Jeckyl & Hyde locusts

An interesting study in chemical imbalance in locusts.
"Chemical transforms locusts into terrifying swarms
Updated Thu. Jan. 29 2009 4:38 PM ET
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- A chemical that affects people's moods also can transform easygoing desert locusts into terrifying swarms that ravage the countryside, scientists report.
"Here we have a solitary and lonely creature, the desert locust. But just give them a little serotonin, and they go and join a gang," observed Malcolm Burrows of the University of Cambridge in England.
The brain chemical serotonin has been linked to mood in people. It plays a role in sexual desire, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, too.
Under certain conditions, locusts triple the amount of serotonin in their systems, changing the insects from loners to pack animals, Burrows and his co-authors report in Friday's edition of the journal Science.
These packs can be devastating. They affect 20 percent of the Earth's land. Last year a swarm nearly four miles long plagued Australia. They also occur in Africa and Asia and have affected the western U.S.
"Serotonin profoundly influences how we humans behave and interact, said co-author Swidbert Ott of Cambridge, "so to find that the same chemical in the brain is what causes a normally shy anti-social insect to gang up in huge groups is amazing."
Now that they know what causes the swarming behavior, scientists can begin looking for ways to prevent it.
"It opens up a whole line of inquiry into what we could to break apart these swarms before they develop," said co-author Stephen M. Rogers, who is affiliated both with Cambridge and the University of Oxford in England.
But, he added, "you need to get it at an early stage. Once you have several million or billion locusts, there is a limit to what you can do."
Calling the report a "breakthrough," Paul Anthony Stevenson of Leipzig University in Germany said it "harbors considerable potential" for finding ways to block swarming. But that will require a lot more research, said Stevenson, who was not part of the research team.
Researchers led by Michael L. Anstey of Oxford were studying the changes in locust behavior and tested them for a variety of chemicals. The only change they found was that when the insects were swarming, they had about three times more serotonin in their systems than when they were living as solitary creatures.
So the scientists took some solitary locusts and injected serotonin into them. Sure enough they changed in appearance and flocked together.
The Dr. Jekyll to Mr. Hyde transformation took only a few hours.
It turns out that locusts produce more serotonin when circumstances force them together and they are stimulated by the sight, smell and touch of many other locusts. This can happen, for example, when drought reduces their food supply and causes locusts to gather at a few remaining sources of food.
Indeed, the scientists found that tickling the insects' back legs for a couple hours could induce the locusts to make more serotonin.
Once researchers determined that serotonin causes the change, they gave locusts drugs that blocked serotonin and then exposed them to situations that normally cause swarming. But the change didn't occur.
"To actually be able to stop it from happening, that was very exciting," Anstey said.
Now the question is how to target locusts without affecting humans or other animals.
Also part of the research team was Stephen J. Simpson of Oxford and the University of Sydney in Australia.
The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council of England, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, England's Royal Society and the Australian Research Council Federation."

Spring on Alberta's Brown Trout Streams

Dave has an article in this issue of the Canadian Fly Fisher "Spring on Alberta's Brown Trout Streams". It's a good primer for the upcoming season, from the understanding of why, to the how, where, when (the who is you). It's in the current issue which is either in your mailbox soon or at local shops and book stores.

Central Alberta TU AGM

Central Alberta Trout Unlimited AGM
Wednesday March 18th, 2009 Black Knight Inn Red Deer at 7 p.m.
Contact Barry Mitchell for more information
403.347.5079

Our magazine

We've converted our email newsletters to an online magazine format. This is something we do monthly. If you would like to receive the automatic update email for each new issue, please enter your email address on our newsletter sign up link a the left side of the blog.

http://flyfishalberta.com/magazine/feb09/

Snow shoveling

Last weekend provided opportunnity to shovel snow at Fortress once more. Not a bad day - sunshine and smooth air to fly in. We arrived to find things in good order. 4 fellows with shovels and not an overload of snow this winter, unlike the first couple of years. A few photos from Bob:

Bow River Shuttles Newsletter Update

Dear "Stimulator" Readers,
I need your help.
I lost my email data base in a computer crash last fall.
This is the first publication since that event.
We've managed to rebuild some of it, but I know there
are many names that were unrecoverable.
Please consider forwarding this issue of The Stimulator
to all the fly fishers in your email data base.
If they are one of the "lost ones", I know they'll appreciate
your effort. And so will I.
Thank you.
shuttles@telus.net
Kindest regards,
Michelle

Waterton Lakes' Kilmorey Lodge destroyed by fire

Calgary Herald:
"The Kilmorey Lodge, one of Alberta's most historic buildings and an icon of Waterton Lakes National Park, was destroyed this morning by a fire.
Four guests - a couple from Montana and a couple from Calgary, staying in separate rooms - were evacuated safely by the lodge's night auditor, who discovered the fire on the main floor at 3:45 a.m., said owner Locklynn Craig.
"It's a beautiful building. I could not believe it. I am stunned," Craig told the Herald.
The nearly 90-year-old log structure, which pre-dates Waterton's historic Prince of Wales Hotel, was "engulfed and burning to the ground within one hour," he said.
The cause of the fire is not known.
One of the original buildings in Waterton, the lodge was granted a lease within the park in 1911. Within 10 years, it had established itself as an eight-room boarding house on Emerald Bay with a reputation for fine food.
Tuesday’s fire is not the first the hotel has suffered: it burned down in 1933 but was rebuilt. It was also expanded in 1934.
"I am very, very sad," said Craig, who has owned the lodge for three years. "I love the Kilmorey Lodge. It is the icon, in my view, of Waterton."
Park superintendent Rod Blair says the community is feeling the loss of the legendary landmark.
“It’s a huge blow to the community and to the area and the people who have stayed there over the life of the building,” said Blair.
The Montana guests were "a little shaken" and departed for home, Craig said. The Calgary guests were moved across the street to the Crandell Mountain Lodge, which Craig also owns.
In the winter, the Kilmorey Lodge's Lamp Post dining room is the only restaurant in town. Craig hopes to have a temporary Lamp Post dining room at Wateron Lakes Lodge by Friday.
Craig says he hopes to rebuild Kilmorey in its orginal style.
"Our current thought is to try and build a replica."
Firefighters have not released the cause of the fire yet and are still investigating."

The Sleek Selk Bag

Tired of Mummy Bags?

"As cosy as sleeping bags are, nowadays they're designed so that you often feel like you're being buried alive. Lovely to be so warm, not so lovely to feel quite so incapacitated. Introducing the most revolutionary, and definitely the coolest (though very warm of course) sleeping bag ever invented. The Selk Bag 1: Version 2.0 is the sleeping bag you wear, so if it's still freezing outside (or inside if the heating's packed in) when you get up, you don't need to get out of your sleeping bag! The Selk Bag 1: Version 2.0 will keep you toasty in chilly climes with a comfort temperature of 12.4 degrees C. It has an integral hood, and you can unzip the ends of your arms to get your mitts out to spark up the primus on Everest - or pop some bread in the toaster if your flat's dropped below a civilized temperature. The suit lining is made from soft-touch nylon, is padded with a Polyester Hollow Fibre Bonded filling, and comes in four colours and three sizes: medium, large and extra-large. The Selk Bag 1: Version 2.0 makes winter something to look forward to, and of course, it's the ultimate answer in how to be cool when you're warm.
Temperature Guide
Extreme Temperature: Lower extreme temperature where the risk of health damage by hypothermia occurs not feeling cold (related to standard man and in standard conditions of use).
Comfort Temperature: Lower limit of the comfort range down to which a sleeping bag user with a relaxed posture such as lying on the back is globally in equilibrium and just not feeling cold (related to a standard man and in standard condition of use).
Please Note: It is not recommended for use in the Extreme temperature range, this is merely a guide"

For the price of a few ATVs...

Imgine driving along at 38mph and deciding that the river or lake over a foothill needed to be seen. Pop the wing, kick in the foot and hand controls and take off. Leave the off road and highway behind and lift off. Seriously. The Sky Car is in prototype right now. In fact, the prototype is on its epic journey - from the UK, over the Channel to mainland Europe, headed for the Sahara Desert. The 2 month journey is staggering in ambition, looking to fly upwards of 10,000 feet at 80mph, using roads where it can, all the while supported by ground crews should something go wrong.
50K UK pounds and this unit could be yours, should it succeed on its current project and become marketable for it goal of 2010.
Read more at this link:
http://www.skycarexpedition.com/index.php

For all the years spent hating atvs in sensitive areas, I'd love to buzz over their heads with that puppy. No word on how it would handle a down draft coming off the 2000 foot sheer cliff at the outlet of Michele Lakes, mind you.

New Zealand presentation tonight

Apologies for the several days off the blog. Between flying in to shovel snow at Fortress Lake, getting a couple cross country skis in, and spending 9 - 12 hours a day capturing, editing, and laying out a timeline for our New Zealand video and photos, time has simply slipped past.

Tonight is the night for the New Zealand presentation. We narrowed it down to 90 minutes, or close enough to call it that (a touch over). It was very hard to weed out scenes and moments. How to compress a month of fly fishing and travel into 90 minutes? You don't. You pick what seems to flow relatively well. You cut some excellent moments and hope the ones still on the story board are what people want to see. If you want to see the full, clear, large version of our New Zealand fly fishing from a month ago, tonight is the night.

This presentation is open to everyone. It is hosted by the Central Alberta fly tying club:
Each Monday evening in Red Deer at Annie L Gaetz School, on Mitchell Ave in SE Red Deer (easy to find on Google Maps), the Central Alberta Fly Tying Club meets during winter months. Weekly tying sessions begin at 7pm. Call Bob Vanderwater 403. 347. 3802 or email bvanderwater@rdpsd.ab.ca

New Zealand video night in Red Deer on Monday

31 - 34" browns in a creek 3 feet wide and 6" deep in its riffles. 17 fly changes to get a 6.5 lb brown on a nymph. Swimming after trout. Heavy rain. Beautiful landscapes. Cruising and sipping video of 4 to 8 pound browns. Hook ups and missed takes, blown opportunities and big smiles with good trout all Hallmark our trip last month to New Zealand.

On Monday, January 19, Amelia & I will be presenting our video and photos from this year's trip on the big screen at Annie L Gaetz school on Mitchell Ave in Red Deer. Be there @ 7pm for a 90 minute presentation. Come on down for an informal, fun, light hearted evening of fly fishing New Zealand. The evening is hosted by the Central Alberta Fly Tiers who get together every Monday night through the winter.

http://rdflytying.blogspot.com/

Phil Rowley tying seminar

On Saturday we took in the Rowley tying seminar here in Red Deer. We were reminded that it's always beneficial to sit in on a one day event like this, maybe not for every basic tip to tying, but for a couple of new patterns as well as jogging the brain to come up with a couple of new ideas as well. For the beginner tier this would have been a wonderful place to come to learn and gain exposure to the different materials and methods, for the intermediate it would have been a great place to do likewise. More experienced tiers come to these events to pick up little points and ideas, and to think things through to new possibilities.
If you get the chance to sit in on a tying presentation, it's always worth it. The Fly Fishing Expo in Calgary is upcoming, and might offer a few such good presentations.
Here's the link to the Rowley day in Red Deer
http://rdflytying.blogspot.com

Catch Magazine

Volume 3 of Catch Magazine is on line now. Again, great content and a wonderful layout. Photoshop is king in the photos but all are exceptional, to say the least. Look for the lesser hilighted videos as well.
Included in this issue:
Photo Essays and exposures, NZ video, winter fly fishing, Baha Roosterfish slideshow, Texas Redfish, Alaska trout vid,
http://www.catchmagazine.net/

Wrapping up the NWFF magazine "shorts"

You might have seen a series of Dave's work in the NWFF magazine's short destination pieces. Bullshead Res, Stauffer Cr, the Ram and Blackstone Rivers were shown in quick 500 word articles providing an overview. The last one is available now in the Jan/Feb '09 issue that covers the Blackstone. It's a short piece with a nice photo of a guest of ours fishing the pool just upstream from the Beaver Flats. Hope you've enjoyed the articles.
Next up is "Spring on Alberta's brown trout streams" in Canadian Fly Fisher, "Trophy Browns on the Edge" in American Angler, "So, you want to be a fly fishing guide, eh" - a fun, 3 part article in Canadian Fly Fisher. There are a few more works in progress with submissions to magazines he enjoys working with.

Match sticks

When the chironomid shucks start to line up like match sticks, you know you have a hatch. The above photo was taken at Fortress Lake but could be any lake in Canada. Heavy hatches turn lakes into fuzzy carpets. This past season we followed a strip of midges and chucks for over 3 kilometers on Fortress Lake. The chironomid fishing was very good, to say the least. We've run into similar fishing on local small lakes, into BC and Manitoba. Fishing can be done by employing chironomid techniques as seen in our write up last summer here, or by searching for cruising trout picking off midge adults on the surface. For at least a couple months each year, chironomids can certainly be dynamite.

Fly Tying For All

A new fly tying video website:
"You are a beginner and you’re looking for a place that will teach you all you need to know to start tying flies? You’re an intermediate or expert fly tier and you’re looking one convenient location that contains all the models you could possibly hope for, whatever the fish or the fly?
You’ve come to the right place: FlyTyingForAll.com…
With more than 30 years of experience in the field, we offer you a site where you will find all that you desire (techniques, models of flies, information) regardless of your level. For the beginner, we offer videos on materials, tools, and the techniques to tie beautiful and professional flies. It’s like having your own personal teacher at your disposal! For the intermediate or the expert, we offer an incredible list of videos categorized by fish (trout, salmon, bass, steelhead, etc), and categorized by flies types (wet, dry, emerger, spey, streamer, etc). It is so simple to find the tie you are looking for. With your paid subscription to FlyTyingForAll.com, you will be able to view all the videos directly on your screen, or you could download them onto your computer and take them wherever you want to go. You will have the ability to watch the videos at your own pace, again and again, whether you are connected to the Internet or not. "

Just a couple of months

Stoneflies don't fly in -35C. Hence, we wait until mid February, and mid Feb in warm winters at that, for the first signs of stoneflies around Central Alberta. The above skwala stone was photographed last April, making it only 3 more months of hibernation before we hit that hatch. Prior to April, we can look forward to a few special afternoons of smaller tiny winter black, early winter black, late winter black, and early brown stoneflies. Of course, the conditions have to be "just so" for early season risers, but with time on our hands this time of the year, we'll do our best to give the updates. Stay tuned on that one.

Red Deer River freeze up

It has been a long time since we've seen it, but there won't be any floating from the dam to RR #20 any time soon. The dam section is wide open but quickly ices over and by RR #20 it is a wall of ice. No point in taking out the raft this week or, possibly, next. It has been cold! Oddly, Stauffer fished a little slow too. ;)
The temps on the drive out were wild, -19 to -8 and back again, and up and down like a yo yo as the weather began to mix with the front moving in. It was a beautiful day, rounded out with a nice 20km ski around Heritage Ranch at dusk and into the evening. Watching Jaz beeline across the ponds after the silhouette of a pair of red foxes as the moon rose was enjoyable, certainly.

Phil Rowley Workshop in Red Deer

Happy New Year everybody! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas. Just a reminder that the Phil Rowley Workshop is quickly approaching. It is onSaturday January 10 at Annie L Gaetz School. We still have space for 4 more tyers. The details are on our web site here:http://rdflytying.blogspot.com/Get in contact with me VIA email or call me 403-347-3802 to sign up!
We also kick off fly tying on Mondays with Doug Cook being our guest tyer onJanuary 5th. Doug is a fabulous fly tyer and he shares some neat and veryuseful patterns when he comes.
Bob