or in fish from turbid water. The lower sides have spots arranged in distinct rows that form a series of horizontal stripes. The tail fin in young bass has a black vertical bar that separates the yellowish-orange fin base from a whitish fringe along the rear margin of the fin. The dark bar usually forms a black spot in the middle of the tail fin. The pyloric caeca of spotted bass are not forked, like those of smallmouth bass.

Spotted bass fry consume copepods and cladocerans, graduating to insects and eventually to fish and crayfish. Their habits are nearly between those of smallmouth and largemouth bass. Fish comprised 56 percent of the diet of spotted bass in some food habits studies. Other studies indicate spotted bass are not as predatory as largemouth, consuming about one-half as much fish.

Habits of the spotted bass are similar to those of smallmouth bass, except more secretive. Spotted bass spawn mainly in river tributaries and along rocky edges in lakes. They prefer rocky habitat for nest building, which are quite small in size, less than one-third the size of other black bass nests. Deposition and the development of eggs is comparable to that of smallmouth at about the same temperature. Sac fry schools leave the nest in 8-9 days and the male is quiet, attentive and protective.

Growth of spotted bass is nearly equal that of largemouth bass, but after the first year of life, growth rate becomes slightly less than largemouth bass in Iowa. Spotted bass in Lake Macbride reach about 3 3/4 inches in the first year, 7 inches by the end of the second year, 10 inches in the third year and 12 inches in the fourth year. Maximum weight of this species in Iowa is about 3 pounds. – IDNR Fisheries Dept

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I catch more Kentucky bass on Lake Macbride than regular largemouth bass. Spotted bass can tolerate warmer water which is likely why I catch em throwing poppers at the bank (anytime of day). This one is the largest I've caught - my guess is 14" as I didn't get a tape on it. The most obvious trait is the smaller mouth. I've noticed many have orange eyes, however, this one last night didn't.

I'm showing the early spring picture illustrating how my scouting paid off. The water level was down 8 ft for lake maintenence this past fall/spring. I caught this KY bass over this rock pile, oh yeah!

John-8, LM, SM, Bluegill, Quillback, Bullhead, Orange Spotted Sunfish, Crappie, Spotted (Kentucky) Bass.

Here's a quick post of the recent action on my fishing trip to northern MN. I got a big smallmouth on a popper on the Crow wing river fishing with my friend John S. near Baxter, MN. I also caught a sunfish (I think), a walleye, and a crappie. The other pics are of me and my dad with some largemouths (fly caught) and my nephew Tyler with a Bowfin (not fly caught). We got into a bunch of pike, but I never caught one on a fly, some walleye (two on flies), and some crappie (one of a fly). I also had a perch to the boat but it got off just before I could grab it. 

One thing this summer has taught me is that I'm good at fly fishing for bass but not at fly fishing for other species. I think this is true of other people as well and might be why fly rodding for bass is so popular while other species go over looked. It isn't that you can't catch these other species, it just seems like you only get small ones on flies, whereas the bait and hardware slingers boat the biguns. 

I now have LM, SM, freshwater drum, gill, sunny, walleye, crappie-7

I think this makes us tied and I was inches away from a perch lead. 

Creek Pig - oh yeah!

Caught this pig last night on a small feeder creek. My forearm was tired when I finally brought her to hand. I'm digging the 9ft 4wt I bought this year. Smallies rock. They pack so much fight compared to their bucketmouth brothers.

John

Seven Specs

I thought I'd put some specs on the board. In part, to give Nate a feeling of urgency as he heads to MN for his family vacation. I had the crappie and Green Sunfish in my back pocket as I knew I could catch these guys at will. Just needed to trail a nymph under my popper. I likely caught 40 bluegill last night before I took the Green Sunny that I was looking for. Trailing a nymph under a popper is very effective -- if you want to catch a ton of small fish. The commotion of the popper attracts fish and the nymph is too much to resist for any panfish.

John-7, LM, SM, Bluegill, Quillback, Bullhead, Green Sunfish, Crappie.

A couple species I'm looking forward to - Carp, Wiper, White bass. It's gonna take double digits to win the warmwater fly provocation.

Rotten

July 4th Trout Weekend

We fished a couple days over the holiday weekend. New water for us -- The Turkey, Sny Magill, and The Paint (in NE Iowa). Nate hit some waters in WI after I headed back home on Saturday morning. Some nice browns and a good time.

Backyard Pond

We bought a house on a pond! I didn't know it was stocked with good sized fish. Found out there's a nice population of bass, bluegill, and a few crappie. 2 pics taken on my phone - the bass is 17". I'm digging my backyard. Likely won't help my species count. I busted out my charcoal grill (wedding gift '05). Oh my, I'd forgotten the taste of steaks on a charcoal grill. mmmm

John

Bullhead takes fly, Cat takes bullhead

Every summer for the past 11 years my brothers, dad, and a few friends go catfishing on the Elkhorn river. The past 3-4 years we've been fishing with bullheads as bait. 5-7" bullheads are great for catching big cats. They stay on the hook and lively until they get hammered. I brought the fly rod this year knowing I could get an easy species on the board. Once I got my 1-bullhead on a SanJuan worm I added crawler to my hook, much faster. This is a lame way to add a species in this contest, but I'm taking it.

We forgot to weigh these 4 cats in the picture. I'd guess 5lb average. This was the 1st night's catch. The 2nd night a couple of the boys pulled in a 10lber and 15lber.

John-5, LM, SM, Bluegill, Quillback, Bullhead.

More bass

I've been out 3 times now and have only increased my species count by 1 =( But I've been having some fun. Last week I got into a bunch of largemouth bass, which is the norm around here. I saw a bunch of carp spawning, but they were having nothing to do with my flies. Then last Sunday I got out Catfishing with a guy I work with. He put me on to one very large Cat-which broke my line. It was nice to feel a fish on the line that I couldn't control. Even big bass are controllable, but the catfish was all over the place, and heavy. Finally, I got a bluegill the other day, to increase my species total to a meager 3. But the backwaters are starting to fill up with species that John almost certainly won't catch-bowfin and gar. Oh yeah! A couple of pics posted above are from the other night, the gill and a honkin bass (19 inch, 4+ pounds). Since I started fishing warmwater this year, I have yet to take the popper that John tied for me off my 6 wt. -Its looking pretty ratty.

-N

Bluegill

Went down to southern Iowa for a company picnic at the Doc's farm. Caught many large bluegill on poppers and woolly buggers. I don't think I've ever caught bluegill larger than my hand. Gotta love farm ponds. Many bass caught, but nothing huge.

John