(interview starts at 43:25)
This week begins a month of habitat/conservation podcasts in celebration of Earth Month. We start the series with Dr. Steve Davis, Chief Science Officer for Everglades Foundation, and instead of talking about the boring aspects of Everglades restoration like funding and politics, let’s delve deep into the science of how the water is stored and purified, what plants help with the purification, and how this process will bring even more freshwater into the Florida Bay and the Everglades – and less polluted freshwater in the estuaries on both Florida coasts. We’ll also talk about immediate benefits, but also that it will take seven years to fully fill the reservoir.
And yes, we will be talking fly fishing related topics in the Fly Box this month. This week we have some great tips and questions, including:
- I have a 5, 6 and 10 rod fishing in the Mississippi. I may catch fish up to 20 pounds. Do you think an 8 weight can handle that?
- Three great tips from a listener for fishing from a canoe.
- Is there a database where I can enter my existing fly tying materials and have it tell me which fly patterns I can tie?
- For which flies can I use India Hen Backs?
- I have trouble with my back touching the water when wading waist high. How can I solve this problem?
- I’ve always been puzzled when fish went up once and then didn’t come up again for a long time. What are these fish doing and how can I target them?
- What do you think of intermediate lines for tarpon?
- Should I buy tarpon flies with larger hooks like 3/0 to 5/0?
- Will a bit of bucktail underneath my pine squirrel streamers help protect them from pollution?
- A listener asked a chatbot a series of specific fishing questions for a trip he was planning to take on Maine’s Grand Lake Stream and asked me to critique the responses he received.
- How am I supposed to kill and keep the occasional fish I want to eat?
- If you see a nymph in the water that you want to emulate, how would you go about creating a pattern to match?
- Is there a trend towards shorter shanks and larger gaps in hooks? Is that a good thing?
