* You are viewing the archive for February, 2010

Drug resistant sea lice poised to harm wild salmon

This documentary makes a pretty shocking statement about salmon farming and woke me up to the realities of what is going on.  It would appear that for the guarantee of a farm raised salmon harvest we may be jeopardizing entire generations of wild salmon that must migrate through the same waters.  Watch this now!

Nootka Lice Problems from Twyla Roscovich on Vimeo.

Thanks for the link skatingthefly.com

Bloom Box follow up

Here is a run down of some articles covering the Bloom Box press conference yesterday. Looks like there are still some CO2 emissions with this but much lower than traditional means of generating electricity. Really cool to see such interesting new technology. Hit the links below for more information:

FollowFriday @YellowstoneNPS @GrandTetonNPS @yellowstonehike @NatlParkService @glaciernps

National Park Tweeters:

FollowFriday @ladysportsman @lorimcneeartist @TeamHuntress @GeriSalsig @AlphaMares

Check out what these folks are tweeting:

Drawing Flies 52: Week 9 Lefty’s Deceiver

Another all digital offering for this week’s fly.  This was drawn in Window’s Paint to get the old-school pixel look of a video game.  I limited myself to the default 28 color set and in some cases drew in pixel-by-pixel, especially the shading and highlights on hook and head.  Not much else to say here.

Lefty's Deceiver Video Game style

Lefty's Deceiver Video Game style

Here is the original on Flickr and a zoomed view.

Drawing Flies 52: Week 8 Partridge and Orange

This is an admittedly weak effort in my opinion.  I was trying again for something Charlie Harper-like, but I think I missed.  This is an all digital image again.

Orange and Partridge

Orange and Partridge

You can see Jeff’s and Jason’s flies by clicking the links.

Drawing Flies 52: Week 7 Hex Dun – The Leaden Mayfly

I need to play catch up this week (and probably next) to get back on schedule with the others drawing flies weekly.  The challenge for week 7 was to draw a hexagenia dun.  It made me think back one of my earliest fly tying masterpieces, the deadly, Leaden Mayfly.  There is a back story to this fly which you can read here.  This image tries my best to document and lampoon that fly I tied so many years ago.  The fly is a pencil sketch that I scanned into Fireworks where I added the text.  I think this might make a funny t-shirt.

The Leaden Mayfly

The Leaden Mayfly

The Leaden Mayfly on flickr.

You can see Jeff’s and Jason’s flies by clicking the links.

National Park visitation up during recession

NPS logoI suppose this probably isn’t big news since it is expected that Americans would travel closer to home in a down economy, but I think it is a good thing that more people are getting out and enjoying this land and its incomparable beauty.  I for one for several of those park visits this year including Teton, Zions (a couple of times), Arches, Bryce, and Canyonlands.  As the great documentary about National Parks said so well, our National parks are the very embodiment of our democracy.  Make sure you get to at least one park this year!

National park visits boom amid recession (Deseret News)

What is your favorite park?

Tying tip: the Chubby Muffin (updated)

The Chubby Muffin

The Chubby Muffin

No, I’m not referring to that girl standing in front of you in the Wal-mart checkout line, with her muffin top spilling out under her cropped top and over her wranglers. This is the name of a killer looking sculpin pattern that I came across the other day. I am a sucker for big streamers and love fishing them, just about every time I get out. The fly is featured in Hatches Magazine online and is tied by Nick Granato, who I understand is a fellow Utahn. Check out the link below for more details about this pattern. Plus you have to love the name. It’s just fun to say.

The Chubby Muffin by Nick Granato

Update:
I found out that there is a whole slew of Chubby Muffin variations he ties. These are some seriously nice looking flies.

More chubby muffins

More chubby muffins

Under the Aspens wallpaper downloads available

I have created some wallpapers that you can download for your desktop or iPhone. Click here for more downloads.  Get ‘em while they’re hot.

Chickadee Wallpaper

Chickadee Wallpaper

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