Tuesday, August 07, 2007

And The Winner Is....

Well, I'm back from the Zooarchaeology Conference at Eagle Lake (and finally caught up a bit at work!). As usual, it was a great week, and the field trip through northeast California and northwest Nevada was spectacular! More on that later, but first the important news:

I won the Zooarchaeology Conference Eagle Lake fishing derby and now hold the coveted "ceramic piranha" trophy (which is, in actuality this cheesy statue of a piranha someone brought back from Brazil and for more than a decade served as a table decoration in the dining hall of the CSU Field Station...until we absconded with it and use it as the "Stanley Cup" of the fishing derby!). The contest is based on largest Eagle Lake trout caught during the week - mine came in at a mere 3lbs 3ozs. - there was a time we would regularly catch 4 lb trout, but they seem to be getting smaller. So I'll have to come back and post on the concepts of prey depression and overharvesting...

Although not part of the traditional derby, several of us had a side bet (1$ per person) on the total number of fish. I pulled it out the last couple of days of fishing and tied for the total number during the week. My daughter might have won the size contest had she landed the fish that ultimately snapped her 6lb test Maxima line - there were of course claims of tampering on my part as I was last seen adjusting her reel as she was struggling with the fish (I was trying to loosen the drag!!), but how could I do that to my own offspring?

Anyway, lots of fun and I'll post some stories and photos shortly...

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