The famous nocturnal Hex hatch of the Midwest (and a few other lucky locations) stirs to the surface mythically large brown trout that only touch streamers for the rest of the year.
This Skwala nymph still has a couple months left to go before hatching, but it's still a good representative of its species, which was extremely abundant in my sample for a stonefly of this size. It's obvious why the Yakima is known for its Skwala hatch.
Here's a Discovery article about a wild trout with two heads , found in Idaho. It might be linked to selenium pollution from a mine there. Thought this might be of interest.
Oldredbarn on Mar 1, 2012March 1st, 2012, 6:08 am EST
Sobering stuff Luke! We went through this before in the east with the coal mines and native brookies...We treat fresh water, something we all need, in such a reckless manner.
I had a poli-sci professor in the 70's who used to talk about our "toilet bowl" mentality...He would say, "As long as it can be flushed away, down the drain, and away from us, we really don't give a damn it's effects for those downstream of us. It's no longer our problem."
Spence
"Even when my best efforts fail it's a satisfying challenge, and that, after all, is the essence of fly fishing." -Chauncy Lively
"Envy not the man who lives beside the river, but the man the river flows through." Joseph T Heywood
Entoman on Mar 1, 2012March 1st, 2012, 11:14 am EST
By that logic, so are our toilets. Hmmm... Glad I live "upstream"! :)LOL
"It's not that I find fishing so important, it's just that I find all other endeavors of Man equally unimportant... And not nearly as much fun!" Robert Traver, Anatomy of a Fisherman
Notice I said "might." Some of these oddities occur for many other reasons. Often people find one unusual morph and draw unnecessary conclusions. Coincidence in time and space does not necessarily indicate a cause. On the other hand, it may very well be connected.