Fishing without hearing / Salmon...

Walter & Group...

From Peter Minnick :

 Thanks for your nice words.... Gordy...you are to be applauded for your diligent compliance with the spirit of the 1990 American Disabilities Act...which is to assure that all Americans have equal access to... you guessed it.. the right to pursue the quintessential art of fly fishing.

You've used a little common sense and with some practical accommodations have made my fly fishing with you the ultimate experience.... so a little courtesy and common sense can go a long way to leveling the playing field and accommodating anyone with a physical disability. It's really that simple and thankyou !

   As far as not being able to  hear the "sounds of fly fishing" I think we more than make up for it with our eyes and our eyes can paint some pretty pictures not to mention see things that many people miss. So everything is a tradeoff and there's no gain in losing sleep over something you have no control over...well not entirely.

 

I don't like to fish at night because not being able to hear or see is a double whammy so when the lights go out I put the rod down.

 

 As far as learning style,  the visual and kinesthetic are usually the preferred modes and always ,always demand feedback from your student to make sure that you both are in tandem and are on the same page.....

 

Peter  

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                                         SALMON / LONG FLIES / SAND EELS

 

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From Ally Gowans :

 

Hi Gordy,

 

This might be of interest

 

Sand eels and Atlantic salmon salt water diet.

 

The two most common species of sand eel found in the NE Atlantic are the greater sand eel (Hyperoplus lanceolatus) and the lesser sand eel or sand lance, (Ammodytes tobianus) both of them are fish and not closely related to true eels. Neither of them have black backs. See picture attached.

 

Research has shown that post smolt Atlantic salmon have a varied diet of small fish such as sprats, sand eels, herring and most importantly caplin, pearl-sides and lantern fish but they will eat almost anything! A major part of their diet is shrimps and prawns (amphipod and euphausid crustacea) which have a variety of natural colours including red, purple and orange. These contain large quantities of the pigment astaxanthin which gives salmon the characteristic red flesh.

 

 Best wishes,

Ally Gowans

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Ally...   Over the years I have noted that the flesh of bright salmon which have been caught in the Ocean or have just entered the river estuary has been a distinct pink to red.  Fish caught many miles up river after a long time in the river have much lighter flesh... some almost without color.  These fish also have skin which has become much darker along with the characteristic bodily changes  (Male Kype, etc.)

This flesh coloration probably does come from diet as you state.  Then when the salmon migrate up stream and spend time in the river not eating at all, the digestive organs atrophy and the color from the flesh seems to have migrated out into the skin !!  I suppose this could be confirmed by assaying the astaxanthin in the flesh as well as in the skin of salmon before and after spending time in the fresh water.

I have heard that the diet of pen reared captive salmon is purposely altered to help achieve flesh color so that it becomes more difficult for the fish market customer to distinguish the fillets cut from these fish from those of wild caught salmon.

Another fascinating and puzzling finding, was that Pacific salmon will strike salmon egg patterns in the river.  We could attribute that to reflex response or an attack mode....... HOWEVER, we found that using salmon eggs crunched up in a chum (berley) tube or chum bag was unbelievably effective in attracting them and leading them to strike flies !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   So deadly, that if this practice isn't illegal, it certainly should be.

Gordy

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