This is the Ptychocheilus oregonensis, commonly known as the Northern Pikeminnow, or Squawfish. I caught it on the Flathead River yesterday evening. It was twelve inches long, and we guestimate the weight to be about three or four pounds. They’re very predatory and have done so much damage to trout and salmon populations, that Washington and Oregon have a bounty [pdf] on them. They’re also a very bony fish and do not make for good eatin’, so we threw him back.
This isn’t really the first fish I’ve ever caught, it’s just the first one I’ve caught in Montana that wasn’t what I call a remedial fish. I often get frustrated when fishing; either my line gets tangled, or I just don’t catch anything, so Dan takes me to the well-stocked childrens’ pond. Y’know, the one that had the alligator in it, and then the body. There I can easily, usually, catch a little trout and feel better about fishing in general. Hence, remedial pond/fish. This year I did a little reading on river fishing, and applied the techniques I’d been reading about and caught a real, wild fish in a real, wild river. I was grinning all night long!
A Bozeman, MT lawyer is installing a 1000 gallon shark tank. I guess he’s bringing in partners to his firm. I’m kidding. I actually don’t mind lawyers, and it’s nice to see one with a sense of humour. Being a fish geek, I also can’t wait to see how the tanks turn out.
BOZEMAN, Mont. (AP) — It started out as a joke - a lawyer putting a shark tank in his office.
“I said, ‘What would it take to put a shark in a lawyer’s office?’”, and it kind of took off from there, said attorney Christopher Gillette.[...]
Gillette plans to fill the saltwater tank with a miniature marine ecosystem, including at least two sharks - a blacktip reef shark being flown in from the Caribbean Sea and a bamboo shark that will be hatched from eggs in the tank.
I missed the shot of Maddy pawing at the monitor, but I did catch her licking her chops. She and Max have been quite fascinated with the Aqua zone screen saver.
Edit: by request, here’s a short video clip of Maddy and her entertainment (it may not be available immediately):
For Valentine’s Day Dan added a new Cloisonne fish and two dragonflies to my ever-growing collection. I love these things. I think I’m up to about thirty of them.
We both like the undersides almost as much as the upsides.
This is about half of the collection. I know I probably shouldn’t post a photo of my jewelry box, but that’s not where I keep the good stuff.
