|
|
|
A Day of Cat Skiing
Snowcat skiing offers strong-intermediate and expert skiers full-service guided tours into remote high-mountain regions. Powder snow and “fresh tracks” are the norm. Uphill transportation is provided by a tracked snowcat equipped with a warm,...
Remembering
Eighteen years ago today I walked into my mother's house to grab
some dinner. I'd just froze my arse off for fifteen races at
Freehold Raceway and was getting ready to spend the night
betting Harness races at the Meadowlands. As I checked my...
They Said It on TV, So It Must Be True
Lose 30 pounds in 30 days! Lose the weight without the effort! Eat anything you want, and still lose weight! Everywhere you look – magazine covers, print ads, radio, TV infomercials, the internet – headlines like those above, promoting the latest...
Use Paddles And Pedals For Twice The Speed - The Hobie Cat Kayak
Every so often, an innovation comes along that changes the
essence of a sport. Hobie Cat's pedal system has done exactly
that for kayaking.
Hobie Cat has revolutionized today's kayak. The demand for the
Hobie Cat kayak is growing rapidly....
Who Needs a Coach?
The athletes that are most hesitant to obtain a coach could often benefit the most. A common perception is that coaching is for "serious" athletes only. In actuality, anyone who wants to work toward a physical goal, or reach their true potential can...
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
It's an Alien World in Every River
When you look at a river, what do you see? A few flies on top? A fish or two?
Look closer.
Lay down on your chest at the side of the river and stare down into it. Look at a rock or a stick. Not very interesting? Keep looking.
Soon, you begin to notice things that don't seem to belong. Sticks don't come with little tubes of sand attached. What's that black bump? Oh, it's moving. It's... grazing? Every stream holds a tiny alien world, packed with creatures unlike anything we see on land.
Clinging mayfly and stonefly nymphs graze like tiny cattle on the algae and microscopic animals that cover every twig and rock. Sinister damselfly nymphs hunt them with a creepy, deliberate stalking posture reminiscent of both a prowling cheetah and killer robots from the future in some cheap sci-fi flick.
Caddisfly larvae build intricate houses of tiny stones and debris, which the tiny carpenters drag around with them like a shell. Colonies of them gather on various twigs and rocks, little housing subdivisions in a tiny underwater town.
Swimming mayfly nymphs, some of them shaped much like the slimy villain in the Alien movies, dart from place to place with the deftness of little minnows and take up station to catch food drifting by in the current. And below the ground, burrowing mayfly nymphs dig lairs with their powerful tusks from which they emerge only at night to prowl for food. All hope to avoid the gaping jaws of a big, ugly,
prowling dragonfly nymph.
Until now, it was hard to observe this underwater world without getting very cold and very wet. But a new website, Troutnut.com, has brought detailed photographs and videos of this intriguing world and its residents to the comfort of your computer desk.
The website was sparked by the sport of fly fishing, in which trout anglers craft realistic imitations of tiny stream creatures from an intimidating mess of fur and feathers, and present their imitations delicately, even artistically. For them, better pictures of the real thing mean better imitations and more trout. But Troutnut.com's quest for more and bigger trout has led to a glimpse at this alien world that anyone can enjoy.
So next time you're walking past a stream, stop to take a closer look. Or head over right now to http://www.troutnut.com. Either way, you'll be amazed.
About The Author
Jason Neuswanger is a Cornell University undergraduate student working toward a degree in math and, hopefully, a graduate degree in quantitative fisheries science. He is an avid fly fisherman and web designer whose latest creation is Troutnut.com.
jrn7@cornell.edu
|
|
|
|
|
|